�This what?�
�Us. US.�
He shrugged. �Yeah, pretty much.�
That made her lose control. Her sweet, helpless look faded, and her brows rushed together, crinkling up her face.
�You�ll be sorry for that. You just wait. I�ll hate you forever, James Potter, and you�ll never get out of this mess! You and your little Evans buddy both! You�re as good as roadkill, and after my father gets through with you, you�ll be worse!�
�Since when does anyone get sent to Azkaban for dumping his girlfriend? You know, if that were the case, half the world would be in there, not to mention three-fourths of the rest of the universe.�
�RRgh!� Serena made a sort of hissy noise, coming from somewhere deep down inside her throat. It sounded ugly. She realized that just after it came out, and, turning around with a �humph�, she flounced straight for Gryffindor Tower, forgetting that she hadn�t had dinner last night and hadn�t had breakfast, either.
Lily stepped out from her post behind a statue. �Very well done indeed! And you didn�t get cursed!�
�I almost did. The only thing that saved me was that the Minister of Magic�s daughter has been brought up with the threat of soap if she ever used a bad word.�
�You know very well what I mean.�
�Yeah.� He grinned. �So, how did I do?�
�I told you. Very nicely.�
�Good. Thanks to my mentor here!� He gave her a playful hug, and just then, the bell for them to go to classes rang. Lily rolled her eyes as she picked up her bookbag.
�I�m going to class. See you later.�
�Whatcha got first?�
�Study of Ancient Runes. Same as I�ve had the whole year.�
�Oh, right.� He smacked himself in the forehead. �Well, see you later, then.� They separated and made for their respective classes just as the hordes started pouring out of the Great Hall.
Lily related the whole scene to Sirius in Study of Ancient Runes, and he came close to getting detention for howling so loudly when Lily told him about the hissy noise. He had to be poked severely before he got the �shut up� message.
When lunch rolled around, the news of that morning was all over the school, courtesy of a sixth year, Bertha Jorkins, who had the best memory for gossip and the nosiest personality. Everyone except Serena was in a wonderful mood, which was expected. It would have been rather scary if Serena had been in a good mood. The only thing out of the ordinary that happened that night was a note Remus passed to Lily in Divination.
Full moon tonight.
Lily looked up at him and nodded shortly. She knew what that meant, and so did Sirius and James, who coolly snatched the note out of her hands as soon as she had finished reading it. However, they exchanged a glance they thought was private, saying as much as �Tonight�. Several other people caught it, but Lily was the only one that knew about the room they had furnished, and she knew exactly what they were planning to do.
Remus didn�t show up for dinner; he was already inside the Whomping Willow. The common room emptied itself around ten, but Lily had slipped into her black cloak and nightgown at nine. She had hidden herself behind the blankets covering the walls in the �Animagi room�, as she called it, at nine-thirty, when Sirius and James entered, at ten, she was completely concealed; not even a scrap of clothing peeked out.
Yawning a bit, the boys entered, throwing a stack of quills and rolls of parchment onto the floor. Sirius flipped the blanket covering the secret closet aside and opened it, pulling out several books.
�Say, what were you supposed to be working on tonight?�
�The meditation research. Only problem is, we�ve only got Volumes I and II. We need III.�
�I know. But Pince hoards it like a vulture. I set off the alarm the other night when I went in there.�
�I know you did. I could hear that annoying screech all the way up here. Pince needs to get a better alarm.�
�It�s a good thing you have that cloak.�
�I know. Very good thing. But it�s not going to be any use if you keep tripping the alarm.�
Sirius dumped the large amount of parchment into the closet and closed it. �Well, excuse me! You�re going for it next time!�
�I was about to suggest that. What was Peter supposed to be doing before he decided he was too tired?�
�Copying down the non-standard procedures. He�s already got the basic ones down, but he needs to get to work on the meditation notes.�
�He doesn�t copy fast, does he?�
�You�re asking?� Sirius� jaw almost dropped.
�Oh, right. Still, have you found the pronunciation yet in that book?�
�It�s two thousand pages long. No.�
�But you did find out whether we get to pick our animals or not, didn�t you?�
�Yeah.�
�So?�
Sirius shrugged. �We don�t. The animal looks like we do. Unless we can find this other book, we can�t choose. If we really don�t want to, though, we can go ahead and do it next month.�
�And risk coming out a goldfish? No thanks! We�ll wait.�
�You�re sure?�
�Positive!�
They didn�t say much the rest of the night; they were mostly copying down things and doing calculations. Lily was starting to think that she would love to wash those musty blankets in a good, strong, sweet-smelling detergent, and she almost sneezed several times. When the boys packed up their work, Lily felt it was none too soon, being two in the morning. She had to stay in her place, however, for a few minutes after they left, and even then she came pretty close to being caught, as James had forgotten to close the closet door and had to come back and do it. Finally, however, she got back into bed.
April passed in a blur, May was starting, and the teachers were heaping more work than usual on them, seeing that O.W.L.s were next year and the exams were coming up. The common room at night was filled with whining and groaning, and most of the fourth years passed on the offered trip to Hogsmeade. Lily was getting fed up with explaining to people the right way to make Divination predictions and to dissect spiders, and she was ready for bed long before anyone else was.
But sleep made her a bit clumsy, so when she pulled her jewelry box out of her trunk, so as to put her earrings in it, it crashed to the floor. Her eyes widened. The elf-nymph necklace was in there, and if it hit the floor without her-She grabbed it quickly, but she knocked it against the corner of the trunk. Immediately, she was caught up in the familiar whirlwind, heading to the Alendoren Cove, frightened out of her wits.
She landed with a soft bump, right in front of Tom. As he jumped up in surprise, she was able to stifle a small gasp of fright and astonishment.
�Lily!�
�Tom! Goodness!�
He helped her up. �Hullo. Guess what.�
�What?�
�I�m progressing!�
�Huh?� Lily spit out a mouthful of sand.
�I�ve discovered several more methods for immortality.�
�More?�
�Yeah!� By this time they were inside the cave. �Just think of it! I might be running the world someday!�
�Happy, happy, joy, joy.� Lily was tired.
Litharelen, in more or less homo sapien form (she had legs instead of her tail), was lying on the floor, dozing softly, but she jumped up as soon as Lily and Tome entered, smoothing her dark green gown.
�Lily! Where�d you come from?�
�My bed. Which is where I wish I was.�
�Oh, really.� Tom pulled a pitcher of something liquid out of the shelf. �Come on, perk up. Have something to drink.�
Litharelen raised her head lazily. �It�s litaleter. Be careful.�
Lily smiled and took a glass filled with the liquid light from Tom. �Thanks.�
�So-� Tom stretched, knocking into a bookshelf-�what�s new where you are?�
�Nothing, really. I suppose-well, did you get your book open?�
�I did.� He grinned proudly, but then his smile faded. �But it�s too late to bring either of out parents back.�
Lily pulled her face into a sad sort of pout. �I know. But I guess I should have known I can�t change death.�
�Yeah�� He looked over at her. �Guess what?�
�What?�
�The Ministry isn�t happy at all that I�m going for immortality. This may be war.�
Lily jumped, whirling around to look at him. Unfortunately, he was serious.
�Tom!�
�I can�t help it.�
�You can, too! Who says you have to be immortal?"
"Lily, it's my dream! Think of it! I could rule the world!"
"And what good would that do you, once you're the Supreme Hi-yu-mighty-muck-a-muck of all things? Just tell me that, Tom Riddle! Tell me! Don't stand there gaping like a scared fish; tell me!"
She was angry now, angrier than she had been in days, weeks, months even. Her hair was waving wildly about her face, unnerving even Tom, and she might have gone on yelling at him for ages if Litharelen hadn't interrupted.
"Lily?"
The redhead whirled. "What?"
"Lily, he won't learn. It's no good. I tried; believe me. Come down and help me brush Svordsja down?"
Lily was puzzled, but still a bit fiery. "Svordsja?"
Litharelen laughed at her surprise. "Come!" She took Lily's arm and they left the cave, running lightly over glittering white sands bordering frothing white waves of foam. They quickly came to a small hut, almost hidden by an overhanging cliff. Litharelen opened the door, moving forward to greet something or someone inside. Lily heard soft sounds of brushing, and a few quiet murmurings, and then Litharelen came to the door.
"Come on! But don't get too close-she doesn't like anyone except me and Tom."
Lily followed her inside, and what she saw there literally took her breath away and rendered her speechless.
True, she had seen a unicorn once, from a distance, when she was watching a Care of Magical Creatures class from a window, and she had used grated and powdered horn of a bicorn, but she had never seen anything like this animal. It was clear that it belonged to the same sort of family; the glossy coat was a pearly white, the adornment on the forehead a mixture of pearl and silver, and the mane and tail silver thread. Its eyes were calm and cool, black and liquid, sweet yet dangerous. Magnificent and awe-inspiring, its head towered four feet above her, and when it pawed the ground, the sparkling sand crusted the pearly hooves. Lily had never heard of anyone seeing one of these in the last century.
Unicorns weren't as rare; neither were bicorns. This one, however, had five. Five beautiful silver-and-white entwined points, each growing from a small point in the animal's forehead, billowing out and coming together at the tips where they were fastened to each other by their own vine-like points. The crown-like constellation reminded Lily of something-her fingers clasped around her own midnight-blue and gold necklace, and she fingered the five talons that held the stone in place. Of course! The space inside the graceful tangle of the pentacorn's horn was just the right size for a stone like her own, like Litharelen's, only much larger. Lily moved forward tentatively, but she retreated as the animal snorted loudly; pawed the ground.
Litharelen had vanished for a minute, but she reappeared then, carrying a pitcher full of something that frothed and bubbled. Lily recognized the scent of the iridescent liquid-it was the same dew that the waters of the Alendoren Cove were made of. Steaming and foaming, Litharelen poured it into a basin next to the pentacorn, who immediately started to drink deep drafts, snorting steam every once in a while.
Litharelen laughed lightly at Lily's amazement. "So, you've never seen anyone like Svordsja before?"
"No. It-she-she's beautiful. I've never seen anything like her."
"Of course not." Litharelen seated herself on the sands of the stable floor, patting Svordsja's flank. "She's one of the beauties of her kind, and they surpass all other creatures, both in power and in splendor."
"I can see why! But what about the unicorns and such?"
Litharelen sniffed. "They! They're mere imitations! Of course," she amended, looking a bit scornful, "maybe I shouldn't say that."
"Imitations?"
"Not really. They started out just like Svordsja, beautiful and tall, with the tiara-horns. But then Man-" here she gave another sniff-"tried to make them produce heirs with not only five, but six, seven, ten. It backfired, and unicorns came out, mostly. We have hardly any of Svordsja's kind left, now."
"Oh. I see. I do wish-I do wish we hadn't done that." Lily looked up at the solemn creature; she still had to do so even though Svordsja had knelt down on the sands and Litharelen was using her as an armchair. Without thinking about anything she did, Lily stood up, slowly, from the stone bench she had been sitting on. Svordsja looked up, frightened.
Lily moved about five centimeters per minute, and Litharelen, after putting a pale hand on Svordsja's heart, stared at Lily, puzzled. She didn't stop Lily from moving forward. Slowly, carefully, Lily inched forward over the floor. It seemed ages before the willful beast lifted her head and stared right into her eyes, ages before she was within a foot of the noble head, aeons before the pentacorn slowly inclined her head towards Lily's hand.
Litharelen let out a deep breath. "How'd you do that?"
"Do what?" Lily was hardly moving her mouth.
"Svordsja-she can't stand anyone besides Tom and me! She broke my mother's leg once-why's she trusting you?"
"I don't know. Cats like me."
"But those are cats. This-" she lightly jerked her armchair's head towards her-"this is a pentacorn. They're terribly shy."
Tom stuck his head in the doorway, stopped, and let out a low whistle.
"Lily! How on earth-" He started to smile craftily, with the adventurous sparkle in his eyes. Lily knew that smile.
"Tom?"
"Do you want to learn how to ride?"
Litharelen jumped up. "Tom! Svordsja could kill her! You don't know what you're doing!"
Tom ignored her. "Lily?"
Lily took one look at the pentacorn sniffing her palm, feeling the cool breath of the animal on her hand, and she made up her mind.
"If Svordsja will let me."
Every spare weekend from then on, every moment that Lily had to herself when she was sure that no one would bother her, she spent at the Alendoren Cove, with Tom and Svordsja. The pentacorn itself was one of the friendliest magical creatures she had ever known, and once she got used to riding bare-back on a mount nine feet high, counting its head, she lost herself in the speed of the animal as it galloped over sands, between clashing waves, usually under glowing moonbeams.
There was another thing about pentacorns Lily learned that May; they were the fastest creatures ever known to any living thing, including any extinct beings. When Tom finally let her gallop by herself, Svordsja took off towards the sea. Lily should have been holding on for dear life, but something seemed to weld her and Svordsja together as they plunged through the waves. She never fell off; not once, and Tom and Litharelen were almost dumbstruck at the ease with which Lily could make the pentacorn rear, beating its hooves against the sky, and come down lightly, without making Lily slip an inch towards the ground.
Soon riding became second nature to her, just as breathing did. Tom told her that if she tried to get on a regular horse's back, she'd find it about as challenging as flipping a light switch. But when June loomed up, she had to stop her frequent nightly rides, as the exams were getting more real every day. She only came twice; when the rest of the school went to Hogsmeade and when she told her friends she had to speak to Dumbledore, and then the visits were over much too soon. She never felt as at peace as when she was on Svordsja's back, thundering over the beach and threading through boulders, but it always ended far too soon.
Lily had noticed that Tom was always busy when she arrived; he was usually flipping through volumes or writing letters. He had acquired three regular barn owls for this purpose, and they were hardly ever at rest in their cages. Once she had even surprised him conferring with about three people-one was elderly, with a long white beard; Tom called him Macnair. The other two she knew to be the fathers of two of the Slytherins: one, Nott, had a brown mustache and a silver girdle, the other, whose name was Avery, had a weak sort of whitish goatee, though he couldn't be over forty.
They Apparated, however, as soon as she stepped inside the cave, and Tom had closed his book and flung a cloak on over his head, it being windy outside. Lily had asked him who those people were, and his answer was "Ministry officials." It was all he would say on the subject, however, and he was starting to get somewhat tense.
And something else started happening-to Lily, though. She usually had a glass of the litaleter or dove under the waves to see Litharelen, if she wasn't there when she arrived. Litharelen was always a good mentor for the riding lessons; she could control the pentacorn with a touch of her hand on Svordsja's neck, and she was the one who pointed out, when Tom was trying to demonstrate, that he would actually stay on if he would grip her flanks harder with his knees. And the result was, whenever she left the water or put a glass of the liquid silver light down, that she started to change again.
Her hearing started to sharpen and her ears would lengthen to a tiny point; her eyesight grew keener as he eyes grew more snake-like with silver threads crossed through them. The silver streaks would appear in her hair, her skin even started to acquire a bit of a pearly glow. But most of those things faded within a half-hour of returning to England; all except the heightened senses and the glow from her skin. And, every time she returned to the cove, the effects would last longer. Not that she minded; she really actually enjoyed the strangeness of her reflection whenever she glanced at the sea from Svordsja's back.
However, in June, those things were driven out of her head by the upcoming exams. She studied hard this time; studied practically every night from five to six, then from seven to twelve. It wasn't such a drawback, helping other people; it actually helped her fix the facts in her own mind. There are just so many times you can hear the words, "The average baby unicorn has four hundred bones in its horn" before they become fixed in one's mind, and Lily had heard them several million times.
She had won twenty points for Gryffindor in the Anatomy essay they had been assigned on the subject of pentacorn endangerment, which had several thousand facts about them that could not be found in the books. Professor Maar was very pleased.
The Transfiguration exam was by far the hardest for most. Transfiguring a painting of a miracle (the picture was of three men fitting into a boat that would hardly have held a dog before capsizing) into a hand-painted lampshade was something they hadn't had much practice with (points were added according to how pretty the lampshade was and extra bonus points were given if it had a stand, but taken away if the lampshade was disfigured; Sirius tried that. He had Transfigured his miracle very nicely, into a hand-painted lampshade, but it was slashed and disfigured and dusty. It did him no good to complain that it was a lampshade.), and, accordingly, it was difficult. However, the hardest exam for Lily was the Divination one, where she had to pretend to be seeing the future in a pack of cards. It was hard enough, breathing in that room, but when one has to think up convincing stories, the mind shuts down because of the strain. Lily had had to find a way around that.
She did, too. Professor Trelawney never noticed that Lily was seeing odd patterns in the hanging beads that covered the doorway to her office, like birds, three sun-things, and an ax. She was also ignorant of the fact that Lily had no yellow canary with blue feathers (a bit of a contradiction). So when Lily told her teacher that someone would chop off her canary's head with an ax in three days, Professor Trelawney was surprised and pleased. Lily was rather amused.
That exam over, they only had two others left: History of Magic and Defense Against the Dark Arts. History of Magic was held in a different classroom; James and Sirius having tried to cancel the exams by dropping a large crate of Dungbombs next to Professor Binns' chair before he entered. It failed, though; as Professor McGonagall pointed out, there were several hundreds of empty classrooms in Hogwarts and the existence of detentions. And Professor Binns liked to go to sleep early after making his notes for the next day's lesson, so he had no intention of giving the whole class detention (no one told him who did it), or, indeed, of thinking up different detentions for each person in the class. James looked as if he wanted to strangle Professor McGonagall when she pointed that out. However, Sirius mentioned that she would probably fight back and probably win, so James dropped that.
They had to sit through hour after hour of writing down names and dates and sites of famous battles and Lily was wondering, when she was through, what kind of drugs the mothers of goblins must have been on to name their children 'Urg the Unclean' and other interesting names of that sort. It was a great relief when lunch came around and they could leave the classroom that hadn't been dusted in years, it seemed. Professor Binns appeared to be used to dust, and he was wondering at the sneezing fits people got frequently. He evidently thought that the remedy for that was rapping his knuckles on his desk asking for silence, but he also evidently thought wrong.
Lunch had never tasted so good. And the Great Hall had never seemed so dust-free. Everyone that had just come out of that classroom was either, a), ticked at Sirius and James, b), dusting themselves viciously all over while yawning violently, or c), all of the above. Lily was a tiny bit of a) and quite a bit of b), though she was the only one that wasn't quite a bit of a).
Defense Against the Dark Arts was fun, for a change. Professor Vouladka had rounded up a boggart and three Red Caps; also a few grindylows and two creatures no one had ever seen before. They seemed to be a cross between a scaly sort of water creature and a baby dragon, but they had the most annoying spell-repelling shells anyone had ever seen. Lily managed to hit Abigail in the eye with a Shrinking Spell when she ducked out of the way of the bluish-green blast issuing back at her. Abigail wasn't too happy when she found that she had a pea-sized eyeball rolling around in a rather large socket, and she continued to be miffed all through lunch. Finally, after the hundred thirty-second "I'm sorry" from Lily (James had counted), Lily gave up and left Abigail by herself to sulk while she went outside with Eva to lie on the grass, counting stars. Eva got one thousand two hundred thirty-three; Lily got one thousand fifteen hundred eighty-six and a half. Which, as Eva pointed out, was a bit unrealistic, but Lily didn't care. Half of a star was just as good a unit as a whole star, and that thing that was white but didn't twinkle up there near the North Tower didn't deserve to be counted as a whole star. Stars twinkled, Lily said, firmly, and if you didn't twinkle you had no right to call yourself a star.
The next week was Heaven. Or Hell, if you counted the blazing heat the sun seemed to have fun giving off. But there were no lessons, no homework, no detentions (if you were lucky, which Peter wasn't; he had the odd gift of ticking off Professor McGonagall by doing absolutely nothing at all), and the only thing you had to worry about was how to avoid three vicious fourth years with all the time in the world on their hands. Though Lily didn't have to worry about that. She had already started on her summer work, and she lashed out viciously at anyone who dared to disturb her. The scars on Peter's arm were evidence of that.
By the time that there was only a day of time spent at Hogwarts left (you couldn't really call it school, since the only thing one learned was how to evacuate quickly if Dungbombs were dropped), Lily had finished all of her summer work and had turned it in to her teachers. She had to assure her friends and acquaintances frequently that she was not going for an extended stay at St. Mungo's, but she had the odd feeling they didn't believe her.
It was a blazing day outside; blazing hot rays of sunshine, that is. Every single student was outside on the lawns, preferably under a tree and close to the lake. Serena was a bit envied by several of the girls; about five boys had jumped up, giving her their seats. But Lily and Amanda, who were the ones left sitting on the grass with no sort of protection over them, got a bit fed up with the heat, threw off the annoying black robes, rolled up their pants legs and shirt sleeves, removed their socks and shoes, and jumped right into the lake, ignoring the threat of a month's detention for everyone if one student jumped in the lake.
It was refreshingly cool; and within a few minutes of splashing each other and tripping over rocks in the lake floor, they were completely soaked. The grounds, which a minute before had been filled with groans and noises of parchment being made into fans, were within instants teeming with splashing noises and small yelps and giggles and laughter. Also sparks and other things of the sort. Severus and his friends were cursing and jinxing everything in sight; in fact, Lily wasn't sure that he didn't use the Imperious Curse on Peter, making him jump in and out of the water, squealing like a pig before the slaughter, besides turning odd-looking somersaults in the air. It was rather amusing to look at, and, since everyone had been laughing at him, Peter didn't have the nerve to go and tell a teacher.
Serena, Sheila, and Co. were the only ones left sitting on the grounds. They had no intention of getting their hair wet with that lake water, which no doubt held all of the refuse from all the toilets in Hogwarts. Besides, they might get wet. But, after a few minutes, of sitting down and avoiding droplets of water sprinkling the air, Diana threw up her hands and joined the crowd. Serena gasped affectedly when Miranda tripped her and she went flying, face-first, into a sort of hole in the lake bottom, but she sniffed and turned away when Diana came up spluttering with choked giggles. Lily was quite happy to see Diana break out of Serena's group; she really was a bit too shallow for comfort while she was in that clique. But when the real Diana surfaced, she was a quite agreeable person that laughed easily.
They had to get out of the lake before a teacher saw them, but even so, they came close to being caught when Professor Zimmermann saw them rushing for the showers, dripping wet. They didn't know if she was taken in by Lily's "Potter and Sirius have discovered giant water balloons," but, then again, she was a rather clueless person, even though she was a teacher. When they finally got back into their respective common rooms, the carpets were soaked with residue of shampoo and cold water, and the bathrooms were completely empty of towels; every girl had one around her head.
They were all rather exhausted from laughing and swimming and dunking each other, so the only energy they had left was spent in wondering if Dumbledore had heard of such a thing as air conditioning, trying to see if a powdery instant coffee creamer was flammable (it was) and whether or not the Exploding Snap cards would still explode if they were wet (they didn't). It had been the nicest day anyone had ever had in a long time.
All too soon, it was time for them to go to bed, and all too soon it was time for them to leave the school so as to catch the Hogwarts Express back home. Eva, Lily, Vanessa, Amanda, and Diana got a compartment together, near the back of the train. They amused themselves for the last few hours of their legal magic use by adding multicolored, curly, boingy, furry tails to whoever poked his or her head inside the compartment; all except the witch with the cart. When they got off of the train, Peter had one with sprouty little leaf things on it (it was Amanda's first try), Remus three, Sirius six and a half (Vanessa had messed up her spell), James seven, Serena one, Severus and Lucius four each, and Bertha Jorkins fourteen. Ever since she had gotten the idea into her head that James dumped Serena because of a certain red-head, she had taken to following Lily wherever she went, and they had caught her listening outside their compartment door numerous times. It was a great load of fun to see the odd stares she got when she stepped through the barrier to the Muggle world.
Mr. Evans and Petunia met Lily when she stepped through the barrier, pushing the usual heavy trolley in front of her. She was welcomed back with breath-murdering hugs, and, when they got outside King's Cross, blinking in the sunlight, Lily discerned the outlines of a new car that her father was loading the trunk into. A sort of a champagne color, it gleamed brightly. Petunia was swelling with pride as she saw the look on Lily's face.
"I picked it out. Don't you like it?"
"I do. I do." Lily was making a violent 'yes' with her head, almost blinding herself with the whip-like strands of hair that were lashing the air.
It was rather quiet to drive in; not as loud and squeaky as their other car had been, and it didn't break down quite so much whenever they had to stop suddenly. All in all, it was a rather nice car, and Lily had to admit that Petunia had nice taste, in cars, at least.
