Fourth Year
At some point during the year Bertram Aubrey, a fifth-year Ravenclaw, gets his head blown up to enormous size by James and Sirius for disparaging Muggleborns, and in the process making crude remarks about the relative uses for pretty ones like Lily Evans.
Cementing the tradition, the Marauders perform another prank.
This year the walls appear to be overrun with rats and other rodents, causing mass panic. Lily flips out at first, but soon realizes it’s a prank, and catches Severus’ eye across the Hall. The two then entertain themselves by turning the critters different colors and causing them to enlarge and blow up.
The Marauders get weekend detention for their stunt after several people, many of whom were first-years, hurt themselves trying to get away. Despite missing half of Quidditch tryouts, James and Sirius are both re-appointed to the team, James being made Deputy Captain. Lily’s friend and one of her dormmates, Marlene, makes the team as a Chaser, so Lily joins Gryffindor’s large and enthusiastic cheering section.
Lily had only ever done poorly in one subject— flying. In first year, Lily was never able to get her broom to come up into her hand. In fact, it continued to move away from her. She finally just picked it up, but was unable to get it to leave the ground. She told Madame Hooch that the broom must be defective, but James was able to get it to fly no problem. This pissed her off. She took it back from him roughly, pushing off the ground and promptly crashing into Alice Blishwick. She never learned to fly.
This year the tradition of a Halloween Ball is reinstated— it had been cancelled during the last opening of the Chamber of Secrets and was never revived.
The Ball is open to fifth through seventh years only. All of the Marauders would attend, as well as Alice (with Frank, a year ahead) and Emmeline Vance. Lily was invited by Tiberius McLaggen, the elder brother of a boy in their year, and felt unable to say no, as he asked her in public.
He wasn’t such a bad fellow anyway, nice-looking and intelligent, but he was a bit self-centered, and didn’t appear to have very many progressive ideas. Lily was uncomfortable from the moment they met up in the Entrance Hall, as it was clear that McLaggen had been hitting the drink already. She begged off dancing after the opening waltz, in which he stepped on her feet several times before she was saved from him by Remus.
After quickly thanking Remus, she dashed off to a table far from the dance floor, preferring to observe her date making a fool of himself.
Xeno Lovegood and Pandora Cornfoot [A/N: this is a real last name from the HP universe, since Luna's mom's maiden name isn't known] soon joined her— Lily had not met Xenophilius before, but was aquainted with Pandora, a sweet, quirky Ravenclaw in Lily’s year. She had the largest blue eyes Lily had ever seen, and had a curious habit of looking at people without blinking when they spoke. As the other tables filled with couples who had become tired of dancing and gone for refreshments, more oddities and outcasts joined them.
Quirinus Quirrel, a stuttering Ravenclaw, and Lottie Fletwock, a broom-hating Hufflepuff appeared, having a rather one-sided argument about the use of brooms by Aurors, and their usefulness for defense.
Mundungus Fletcher comes by, with Daisy Hookum, a muggle-obsessed third-year Gryffindor, and Lily observes with wry amusement as he darts his hand into Xeno’s pocket, only to try (and fail) to disguise a yelp as he pulls out a strange-looking animal figure that snapped at his hand.
Daisy giggles hopelessly in the background, saying “Come on, Mundungus, you said you’d show me your collection of lightboobs.”
“Light bulbs, Daisy, darling. Lightbulbs.”
Lily has to snort at this. She’s never understood the basic hopelessness of wizards with Muggle terms.
When Greta Catchlove and Dahlia Fleur-Peri head in their direction, Lily gives up and heads for the door, not wanting to hear shrill conversations about the effects of cheese on the vocal chords.
She passes the Marauders lounging near the punch table as their respective dates dance rather tipsily together. James catches her arm and tells her rather awkwardly that she looks nice. Remus kindly agrees, Peter just nodding his head with a flush. Sirius manages to pull a laugh from her as he pushes himself off the wall, bowing and telling her how she puts the stars to shame. James shoves him off balance, a bit upset at being outdone, and procures a lily from his wandtip.
“Milady.” Lily looks torn, but accepts it.
“Thank you, boys.” It doesn’t escape James’ notice that she addresses all of them, and he deflates slightly. “But if you’ll excuse me, I need to be off to bed.”
James offers blindly to escort her, but she refuses him as his date comes barreling over, pulling him off to the dance floor.
“Not necessary, Potter, but thank you. You two have fun.”
Lily exits the Hall, letting out a relieved sigh as the doors close behind her. She doesn’t encounter another soul until passing the large row of windows into the courtyard on the second floor. There, Sybil Trelawney sits, staring out at the moon behind her large glasses. When Sybil sees her, Lily shifts uncomfortably, never quite at ease with the strange older girl.
“Ah, Lily. How was the dance?”
Lily squirms a bit under her oddly transparent gaze. “Erm, fine, Sybil. Bit boring. Did you go?”
“Only for a moment. The auras in the room overwhelmed me, so I came to observe the positions of the stars.”
“Oh. I see. Well, I’ll leave you to your observing then.”
Sybil stops her before she can pass, eyes not quite focused on her, her voice taking on an odd, dreamlike quality that reminds Lily of a poorly modified memory that the DADA professor had shown her last class.
“Tumultuous is the path you tread, child.”
Lily begins to stutter awkwardly. She knew Sybil fancied herself a bit of a Seer, but this was too much.
“Stay it straight, continue thus, and through the Darkness which surrounds you, Light shall live and triumph still.”
Lily had had enough of the strange girl’s “prophecy” and pulled away.
“Well, thank you for that advice, Sybil, but I must go to bed.”
Sybil kept her eyes on Lily, focusing more now. “Do not disregard my words, little Evans. I have seen dark things for you. You must fight it.”
Lily mumbles another apology, hightailing it away from her. Merlin. Severus had said that Sybil was often in his Divination class last year, making dire predictions for everyone’s futures, but she didn’t think it was that bad! The seventh year was clearly unbalanced.
Lily has made good on her eleven-year-old self’s promise— she is still Remus’ partner. He’s sick again, and she decides to bring him some of the work she’s done on a project that he missed the instruction for before breakfast. As she rounds the corner leading to the hospital wing, she hears Hagrid and Madame Pomfrey talking about Remus. She stills, unsure of whether or not to continue, when Hagrid speaks more loudly.
“Nearly smashed through the door, he did. I thought he’d gone and gnawed off his foot. Summat must have got too close last night— his wolf was awful restless.”
Lily ducks back around the bend, leaning against the wall. It’s true. This echoes in her head as she sinks to the ground. Werewolf. She considers this, and something in her recoils from it. But she battens that down.
Remus, she thinks. This is Remus. She realizes as she thinks about his sweet temperament that he can’t control what he is, what happens, anymore than she can control her parentage. This brings hot tears to her eyes, as she realizes that if anyone were ever to find out what he was, he would be run out of Hogwarts on a rail. The prejudice against lycans is far worse than against Muggles.
She is disgusted with herself for thinking differently of him for even a moment. Like Severus. The thought comes, unbidden to her mind, followed by the knowledge that the other Marauders must know. They accept him so fully, she wonders a bit, her view of the other three boys unquestionably altered. She resolves not to treat Remus any differently, sure that she can, and should, do so. Especially if Potter can do it, a little voice seems to whisper in the back of her mind. She is almost squished by Hagrid’s lumbering form coming round the corner.
“Merlin’s beard, Lily! What’re you doing sitting there?”
He lifts her up by the elbows as she clutches her parchment to her chest.
“Erm, nothing, Hagrid. I was coming to see Remus when I realized that I hadn’t figured out how I was going to explain the assignment to him. I ought to have a plan, right?”
Her voice is too high, and Hagrid seems puzzled by her statement, but he claps her on the back all the same, sending her flying into Professor McGonagall, who had apparently also been visiting Remus.
“Miss Evans?” McGonagall’s voice was not cold, though unamused. “What are you doing up here so early?”
“Professor! I’m so sorry, I- I’m bringing Remus some things for our Charms project.”
“Ah.” Professor McGonagall rewarded her with a rare smile, appreciating both the scholarly habits and kindness of the girl. “Well, you’d best hurry, breakfast is over in half an hour.”
“Yes, ma’am.” She scurried off to the infirmary, hearing Hagrid’s find chuckle behind her.
“She’s a good lass, Professor.”
“One of the best.” McGonagall agreed, and Lily nearly glowed at the pride in her Head of House’s voice.
Her glee was dampened by the small, gray form of Remus in the bed, as her revelations about his beastly alter-ego returned. She had originally planned on pretending that she knew nothing, but once she realized that Madame Pomfrey had left, she was unable to keep it in.
She won’t even let him speak as she pours everything out to him, never giving him a chance to tell her that he understands if she doesn’t want to be around him anymore. In her candid assessment of his situation, and her pronouncement of his absolute innocence in the matter, Remus finds a different sort of acceptance.
As Severus and the other young Slytherins, including Regulus, become more deeply immured in the Dark Arts, the Marauders become more outspoken and conflicts arise. Lily’s dislike for the Marauders deepens, focusing mainly on James as the unspoken leader.
She’s unaware, however, that much of the impetus behind the attacks on/fights with Slytherins comes from Sirius, who despises them on principle, and hates Snape especially because he had a choice and a reason not to go there (her) and he went anyway.bJames snaps when Lily takes a hex meant for Snape, angrily demanding an explanation for her “putting up with him.”
An uncomfortable Lily (itching hex) retorts that his head is of an average size (here Sirius snorts out that his nose is not but Lily ignores him, the only sign that she heard him a tossing of her head) and that some friendships are based on more than a prank or two. Snape steps forward with a gloating smile at this point and James, livid, throws him off his feet, taking Lily with him, before stalking off to keep from hurting her in his temper, Sirius on his heels, glaring daggers at Lily.
Remus remains behind, shaking his head at Lily, clearly disappointed. “You ought to know better, Lily.” Remus’ voice is quiet, but Lily feels the impact more strongly than if he had shouted. He follows Sirius and James, a nervously twittering Peter at his side, leaving a deeply chagrined Lily in his wake.
The last Hogsmeade weekend of the year, James asks out Lily for the first time.
Gryffindor has just won the Quidditch cup, and Lily is at the afterparty with Marlene and her other dormmates. Lily is yawning, ready to head off to bed, when James finds her.
She brushes him off, heading for the stairs, but he stops her. He asks her if she’ll go to Hogsmeade with him, and she flat out says no.
Dejected, James grabs onto both of her arms and says “please? Mrs. Flume would make you an extra-special cake, she loves me.”
“Who?” Is all Lily can manage at his earnest gaze.
As he continues to speak, telling her about how she and her husband own Honeydukes and how he’s going to buy it from them after Hogwarts, and how they have tons of sweets in the back, she realizes that he’s drunk. When he asks her out the next time, sloppily landing a kiss on her cheek, she is kinder in her response.
“I’m afraid not, James. I have plans already.” She gently removes his hands and pats him awkwardly on the shoulder before heading up to her dorm. In the morning, all he will remember is that she called him James.