Forever A Marauder

Thirteen: Lily

LILY

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The newspaper landed in front of Lily, almost landing the plate of food. She made a sound of annoyance, jerking it away from the plates.

"Owls..." She mumbled, unraveling the twine around the thick paper. The moving picture on the front cover showed the new replacement for Calysta's mother's job.

"They hired a permanent new head of the department. Your mom's job." Lily said softly, nudging Calysta's arm. James, whose shoulder was touching hers, leaned his head over as he put another bite of his breakfast into his mouth.

"I still wonder where she disappeared to. And how she did it. I thought I could hate her for what she did, but she's my mom... I can't bring myself to," Calysta mumbled, tapping her blue-painted fingernails on the wooden surface of the table.

"At least your mom has enough redeeming qualities to make her likable after doing something like that." Sirius smirked slightly. Calysta didn't make a retort, but simply picked at her nails.

The side of the table Lily was on provided a clear view of the Slytherin table. She saw many students she knew; few of them civilized towards her. Lily's eyes connected with a certain fellow seventh year's. Severus. She immediately looked away, her cheeks coloring slightly. Does he feel as morose about their crushed friendship as she did? Lily didn't know if she should be as torn up about it as she was, but it just happened so fast and they never talked again after the fact.

"Lil?" James' voice echoed into her ears, drawing her from her thoughts. She looked at him with a start. Her cheeks colored slightly at his closeness. His shaggy black hair covered part of one eyes, stuck behind his glasses. Gently, she pulled it away and trailed her fingers down his jaw line. "Lost in my beauty, Evans?" He winked.

"Oh, James!" She groaned, not helping the small giggle that escaped her mouth. "Don't you comb your hair?"

"In fact, I do." James raised an eyebrow.

"But it never stays." Peter chimed in at James' expense. James frowned at him. Remus and Sirius barked out a laugh.

"Try a spell to keep it...neat?" Lily smiled James' expression. James shrugged.

"I like it like it is," He huffed. Sirius gulped and leaned his elbows on the table.

"I could go back to bed." He said, off topic. Sirius covered his face with his hands, his back hunching. Calysta laid a hand on his back and her eyes flowed back and forth on the page about the replacement man.

"Anything interesting?" Remus asked, leaning across the table to also look at the newspaper. Calysta's head turned with the paper as Remus positioned it between them.

"Nothing. All it says is that there is a possible lead, so maybe." Calysta shook her head slightly. "Does the Ministry allow letters in and out of Azkaban?" She questioned.

"I'm not sure. They allow the Daily Prophet, as far as I know." Remus answered. Calysta leaned over her bag on the floor and pulled out a letter on tan parchment.

"I wanted to talk to my dad. We always sent letters back and forth last year." Her voice was hushed and contained a dash of sorrow. Sirius lowered one hand from his face to look at her.

"I don't see why they wouldn't allow it. Can't expect prisoners to just sit there for the rest of their life, can they?" He said in a 'why not?' fashion. Calysta watched a few straggling owls dive around the enchanted ceiling. She flapped her letter in her hands, raising it slightly from the table. A white and grey owl skidded in it's landing on the table after seeing the letter.

"Find my dad in Azkaban. Oren Daelynn." Calysta instructed. Lily watched her stroke the owl's feathers and set it off towards the exit.

"How does it know where Azkaban is?" Lily asked no one in particular.

"They train them to go everywhere." James answered.

"But they also know the people the letters are addressed to. What if the person moves or something? How do they find them?"

"That's a great question to ask someone else." Sirius laughed. Lily crinkled her nose at him.

"Well I want to know!" She argued.

"Look it up?" Remus suggested. Lily made a noncommittal gesture and returned to her plate. Taking a final drink of her cup, she took another look at her time table.

"I have potions third hour this year." She was discouraged. James didn't have the same.

"I do too!" To Lily's relief, Calysta flashed her class list at her with a smile.

"I'm not taking potions anymore." Peter sighed, a glint of gladness in his eyes.

"None of us have many classes with all of us," Sirius pointed out suspiciously. "We always have."

"Perhaps they finally learned their lesson?" Lily said slyly. This earned her multiple groans of complaint.

"This isn't going to be fun at all." James pouted.

"What about free periods?" Remus inquired, looking around to all of his friends.

"After third." Lily told them. A collective sigh escaped all of the others' mouths.

"Same here" Calysta and Sirius said in unison.

"Yep." Peter and Remus nodded. Lily smiled.

"That's one thing to look forward to." She laughed.

~~~~~

James hand was sweaty in hers as they walked across the lawn under the overcast, September sky. It was still quite warm for the time of year, but Lily didn't mind.

"Are you nervous about something?" She asked gently to James. James blinked a few times and let go of her hand to wipe them off on his pants, then took it again.

"No," He replied honestly. "Just not liking the stares I'm getting from that character over there." James subtly nodded to Lily's right. She flicked her eyes to follow his motion and caught Severus leaning against a stone arch, surrounded by three other Slytherins gossiping to each other. His eyes narrowed when their gazes met. Puffing up his collar, Severus spun on his toes and sauntered away. Lily felt James' hand twitched.

"Jealous prat." He mumbled, amusing himself as they made it to the other side of the grass. Lily said nothing, but pursed her lips. She lifted her head as Calysta walked by in the hall next to Alyssa Lovelace. Lily smiled, having not seen Alyssa since last year. Her blonde curls bounced as the younger girl bounded towards her.

"You're dating Potter?" She shrieked happily. Alyssa made Hufflepuff prefect like her sister, who no longer attended Hogwarts; Leah was in Slug Club with Calysta and Lily. James proudly held his head higher.

"Finally." He snickered. Lily bumped her hip into his teasingly. Alyssa clapped her hands once.

"Calysta just told me! I'm so happy for you two. Totally cute, I must say." Her cheerful voice floated through the air. Lily smiled even wider and flushed crimson.

"Thank you, Aly. What class do you have next?"

"This one, actually." Calysta answered, pointing at the door they were about to enter. Lily gasped in excitement.

"Well, you should sit by us if there's no assigned partners," James offered with a smile before Lily could. Lily was surprised by this. He didn't know her very well, yet he wanted her to sit with them. She now started to wonder what else he'd do to surprise her. Calysta shifted her bag on her shoulders before opening the door for everyone else.

"I see Remus," Calysta inclined her head to tell James. His eyes found his mate and waved quickly. The Charms professor watched James closely as he joined Remus, perhaps hoping Remus could control his friend this year. They didn't want a repeat of the purple frog incident. That frog destroyed half the class when James accidentally charmed it to be the size of a bicycle. Lily laughed inwardly, remembering how she had snarled at him from across the room with immense disapproval.