Lily Black and the Twin Souls (Book Three)

Chapter Ten: Werewolves and Chocolate

The moment Lily was sure Harry was okay, she disappeared from the Hosptial Wing to try and gather what was left of his broom. It had blown right into the Whomping Willow and was likely in pieces, but she imagined Harry would want the pieces. It was his first broom ever. And a gift. It took several hours and a lot of magic for her to find just about every twig of the broom. 

When she returned to the Hospital Wing, it was dark out and Madam Pomfrey was very reluctant to let her in.

"Please, Poppy? Come on, you know you love me!" She exclaimed, letting her face fall into the pout she knew was very hard to resist.

The stern woman stared at her for several minutes, looking conflicted. Eventually, she sighed and ushered her inside. Harry immediately perked up when he caught sight of Lily and grinned at her. 

"Hi, Li — what's that?" He asked, spotting the remains of his broom in her arms.

She grimaced and dumped the whole thing onto his clean sheets, covering them with twigs, dirt, rain, and leaves. She had a feeling Madam Pomfrey would not be so sympathetic once she saw that.

"Since you're sad about your broom, I brought it to you," she said, gesturing to the pile of sticks. "And you'd better not be ungrateful, because I just spent hours in that hurricane collecting it all."

Harry stared at her for several seconds, and it startled her to see that he actually looked close to tears.

She immediately backtracked. "Or, I guess I could take it and toss it..." she said hesitantly.

"No!" Harry exclaimed, pulled Lily into a sudden hug.

She blinked and then hugged him back, feeling rather confused as to why he was getting so emotional over a broomstick. Then she remembered he was Harry Potter. He got emotional over everything. It was usually quite funny, but she didn't know what to do with teary teenage boys. She awkwardly patted his back and then quickly stepped back.

"Thank you, Lily," he told her sincerely.

Lily chuckled awkwardly. She wasn't good with sincere. Like at all.

"Just make sure not to get the snitch or die trying, all right? It's Tommy's job to try to kill you, not yours."

Because she just had to make that joke at that moment. Luckily, Harry laughed and nodded, smiling happily at her. She heard footsteps from where Madam Pomfrey was and instantly froze, eyes drifting to the dirty sheets on Harry's bed.

"Got to go!" she yelped and took off out of the Hospital Wing with Harry's laugh echoing behind her.

*-*-*

The rest of Lily's weekend was spent alternating between sneaking into the Hospital Wing to visit Harry (Madam Pomfrey was very mad), pranking with Teddy, and hanging out with Ash. The dragon was huge, and Lily hoped that she might be able to let her out to fly sometime. Sure, she could fly in the enchanted trunk, but it wasn't quite the same. 

Monday came quickly and with it Defense Against the Dark Arts. Lily had ended up taking Moony some brownies that she and Teddy had made, which took at least three tries before they were edible by normal humans. Even when they were, they were so chocolaty that anyone other than Moony, Teddy, or Lily would have a difficult time eating them. She had also made sure that Teddy ate more than a dozen brownies, considering he had to go through the exact same thing as Moony.

Lily was first into the Defense classroom with Teddy at her side, a wide grin on his face. Luckily, with Lily with him, the moon had been less terrible than it could have. Lily found herself wishing very much that she could stay with both werewolves so she didn't have to always worry about one. But, she was half-sure they would end up tearing into each other if they ever came across each other on a full moon. Meaning that wouldn't be happening anytime soon. 

"How is this fine day treating you, Professor Moony?" she asked with a beam as she took a seat in the front row with Teddy next to her.

Moony blinked and smiled when he realized it was Lily. "Alright," he replied. "I heard Professor Snape taught for me last week, am I going to have a lot of complaints?"

Lily and Teddy grimaced in sync and Moony's face filled with dread. 

"Don't tell me it was that bad," he muttered, eyeing the pair warily.

"Well," Lily hedged, not really wanting to tell him. "Snape made us study — er — werewolves."

All colour drained from Moony's face and Lily smiled weakly.

"If it makes you feel any better, I got detention for telling the truth. But at least I got to stick out my tongue as I left," she said smugly.

Moony groaned. "Of course you did," he muttered. "Is it odd that that actually does make me feel somewhat better?"

"Not at all," Lily and Teddy answered in perfect sync with angelic smiles on their faces. Moony looked entirely unconvinced that they hadn't hit him with a cheering charm or something of the sort, but said nothing of it when the rest of the class began filing in.

As soon as everyone was settled into their seats, they burst, as one, into a flurry of complaints.

"It's not fair, he was only filling in, why should he give us homework?" 

"We don't know anything about werewolves —" 

"Can we start a rally in favour of removing Sni—Snape as a teacher?!" 

That one was Lily, but it did manage to get multiple murmurs of agreement.

 "— two rolls of parchment!" 

 "Did you tell Professor Snape we haven't covered them yet?" Moony asked, frowning slightly. The babble broke out again. 

 "Yes, but he said we were really behind —" 

 "— he wouldn't listen —" 

 "— two rolls of parchment!" 

Moony smiled at the look of indignation on every face. "Don't worry. I'll speak to Professor Snape. You don't have to do the essay." 

"Oh no," said Hermione, looking very disappointed. "I've already finished it!"

Immediately, Lily narrowed her eyes and stared very closely at the other witch. She knew Hermione was intelligent but was she smart enough to find out Moony's secret? Lily certainly hoped not.

Once the babble had died down, Moony led them all in a very enjoyable lesson about Hinkypunks. Lily had greatly enjoyed making faces at the creature and watching as it got madder and madder. Eventually, Moony had to tell her to stop with the faces because the Hinkypunk looked ready to lure her into a bog and kill her. She did so reluctantly.

When class ended for the day, Lily gladly returned to the kitchens with Teddy to make some more brownies. As it happened, they both had a bit of a developing addiction to the things and the house-elves' eagerness to help wasn't going to help it much.

As they ate brownies and laughed, Lily found herself wishing her entire life could be that peaceful moment. She was well aware she would stop being just Flame the moment she stepped out the door of the kitchens and resume her role as 'the murderer's daughter'. 

Deciding to savour the perfect moment, Lily smiled at Teddy and took another brownie.

A/N: I would like to note that the reason this chapter exists is that @lodestar13 essentially guilt-tripped me into writing it. So this chapter is dedicated to them for motivating me. Thank you all for your wonderful comments, it really means a lot! Enjoy.