"Lysander?" Lily choked.

"Er…hi." Lysander blushed an even deeper red than before.

"What are you doing in here?" Lily scrambled up off the floor. "This is the girls bathroom!"

"It-it is?" Lysander stuttered.

"Yeah," Lily frowned and crossed her arms in front of her chest, though it was halfhearted and she could tell Lysander knew it.

"Sorry- I was looking for the boys'," he rubbed a hand over the back of his neck.

The two children looked at each other for a second longer before they both began to giggle, nervously at first, then into full-blown laughter.

"Three doors down to the right," Lily grinned.

"Thanks," Lysander smiled, embarrassed, and exited to find his own restroom.

Lily heard the distant sound of a bell ringing, and sighed, exiting the bathroom, no longer frustrated, but merely exhausted, both mentally and physically. She crept up to the Gryffindor tower and into the common room, hurrying into her dorm and grabbing her school bag before rushing down to Transfiguration.

Lily squeezed through the group of students slowly easing their way through the door and sat in her usual desk. A minute later, Sam slid in next to her.

"Lily, look, I'm sorry. I just don't want to rush into anything. We have to be careful, right?" Sam started to apologize.

"No, yeah, I'm sorry too." Lily rubbed her eyes, stifling a yawn. "I'm just tired and frustrated and-" she cut herself off abruptly.

"And…?" Sam prodded, nudging her.

"And…I'm sort of scared," Lily admitted grudgingly. "So much could go wrong, and we can't really afford to waste any more time than we already have. And I still don't know how I'm going to be in two places at once."

Sam nodded, mulling the newfound insight over. "It's okay to be scared. I'd be worried if you weren't scared to be dealing with a chimera. I know I'm a little nervous. Worse comes to worse, you just blow off detention, right?" He smiled at her, his eyes twinkling.

"Right," Lily smiled back, taking a roll of parchment and her quill and ink out of her bag as Professor Lanset began to lecture.

Leaving the classroom, Lily bumped into Maggie McAlister, a girl in her year and house.

"Hey!" Maggie grinned, surprised, for Lily had literally bumped into her.

Over the past few months, Lily and Maggie had become reasonably good friends, though Lily was nowhere near as close with Maggie she was with Sam and Rory. Lily and Maggie had beds next to each other and tended to work on homework together in the library, but that was the extent of their friendship. Still, Maggie was Lily's closest friend that was a girl, and spending time with girls was refreshing after all the time with the boys.

"Sorry," Lily grinned back. "Got pushed." She jerked her thumb behind her towards Erich James and Duncan Hutchinson, who were shoving each other around behind the two girls.

"Understandable," Maggie laughed.

Lily smiled at her friend and ran on down the corridor to find Sam and Rory, who'd thankfully come to his senses ten minutes into class. She'd grown to have a sort of sense about them, and had a feeling that if she didn't catch up, they'd cause trouble that she'd either have to stop or want to be in on.

And true to both her instinct and the boys' nature, the two striplings were crouched behind a suit of armor, attempting to stifle their laughter, and watching Cepheus Malfoy turn into a turtle by way of an elaborate prank of theirs.

Lily came running down the corridor, having spotted them behind the armor.

"Hey, what are you two-!" she demanded.

"Shh!" Sam grabbed her hand and pulled her behind the armor. "Just watch."

Rory, unable to contain his joy any longer, was rolling on the floor, shaking with fits of laughter, enjoying all too much watching Cepheus's reaction to slowly being turned into a reptile.

Lily cocked an eyebrow, rolled her eyes, and said, shaking her head, "You two are terrible."

"Oh, you know you love it," Sam grinned. "I'm irresistible." He fluttered his eyelids and made a kissy face.

"Yeah, and so are Uncle George's Turtle Truffles," Lily raised her eyebrow again, staring at Sam pointedly, before her eyes wandered back to the young Malfoy and she broke into laughter.

As Cepheus streaked down the hall yelping and screaming, surprisingly fast for someone turning into a turtle, a voice sighed, "Oh, Lily, Lily, Lily."

"Dear Merlin!" Lily cried, her heart rate increasing significantly. She whirled around to face her dear brother James standing behind her and shaking his head.

"James, you almost gave me a heart attack!" Lily clasped a hand over the left side of her chest, her heart thudding beneath her fingertips.

James chose to ignore this, instead saying, "You really are an amateur, baby sister."

"Not a baby," Lily grumbled, glaring at James, already annoyed at him for scaring her.

"I mean Turtle Truffles? Really?" James took a seat next to Lily and the boys on the floor. "Ferret Fruit Chews would've been a much better choice, honestly."

"Shut it, James," Lily scowled at him, crossing her arms over her chest dangerously, a position that meant business. It was just a step away from the hands on the hips, which was equal to a sign of impending doom. In short, Lily was angry.

"Sensitive, are we?" James mock-pouted, shoving his lower lip out and enlarging his eyes, talking in a baby voice.

"Piss off." Lily's knuckles whitened as she gripped her upper arms with her hands. "I mean it, James." Her voice was eerily even and serene and totally un-Lily-like, though her eyes flashed dangerously.

"Cheeky." James replied. "Kids these days, I tell you-" Lily shoved James. Hard. He fell back against the ground, landing hard on an elbow.

"Just leave me alone, all right? Don't act so high and mighty, James! Just because you're a magic prodigy and I'm not doesn't mean I can't handle myself!"

"Lily…"

"Please, James." Lily sounded defeated. "Leave me alone. For now, at least."

James, having gotten up, held up his hands in defense and backed up a few steps, before turning his back and leaving.

Lily buried her face in her hands, taking a deep breath and calming herself down. Sam and Rory were looking at her quizzically.

"Bad day?" said Sam.

"Bad day," Lily agreed. He squeezed her shoulder.