Year 1: The Legend Begins

Chapter Seventeen: Lily's Sneaky Research

Disclaimer: I don't own anything that you guys recognize, all that good stuff belongs to JK Rowling. It's a hard life, isn't it?

A/N: So, I'm thinking you guys are going to be happy with this chapter! YOU LEARN WHAT THE WATCH IS! YAY! The characters don't really know as much as you guys are going to know, but that's okay haha. You guys are going to know for sure now! Horray! Celebrate! So yeah, I hope you like this chapter! It's dedicated to opungo, who was my only reviewer last chapter... what is up with that guys?! Leave me a review please, once you finished reading this! PLEASE!? Thanks!

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Lily idly flipped through the pages of Important Lost Treasures of the New Wizarding Age, her eyes glassed over slightly. She was supposed to be doing research for a Defense Against the Dark Arts essay, but she couldn't really concentrate. Her mind was wandering, and at the moment she could not think of anything that she would want to do less than write this essay. She sighed and flipped another page and she saw something that made her eyes fly open in shock.

Right in the middle of page 435 was a huge picture of a watch that looked suspiciously like James's. It was very watch that, as she had found out only a week ago, was in danger of being stolen by Professor Avery. Lily had to do a double take to make sure the stress was not getting to her. She read the title on the page and her shock began to grow.

The Watch of Glory

Relic of Godric Gryffindor

Intrigued, Lily continued reading.

The Watch of Glory, or Watch of Mystery, once belonged to Hogwarts Founder Godric Gryffindor. Like other artifacts from the days of the founders, the Watch of Glory has astonishingly strong power for those who know how to unleash it. However, whether as a result of this power or not, the watch has been missing for many centuries. There have been a few leads throughout the years as to where it might reside, but all of them have been proved false. The origin of the watch…

But Lily stopped there, seeing no reason to read the rest of the article. She had gotten all of the information she needed in that one little passage. After carefully marking the page, Lily picked up the book and hurried out of the library to find James.

She found him sitting in the common room, chatting casually with his friends. Luckily they were off to the side of the common room, so there wasn't much of a risk of being overheard. As Lily approached them they all looked up at her, abruptly stopping their conversation.

"What do you want, Evans?" James sneered at her, and she considered going back to the library without tell them what she knew, but she thought better of it.

"I have something to show you guys, mostly you Potter. It's about that watch Avery is trying to steal," Lily responded. As soon as the words were out of her mouth, however, Lily regretted saying it. Their gaping faces reminded her that they were not aware she even knew what the watch was.

"How do you…?" James asked as she sat down with them and plopped the book down on the table.

"Never mind that, this is extremely important," Lily said, not eager to tell them that she had actually found out by eavesdropping. She opened the book to the right page, and pushed it in front of James.

"Read that first passage there," Lily instructed, and they all leaned forward to read. When they finished, all four boys wore identical wide-eyed expressions.

"Woah!" Sirius said as the boys all sat back.

"I know! Avery has been wrong all along! He obviously wants this watch here, but he must have mistaken your watch for this one," Lily said. However, James frowned.

"I think that is my watch," he said. Lily rolled her eyes.

"Don't be thick. Do you really think an 11 year old boy would be in possession of Godric Gryffindor's heirloom? Besides, it says this one has been missing for ages…"

"But they look exactly alike," James insisted.

"You don't know that. All you can see from the picture is the front of the watch. You never know how different they could be inside. The numbers on the clock might be different. Or there might be something different on the back. I seriously doubt they are the same," Lily said.

"Maybe you're right. But what do I do about it?" James asked.

"Tell Avery he's mistaken if you want him to leave you alone," Remus volunteered. James snorted.

"Oh yeah, that's going to go over really well. 'Hi Professor! Just so you know, you're really quite thick, as you've been trying to steal the wrong watch from me all year,'" James said in a mocking voice.

"I think Remus is right, Potter. How is he going to know unless you tell him?" Lily said.

"I'm not going to do that, it's totally ridiculous. Besides, we don't know that he's wrong. We could be wrong for all anybody knows," James said.

"You're being totally irrational! How in the world could you actually have the real thing?"

"Don't call me irrational! How do you know I don't?"

"Because it's been missing for centuries!"

"Maybe that's just because nobody knows I have it!"

"GUYS!" came a sudden yell, breaking Lily and James's argument up. They both turned to look at Remus.

"Stop arguing, that is all you guys ever do! Lily, thank you for showing us this, we'll go to Brighid and ask her what to do from here," Remus said with a tone of finality in his voice. Lily sent one last glare at James before grabbing her bag and stalking up the stairs to her dormitory.

"Thanks, pal, I thought she would never leave!" James said, grinning.

"James, you know as well as I do that Lily is most likely right," Remus said, sending James a meaningful look.

"Well, duh," James responded in a bored tone, "It's just really fun to tick her off. You should try it some time." Remus smiled wryly.

"No thanks," he said.

"So, what are we going to do again?" Sirius asked, as though he was just starting to pay attention to the conversation.

"We never really decided. But I think we were going to ask Brighid if she knows anything about it," Remus said.

"No," James said suddenly, causing the others to swing their heads around to look at him.

"What? Why?" Remus asked.

"Because… Brighid is the kind of person who would seriously overreact if she saw something like this. She would find a way to convince herself that we had the real one, and then she would go crazy. That's just way too much fuss to make over this thing," James said. Sirius looked at him skeptically.

"Then what do you suppose you are going to do?" he asked. James thought for a moment.

"Maybe if Avery could get another look at the watch, he would realize that it's not the one he is looking for," James said.

"Bad idea," Remus immediately warned, "Avery has shown us that he really wants that watch, and getting it anywhere near close enough to him for him to get a good look is not a good idea."

"What are you guys doing?" said a sudden voice behind them. They all turned around to see Brighid peering down at the book that still lay open on the table.

"Oh, hi, nothing…" James tried to say, but Brighid cut him off.

"What is that?" She asked sharply, pointing to the book.

"Um…" James tried desperately to think of an excuse, but nothing came to him.

"Where did you get that?" she demanded before he could spit a sentence out.

"Lily showed it to us…" James said, getting a little frightened by the urgency in her tone and the anger on her face. Brighid frowned at them and walked around to the table. She picked up the book and snapped it shut.

"Chill out, Brighid! I don't actually have that watch, mine just looks like that. Avery just confused the two!" James said, eager to make Brighid understand that there was nothing to freak out about. She looked at him for a second in confusion before a look of understanding crossed her face.

"Right. It's not the same one. So just, uh, keep yours safe, alright?" Brighid said.

"Yeah, yeah, I know," James said.

"Good. Now, I have, um, things to do now. So I'll see you later," Brighid said, hurrying from the room with the library book still clutched in her hands. The boys looked after her in confusion.

"What on Earth?" Sirius asked.

"Who knows, she's weird," James said, grinning. The other boys laughed.

Meanwhile, Brighid was hurrying along the Hogwarts hallways with Important Lost Treasures of the New Wizarding Age. She needed to get a closer look at that section on the Watch of Glory.

Even though Brighid knew a lot about the watch, she never realized it had been Gryffindor's at one time. Luckily James was thick, and didn't realize that he actually had the original watch. Brighid didn't know what significance it held, but if neither Brighid or James knew the truth about the watch's origins, there must be a reason.

As Brighid walked into the library, she sat at a table and opened the book again. She looked at the picture of the watch for a moment before sighing and reading what was written about it. She would confront her mother later, ask her questions. In the meantime, she wanted to know all she could about the watch. After all, it never hurt to be informed.

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So… the watch used to belong to Gryffindor… but why would Voldemort want it? He hasn't shown any interest in heirlooms of other founders… or wait, has he…

Now do you all see where I'm going with this?

So, anyway, I hope you liked this chapter. Don't forget to review, and I'll get the next chapter up as soon as I can!