ALL IN THE NAME OF LOVE

  "Lily! Lil!  Over here!"  She hurried over to greet Flick.

  "You can say that again.  There’s Ellie.  ELEANOR!"  Ellie, in her turn, joined them.

  "How’re you doing guys?  Have you seen Cee?"

  "Nope.  And I don’t expect to see her until ten minutes before we’re due to leave.  You know Cee, always leaves everything till the last minute." Lily laughed at Felicity’s lighthearted insult, and Ellie joined her.  Lily was about to speak when a hand came over her eyes, and a voice whispered

  "Guess Who!"

  "Grow up Sirius!" she said, scathingly. 

  "Getting priggish in our old age are we?" Sirius Black countered, looking at her searchingly.

  "Who’re you calling old?  And why are you staring at me as though I’ve suddenly sprouted tentacles?"

  "Oooh!  Good idea!"

  "Nice one Lil lovey, you’ve given him another idea to use on Snape." Felicity said, sarcastically.

  "Well, why are you staring at me?" Lily asked, ignoring Felicity.

  "I just wondered..."

  "What?" Felicity asked sharply.

  "Well, are you still a prefect?"  Lily blushed.  She’d be hoping to keep this under wraps for as long as possible, especially regarding Sirius.

  "Not exactly." Sirius looked at her, questioningly.

  "Okay, okay, I’m head girl.  And don’t fall about laughing."

"Dumbledore’s more romantically inclined than I thouight." Sirius muttered.  "Well, Lily," he said, in his usual clarion tones,

"you’ll be pleased to know that lover boy is your counterpart."

  "I will?" She asked.

  "Why not?"

  "You’ve been on a planning commitee with James, and you’re asking why I’m not over the moon to know that he’s head boy?"

  "Oh, I see your point?"

  "Which one?" Ellie asked.

  "Well," Flick said, cutting Sirius off, "Either Lil’s worried about James’ tendency to, um, dominate planning sessions, or she’s concerned that they’ll get very little work done."

  "Flick!" Lily exclaimed.  "What exactly do you think we do?"

  "Go over spells?" Flick asked impishly.

  "Ha ha very funny." Lily replied scathingly.  "Some friend you are." She turned to Sirius.  "Where is James, anyway?"

  "Here." James said, coming up behind her.  While he was not as tall as Sirius, he dwarfed her figure only a little over five foot, and had unruly black hair, and blue eyes that sparked electrically. 

  "Just wondered." She replied, evasively.  "Cee’s here.  I can see her.  Give her a wave someone."

  "Why can’t you?" James asked.

  "Oh use your brains," she replied.  "She won’t be able to see me through you, will she?"

  "Well, you saw her."

  "By peering round you.  Stop being so pedantic.  Anyone would think you’d-" he cut her off with a kiss, which was greeted with a chorus of whistles.

  "Shut up." he said to his friends good naturedly.  "That’s the only way to keep her quiet!"  Lily glared at him, and turned to

Cee.  As Felicity had predicted, Cee had left very little time for mounting the train, and all of them hurried to the compartment that Flick had reserved earlier, by strewing all her lugguage around it.

  "Do you have enough lugguage?" Sirius asked, gaping.

  "Ah, leave her alone Sirius, she’s a girl!" James drawled.

  "Listen to the pot calling the kettle black!" Lily said, gesturing towards Sirius own lugguage.  "Between your stuff, and

Flick’s, how are we all supposed to fit in?"

          Lily was right to be concerned.  By the time everyone’s belongings were packed into the compartment, there was only enough space for seven people.  And Flick, Cee, Ellie, James, Sirius, Peter and Remus had beaten her to it.

  "Where exactly am I supposed to sit?" she asked.  "Or am I supposed to stand up for the entire journey?  Perhaps there’s something you’re not telling me.  I can always find another carriage.  I heard that Nathan Briggs had space in his." That statement meant the others turned to gape at her.

  "Well, she’s small." Flick said.  "Maybe she could sit on one of our laps?"

  "If you didn’t have so much junk" Lily emphasised the word junk, "then I’d be able to sit like a seventeen year old, rather than a seven month old." As she was talking, the train suddenly lurched forward, and she ended up sprawled across the four boys.

  "Great pose Lil." Sirius smirked.

  "Shut up Sirius!"

  "Lil lovey, you can’t spend the whole journey standing up." Ellie said, plaintively.

  "You’ve got a better suggestion?"

  "Go and sit on Sirius.  Then maybe he’ll shut up."

  "Charming." Sirius replied.  "If she sits on me I’ll have dead legs and then- Hey!  What do you think you’re doing?"

  "Sitting on you." Lily smiled at him, angelically.  "Ellie was right - you need it.  Oh, and for your information, I am not a baby whale!"

  "Never mentioned one.  I just said your weight would kill me-"

  "I ‘spect your mum would be grateful." Flick chortled.

  "Seriously, can’t we move some of this around, so that I can sit down?" Lily asked.

          Eventually the lugguage was arranged so that Lily could just about squeeze in.  Unfortunately, it meant her cat, Jet, was being nursed by Remus, and Cee’s owl, Aphrodite, was perched on James’ shoulder.

  "The Magical Menagerie has nothing on us!" Sirius muttered.

  "Because Kat’s fallen in love with her.  I daresay she’ll be Kitty by the end of the week, but nevermind.  And Hagrid’s dealing with the first years, so we really should be off."

          They made their way to the Great Hall, and soon it was time for the sorting. 

  "Our last," Cee muttered to Flick. 

  "My first," she retorted.  "I missed it last year." Then she hurriedly shut up, as the hat began to sing.

In days of old I was required

By a quartet of magicians

They needed to complete their houses

With those they would commision

Great Gryffindor I remember well,

Noble, brave and true

He desired for his house

Those who were these things too.

By far the most intelligent

Was Lady Ravenclaw

She saw the value of learning things

And laziness deplored

Fair Hufflepuff was kind and sweet

And terribly loyal

She wished for her house

People who were unafraid of toil

Now Slytherin, a clever chap

Less faithful than the rest

Was more inclined to darker ways

And viewed those to be best.

So put me on and do not fret

I’ve done this job for years

In spite of all you may have heard

I can allay your fears

The house to which you belong

Is written in your mind

I’ll see it there and say for you

Where those like you you’ll  find.

After much applause, the first years were placed into their houses.  Lily watched in a wave of nostalgia.  She remembered her own sorting all too well.  Ellie was sorted before her, and she put the hat on.  It considered Ravenclaw,

seeing her love of learning, but then told her that she was capable of brave and noble things, and she had become a Gryffindor.  In some ways she wished that she was one of the first years, with another seven years to look forward to, but she had done her time, and now she was at the other end of the school.  Then there was the beginning of term feast. 

Dumbledore stood to say a few words.

  "I’ll be brief, but there are a few words I'd like to say.  We have only one new face this year.  Professor Horti, our Herbology professor, retired at the end of last year, so here is Professor Sprout, his replacement.  I’m sure you’ll make her very welcome.  Now, eat!"

          They set to.  Even though they had eaten on the train, the eight mischief makers were ravenous.  There was little conversation as they devoured as much as they could.  Anyone would have thought that they hadn’t been fed for months, judging by the amount they ate.  But as Peter had once remarked, the food was just too good to skimp on.

          After the meal, they were almost walking in their sleep, and so they set off for bed.  The new password was Armarillo.  Once safely in their dormitories, all were fast asleep, and the entire Gryffindor tower was silent.

Chapter 3 - Introducing Severus Snape

          The mischief makers went through the first week of term without incident.  When Sirius realised this, he looked at the others in horror.

  "One whole week!  We’ve been back one whole week, and we’ve not had a single detention!  James - dump Lily.  All this love stuff is going to your head get with it- James! Lily! What are you doing?"

  "Kissing." Flick told him.  "And leave them to it.  As long as you don’t look it’s kind of sweet.  And drop the whole dump Lily act too.  Otherwise you’ll have four not so good friends, and James’ head will appear on a wanted warrant.  Believe me, I know a lot of painful curses, and you wouldn’t like to sample them."

  "Flick - you spend far too much time paying attention to what goes on in Defence Against Dark Arts."

  "Oh, and you don’t?  It’s Remus’ best subject.  Ten to one if he can do it you can."

  "Remus is more intelligent than me."

  "Can’t argue with that.  He hasn’t set a record for the greatest number of detentions earned in a year.  And don’t smirk like that, it’s nothing to be proud of."

  "Sorry mum.  Lighten up Felicity!  Oooh!  Looks like the love brigade have finished.  Prongs, get yourself over here!"

  "Why?" James asked mildly.

  "Because I want to do something so that you remember that we never ever go for more than a week without detention!"

  "This is Hogwarts calling Sirius.  I am Head Boy.  We have to wait a couple of weeks, or I set a bad example."

  "Yeah, after that you can create bedlam." Lily said sarcastically.  "I don’t know why I like you boys.  Even Rattie has more sense than you.  And that’s saying something.  Now, I hate to love you and leave you-"

  "Literally" Sirius muttered.

  "But I have some research to do.  If you could put your ‘I am sensible’ hat back on before I get back, so much the better!"

          With that Lily left the room.  Soon after Felicity followed, and the two boys were left to their own devises.  For once they did not do anything illegal.  But soon all that was to change.

          On Monday morning they all went down to breakfast chattering happily.  Sirius and Felicity were having a good natured argument, and Lily and James were discussing the Potions test they were to sit later that day, while Cee and Ellie were delving into the world of books, both were reading the same, and Remus was doing his best to give Peter some last minute coaching.

  "Shut up Snape." James growled, coldly.

  "Can’t take the heat?  Oh, and you may be interested to know that your muggle girlfriend’s muggle sister has a hate for wizards.  Not exactly good grounds for a lasting relationship, is it?"

  "I already knew that." James shot back, hotly.  "But I’m not interested in Petunia am I?  Lily and her sister are chalk and cheese, and you only know about both of them from hearsay!"

  "Leave it James." Lily said softly.

  "But-"

  "Leave it." Lily was firm.  Then she directed a hard glare in Severus’ direction.  In frosty tones that James remembered all too well from the previous year, she addressed him.  "Anyone else in my family you’d like to insult?  Or are my sister and I enough?  You might be interested to know that my aunt thinks that magic is the stuff of folklore, very mugglish.  Or maybe the fact that my father’s a scientist?  Not a particularly logical job is it?  Well, Severus, I’m sure you’d fare adequately in the muggle world.  Or maybe the stress of being without magic would threaten you?  After all, you’d actually have to work.  And there’s a novel idea!"

  "You little-" Snape was lost for words.  He turned on his heel and left the room.  Lily looked at James and smiled.

  "I believe I won that round."

  "Don’t you always?"  It was a standing joke between the two of them that she always won.  Her diminutive form, coupled with her ability to charm meant that it was very difficult for anyone to disagree with her.  While she hated the childlike stigma that went with her height, she was prepared to use it to her advantage.  And childlike innocence gave her a great advantage. 

  "He shouldn’t call you a mudblood." Cee said, piously.

  "I want to know who he was calling a foreigner.  I’m a native of Britain just as much as the rest of you!" Flick excalimed in outrage.

  "Don’t fret Flick.  I don’t think Snape would want to take you on in a hurry."

  "Too right.  And I’ve changed my mind.  Sirius, get plotting.  I don’t care what you do, as long as it’s safe, and it gets

Snape back.  Okay?"

  "Marvellous!" Sirius said, grinning gleefully.

          He enlisted James, Remus and Peter to carry out his plan.  It was simple, but effective.  Snape had harassed them at breakfast, therefore at breakfast he would pay.  Beyond that, the girls knew nothing.

          The net day, their whole perspective changed.  At breakfast, Snape sprouted devil horns.

  "Couldn’t be more obvious if they tried!" Cee groaned at Ellie.

  "Nah!" Ellie replied.  "They’re sitting over here.  And no one can see their wands.  No one would guess.  Snape can suspect, but he won’t know.  And there’s no way of proving who cast a spell that I know of.  I’d say it’s ingenious."

          Meanwhile, Flick, seated next to Sirius, smiled, and said

  "Who’s a clever boy then?"

  "Where’s the parrot?"

  "You’re a laugh a minute- I don’t think!"  That was a bit of a brainwave though.  Maybe not quite dramatic enough, but I like it."

  "Not dramatic?  Flick, the guy sprouted horns.  What do you want that’s got more drama than that?"

  "Steam coming out of his ears to go with it?  Maybe breathing fire - actually, perhaps coupling Snape and fire is a bad idea.  Still.."

  "Next time you plot a revenge, if you want something more ‘dramatic!" and Sirius snorted.

  "Lighten up!  We’ve got Herbology today.  I wonder what the new professor is like?"

  "But Severus, I don’t understand.  I don’t recall earning such a fate."

  "Cut the innocent act out Potter.  I know."

  "Snape?  Why have you sprounted horns all of a sudden?  Did your wand backfire?"  Sirius asked, genially.

          Snape hissed insults at them, and then left the table.  Very soon the eight of them had finished, and once they reached the Gryffindor Common Room, they made enough racket to wake the dead.

  "Did you see his face?"

  "Sirius, you’re incorrigible!"

  "James, you need acting lessons!  That was apalling!  I thought you were supposed to be a good liar." Lily teased her boyfriend good-naturedly.

  "I’d like to see you do better.  And incidentally, who said I was acting?"

  "If that was genuine, I’d hate to see what you’re like when you don’t mean something."

  "I hate to break up the party, but if we don’t move now we’re going to be late for Herbology." Remus said, reluctantly.

  "Who cares?" Sirius asked.

  "I do." Lily replied.  "So do Flick, Cee and Ellie.  And so should you.  Come on!"

  "Spoil sport!" Sirius muttered.

Chapter 4 - The Trial

          In the second week of term, Sirius received a letter.

  "That was from my dad!  Guess What!"

  "He’s going to impound you for insane behaviour?" Flick asked.  They had had an argument.

  "More like you!  You’re the one who-"

  "Get on with it Sirius!" Remus interrupted.

  "The Ministry wants us to testify aginst Endommager, you know the guy who-"

  "Got Lily.  Yes, we know.  So why are you excited?"

  "Because it will be fun.  And Lily can pile on the agony, and he’ll get life sentence."

  "But I thought he was already locked up!" Lily looked up him, with large, frightened eyes.

  "He is." Flick glared at Sirius.  "But they can’t send him to Azkaban without a trial."

  "But you told me that he was in prison, you told me...you lied to me!"

  "Lily, you were having nightmares every night!  We had to do something.  You were hysterical..."

  "I’ll give you hysterical..."  Lily looked at her fiercely, then looked at her breakfast.  "You were only trying to help.  When’s

the trial Sirius?"

  "We’ll miss lessons then.  Okay."

          And beyond that she said nothing, and chatter turned to other matters.  On the Wednesday following, all eight of them were met by Sirius’ father at the school, with Ministry cars, and they were driven to the court.

          Once there, they were greeted by a woman, vaguely familiar to Lily, Felicity, James, Sirius and Remus.

  "You’re here!  I’m guessing you’re here to testify?"

  "Halfreda?  Goodness, you’ve changed!" Flick recognised her first.  The eyes were the same turquoise blue, but they had lost the haunted looks, and the wavy blond hair was no longer tangled, but well kept, and clean.  She’d put on weight too.

  "I look a lot better than I last saw you, I grant you that.  How are you Lily?  You look better too."

  "I am.  What are you doing now?"  Halfreda Dubrillsiod had been responsible for the speed of Lily’s rescue, when she had been kidnapped by the evil wizard Endommager the previous year.

  "Back with the ministry, hunting out the bad eggs.  Oh, this is my husband, Gerald."

  "Pleased to meet you.  These are my friends."

          They had a brief chat, and then the trial commenced.  Eventually, it was time for Lily to testify.

  "Now, tell us all about the events earlier this year, that led to up to the alleged kidnapping." Endommager’s lawyer questioned her first.

          Calmly, Lily spoke of the letter that she had received, warning her of his intent to capture her, in order to hurt the

Potters, and gain information about both them and the Blacks.  She mentioned the talking owl.

  "Miss Trevallion.  Can you tell us what occurred last year after my client had ‘kidnapped’ you."

  "Well, I remember seeing him, and then everything went black, and when I came round he was there."

  "Yes, but what happened?"

          Suddenly Lily went deathly pale.  Flick looked at Cee and Ellie, worried.

  "Leave me alone.  Stop it.  Your hurting me!" Lily’s high pitched plea filled the room.

  "Miss Trevallion?"

  "No, stop it.  I told you everything.  I don’t know anymore.  Please..."

  "Miss Trevallion?"

          Sirius’ father spoke up.

  "I believe Miss Trevallion is suffering what is known as a repeat scenario, whereby she is reliving the time she spent in your clients company.  While her evidence is useful, I suggest you move on to another witness, while she is treated for shock."  The judge nodded, and Halfreda was called.  Lily moved out of the stand and into the hall, shaking violently.

  "Lily?  Lil.  Come on Lil snap out of it." Felicity was concerned.

  "She’ll be okay, just leave her for a few minutes." Mr. Black spoke quietly.  "I’ve seen it happen before, usually when someone has blocked off the trauma they suffered, blaming themselves for it’s occurrence.

  "She thinks it’s her fault." James said to him.  "She’s always though that.  We told her over and over again that it wasn’t, but she didn’t believe us."  Suddenly Lily snapped out of it.

  "Where are we?  What’s going on?  Is he convicted yet?"  She tried to speak through chattering teeth.  Felicity hugged her fiercely.

  "But I don’t remember.  I remember being in the stand, and I remember in the corridor, nothing else."

  "That’s how it works Lily.  Your subconscious took hold of you." Mr. Black spoke soothingly.

  "And how many times did we tell you not to blame yourself?  To talk about it?" Felicity asked, shooting her friend an exasperated look.  "But did you listen?  No."

  "I couldn’t."  Lily said, softly.  But I can now."

          And on the way back to Hogwarts she told her friends everything, the pain, the fear, the loathing.  In doing so, she removed a burden from herself.  They were amazed that the strength of her character had carried her so far.  Once they were back at Hogwarts, they had dinner, and then went straight to bed.  And the nightmares that wouldn’t go away, finally stopped.

Chapter 5 - Midnight Adventure

          As the term wore on, Sirius became restless.  So did Felicity.  And they decided to act on it.

  "I hate having to say this, but so far this year has been really boring."

  "You’re the one who decided to concentrate on studying." Sirius glowered at Flick.  They’d had a row about that.  Both could be very single minded, and when they didn’t agree, everybody knew about it.

  "Just because you want to fail.  I do have a life to live you know."

  "You call spending every waking moment with your nose in a book having a life?"

  "No.  Which is why we’re going to do something exciting."

  "We as in all eight of us?"

  "No, we as in you, me, James and Lily.  They need to drop the slush factor, and go back to being their normal spicy selves."

  "Spicy?"

  "Don’t worry about it.  But if Lily wasn’t so self conscious about the Head girl thing, then we’d have so much more fun.  So, we’re going to show her how to have a good time.  But James had better come along, or you’ll get lonely.  Now, here’s the plan..."

          While Felicity and Sirius were plotting, James and Lily were taking a stroll.

  "James?"

  "Yes?"

  "Why are we walking in a circle?"

  "I don’t know."

  "Why are Flick and Sirius looking lke the cat that got the cream?"

  "I don’t want to know."

  "Sensible.  We’d better go back actually, Flick and I are going to see Hagrid.  He’s going to show us some new animal he’s got."

  "Try and come back with all your fingers."

  "Flick’s the one that has the accidents.  They all like me!"

  "Such blinding modesty."

  "You."

  "I am not arrogant!"

  "I didn’t say you were.  Just self satisfied."

  "Thanks Lil."

  "My pleasure.  James?"

  "What?"

  "I’m getting wet."

  "That’s because it’s raining."  Lily rolled her eyes at him, and they hurried into the castle, where they were cornered by Sirius and Felicity.  Flick told Lily their plans while they were on their way to Hagrid’s.

          At midnight the next day, Felicity left the dormitory, accompanied by Lily.  In the common room, they met James and Sirius.

  "I still say this is stupid." Lily groaned.  "And I’m going to be dead tired tomorrow."

  "Excuses, excuses!" Felicity shot back.  "Anyone would think I dragged you here."

  "You did!"

  "Small, insignificant detail.  Have you got the map?" She turned to James and Sirius.

  "Of course." Sirius answered.

          They left the common room, and made for the astronomy tower.  On arrival, they were about to talk when Lily put a finger to her lips, and cupped her ear.  They listened, and heard boots clumping up the stairs.  Quickly they hid. 

Fortunately, James had his invisibility Cloak, so they scurried behind a chair, and covered themselves with it.

          A tall figure as black as the night itself entered the room, and Felicity shivered.  This man had an ominous presence. 

He brought out a torch, and began to flash.

  "What’s he doing?" Sirius asked, confused.

  "Shhh!" Lily hissed.  "He’s signalling."

  "Who?  And how do you know?"

  "It’s Morse.  I’ll explain later.  And she hurriedly pulled a piece of parchment and quill from her robes, and wrote down what was being flashed.

          Once he had finished fashing the man left the room, and once the sound of his boots had faded away, they crawled out of his hiding place.

  "What did he say?" Felicity asked Lily curiously, as James and Sirius peered over her shoulders.

  " TO PLAN AT THE SCHOOL TARGET ONE KNOWS NOTHING  TELL LEAD G  SEND FURTHER ORDERS  LEAD Z"

James read.

  "What does that mean?"  Sirius asked.

  "What are brownies, and what’s morse code?"

  "The brownies are an organisation set up by Lady Baden Powell.  But don’t worry about that.  As to morse, it’s a way of talking using flashes, or sounds or whatever.  It uses dots and dashes to communicate.  Obviously they know it, and non-muggles wouldn’t, so they’re using it.  To anyone who didn’t know, it’s just a funny light pattern."

  "I’m guessing," James began, quietly, "that they’re some kind of group, and not a good one at that.  Target one is obvoiusly someone at Hogwarts, and Lead G is obviously giving Lead Z orders.  And everything is going to plan."

  "So what are we going to do?" Felicity asked.

  "Tell Dumbledore?" Lily suggested, doubtfully.

  "Probably have to." Sirius said mournfully.  "and then we’ll get an earful for breaking the rules."

  "We’ll get more than an earful." Lily said.  "We’re at the wrong end of the school.  I hope the trophies are fairly clean, because I can see a detention with our names on it."

  "Never mind.  All for a good cause."

  "What good cause, James?"

  "I don’t know!"

Chapter 6 - The Daily Prophet

          When Cee, Ellie, Remus and Peter heard of their exploits, they were angry that they hadn’t been included, and joined Flick, Lily, Sirius and James in the discussion that followed.  Should they mention it to anyone?

    In the end, they told Dumbledore, not without trepidation.  Consequently they were surprised when he did not give them a detention.  He didn’t even take house points from Gryffindor.  Instead, he gave them ten points. 

  "You were breaking rules by the dozen in what you did, and I’d expect better of you, but if you hadn’t told me about this mysterious man then no one would have known.  So, your sense of duty outweighed your sense of self, and that’s a good thing, something you should be proud of."  Beyond that he said nothing, to Flick’s annoyance.

  "If it wasn’t for us then no one would know anything about this guy!" she grumbled on the way back to the Gryffindor tower.  "You’d think he’d tell us something."

  "He can’t say what he doesn’t know." Lily pointed out.  "It’s my guess that he’s as much in the dark as we are."

          When they reached the common room, they were greeted by an excited Cecelia.

  "Look!  This was in the Daily Prophet!"  Felicity took the article she was waving gleefully, and together Lily and Flick read.

  ‘Today the Ministry of Magic issued a statement regarding the Lead group that has long been extinct.  It seems that the group has been refounded, and are already plotting no good.  In a statement the Ministry said

  "While we have established a link between the group and some violent outbursts, there is no proof to suggest that they are of the same calibre as the previous group."

          The Lead group was last dominant in the 1940’s, supporters of Grindelwald, who was defeated in 1945 by Albus Dumbledore, the current headmaster of Hogwarts.  With his demise, the group disintegrated into chaos, and a reign of terror ended. 

          But should the Ministry be concerned.  After all, we are once again living in fear.  For the past four years Voldemort has dominated the Dark Arts scene, ably supported by the notorious Death Eaters.  If the two groups were to join forces, would anyone be able to withstand the resulting force?  The Ministry must take action if disaster is to be averted.  There is no time for dicussion.  Now. more than ever, is a time for vigilance, and prevention is far better than cure.  Especially when there may not be a cure.’

  "Cee?  Why exactly are you excited?  This is bad news, not good.  Yet another set of raving lunatics has joined the race to world domination!"  Flick’s tone was exasperated.

  "Use your brains Flick!" Sirius turned to her.  "Sorry, I forgot, you don’t have any!"

  "Take that back.  You’re the one who-"

  "Would you two please deal with whatever it is that’s got into you recently?  Either your best friends or worse enemies."

Remus entered the discussion hastily.  "The reason Cee is excited.  You said that the man doing the flashing mentioned a

Lead G and Lead Z.  Is it possible that they’ve got something to do with this Lead Group?"

  "So you think Dumbledore is target one?" James turned on her.

  "No."

  "But you said..." Ellie was confused.

  "They wouldn’t go after Dumbledore directly.  It’s too obvious, and he’s far to powerful for anyone to defeat him.  It would have to be someone else.  Probably a student.  After all, he’s responsible for us as long as we’re here."

  "Lily’s got a point." Remus mused.  "But there’s not much we can do about it.  I suppose we’ll have to wait until we’ve got more information.  But we need to be in the astronomy tower to get it."  He looked at James and Sirius.

  "Are you thinking what I’m thinking?" James asked both Sirius and Remus.  Sirius looked at him solemnly.

  "This is a mission for Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs!"

  "And Lily." Flick said firmly.

  "Why can’t we go without her?"  Sirius asked.  "She’d only get in the way."

  "Thanks Sirius." Lily said dryly.  "Unless you’ve learnt how to decipher a pattern of lights in the last twenty four hours, you’re going to have to have me along until you can work it out for yourselves."

  "Oh.  Well, maybe you won’t get in the way." Sirius had the grace to look embarassed.

          They decided that someone would have to keep watch in the tower every night.  Otherwise they may miss the next bulletin.  It was also established that everyone should learn Morse code in order to let Lily sleep.

  "I am not going sleepless for the next six months." she declared vehemently.  "So you had better be quick learners."

          She spent the afternoon teaching an attentive audience the finer points of the Morse Code.  By early evening, they were up to a test. 

  "Right.  I’m going to tap this, it’s not dark enough to use lights, but the principles the same."  She picked up a pencil, and tapped a complex rhythm.  "Okay!  Let’s see what you got."  She snatched Flick’s paper from her, and started to laugh.

  "What?!" Felicity looked wounded.  Lily coughed, and read

  "Bend sore open.  Target losed.  Lead G.  It doesn’t exactly make sense!"

  "I’ve only been learning for three hours."

  "Flick, there’s no such word a losed, that I know of.  Didn’t that suggest a small problem?"

  "You went too fast."

  "You need more lessons."  Lily chortled.  She looked at everyone elses.  No one had quite got the message right.  Then she came to Peter.

  "Something something o--b--s.  Something Something.  Something T.  Peter, did you learn anything?"

  "It was hard."

  "So’s your head.  It’ll make it that much easier to knock some sense into it.  Now, for your information, the message said

Send more orders.  Target moved.  Lead G.  Remus was closest, he only got the last letter wrong.  Which means that he gets to watch tomorrow night.  And that’s enough dots and dashes for one day.  But we could play exploding snap?"

          They settled down to several rather violent games of snap, and for the time being. at least, all thoughts of the mystery of the night were forgotten.

Chapter 7 - The Visitor

  "I won’t be a minute.  We are in the position of entertaining a guest this evening, and tomorrow.  Emily Samuelson is the daughter of the American Minister for Magic.  He is staying in Britain for the next week, and she has expressed an interest in visiting Hogwarts.  She is seventeen years old, so she’ll be joining our seventh years.  If she needs help, I’m sure all of you will be only too happy to oblige.  Thank you."  And with that he sat down, and the babble of chatter resumed. 

          That evening, Felicity was surprised when Professor McGonagall cornered her. 

  "Miss Evans.  This is Emily Samuelson, Professor Dumbledore metioned her at breakfast.  She’s going to reside in Gryffindor for her stay, and as she’s in your year, I require you to look after her."  With that the Professor walked off, leaving the two girls looking at each other.

  "Hi!  I’m Felicity Evans.  Welcome to Em?!!"

  "Flick?  Good Lord!  What’re you doing here?"

  "Learning.  Well!  This is a turn up for the books.  When Dumbledore mentioned Emily Samuelson this morning it didn’t click, you know.  We really should have stayed in touch, but you moved."

  "When dad got the Minister of Magic post.  I know.  Fill me in.  What’s happened to you?  How’re your dad and Mags?"

  "Don’t laugh.  You know how Mags has always been completely undomesticated?"

  "Yeah.  I remember when she and your dad got engaged.  The first thing she said to you was ‘I’m glad your dad has you,

I’m never having children.’"

  "She obviously changed her mind." Flick said wryly.

  "You don’t mean?"

  "Yep.  My little sister, Katherine Mary Evans is now four months old."

  "There’s a turn up for the books!  How are you?  Are we going to the common room?"

  "It’s as good a place as any to start.  You’ll be able to meet my friends.  Don’t worry if they seem a bit daft.  Even Lily gets

a bit insane on occasion, and Cee lives in cloud cuckoo land.  I’m fine, incidentally.  I love it here!  What about you?  What’ve you been doing?" Emily groaned

  "Working!  I have to slog.  It would be mortifying if I failed my NEWT’s, you know, with Dad’s position.  He’s staying with a

Mr. Black at the moment.  Something to do with the Ministry."

  "Mr. Black?  Sirius’ dad.  It has to be.  He’s really nice."

          They reached the common room, and Sirius swooped on Felicity.

  "Where’ve you been?  There’s another article in the Daily- who on earth are you?"

  "Don’t mind Sirius." Felcity said to her bemused guest.  "His poor mother despairs of him, so she landed him on us."

  "Your boyfriend?"

  "Me?  Her boyfriend?  An ugly lump like her?  Where did you get that idea?" Sirius rejected Emily straight off.  "And who are you anyway?"

  "Sirius, this is Emily Samuelson."

  "Oh, the American chick!" Flick glared at him.

  "Do we look like baby birds?  Come on Em, I’ll inroduce you to the others."

  "Head girl and do gooder!" Felicity added.

  "You’ve met Cee and Ellie, I ‘spect.  And Sirius.  That’s Remus over there.  He has a tendency to the philosophical.  He’s trying to teach Peter how to do Morse Code, a muggle thing-"

  "I know.  My mum’s a muggle."

  "You know?  I love you, the others are complete duffers.  I’m muggle born myself, so I learnt it before coming here.  I didn’t know anything about magic though.  Anyway, James is the one sprawled in the chair over there.  And don’t be fooled by the book he’s reading either.  It’s called Five Hundred Pranks In Quick Easy Steps.  Dumbledore was having an off day when he made him Head boy!"

  "I heard that.  I’m an excellent one.  Not as boring as you."

  "Oh really." Lily’s voice took on a note of polite interest.  "So you’ll be only too happy to know, Mr Excitement, that we have a ball to plan.  And as I’m so boring perhaps you’d like to do it."  James looked at her, suddenly not so cocky.  Felicity laughed.

  "Your face.  She was joking.  There isn’t a ball.  Is there Lily?"

  "Actually I was serious.  The Yule Ball."

  "I thought that was to do with the Triwizard Tournament."

  "It is.  But who said you needeed the French and the Poles to have a good time?"

  "You don’t," Sirius piped up, "you have me!"

  "Exactly." Lily said, grinning at him.  "So, Sirius, life and soul of the party.  You’ll be helping Jimbo over there with his planning."

  "When did I say that?" Sirius backpedaled quickly.

  "Ah, go on Sirius.  The two of you can rope Remus and Peter into it, and it’ll be absolutely marvelous." Felicity was enthusiastic.

  "Well.  That’s settled then." Lily said, happily.  "I’ll tell Professor McGonagall to send any further instructions to you four. 

Now, Flick!  Why don’t we take Emily on a tour of the building?"

          The three of them walked off, arm in arm.  Sirius turned of Eleanor.

  "What did they do that for?"

  "I think it had something to do with James calling Lily boring.  And you calling Flick ugly.  Remus and Peter are just caught up in it because they’re your friends."

  "You’ve got to help us!" Sirius sounded desperate.

  "Uh uh.  I’m with Flick and Lil.  If you guys are so fabulous then you can be practical for one.  Come on Cee.  Have a nice time planning."  Ellie and Cee left the room.

    An hour later, the boys were around a table. Doing their best to have some sort of action plan for the bal, this being an idea they had borrowed from Helen Baxfield, a friend of Cee’s.

  "Sirius, we can’t seat Gryffindor’s next to Slytherins.  It wouldn’t work!" Remus protested when Sirius made a rather ambitious suggesion.  "Better to let people seat themselves, and just have several tables available."

  "Dancing!" James said suddenly.  Peter looked at him.

  "There is no way I am dancing!"

  "Peter it’s a ball - dancing is what you do!" James retorted.  "And that’s not what I was going to say.  We’ll need music. 

Anyone know a good band?"

  "Apart from the fact that half of them are male." Sirius retorted.

  "Ah. Good point.  We’ll just have to ask.  How many people go to this anyway?"

  "I dunno.  About 50?" Remus answered.

  "Fantastic.  A lot of planning then!" 

  "Not so’s you’d notice."

  "Marvelous!"

          Meanwhile, Lily was getting to know Emily.

  "My little brother’s at home in the States.  Dad said he’s too young to come without mum.  I don’t need supervision, but a seven year old high on sugar does, and my mum couldn’t come."

  "So how do you know Flick?"

  "We went to the same school.  Then she left.  We would have stayed in touch, but she left, and I moved before she had a chance to write.  Besides which I’m a hopeless correspondent!"

  "So’s Lily." Flick said happily.  "She writes one letter for seven of us to share around."

  "That’s not fair!"

  "Only joking!"

       They went on to explain the previous years excitements, and when they finished, Emily looked at them in admiration.

  "You guys sure have a lot of adventures!"

  "The one was more than enough." Lily said, primly.  And who could argue with that?

Chapter 8 - The Yule Ball

          Emily was only supposed to spend one day at Hogwarts, but her father had to spend more time than anticipated at the Brittish Ministry, so she joined Hogwarts as a temporary student for the rest of the Autumn term, and the Christmas

Holiday.

  "Flick!  You can’t.  It wouldn’t be the same!"

  "It’s alright for you!  You don’t have to worry about finding a partner, you’ll be going with James.  Some of us don’t have lover boys!"

  "I wish you wouldn’t say that!  Ellie, are you going with anyone?"

  "Remus.  Bless him, he doesn’t get out enough to ask anyone else, so I asked him, instead."

  "Somehow, I never saw the two of you as a couple." Cee mused thoughtfully.

  "Cecelia, how many times do I have to tell you we’re just dancing partners?"

  "Yeah right!" Cee scorned.  "Mike Adams asked me.  I said yes.  The guy is just too good looking to turn down!  Besides,

he’s a Ravenclaw.  Very intelligent!"

  "Cee, you’re incorrigible!" Lily exclaimed.  "What are you going to do Em?"

  "I haven’t really though about it," the tall American admitted.  "I suppose I’ll go alone."

  "Nah.  Peter’s gone on you.  He’ll ask."

  "I’d have to be desperate - sorry guys.  Me and my big mouth huh?"

  "Don’t worry about it.  I can see your point.  He’s not quite as, em, dashing as the others is he?" Lily stated the obvious.

  "I’m going to be a bachelor girl!" Flick announced, daringly. 

  "Why?" Emily asked curiously.  "Couldn’t you go with Sirius?"

  "Don’t go there." Lily advised.  "It’s dangerous ground.  Theirs is a love-hate relationship, and I think it’s currently in hate mode."

  "He called me ugly." Flick said obstinately.

  "That wasd two weeks ago!" Cee said in exasperation.  "He’s probably forgotten about it."

  "He also dropped itching powder on my chair."

  "Okay.  Don’t go to the ball with Sirius!" Ellie said hurriedly. 

          In the end, Andrew Lamsden asked Emily to the ball, and Flick true to her word went inescorted.

          The night of the ball, and the girls dormitory was bedlam.

  "Who stole my hairbrush?" Cee screeched above the racket.  "I need it!"  She did as well.  One of the problems of having wavy hair that touched your knees was that it tangled easily.  At that second it looked like a birds nest. 

  "Here, borrow mine." Lily threw hers over, her own mane of silky curls groomed, shining, and unbound.  The red of her hair sparkled in the lamplight.  Meanwhile, Felicity was bemoaning her very crumpled dress.

  "Who sat on it?  I left instructions - no one sit on my bed.  I only went to wash my hair for goodness sake.  Now what am I going to do?"  Ellie rescued her with a simple uncreasing charm.

          When they were all ready, they made a stunning crowd.  Flick had chosen to wear scarlet robes, made of satin, while

Lily in contrast wore floaty white.  Cee chose eggshell blue, and Ellie was resplendent in pale pink.  But it was Emily who made them gasp.  She was usually an ordinary looking girl.  Her elbow length nut brown hair was generally pulled back in a ponytail, and her grey eyes were hidden behind glasses.  But tonight the glasses were gone, the hair was in a sleek French pleat, and she was wearing robes of jade.

  "Ah, leave her be." Emily said, happily.  "You’re only young once.  Come on girls, lets go knock ‘em dead!"  And with that rather bold statement, they met their friends in the common room.

          The Great Hall paid tribute to the boys skill at delegation.  One thing was for sure, they weren’t responsible for the wreaths of holly, and elegant table arrangements.  The Christmas tree was a work of art, and there was an atmosphere of merriment.

          Somehow, the boys had got a band together, and they were playing softly.  Dancing would have to wait, however, dinner was to be served first.  Course after course of good food was placed at each of the small tabled strategically placed around the room.  Eventually, even the largest of appetites was satisfied.

  "The house elves must be having a field day!" Emily exclaimed, at one point.

  "What do you mean?" Lily asked curiously.

  "They absolutely adore being of service.  When they were told to do this, I expect they danced for joy."

  "Oh.  As long as they don’t view it a drudgery."

  "Nah.  They were practically kissing James’ feet when he asked them to do it."

  "Ugh!  Poor them!"

  "You can’t talk Lil.  You spend a fair amount of time attached to him."

  "Flick!  You’re disgusting!" Lily said, shocked.

  "True.  Aren’t you two going to dance?"  James answered that question for her, and they joined the couples gliding around the dance floor.  Flick looked on in satisfaction.

  "I love happy endings!" she said, gleefully.

  "Who said anything about ending?" Sirius asked from the opposite side of the table.

  "You know what I mean!"

  "Flick?"

  "What?"

  "Would you like to dance?"

  "It depends."

  "On what?"

  "Whether you’ll stand on my toes or not!"

      So Sirius and Flick took to the dance floor.  The two of them were clearly friends again.  Their relationship was explosive to say the least.  They had very similar characters, consequently, in their friendship they never did anything by halves.  Either they were friends, or they weren’t.  However, for all their faults, their disagreements never lasted long.  Both had hot tempers, quickly roused, and equally fast to fade.  Their friends despaired of them.  Both were incredibly witty, and many an hour had been spent listening to them as they had a sound off.  In spite of the insults that flew between them, their verbal banters were very entertaining. 

          The revelry went on for hours, but it had to stop at some point.  Eventually, everyone had left the room, and tired but happy were making their way back to either their common rooms or dormitories. 

          Grinning gleefully, James turned on Lily.

  "Never let it be said that I can’t organise a ball!"  And with that, he disappeared into the boy's dormitory.

  "‘Night James!" Lily called after him, pointedly.

Chapter 9 - The Christmas Holidays

          Silver Hall was breathtakingly majestic.  It had been built for Ellie’s great-great-great-grandfather, to replace the original manor house that was in disrepair.  The eighteenth century building was clean cut, and very simplistic, but it’s sheer size proved it to be a home of the rich.  Several stairs led up to the Italian style porch.  Once they entered the main hallway, Emily looked around, and admired the marble that decorated it.

  "Must be worth a fortune!" she muttered.  "Wish I lived somewhere like this."

          Eleanor’s parents were a pleasant looking couple, but quite out of place in the grandeur of their surroundings.  By contrast, Ellie herself was a natural lady.  Her command of every situation on her home ground was effortless.  Without realising they were doing so, her friends began calling her Eleanor.  Somehow the name ‘Ellie’ did not match the self assured young woman who showed her house with joy.

          On Christmas day, Lily woke in the bedroom she was sharing with Felicity.  Rubbing her eyes, she sat up.  The huge four poster bed was even larger than the one that was hers at school, and she looked quite lost in it’s vastness.  She shivered.  The morning was cold.  The house was set in the Scottish highlands, and snow was not uncommon.  She reached for her dressing gown, and then froze.  Flick’s bed was empty.

  "Flick?" she said, uncertainly.

  "Merry Christmas!" her friend exclaimed chirpily, as she left the en suite bathroom, fully clothed, and considerably more awake than Lily.

  "How long have you been up?" Lily demanded.

  "About an hour.  Honestly Lil, you were sleeping like the dead.  Hurry up and dress.  Cee and Eleanor are up and so’s Emily.  And the boys have been dressed for hours.

          So Lily pulled on her clothes, and then she and Flick joined their female friends.

  "Come on!" Eleanor said, excitedly.  "It’s time for breakfast.  The boys reckon they’re starving.  We were only waiting for

Lil."

  "You should have woken me!" Lily cried, embarassed.

  "No.  You looked to sweet all asleep, curled up in a ball.  But hurry up now."

          They tucked into a breakfast of bacon rolls and cereals of every type, chattering mettily, while Lord and Lady Silver looked on benignly.

  "We’ll be able to snow ball later!" Sirius said, between mouthfuls of roll.

  "Trust you to think of that!" Flick said, laughing.

  "We should open our presents first." Emily said, happily.

  "You baby!" Cee exclaimed.  "Your as bad as our Jo.  That’s all she ever thinks about - presents!"

  "It’s what Christmas is all about!" Emily said happily.

  "Unless you’re religious." Lily muttered in an undertone.

  "Pardon?"

  "These rolls are really good!" Lily said brightly.

  "The house elves will love you forever!" Eleanor smiled.

  "Good.  They all deserve gold stars."

  "Because if Lily cooked it-"

  "it would be an absolute mess!" Eleanor finished Cee’s sentence.  Lily was a notoriously bad chef, and Cee and Ellie had eaten one of her meals before then.  It was a feat never to be repeated.

  "Give over you two!" Lily exclaimed, outraged.  "My mum gave me lessons in the summer.  I can cook three meals now - beans on toast, spaghetti on toast, and cheese on toast!"

  "Don’t push it smarty." Flick leapt to her friends defense, oblivious to the fact that she had teased Lily previously.  "You can’t do it either."  Hurriedly. James intervened.

  "I think we’re all finished.  Off we go!"

          Much later, after a huge Christmas dinner, and several presents apiece, they were standing in the garden, debating how to split into two teams, in order to snowball fight.

  "I think we should just create all round bedlam!" Sirius stuck to that point stubbornly.

  "But it won’t be strategic.  And there won’t be a winner." Felicity objected.

  "Does that matter?" James queried.

  "It’s no fun without a winner!" Felicity exclaimed.

  "Yes, but Flick," Lily interrupted patiently, "there’s an odd number of us.  We can’t split into two even teams."

  "Hello!  What’s going on here?"  A tall, pleasant looking young man walked up the path.  

   "Josh!!" Eleanor exclaimed.  "What are you doing here?"

  "Funnily enough, sister dear, it’s my home.  And who are all these people?"

  "They’re my friends.  Guys, this is my brother, Joshua.  He’s been in Albania for the past seven years, playing with hippogriff’s.  Josh wants to be a vet, don’t you!"

  "For magical creatures." He concurred.  His blue eyes were the only feature that identified him as Eleanor’s brother.  His

hair was jet black, his complexion tanned a deep brown.  "But Ellie, who are these people?"

  "I told you, my friends!  And you know Cee anyway!  Lily, Flick, James, Remus, Peter, Sirius and Emily.  Emily’s only staying here until after the Christmas holidays though.  Her dad’s the American Minister for Magic, and he’s over here on business.  Emily knew Flick when they were at school in the states."

  "Flick?  Oh! Felicity!  Are you American then?" he turned to the girl with the big brown eyes.

  "No.  Welsh."

  "But-"

  ‘My dad worked over there after my mum died.  When he remarried we moved back here, and now we live in London." She explained.

  "Oh, right.  How’re you doing Cee?  How’s Jon?"

  "Cee’s brother and Josh were in the same year at school.  That’s how Cee and Josh know each other." Ellie explained to the others.

  "Married." Cee said glumly,

  "You sound so enthusiastic!" he teased.

  "And he’s a dad too.  Poor Violet.  I bet he came up with that name!" Cee still hadn’t got over her niece being called Violet.

  "It’s a pretty name." Lily butted in.  "Better than Lily, anyway."

  "Lily’s a nice name too." Josh smiled.

  "I think I’ve fallen in love!" Lily joked.

  "But I do know!" James retorted.

  "Never mind.  You know I was only joking." And she stood on tiptoes and gave him a quick kiss.

  "From that I’ll deduce that those two are heading for domestic bliss." Josh observed.

  "Tell me about it!" Flick exclaimed, in disgust.  "By the end of the year they’ll be married and have done with it."

  "Not if I can help it." James said, bluntly.  "We’d be living in the streets, with no job, and no food.  Very good way to start life, I don't think!"

  "Ever the optimist." Cee said sarcastically.  "Getting back to the snowball fight.  Josh, you can join the boys, and we’ll play boys versus girls."

          Cee’s idea was a good one, and soon they were running around squeals carrying in the still frosty air.  Eventually they stopped. 

  "We won!  We won!" Flick crowed joyfully.

  "Typical female." Sirius muttered.  "Rub salt into the wound!"

          At the end of the holidays, they had to say good bye to Emily.  She’d only known them for a few weeks, but she fit into the group very well, and earned herself the mischief maker reputation when she ‘accidentally’ brewed her potion incorrectly, and Severus Snape, with whom she was obliged to work, ended up covered in boils.  They were now enemies for life.

  "Don’t forget to write." Lily told her, firmly.  "We can always have conversations at midnight using the ‘summaticus’ charm. 

I have to admit that having a head in the fire isn’t the best solution, but it’ll work.  Then we can have proper conversations. 

You take care okay!"

  "If you find anything out about the Lead movement then let us know as soon as possible.  That way, we’ll have some idea of what we’re dealing with.  And when we have another message decoded, we’ll let you know." Cee added.  It was left to

Flick to coin the occasion.

  "Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do!  And that includes sucking up!" she said, with a pointed look at Lily.

  "I’m wounded." Lily said, with mock hurt.  "I can’t help it if they love me.  I"m just a loveable person."