Chapter 14

'So ladies and gentleman, that's exactly one hour to concoct one full cauldron of hiccoughing solution!' Slughorn clapped his hands together and beamed around the dungeon at his NEWT class. 'And to make things even more interesting, the best potion, as judged by yours truly, will receive twenty points for his or her house and…' he paused for dramatic effect. '…an invitation to the Christmas party I shall be hosting in a few weeks' time!'

Slughorn chuckled to himself, blissfully unaware that his grand incentive had received little reaction from the class.

'So…as always you will find the ingredients in the store cupboard and the recipe-' he waved his wand lazily, '-on the blackboard. You may begin!'

There was a reluctant shuffle of chairs and feet. It was a crisp November morning and the temperature in the dungeons was little warmer than outside. Lily shivered and saw her breath sparkle before her eyes. The classroom was icy cold. The atmosphere wasn't much warmer.

'I'll get the ingredients then, shallI?' Chris Jackson's tone was emotionless. Things with Chris had been awkward since their last meeting a few weeks ago. Though he seemed ashamed of his behaviour, he was yet to apologise to her and Lily wasn't going to hold her breath.

James pulled up Chris' recently vacated stool. 'Is Jackson bothering you?' He gestured to the back of Chris' head.

Lily felt her face redden. 'No.' She replied shortly, her heartbeat at double speed. She carefully avoided his gaze and focused intently on lighting the fire underneath her cauldron.

'Sure? Because I don't want him upsetting you again. Maybe you could move next to-'

'-for the last time James, I am fine.'

'I'm sorry,' he paused, 'Look I'm only trying to-'

'I don't need your help, just leave it!' Lily snapped, with a little more force than she'd intended.

She watched his face fall and felt a gut-wrenching feeling in her stomach. It was guilt. His face bore no trace of his usual arrogant smirk. There was a crease between his eyebrows and his mouth was turned downwards at the edges. He looked so hurt, Lily wanted nothing more than to pull him into a tight hug.

'Look James, I'm sorry, I-'

'Forget it.' He shuffled back to his bench.

'Settle down, settle down.' Slughorn said to no one in particular. 'Ah Miss Fawcett, I've been meaning to ask you, how is your brother doing? I haven't heard from him since the election…'

The steam rising from the cauldrons perfumed the air with a sickly sweet scent.

'Trouble in paradise, Potter?' Snape sneered, carefully slicing his dandelion stems into identical pieces.

'Mind your own business, Snivellus.' James hissed, as he began dicing up his own stems somewhat carelessly.

'I'd watch your mouth if I were you, Potter.' Severus said, menacingly. 'Wouldn't want to get into trouble now, would we? Not as our esteemed Head Boy. What would Evans think?' James was fuming. Severus always knew how to get right under his skin.

'You had better watch your mouth too, Snivellus, or I will shove this knotgrass up your-'

'You've had twenty minutes, folks!' Slughorn called, jovially. 'And a quick word of warning- any student who doesn't finish in time will be force-fed their own potion!' He laughed heartily. 'I can't guarantee enough antidote for you all, so hop to it!'

The remainder of the lesson passed painfully slowly but without incident. Lily kept her head down and focused on her potion the best she could. It wasn't quite the shade of cherry-blossom pink that the recipe described, but it wasn't too far off. She was pleased with her efforts considering the tension she felt building in the room.

James and Severus sat next to each other in a furious silence until the end of the lesson. After some theatrical deliberation from Professor Slughorn, Severus' potion was judged to be best, much to James' disgust.

'For next week, a discussion on the most common historical uses of hiccoughing solution. One side of parchment. Now you may go, with the exception of Mr Black and Miss McKinnon who have been most disruptive this lesson.' Marlene blushed furiously, but Slughorn winked at the pair of them.

Marlene caught Lily's arm as she rose to leave. 'Wait for me outside? It's important.'

Lily nodded and proceeded to lantern-lit corridor outside the classroom. Something told her she was about to be treated to an intervention.

xxx

Marlene swung her satchel over her shoulder and pulled Lily to the far side of the corridor.

'Ok Lily, what is going on with you and James?' Marlene asked, blunt as ever. 'Sirius says you haven't spoken properly in weeks and you've been acting funny for a while now. Is everything ok?'

'Nothing, s'fine.' Lily mumbled, keeping her head down.

'It is not fine and you know it, young lady!' Marlene gave her best impression of Professor McGonagall's shrill voice. Lily smiled weakly at her attempt to cheer her up.

'The two of you had been getting on so well recently, we've all noticed.'

'Who's we?' Lily asked. She knew exactly who this collective would entail but felt desperate to take the attention off herself.

'Everyone. Me, Ali, Sirius, Remus…we-we're just worried about you,' her tone was concerned. 'What's going on?'

Lily glanced anxiously up and down the torch-lit corridor. Why were they having this conversation here, where anyone could walk past? What if James overheard them? No, she thought, what if Severus overheard them?

'I-I can't tell you.'

'This isn't just about James, is it?' Marlene's frowned, with a look of concern. 'There's something else too, I can tell. Lily, are you- are you in some sort of trouble?'

'No! Well…sort of, I really don't know anymore.'

And in that instant, Lily was visited by the strong urge to tell her everything. About James, Severus' blackmail, that kiss… She couldn't help but blush when she remembered the feeling of his lips on hers. It had started off sweet, cautious even, his lips softly brushing hers before growing more urgent and passionate. His hands had moved from her hair, down her back and to her waist, where he held her body tightly against his. Lily had reached up to put her arms around his neck as the kiss deepened still. Breathless now, she had…

'Lily!' Marlene's voice brought her back to the present, somewhat reluctantly. She felt her cheeks burning and thanked her lucky stars once again that her best friend was not skilled in legilimency, though her intuition was often scarily accurate. 'Tell me everything'.

Lily sighed deeply. 'Fine, but not here,' she agreed reluctantly. 'I finish the rounds at half past nine tonight, meet me in the trophy room then.'

'The trophy room?'

'It's secluded. No one ever goes down there after hours. We won't be overheard.'

The bell rang loudly making them both jump. Not wishing to endure the wrath of Minerva McGonagall, the pair hurried off to transfiguration.

The figure in the shadows watched them go. Nine thirty in the trophy room…

Xxx

James was sprawled out lazily across one of the sofas in the Head's common room. He'd been trying to read the same paragraph in his transfiguration textbook for the past ten minutes. He glanced at the clock. Evans was going to be late for the rounds, that was unusual.

He couldn't shake off the feeling that something was seriously wrong with Lily. Why had everything changed so suddenly? Was it his fault, had he pushed her too far? Was it just him, or something else that was preying on her mind? The same torturous cycle of questions ran through his mind, the same way they had done for weeks. And still, he had no real answers. Frustrated, he pushed his transfiguration aside and gazed out of the window.

Outside, the moon was almost full. James sighed. Tomorrow night, at least, would provide a welcome distraction from the events of the last few weeks.

xxx

'Alohamora.' Lily whispered and the door to the trophy room clicked open. She and Marlene entered, closing the door softly behind them.

They moved past the vast rows of glistening trophies and shields to the far corner of the room where they wouldn't be seen. It was dark and the room was cold. Lily's breath sparkled before her eyes and she shivered.

'Lily, what is going on?' Marlene's face was full of concern. 'We're really worried about you. If you need help with something or you're in trouble, I want to help.' She squeezed Lily's hand.

Lily shook her head and her long, red hair covered her face.

'I can't…' She took a deep breath. She couldn't hold it in any longer. Before she knew it, the whole story came flooding out. Everything- from sneaking out to the kitchens to the detention, to confunding Slughorn, to that kiss…

Marlene's eyes grew wider and wider as the story continued, but she held her tongue throughout, sensing that Lily didn't want to be interrupted. Lily cursed her own stupidity. For six years she had never stepped a toe out of line- how had it come to this?

'And now Severus is blackmailing me,' she whispered and felt tears prickling in her eyes. 'He's got proof that I confounded Slughorn. He's threatening to have me and James thrown out, unless…'

'Unless what?'

'Unless I break things off with James and…'

'He's bluffing.' Marlene said, but she didn't sound convinced. 'He's trying to stir up trouble. He's always been jealous of James, especially since the two of you have become close. He hasn't got the backbone.'

'You don't know that. I've never seen him like that before.' Lily cried. 'But that's not all.'

'Oh?' Marlene asked.

'There's something else I have to do. Severus said that once a month James, Sirius, Remus and Peter all disappear off into the grounds in the middle of the night and go god-only-knows where. He seems to think they leave the grounds entirely. He's intent on catching them, and he's forcing me to help him.' Lily burst into tears. 'If I don't, he'll get me and James thrown out of Hogwarts. If I don't, who knows what will happen if we find them. I don't know what to do!'

'Oh Lily!' Marlene threw her arms around her and pulled her into a tight hug.

THUD! Lily and Marlene both jumped and broke apart.

'What was that?' Lily whispered, peering in the direction the sound had come from. A large trophy had fallen from a nearby shelf and was rolling along the floor. Footsteps echoed around the room, but they grew steadily fainter as Lily strained her ears.

'Maybe Peeves, or Filch?' Marlene breathed. 'I don't like this one bit, Lily.'

Careful not to make a sound, Lily stood up and scanned the trophy room. There was no one there. But the door stood wide open.

xxx

Sirius Black swore under his breath as he thundered down the corridor away from the trophy room. He could hear the blood roaring in his ears, he felt flushed with anger underneath the invisibility cloak.

So that was Snivellus' game?

He pulled out the Marauder's Map from his pocket, scanned the map and found the dot he was looking for. Severus Snape was lurking in the corridor outside the Head Boy and Girl's common room.

xxx

'Oi! Snivellus!' Sirius thundered, at the bat-like figure that skulked away from him. 'LEVICORPUS!'

Severus let out an involuntary gasp as he was roughly hoisted in to the air by his ankle. Sirius tore off the invisiblity cloak.

'I see you're wearing underwear this time Snivellus, probably wise.' Sirius jeered. 'Would want a repeat of last time, would we?'

'Let me down!' Severus snarled, reaching frantically for his wand.

'EXPELLIARMUS!' Sirius caught Severus' wand with ease and pocketed it. 'Muffliato. We don't want to be disturbed, do we Snivellus?'

Sirius paused for a moment, watching Snape struggle whilst suspended in mid-air.

'I hear you've been blackmailing, Evans.' Sirius spat.

'Ah.' Severus smirked. 'So that's what this is about. Even if I were, that's really is none of your-'

'-mess with my friends and you make it my business!' Sirius brought his face within inches of Severus'.

'My, my, your loyalty is touching Black.' Severus sneered, his waxy face turning a rather unhealthy shade as the blood rushed to his head. 'I'd be careful if I were you. It could get you into an awful lot of trouble someday…'

'You back off and you deal with me, you coward.' Sirius threatened.

Severus muttered something under his breath.

'Language, Snivellus. Where are your manners?' Sirius mocked. 'Since I hear you're so keen to find out where we disappear to each month, I've come to offer you a little treat. On one condition…You. Leave. Evans. Alone.' He growled.

His last words hung in the air. Severus' laugh was a snarl.

'You laugh but you're always the same. Do you think we don't see you, snooping around after us, eh?' Sirius jeered. 'All these years and you're still none the wiser, are you? That must be infuriating.'

'How do you think we've been getting out of the castle all this time, magic carpets? Oh come on, don't you tell me you don't know?'' He could see in his eyes that he'd got him. Severus was hanging on to his every word.

Easy does it, Sirius reminded himself, gently dangling the bait in front of Severus. Just enough to get him hooked.

'Your word, Snivellus, that if I tell you everything, you will leave Lily Evans alone?'

Severus sneered, his sallow face now an ugly shade of puce. Blood was rushing to his head, his legs ached and his curiosity was getting the better of him. He nodded.

'There's a knot at the base of the Whomping Willow, that when pushed under the light of the full moon, stops the whole tree from moving. It opens up a passage underground the tree and leads-

'-Bah, is that it?' Severus spat. 'Even if that were true, why on earth would I do that?

'Because you can't resist.' Sirius savoured the moment. 'Because you couldn't risk not knowing, could you? Not knowing where we're going, what we're doing…it's driven you out of your mind. Think about it.'

'Libercorpus' Sirius muttered. He stepped over Severus' crumpled body and dropped Severus' wand at his feet. That ought to do the trick.

xxx

Lily parted ways with Marlene and walked back to the Head's common room, taking care to stick to the shadows as she went.

As she turned the final corner, her heart sank. Severus Snape was standing there waiting for her. His cold, dark eyes were alight with excitement and menace. It was a sickening sight.

'What do you want now?' Lily growled.

'Sirius Black paid me visit. He overheard you talking with your little friend, very unwise of you and quite against what we agreed.' Snape shot her a disapproving glare. 'How-ever…he has provided me with some very useful information regarding their whereabouts, in exchange for your, ah, freedom. How very…touching.' His voice thick with sarcasm.

'Well then, you don't need me anymore.' Lily spat. 'If Sirius gave you what you wanted…'

'Not so fast.' Severus smirked. 'I don't trust Black, for all I know he's up to something. Tomorrow night is the full moon, and you're coming with me.'