Chapter 7

Lily Evans swore softly into the darkness, dragging a body through a clump of roses.

'What do Death Eaters eat? A three course meal three times a day?'

Miranda Whitehorn handed Lily her wand, while an even larger body floated by her own side.

'Oh, yeah. Wand. Magic.' Lily toyed with the wand in her fingertips.

'You need sleep,' Remus Lupin commented, as Lily yawned loudly and continued saying words that didn't make sense.

'How'd it go?' James Potter leapt out of a tree, obviously quite pleased with how his plan had turned out.

Remus pointed to the motionless bodies.

'Goody.' James rubbed his hands together.

'Goody?' Lily muttered. 'I've broken my back. I'll never walk again. I think I must've strained a muscle- ow! What was that for?'

James rolled his eyes and kicked her shins again.

Remus pushed a clump of leaves away from his face. 'We should apparate to the ministry, you know.'

'What about Dumbledore?' Miranda pulled the death eater by her side away from a snake, while Lily herself jumped away from the slithering creature and ended up almost in James's arms.

'Scared of snakes, are we?'

Lily tried to look calm, but her act of dignity was ruined when Miranda hissed softly, sending poor Lily into hysterics. James had the task of forcing her to walk again- mainly because she was strangling him around the neck, though it took several moments for her to be reassured. When she would finally step through the leaves littering the ground without screeching, they continued their way back to the house silently, in case any Death Eaters had heard the commotion- though they had probably already heard them, as James pointed out.

'I hate snakes,' Lily muttered to no one in particular. 'They give me the creeps…'

Remus nodded thoughtfully. 'They remind me of Slytherins.'

'Eurgh. Yeah, that could be it.'

A small green and silver snake glided along next to the group, its fanged mouth working up at the corners into a twisted smile.

Master would be happy.

***

'Those shoes don't match,' Joey McIntyre said upon entering Rowena Archer's dorm room.

She pointedly ignored him and went back to doing her hair.

'And now that I think of it, that dress doesn't look-'

'Joey, shut the hell up.' Rowena snapped, clipping back a long strand of hair that insisted upon falling out.

'Yes, I could do that.'

'Bravo. Pass me that ring.'

Joey stared at her, and she spat out the clips still in her mouth. 'I said, pass me that ring.'

'What's the magic word?' He teased, toying with the silver and blue ring she'd left on her bed.

'Do you want me to punch you?'

'Sounds pretty magical to me,' he said brightly, throwing Rowena the ring. She slipped it onto her finger and nodded, satisfied.

'I'll see you later.' Joey said, sitting down again.

Rowena spun around. 'Huh? Aren't you coming?'

'I don't feel like throwing up today…but do have a good time, for my sake.'

'Joey, moron, come to the ball.'

'Only if I can play chaperone.'

'Oh God…Fine, stay here and sulk.'

'That's what I was planning on doing.'

Rowena threw her hands up in the air, letting out a frustrated sigh. 'You aren't getting any chocolate cake,' she called, her voice echoing up and down the stairwell.

She waited for Joey's strangled yelp.

'WHAT?"

'No chocolate cake.'

A few moments later, Joey and Rowena were walking to the great hall, she with an extremely pleased expression on her face, while he scowled at everyone and everything- including a first year who was terrified. That boosted his confidence, but only slightly.

They entered the Great Hall, which was filled with students dressed up in dress robes, some dancing, some singing (Rowena suspected the drinks were a bit strong) and some seventh years gazing into each other's eyes. Joey, of course, took it upon himself to walk past them humming the wedding march, causing them to turn red and fall off their chairs.

It was decorated with streamers falling from the ceiling like rain, and balloons in every other possible place. Rowena was marvelling at the streamers (they changed colour every couple of minutes, giving the room a kind of disco effect) when someone called her name.

'Hey, Archer.'

She turned around and tripped over some stray streamers, grazing her elbow.

'Smooth, Archer, very smooth.'

They stuck out their hand and pulled her up.

Rowena looked straight into the face of Alex Diamond. He had his usual grin on his face, and his dark blue eyes sparkled in the coloured lights. His sandy hair now looked a bit pink.

She mumbled something unintelligent and stepped back, uncomfortable.

'Where's McIntyre?'

'Off getting himself killed, most likely. He always forgets that seventh years know more spells than we do.' She looked around, praying to God no seventh years were feeling too murderous tonight.

Alex snorted, probably imagining Joey getting blown up.

'So. D'you want to dance?' He said, pulling her towards the empty space in the middle of the huge room, which was devoid of balloons and streamers.

'Well, I was thinking we could paint the ceiling-' she caught his eye and grinned. 'But yeah, dancing sounds fine.'

As they swirled, the kept getting other images in her head…she felt taller, sometimes, and whoever the person in her dream was, they most certainly couldn't dance. They kept stepping on her feet. And then she saw herself, and then a flash, and then Rowena fainted.

***

'Hi, Professor?'

'James.' Professor Dumbledore greeted him warmly. 'Please, call me Albus.'

'Er- right. Um, we got some Death Eaters- they were trying to attack us, I think, but Miranda spotted them in the foe-glass.'

Dumbledore's light blue eyes went hard, and he turned abruptly, his long cloak swishing out behind him.

'That means they know where we are,' he murmured. 'We'll have to move.' He began pacing back and forth, a frown on his wrinkled face.

'Prof- I mean, Albus?' James said tentatively. 'How-'

Dumbledore's eyes met James' and he smiled sadly. 'I would say, my dear boy, that there is a spy in our midst.'

James frowned. 'A spy? But- who?'

The Professor sighed. 'That, I do not yet know. Somebody close to us- I'd say someone we'd never even suspect.' He glanced up at James, a searching look in them, and it was one of those moments when James wondered if he had x-ray vision.

'No one we know,' he said stubbornly. 'Sirius hates the Death Eaters-'

Here, the Professor frowned again, but James didn't notice.

'And Lily'd never betray any of us- you should here her talk about them sometimes- I swear, if she ever comes face to face with a Death Eater, I pity them. A bit, anyway.'

Dumbledore smiled, waiting for James to continue.

'And Remus wouldn't either, he's too kind. He's hardly had a bad thought in his life, I'm sure. And if he has it's only because of- well, you know…I don't know about Miranda and Amanda, but they're nice, and Miranda kicked the Death Eater she trapped an awful lot of times…and Peter- well, no offence to Peter, but I can't quite imagine him going over to Voldemort- he's far too innocent, no matter what Lily says.'

'Well, James. You'd better be going- I'm sure Lily's already worried. I'll speak to you again soon.'

James nodded and left, his mind a jumble of thoughts.

***

Lily stood outside her door with James, ear up against the peephole.

'D'you think they're there?' She whispered.

James cocked his head to the side, thinking and listening.

''Er- no, I don't think so.'

Lily breathed a sigh of relief, while James groaned.

'That means I won't be getting any sleep at all tonight,' he muttered.

Lily unlocked the door and bounced in. 'You can sleep on the couch, if you want.'

'Kay.' He plopped down on to the couch, fluffed up the cushions and collapsed into a dreamless oblivion.

Lily smiled at the expression on his face- it was sweet and innocent and he looked just so cute. She pulled a blanket down off a shelf and snuggled down next to him, pulling the blanket up over them.

'Night, Prongs,' she whispered.

James snored loudly in response, cuddling closer to her.

***

'Is she- dead?'

Joey glared at Alex. 'No, twit, she's breathing…idiot.'

Alex ignored him, and went back to slapping Rowena in an attempt to wake her up.

'Or you could not do that,' Joey said, snatching his hand away from her face. 'She'll kick you.'

'She's unconscious,' Alex snapped. 'I'm trying to wake her up.'

By now, a large group had gathered around the three third years, one of whom, a fairly small girl was lying on the ground not moving.

And Rowena, of course, was having another one of her dreams- her dreams were more accurate than Trelawney's absurd predictions- not that that was really saying much.

'Harry, say 'Mummy'…'

A loud gurgle was the baby's response.

'Very close…no, Harry, don't pull my hair…ow…ow…'

'Say 'Daddy'…'

'Dada!'

The picture finally came into focus, and Rowena smiled in her unconscious state. A pretty woman was holding a baby child gently in her arms, her eyes narrowed at the man Rowena couldn't see properly. His hair stuck up in odd directions at the back, and it seemed the poor baby had inherited this trait.

'Now, Harry, say 'mummy.'

'Mama!'

The woman laughed. 'Harry, say 'daddy - is - stupid.'

Harry the baby looked at her, his eyes wide pools of green. 'Dada…'

'Is,' the woman prompted.

'Is,' the baby repeated. '…toopid.'

'Bravo, Harry!'

Rowena sat up straight, staring at Joey and Alex with round eyes. 'Harry- Lily and James!'

'Er- right. Did you hit your head?'

***

'Rise and shine!' A bright voice said cheerfully, opening the curtains, sending a flood of light onto the lump on the couch. The lump moved over and two legs flopped out of the blankets, a slim white leg tangled up with a browner leg that had a dark blue sock dangling off its foot.

Remus blinked, and then hurried over to Lily's bedroom.

No Lily.

'Great,' he muttered. 'I think I'll just check if they have pop-tarts…yum…'

'Did you hear something?' Lily whispered to James, hearing the sound of the toaster pop.

Mmm…pop-tarts… James was very tempted to get up, but then he remembered he was lying on a couch with a very cute girl who also happened to be his girlfriend.

He stayed- it was a very comfortable position, after all.

'Nope.'

Lily, however, listened to her stomach when it rumbled, and she jumped off the couch- or she attempted to jump off the couch, forgetting half her limbs were twisted up with James's.

'Ow!'

Remus raced into the living room, only to find the lump had moved to the floor, now with three legs poking out from the mess of blanket (two with socks, one barefoot) and a mop of red hair was flowing out onto the carpet.

Remus waited a bit, and, sure enough, a few moments later, Lily was standing up, still wearing her clothes. 'Hey, Remus.'

'Morning Moony,' a detached voice mumbled, coming from somewhere under the blanket.

Lily kicked the remaining bit of blanket, and it yelped and jumped up, revealing James Potter.

'Yeah. Morning to you too, Kermit.' He rubbed his stomach where she'd kicked him.

'Aw, young love,' Remus said, a soppy (and fake) smile on his face, pop tart in hand.

Lily leapt onto James's back. 'Yup. He's my slave, and- yeow!' Lily lay on the couch, her legs stuck up in the air, waving about.

'Hmph. I was going to say that you're also a very good cuddler-'

James crawled over to her, wrapping his arms around her waist. 'I am?'

Lily grinned at Remus over James's shoulder, her green eyes twinkling.

'Yeah…you're a very cuddly person.'

Remus sighed, seeing he wasn't going to get any company any time soon.

Maybe there'd be some custard in the fridge.

Chapter 8
Chapter 6
fanfic
The Western Tower