Chapter Text
James Potter had had his entire life planned out since halfway through his second year at Hogwarts. He was going to graduate with top marks, become an accomplished auror, and marry Lily Evans; the order in which it happened mattered little to James as long as all three goals were accomplished.
But going into sixth year James was losing confidence that his perfect life plan would ever see the light of day in the ways he wanted. The world around him was changing. More and more news outlets had begun to report an uptake in dark activity throughout both the wizarding and muggle world. He was still capable of achieving the goals he had set for himself, now perhaps more than ever but the risk came to his peace.
It seemed that witches and wizards were becoming braver with what they were willing to risk, becoming more public with their prejudices and attacks, and more than that, they were getting away with it. Something was coming and James wasn’t exactly sure what it was, just that it was important. Even as the Daily Prophet continued to deny that anything was wrong, everyone could sense it.
His parents had tried to keep the severity of it hidden from him, not voicing their concern until they thought James was out of earshot. But he’d eavesdropped and heard them talking about the increase in attacks against muggles and muggleborns, they were worried. This in itself gave James cause for worry, his parents were two of the most fearless people he knew, so them thinking it was trouble confirmed it for him.
James was a confident person, ask anyone and they would agree, but that confidence had to come from somewhere. And for James? It came from certainty, from the moment he’d been born he had known what would happen next. But now, it was quickly becoming a world full of uncertainty and that made him waver.
Despite the dark cloud of an unknown future looming behind all of wizarding society, James was determined to enjoy and gain all that he could from his last two years of school, his safe haven. Hogwarts had grown to be like a second home to him, mostly due to the people: he genuinely admired most of the teachers and he would have his four best friends, plus Lily, Mary, and Marlene. And now that Sirius had finally escaped that wretched house, it was like all of the puzzle pieces were falling into place.
It was with these thoughts that James and the rest of the Potter family arrived at Kings Cross station at approximately ten am. James’ mother, Euphemia Potter, was nothing if not punctual even if it meant having to drag everyone else out of the house by the ear, fully packed or not.
Which is why James was not surprised when he saw that there were few people who had reached platform 9 ¾ before them, the train not even having pulled in yet. As he took a quick glance around he noticed that of the other early families, the majority of them were first years nervous to miss the train or pure bloods of the ancient 28 households. The latter group got there early as a show of power and authority, a way of saying they were meant to exist in these spaces as if being early had anything to do with it.
James’ eyes quickly latched onto one family in particular, his eyes drawn to them from habits of years past when he had been eager to reunite with his best friend after long summer breaks apart. The Black family stood away from all others—even fellow pure bloods— with matching looks of disgust and haughtiness resting on the patriarch and matriarchs faces. Next to them, with a perfect posture and staring straight ahead, stood Regulus Black, Sirius’ younger brother and newly appointed heir.
Although there was only a year between the two, James could think of no siblings who were more different. Whereas Sirius was brave and outgoing and loyal, Regulus was selfish and solitary, keeping mostly to himself outside of a small group of friends. They even looked different. Although both were immensely handsome and anyone could tell they were related and a part of the Black family, Sirius took more after his father — tall, strong, dark grey eyes, and black curly hair— while Regulus more so resembled his mother, being of a smaller stature with pale skin, sharp facial features, light grey eyes, and short loose wavy black hair.
For years James had been confused as to what in their combined upbringing led to such stark differences between the two brothers. The more Sirius opened up about his childhood, the more perplexed James became. Sirius and Regulus used to be extremely close, each other's only sense of solace in the loneliness of Grimauld place, but now? One would think they’d grown up volatile and constantly pitted against each other the way they acted.
In the time that James had been watching the family, not one of the three members had even glanced in their direction, though James was sure they knew they were there. James and Sirius themselves were both tall with Sirius only an inch or two shorter than James and the Potters early arrival to the platform had been a consistent theme of the last six years. Yet the Black family acted as if the Potters didn’t deserve to even be graced with something so precious as their gaze. Nevermind, that one of their sons was now under their protection.
Sirius had explained that this would happen when James had questioned whether he would be okay once he saw his family in person for the first time since he escaped.
“I won’t have to worry about them.” Sirius had said, voice hard. “I have been disinherited, my portrait burned off the family tapestry, I do not exist to them anymore. They will want to pretend that this has no effect on the family, and to show that they won’t even look at me, much less attempt to talk to me or your family.”
James’ heart had ached for his best friend who he considered his brother in all but blood at this point. Leaving had been the best choice for Sirius, he would have died had he stayed; but James knew there would always be a part of him that regretted it, that regretted giving up his parents and most of all his brother. Sirius had tried to bring Regulus with him, ever the protective older brother, it was the reason Sirius had stayed as long as he did. But Regulus had refused, for reasons Sirius hadn’t shared and James had not pushed. If he had to guess, he assumed Regulus had insisted that their parents were doing everything for their own good and that Sirius deserved what he got for acting out, but this was never confirmed nor denied.
Even now as James turned back to his parents, he saw Sirius looking upon his family with a forlorn expression. He missed them, James could tell. Although what Walburga and Orion Black did to their oldest son was awful and detestable, they were still the people who Sirius had spent the last 16 years of his life with and had developed some twisted relationship with in which there was some love which would never go away.
Sirius had told James of the few happy memories he had with his family, of his mother and fathers pride when Sirius had first shown displays of accidental magic, of Walburga sitting in his room the night before his first year telling stories of her time at Hogwarts as a Slytherin, of Orion letting Sirius try out his wand for the most basic of spells when he was only six years old and correcting his form. They weren’t always a broken family but things had changed.
Even so, James knew that most of Sirius’ regrets centered around Regulus. His baby brother who had been his best friend up until eleven years old, who had endured every punishment, every dull lesson, every drawn out dinner party, and had looked up to him. Sirius had desperately wanted Regulus to escape with him, but short of dragging him out and risking his own escape, there was nothing he could do.
James hated the younger Slytherin for this a bit, he was the reason Sirius suffered as long as he did. James knew his friend would’ve left after third year if he wasn’t so worried about Regulus, so he stayed. He stayed and he got hurt and he took the extra punishments meant for his brother and he almost died. And in the end, Regulus had chosen to stay like a coward. Those punishments hadn’t been limited to Sirius, Regulus received them too and still chose to remain; and with this choice dragged Sirius with him.
He’d only exchanged a few words with Regulus in the four years they had attended Hogwarts but they had been the pleasantries of being forced to interact with the younger sibling of a close friend. Sirius’ baby brother had been of no consequence to James until now, now he was someone who played a role in the fact that Sirius had showed up inches from death on the Potter doorstep two months prior.
James had witnessed their relationship when they had been extremely close once Regulus got to Hogwarts. Sirius had paraded him around, showing everyone his little brother exclaiming that he was so excited to have him around all year long again as Regulus had looked at Sirius with awe in his eyes. But James had also been a firsthand witness to their quickly deteriorating relationship once Regulus was sorted into Slytherin and Sirius had gotten braver when speaking and acting out against his parents.
It had been a long time since the two had even spoken in the halls of Hogwarts seemingly content to ignore each other, but James had a feeling that would change this year. The doe eyed first year and proud older brother were long gone, and it would almost certainly be worse than years past.
So he placed his hand comfortingly on Sirius’ shoulder and waited until the older boy looked over at him before raising an eyebrow with the unspoken question, are you okay? Watching as Sirius blew out a deep breath and nodded. James focused his attention back on his parents who had been chatting with each other and used his hand still on Sirius’ shoulder to turn him back to his parents as well, at the same time taking a slight step forward to cut off Sirius’ line of sight to the Black family.
Euphemia and Fleamont Potter were not in any way stupid and quickly picked up on the situation—his mother having been looking at Walburga and Orion with an unreadable expression on her face—resulting in her pulling them both into a conversation. “Remember boys that even though you don’t have your OWLS this year, you still need to focus on your classes. I expect top marks from the both of you once term ends.”
James rolled his eyes fondly and groaned, “We know mum,” as Sirius said at the same time with a smirk on his face, “When do we not focus on our classes Effy?”
Now it was his mothers turn to roll her eyes as his dad chuckled softly, “Don’t encourage them Monty!” His mother chastised.
Just then the train pulled in and the people on the platform seemed to instantly double. “We should go find a compartment, the rest of the group always gets here at the last minute and if we wait we’ll be stuck sitting with some lousy first years,” James said to his parents.
His mother immediately enveloped him in a hug whispering to him that she’d write her first letter the second she got back home before moving on to hug the boy she had taken in as another son.
His father gave him a firm hug as well, leaving a familiar parting to “be careful this year James.” James couldn’t help but feel like this one should be taken more seriously than perhaps he had in years past.
Him and Sirius quickly grabbed their luggage and boarded the train, taking the first open compartment they saw, knowing the others would find them. James took the opportunity to ask again, “Are you sure you’re okay?”
This time, Sirius took a longer time answering, looking uncharacteristically lost in thought, but contrary to popular belief, James could be patient and sit in silence for more than thirty seconds. After a couple of minutes, Sirius spoke so quietly that if they weren’t alone, James was sure he wouldn’t have heard him, “I thought it’d be easier.”
James waited, knowing he wasn’t done. “I hate them, I do and I’d never go back but I think I’ll always love them too. And I thought… I thought it’d be easier.”
James moved over to wrap his best friend in a hug, “And that's okay. They will always be your first family, just don’t forget you have another one now too.”
He felt Sirius nod and he unwrapped himself and they sat there in silence for a little while longer. James decided to try and lighten the mood and asked with a laugh, “Sooo, is this the year you finally ask Moony out?” He kept laughing even as Sirius shoved him off the bench.
Just then the door opened to reveal Peter, Lily, and Mary.
“Lily! How my heart has mourned without you these past months” said James with a smile from where he was sprawled out on the floor. Lily rolled her eyes amusedly, used to his antics but he could’ve sworn he saw a pink tint on her cheeks.
“Hi boys, how was your summer?” answered Mary instead. Soon they all got to discussing what they got up to over the summer and what they were looking forward to for the upcoming school year.
Conversation began to dwindle but James was quick to start up a new one, “Wormtail what time is it?” he asked because he couldn’t see the clock on the platform from where he was sitting.
“10:50”
“Who do you guys think will be last onto the train, McKinnon or Moony?” James asked.
Lily, Mary, and James believed it would be Marlene, while Sirius and Peter thought it would be Remus. The compartment soon devolved into arguing.
“You don’t share a dorm with Marlene, she gets up minutes before we go down to breakfast,” Mary exclaimed.
“Well in the past 5 years of school, not once has Moony boarded the train before 10:58” Sirius shot back.
“Sirius, we play quidditch with Marlene, when was the last time she got to practice on time?” James asked incredulously.
“Remus is a prefect, he will be here before Marlene because it is expected of him to be a role model,” Lily explained.
“Want to bet on it? 5 galleons each” said Peter knowing his friends couldn’t say no.
They all quickly passed the money over to Peter, who generally controlled any bets made by the group and spent the rest of the time staring at the door. Low and behold, Remus joined them first.
At 10:59.
A shout of “HA” came from the three who had bet on Marlene while Sirius and Peter groaned in defeat. The money was quickly passed out amongst the winners and Remus just glanced between the five of them, deciding not to ask and instead sat down next to Sirius. Perhaps a bit closer than would be deemed normal but who was James to question the amount of seat space between two friends.
Just then, Marlene came rushing into the compartment as the train began to move, hair sticking in all directions, wand between her teeth, and things poking out of her luggage causing them all to laugh, the soreness over losing the bet quickly forgotten by Sirius and Peter. This is going to be a good year, James thought to himself as he looked around at his best friends and outside of his parents, the most important people in his life.
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Lily Evans had aspirations for sixth year. She was happy with the OWLS she had received and did not plan on slowing down anytime soon, she couldn’t afford to, not if she wanted to get head girl next year. Her scores and being prefect were steps in the right direction but she could never be too confident. She told herself that she was going to be as helpful as possible and accept and complete any tasks that Professor McGonagall gave her to prove that she was the right candidate.
She had already done the summer reading for her classes this year and read through about half of her new textbooks. That was a bit overkill even for Lily but it had been a rough summer for her.
Although her parents tried, as she got older and learned more things, they struggled to understand what Lily’s world was like. When her parents thought of magic, they thought of making things fly or turning water into wine, which granted were things that she could do. But it was magic she had learned in her first year and her parents didn’t quite understand arithmancy or what the point of a patronus charm was no matter how many times she attempted to explain it and they never would. Petunia was even worse, her feelings about Lily had been made abundantly clear this summer.
It wasn’t anything that Lily wasn’t used to but in the past, she would’ve gone to Severus for comfort, the only friend who lived near. But now, after their falling out, she couldn’t and had to face the insults and loneliness head on. She didn’t regret cutting him off but she missed the 11 year old boy she had met all those years ago. So it had been a rough summer.
But now, boarding the train, she felt whole again. Magic surrounded everything and it felt like a layer of fog had been lifted, furthering her conviction that she needed to do more, needed to be the best. Being at the top of the class for the first five years meant nothing if she didn’t remain there for the last two.
Lily wasn’t ignorant, she knew trouble was brewing at the ministry and throughout society. Even towards the end of last year, the insults towards her had started getting harsher, and being thrown out in broad daylight. It seemed as if people were beginning to align themselves very clearly on the issue of muggleborns and right now there was an alarmingly large number of witches and wizards against people like her. She didn’t know exactly what was going on as everything was kept under wraps and she was essentially left in the dark during summer break but she could tell that something was coming, like a storm was moving across the country. And so she refused to give any slytherin, any pureblood, anyone who doubted her a reason to think she didn’t belong.
She was walking with Mary and Peter, who she had met up with on the platform as they looked for James and Sirius on the train knowing they had probably gotten there 30 minutes prior. They soon found them and stepped inside the compartment.
“Lily! How my heart has mourned without you these past months” James cried out once he saw her. She felt the heat rise to her cheeks but didn’t respond, instead rolling her eyes.
James Potter was an enigma to her, he was handsome, a quidditch star, extremely popular, well liked by the teachers, not to mention a pure blood, and extremely wealthy. Yet he had never had a relationship that lasted more than a few months even as girls threw themselves at him at every corner. Instead he had gone after her, a muggle-born with little to her name since second year. At first she had believed it to be a joke, another one of the pranks he and the boys often did, so she hadn’t reacted, hadn’t given in. Who did he think he was, trying to make a fool out of her?? She hadn’t fallen for it.
But as the years passed and he continued to try and gain her affections, her walls started to crumble. Her and James had grown closer as friends outside of his attempts at romance and that's where the flame had first lit inside her. She had learned the true James. Yes he was hot-tempered, impulsive, and quick to form a biased opinion but he was also kind, fiercely loyal to those around him, funny, and to her delight, smart. Although he presented a sort of aloofness surrounding school, she saw through the facade, he cared about his grades. She knew through the letters they had exchanged over the summer that James had received nothing below an exceeds expectations on his owls.
Throughout the past year, her feelings towards James had begun to grow, she wasn’t yet ready for a relationship but she thought she could be this year. Only time would tell.
“Hi boys, how was your summer?” inquired Mary.
They exchanged stories when Lily remembered something, “Professor McGonagall sent me a letter about a week ago. She asked if I’d be willing to tutor a fifth year student in ancient runes and transfiguration.”
“Who is the student?” Peter asked.
“I’m not sure, she didn’t mention it in the letter. I'm assuming a gryffindor though, otherwise she would’ve asked the students house prefect.”
“When will you have to tutor them?” Sirius this time.
“Tuesdays and Thursdays after class for an hour,” Lily shrugged.
“Well after this you’ll surely be a shoo-in for head girl,” said James with a confident smile in her direction. She gave a smile in return and sat back in her seat, content to let the conversation flow around her.
Soon enough, Marlene and Remus joined the group and the train left the station, another year was underway. Eventually, it was time for the prefects meeting and Lily nudged Remus with her foot, each of them saying their quick goodbyes as they set off towards the meeting in companionable silence.
Remus was the first to break the silence, “How was it this summer, truly?”
Lily was close with all of her friends and out of all the girls, she was closest with Mary but Remus would always be her best friend. They were both more alike than they cared to admit and Remus was the only one who actually knew what her home life was like. He’d known since third year when everyone had begun questioning her friendship with Severus more and she couldn’t bring herself to say much more than “we live near each other.” But Remus had sensed there was more and had sought her out later in the library, offering her an ear. It had taken a while, Lily still nervous that any weakness could be used against her. And that's what Petunia was, a weakness Lily would never let go of. Eventually she had broken down and told him everything, since then they had been thick as thieves.
It was in fourth year when Remus revealed his lycanthropy, stating “Knowing you, you would’ve figured it out sooner rather than later and I wanted to tell you on my own terms.” She had never thought differently of him for it and offered her support in any way he needed, just as he had the year before that.
And it was at the end of last year, that she had figured out that James, Sirius, and Peter had become animagi. The boys weren’t as subtle as they thought they were, she had recognized the process of transformation which she had read about once. She would’ve scolded them but she never truly thought they’d manage it. Yet they had, and she’d only come to believe it when she had seen through a window while on prefect duty Sirius transform at the edge of the forest. She had confided in Remus that she knew and he had laughed, but they both chose to not tell the rest of the group for the time being.
“It wasn’t great,” she responded truthfully, “every year I feel more and more disconnected from them.”
Remus hummed to himself in thought, “and Petunia?”
“The usual, the loneliness was worse this year though,” she replied, not needing to voice the reason why it was worse.
“It is hard to go back to the muggle world and essentially be cut off for months at a time from magic. I’m always here if you need someone to talk to or to send an owl to, even if just to feel some connection to this world,” Remus agreed.
“Thank you Remus, same goes for you.” She said with an appreciative smile that he returned.
By then they had reached the compartment where the prefect meeting was being held, they squeezed in and found a space on one of the benches. Lily glanced around, recognizing the prefects from last year. Frank Longbottom was head boy along with a Ravenclaw she didn’t remember the name of as head girl. Lily and Remus were Gryffindor’s sixth year prefects. Amos Diggory and Charity Burbage were Hufflepuffs, Emmeline Vance and Gilderoy Lockhart were Ravenclaws, and Mulciber and Wilkes for Slytherin.
She also noticed some new faces, those chosen as fifth year prefects, but she only recognizes 3. Augustus and Camelia were chosen for Gryffindor but she’d never spoken to them, and Regulus Black—Sirius’ little brother. They made eye contact, she was the first to break it. “I wonder if Sirius knows” she whispers to Remus, nodding her head at Regulus.
Remus looks over and raises an eyebrow before shaking his head no. The meeting goes by quickly after that, with the first two weeks of rotations being assigned with their house partners. Her and Remus wait for everyone else to file out before they begin the walk back. “There could be some interesting pairings this year,” Remus says to her.
“I wonder which one of us gets paired with Regulus first” she jokes, “I hope it's you, maybe it’ll spark some jealousy in Sirius.”
He knocks her shoulder but doesn’t deny it.
They get back to the compartment to see everyone changed into their robes. “How was the meeting?” asks Mary
“Good, Frank made head boy,” she shares, making them all smile. Frank was well liked amongst the group.
“Anyone we know make fifth year prefect?” James wonders aloud.
Lily and Remus share a glance and Lily nods. “Regulus is a prefect.” Remus says this with no clear emotion, not sure how Sirius will feel.
The room seems to hold its breath, waiting for a reaction, “Not surprising, it was expected of him.” He doesn’t seem angry, just withdrawn so they quickly shift topics. Lily notices James with a thoughtful expression on his face, looking at Sirius, he’s probably trying to figure out a way to comfort him. She leaves him to it and tunes back into the conversation, if anyone knows how best to handle Sirius, it’s James Potter.
All in all this was looking to be a good year.
Chapter 2: Chapter 2
Summary:
More James and Lily, just kinda setting up the school year and our two main characters.
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
James paid little attention to the sorting ceremony seeing as he didn’t recognize any of the incoming first years. Instead he kept his focus on his friends around him as they began comparing schedules.
All seven of them having received at least an Acceptable in their OWLS would share Defense Against the Dark Arts, Charms, and Transfiguration. All four of the marauders were taking Care of Magical Creatures, while Lily, Mary, Sirius, and Remus joined James in potions. His last two classes were astronomy which he would share with Lily and Remus and Herbology with Lily, Peter, and Mary.
James was a little sad that he and Marlene only had three classes together. They had grown up together along with Peter but after the McKinnon family had moved to a new house once Marlene started her first year at Hogwarts, they weren’t as close as they used to be. James had wanted to get to that point again but it had never happened.
On the other hand, he was ecstatic that he and Lily shared all but one class, it was the perfect opportunity to get closer to her. He felt like they had made a lot of progress in the last year and now he had real hope that she felt something for him.
Of the five courses James was not taking— Arithmancy, Ancient Runes, Muggle Studies, History of Magic, and Divination— Lily was taking Arithmancy and Ancient Runes, Remus had chosen Ancient Runes, and Mary and Marlene had chosen to keep up with Muggle Studies, the only one dropping it being Sirius who had picked it up as an elective in third year because he knew it’d anger his mother. Sirius, Peter, and Marlene were taking divination, and everyone had dropped history of magic. James suspected that Peter had only chosen to continue with divination because of the ravenclaw, Sybill Trelawny who Peter had been crushing on since fourth year, but really who was he to judge?
Overall everyone seemed happy with their schedule and who of the group they’d be with, Lily being the only one alone in a class. The feast was coming to an end as they finished comparing schedules which meant Lily and Remus had to go and perform their prefect duties of guiding the first years. James gave Remus an encouraging pat on the shoulder but didn’t say anything as the two walked towards the far end of the table where the newly sorted gryffindors were grouped. That left the rest of them to make their way up to the common room already having been told the new password.
James walked up the stairs with Marlene, Sirius, and Frank who had joined them eager to discuss the upcoming quidditch season. “McGonagall gave the go-ahead for tryouts to be held at the end of next week.” Frank told them, “We are scheduled to have the pitch on Saturday evening right after Slytherin tryouts.”
James and Marlene shared a conspiratorial smile, “James and I might get to tryouts a little early, just to make sure we have everything planned and ready you know.”
The older boy rolled his eyes but just said with a wink in their direction “As head boy I cannot condone any spying on other house quidditch teams but it is good that you two are getting there early just in case.”
With that he peeled off to go find the head girl so they could do the rounds, the heads always doing the first night. James elbowed Sirius in the side, “Are you gonna join Marls and I to try and watch the Slytherin tryouts?”
“Wouldn’t miss it for the world Pads,” Sirius responded with a smirk on his face, “Maybe we could provide them with a few obstacles to really test those trying out.”
James and Marlene laughed, all three planning to come up with some ideas before tryouts were upon them. It gave them something to look forward to, none of them having to worry about making the team. James and Marlene had been on the team since second year as chasers, and while rare to have two young chasers, no one could deny their talent. Sirius had joined them in fourth year as a beater once one of the previous ones had graduated. Not to mention that James was practically guaranteed to be the gryffindor captain after Frank.
By then they had reached the fat lady's portrait and waited for the door to swing open as Mary gave the password, “Carpe Diem.” It was fitting of their house James lamented walking through the portrait hole and into the common room.
Mary and Marlene excused themselves to bed after the long day while the rest of them opted to stay in the common room waiting for Remus and Lily. The three boys played a game of exploding snap to pass the time but thankfully didn’t have to wait long as Peter was absolutely demolishing Sirius and James.
“How do you have two thirds of the deck already?” James demanded of Peter.
“A wizard never reveals his secrets,” Peter replied laughing as Sirius swore when a card exploded near his hand.
“He has to be cheating, there is no other explanation. We should team up against him,” Sirius whispered to James.
James nodded eagerly, the two friends putting their heads together to come up with a plan, Peter just watching amusedly.
“I literally beat you two at almost every game we play, why are you acting surprised this is going the same way?”
Before James and Sirius could desperately try to argue against that point, the door opened again to admit the new first years with Remus at their head. They patiently waited for Remus to explain where the dorms were before joining them in front of the fireplace.
“I see Pete once again is winning, you think you’d learn one day,” Remus said looking at the remnants of their game.
“Hey Moony, where’s Lily?” James questioned ignoring the slight against them while Sirius grumbled.
“What, I’m not good enough? No hello Remus how was corralling the first years up a million flights of stairs? Or Remus we’re so glad you’re prefect so we don’t have to be,” Remus responded with a blank expression as Peter and Sirius snickered to themselves but James could see the corner of his lips turning up.
“What can I say, my mind is constantly focused on the love of my life.”
“And that’s not me?”
“Don’t worry if it doesn’t pan out with Lily you’re next in line,” James said jokingly.
They all laughed even as James and Peter exchanged knowing glances. They both knew that even though the love of Remus’ life was a part of the Marauders, it wasn’t James and it wasn’t Peter.
“McGonagall asked Lily to stop by her office on the way back so that they could go over what the tutoring she mentioned early would entail,” Remus finally answered James' question.
“I wonder who it is,” Peter mused out loud.
“Anyways she said not to wait up because she wasn’t sure how long it would take so I’m going upstairs.” With that Remus turned towards the dormitories with Sirius quick to follow.
Peter was a little slower, helping clean up the cards, “James? You coming up?”
“Not yet, I’m going to wait for Lily.” James responded.
Peter shook his head fondly, “Go get em loverboy,” and with that joined the other two upstairs.
“Make sure you knock!” James called after him playfully. Peter didn’t even turn around, just flipped him off.
Since it was only the first night, James was alone in the common room, everyone else getting settled in their dorms. He pulled out a potions book he had been reading over the summer that his dad had given him. Although not the potions prodigy that Fleamont Potter was, James still enjoyed the subject immensely.
The fire had reduced to embers by the time Lily finally came storming through the portrait hole. He watched her for a few minutes as she started pacing by the window, lost in thought. She really was beautiful. James had known this to be fact since his second year but here with only the dying firelight to illuminate her, she looked otherworldly. Her red hair was stark against pale skin, so different to his dark hair on brown skin. He couldn’t see her freckles with how far she was but he knew where they were, having had everything about her memorized since fourth year. Give him a paper and he could probably draw her from memory.
“Already out past curfew on the first night? Some prefect.” James said from his place on the couch, alerting her to his presence.
Lily seemed to jump out of her skin before whirling around to face James from where she was standing with a hand to her chest. “James! I didn’t see you, I told Remus to tell you guys not to wait up.”
“I know, the rest of the boys went to bed. I wanted to wait for you.” James told her truthfully.
She stopped moving then, looking at him with a soft but genuine smile, “Thank you James.”
He nodded, “So how was your summer Lils, is Petunia still being nasty? We didn’t get to talk much on the train.”
Now she was speechless, staring at him with her mouth open in shock, “Yes she is, she was actually worse this year. How did you know she acted like that? I’ve only ever told Remus.”
“I’m not completely unobservant, you know.” He said with a shrug, “You’ve mentioned in the past how you being a witch had strained your guys’ relationship, and this last year and a half when we got back from break you haven’t mentioned her even though you used to all the time. There also hasn’t been a letter from Petunia in nearly three years. I just assumed that you guys had drifted and that she had never come to terms with you having magic.”
“For an only child you do seem to have a lot of insight into what a sibling relationship looks like.” Lily replied.
“You forget, I have been a firsthand witness to Sirius and Regulus’ relationship these past six years and it has not been pretty.” James said in a more serious tone.
Lily just nodded and James patted the seat next to him, “It was harder this year, not necessarily because she was worse but now I didn’t have Severus down the street to confide in. I felt completely cut off from my actual life. I’m just glad to be back with all of you guys.”
James tensed up at the mention of Snape, he had disliked the Slytherin for years but now that he had hurt Lily he hated him. Now that he didn’t have Lily protecting him, Snape was in for a rude awakening this year. He filed away that thought for later, he’d have to consult the rest of the group for ideas. But right now his friend needed him so he didn’t say anything and relaxed his shoulders.
Lily laid her head on James shoulder where he sat rubbing soothing circles on her back, both of them silent. After a while Lily lifted her head and looked at James, “You let a lot of people think you are this person who is only good at quidditch and popular, but you aren’t, I can see it. But you shouldn’t hide this side of you. The side that cares. Or the side that is smart,” She waited a beat before adding, “I think we should head up before it gets too late, we both have full schedules this year.”
He nodded and they walked up together and just before they parted ways James grabbed her hand and said “If you ever need an ear or even someone to go bully Petunia, I’m here Lily. Don’t forget that.”
Lily huffed a laugh, “I know James, the same goes for you.” and with that she headed to the girls dormitories and James to the boys.
When he opened the door, all but Remus were asleep, the boy in question reading a book on his bed with the light of his wand. “Hey Prongs, Lily back yet?”
“Yeah, she just went to her room.” James answered.
“Did she say how her meeting went, or who the student she was tutoring was?”
James slapped his forehead, feeling like the dumbest person ever, “I forgot to ask.” He told Remus sheepishly.
To his credit, Remus just chuckled, “We can ask at breakfast tomorrow,” and then went back to reading.
James quickly changed and got into bed, closing the curtains with a flick of his wand. Even though he had been exhausted, sleep seemed to evade him. Instead he stared at the ceiling and pondered Lily's words.
He knew that he preferred for people to think of him as the popular quidditch player, it was just easier that way. Already so many believed that he would just live off of his family’s money for the rest of his life. It had taken him a while to understand that he didn’t necessarily like those beliefs, in his first two years at Hogwarts he had been a different person.
He had boasted about his family's wealth and capabilities, believing they were better than everyone else. It wasn’t out of a pureblood or elitist mindset but rather he had truly believed he had the best parents in the world who were also extremely competent and had set him up perfectly in life. Obviously it hadn’t come across that way and James cringed to think about it now. He was pretty sure the way he acted in his younger years played a part into why Lily had always been so hesitant to accept any of his affections and he couldn’t blame her.
By the time he had understood what was wrong with his actions, the damage had been done. It had taken a lot to even get where he was now, but everyone still was confident of his aloof and care-free attitude about everything. He had convinced himself he was fine with it, that it allowed him some liberty with expectations but Lily had forced him to confess to himself that he wasn’t.
He liked the way it felt to help Lily and how genuine her thanks had been. He would work on dropping the facade like she had told him, he wanted to help people if they needed it, and he wanted them to know they could come to him. He wanted people to know that he cared about genuine issues and wanted to make his mark on the world, and not just rely on his parents' money. With the start of the new year it would be a new James as well.
With these thoughts calming him and the sound of Remus turning pages periodically, James drifted off to sleep.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lily knocked on the door to McGonagall’s office waiting for the “Come in” before opening the door. “Ms.Evans, please take a seat.”
She sat in one of the chairs in front of the professor’s desk, they weren’t very comfortable Lily thought to herself. It was probably to make students that got in trouble even more uncomfortable in the face of punishment which was objectively a smart tactic but right now it just annoyed her.
“First I want to thank you for agreeing to take on the role of tutor. I know you have a heavy courseload this year but I truly think you’re the best student for the task.”
Lily beamed with pride at the compliment, “Of course Professor, I’m happy to help. Who is the student? I don’t know any of the fifth year gryffindors in ancient runes.”
Lily swears McGonagall winces, and she feels dread pooling into her stomach. “It’s not a gryffindor.”
“Oh?” Lily has a feeling she knows exactly which house they are from but waits for McGonagall to say it.
“I’m not sure how much you have interacted with him, but he’s in Slytherin.” the Professor finally reveals, “Barty Crouch Jr is the student you will be tutoring this year.”
Lily is too shocked to respond, her thoughts a mess as she tries to understand this decision. “What?” is the only word she can form.
Professor McGonagall is quick to speak, obviously having expected this reaction, “In his fourth year Mr. Crouch did not attend a significant portion of his transfiguration and ancient runes classes. However, since he had already declared both subjects as two of his OWL courses, he will be required to take his transfiguration and ancient runes OWLS at the end of this year. Thus, efforts must be made to catch him up on the material and support his learning this year to best prepare him for the exams. I would tutor him in transfiguration myself but there is simply no time in my schedule on top of all of my other responsibilities.”
“But w-why me?? Why not a sixth year slytherin?” Lily demanded having found her voice again.
“Albus, Horace, and I discussed the situation at length and decided together that none of the sixth year slytherins would be able to properly tutor Mr.Crouch in an effective manner.” McGonagall stated.
“Additionally, it has come to my attention that Mr.Crouch is not on the best of terms with any of the older slytherins, apparently he has a bit of a provoking personality.” This she says with a sympathetic look in Lily’s direction.
“And you think he will be any better with me? The swotty mudblood from Gryffindor?” Lily was going to challenge this decision.
“Ms.Evans” Professor McGonagall said sternly, “I ask that you do not refer to yourself using such terms, they are not to be used within these walls and you should never think of yourself with such derogatory language. Now this decision has been finalized, not only do we believe that you are the best person for the task but this would also be a boost towards any aspiring to be a head boy or head girl next year because that role involves work with more than one's own house.”
With that comment Lily deflated, the implication clear, do this and she would get head girl. McGonagall looked at her for a long moment before continuing, “Mr.Crouch has been informed that you will be his tutor for the time being. You will be meeting with him every Tuesday and Thursday at 4 pm for an hour. There is an unused classroom on the third floor that you will be permitted to use. How you tutor him will be up to you entirely, we will reevaluate this arrangement before the winter break and make any decisions necessary then.”
Lily just nodded, not trusting herself to speak. “I believe that you can do this Lily or else I wouldn’t have asked.” Professor McGonagall said with her rare use of a students first name speaking of the sincerity of the statement.
Lily got up from her seat and started walking toward the door but as she grabbed the handle, McGonagall gave her pause and offered a few parting words, “Oh and Mrs.Evans?” waiting for Lily to turn and look back, “You may be able to help Mr.Crouch learn a thing or two outside of transfiguration and ancient runes if you are so inclined.”
With that she turned back to the paperwork at her desk and Lily continued out of her head of house's office. As soon as she reached the corridor her anger came rushing back.
What were they thinking? Crouch was a pureblood through and through and a slytherin no less. Once upon a time Lily had believed that not all Slytherins were malicious and spiteful, but that was a childhood notion that had been crushed last year by Severus. She had also seen who Crouch spent his time around, Regulus Black and Evan Rosier being his seemingly closest friends. Yes Sirius had changed and escaped his family but he was an anomaly as far as Lily was concerned.
She knew what people who grew up in environments like that were like, who grew up in one of the sacred 28 families. They were arrogant, vicious, spoiled, and rude; but more than that they were almost all talented. It was impossible not to be, they had the best tutors that money could buy growing up and had been immersed in the world of magic from the first breath they took.
Lily had heard stories of the Crouches, Barty Crouch Sr being a powerful member of the ministry. And although he was very openly opposed to the dark forces rising it gave her little hope for his son. Crouch Sr was rumored to be a strict and unforgiving father who demanded nothing but perfection and with Crouch Jr as his only son, Lily had guesses as to what their home life was like. And they wanted Lily to tutor him? Lily laughed to herself out of sheer incredulousness.
She was the opposite of what those families believed in, the fact that she even had magic as a muggleborn made her an abomination to them. In their eyes she had unfairly stolen the magic and didn’t deserve it, they thought the dirt under their shoes was worth more than her. Not only that but gryffindor-slytherin rivalries had run deep for centuries, he would make it hard for her on purpose. If McGonagall and Slughorn were smart they would’ve gotten a pure-blooded ravenclaw to tutor Crouch, he probably would’ve accepted it that way.
By now Lily had made it back to the common room, she spit out the password, blood still boiling, “Carpe Diem.”
“Oh someone’s feisty this year, I hope this doesn’t continue,” The fat lady told her with a disdainful look.
Lily ignored her and stomped inside, choosing to pace by the window in the empty common room, not quite ready to go to her dorm yet in case Marlene and Mary were awake. Fine, if this is what it took Lily would do it. She was not going to let her plans of success be derailed by one unruly pureblood, she had dealt with people who hated her for who she was for years, what was one more? With that she finally began to calm down.
“Already out past curfew on the first night? Some prefect.” Came a voice from near the fireplace.
Lily nearly jumped out of her skin and placed a hand to her heaving chest before whirling around to see James sitting on the couch. “James! I didn’t see you, I told Remus to tell you guys not to wait up.”
“I know, the rest of the boys went to bed. I wanted to wait for you.” James told her and well if that didn’t take all of the fire out of her.
She stopped moving then, looking at him with a shocked expression which turned into a soft but genuine smile. She was still getting used to this version of James Potter, one who was kind and a great friend, “Thank you James.”
He nodded, “So how was your summer Lils, is Petunia still being nasty? We didn’t get to talk much on the train.”
Her smile had widened a little at the nickname but now she was speechless, staring at him with her mouth open in shock, “Yes she is, actually she was worse this year. How did you know she acted like that? I’ve only ever told Remus.”
“I’m not completely unobservant, you know.” He said with a shrug, trying to appear nonchalant, “You’ve mentioned in the past how you being a witch had strained your guys’ relationship, and this last year and a half when we got back from break you haven’t mentioned her even though you used to all the time. There also hasn’t been a letter from Petunia in nearly three years. I just assumed that you guys had drifted and that she had never come to terms with you having magic.”
“ For an only child you do seem to have a lot of insight into what a sibling relationship looks like.” Lily replied, still trying to get over the shock of what he’d noticed. These things were all of course true but she never assumed no one had noticed, much less remembered the small details that made up the story of her and Petunia.
“You forget, I have been a firsthand witness to Sirius and Regulus’ relationship these past six years and it has not been pretty.” James said with a more serious tone.
Well if that wasn’t sobering, everyone knew of the rift between the Black brothers especially now that Sirius had left. She didn’t know how he dealt with it, her and Petunia had their differences but Lily would never be able to cut her off, “It was harder this year, not necessarily because she was worse but now I didn’t have Severus down the street to confide in. I felt completely cut off from my actual life. I’m just glad to be back with all of you guys.”
She felt James tense up at the mention of Snape, the boys had always hated him, even giving him the awful nickname “Snivellus.” In the past she had chastised them for their treatment of him but now she wouldn’t stop anything they did to him unless there was a risk of someone dying, a small part of her wanted to see him suffer, to feel an ounce of the pain he had caused her.
Lily laid her head on James shoulder while he sat rubbing soothing circles on her back, both of them silent, staring at the fire. After a while Lily lifted her head and looked at James, she needed him to know this and to try and change if there was any hope of them being together.
“You let a lot of people think you are this person who is only good at quidditch and popular for no reason, but you aren’t. I see it but you shouldn’t hide this side of you. The side that cares. And the side that is smart,” She waited a beat before adding, “I think we should head up before it gets too late, we both have full schedules this year.”
She had disliked him initially for these very reasons, he just came off as arrogant but a big part of it was a mask. She didn’t understand why he hid that part of him, just letting people form their own opinions on whoever they believed him to be.
He nodded, choosing not to respond to her earlier comment, and they walked up together. Just before they parted ways James grabbed her arm and said “If you ever need an ear or even someone to go bully Petunia, I’m here Lily. Don’t forget that.”
Lily huffed a laugh, grateful for him in a way that she didn’t know she could be, “I know James, the same goes for you.” And with that she headed to the girls dormitories and James to the boys.
When she got to her room, her dorm mates were already asleep, Marlene snoring away. She changed and got into bed, her conversation with James had briefly made her forget about her tutoring situation but now it was all that she could think about as she drifted off to sleep. She would tell everyone about it at breakfast, better to get their reactions out of the way, but she was glad she didn’t have to talk about it tonight.
Notes:
Why is it actually so hard to remember the difference between the way British people speak and American people, please forgive me for any British english slip ups.
Also sorry the update is one day late, I passed out last night.
Anywayss I know our two couples haven't even met yet but how are we feeling about Lily's reaction and Jily's interactions??
Please let me know what you think in the comments!!
Chapter 3: Chapter 3
Summary:
First glimpse of Regulus and Barty!!
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Even after the late night Lily was the first one awake, Marlene and Mary never having been morning people. In the five years that they had shared a room, Lily could count on one hand the amount of times either of the girls had been up before 7:30.
It didn’t annoy her though, she enjoyed the hour or so she got to herself each morning where it was silent outside of Marlene’s snoring. It was perhaps the only peaceful part of her day, especially now that she was a prefect and had chosen to take eight courses this year. She wasn’t sure how often she’d be able to find some time to herself in the upcoming months and was secretly a little worried about it, but she’d find a way to manage, she always did.
So she savored this peace and took her time getting ready before gently poking Mary awake and not so gently shaking Marlene awake. The girl could sleep through anything, Lily had once had to push her completely out of the bed to get her up after a long night of OWL studying and even then she had almost gone right back to sleep on the floor. Once she was satisfied that their grumbling meant they wouldn’t fall back asleep, Lily headed downstairs to wait for them and the boys.
As she reached the common room she saw Peter absentmindedly floating a coin through the air, he was an even earlier riser than her. She liked Peter, and although he wasn’t as necessarily outgoing as the rightfully dubbed chaos duo composed of James and Sirius, he was who she had become friends with first. Most people thought she had made her way into the group via Remus because of their similar interests in academics but it was really Peter who introduced her to everyone.
Back in first year when Remus was too shy to talk to much of anyone and Sirius and James were too busy cementing their roles as an inseparable twosome with no worries about whether they belonged in this world, it was Peter who had thrown Lily smiles in the hallway. It was Peter who had given her her first chocolate frog and explained the collectable cards, it was Peter who helped her send her first letter back to her parents and Petunia, and it was Peter who had asked to partner together in herbology when she was lacking volunteers.
Her and Remus had inevitably grown closer because of how similar they were but she would never forget Peter's kindness.
And so each morning they would sit and chat or Lily would read silently while Peter practiced a charm, just the two of them until the rest of the group wandered down for breakfast. “Morning Peter, I trust you woke the rest of the boys up?” She asked with a smile, knowing he faced a similar dorming experience as her.
He looked up at the sound of her voice with a deadpan expression, “You’d think I insulted their entire bloodline or in Sirius’ case complimented them the way they grumbled at me as if they hadn’t asked to be woken up.”
She laughed and Peter’s previously stoic expression broke as he joined in, “Who do you think the first person to skip breakfast for those few extra minutes of sleep will be this year?”
“Who was it last year?”
“Marlene, who else?”
Peter hummed thoughtfully to himself, “I think it’ll be Sirius this year. Now that he’s living with James he’s gotten used to a reality of sleeping in.”
“I think it’ll be Remus, he always seems like he wants to go back to bed no matter how long he slept. Five sickles?” She asked, keeping the bet lower than the one on the train knowing that neither of them had very many extra galleons to be betting every day.
“Don’t be mad when you lose, when’s the last time I lost a bet?” Peter boasted.
“That ego will be your downfall Pettigrew,” She sniped back playfully.
“You wound me Evans. After all we’ve been through together!” Peter exclaimed, hand to his heart like he’d been shot with an arrow. Nevertheless they shook on their bet.
Lily checked the time, it was nearing 8:00, breakfast had already started and still not a single person was downstairs. Just then, like the gods had heard her, Mary and Marlene came walking down the stairs, Mary a little more put together than her companion.
“Are you fucking kidding me, the boys aren’t down here yet? Do me a favor and wake me up a little later tomorrow Lily.” Marlene said, looking around like they might be hiding behind a plant.
“McKinnon you know we are going to have morning practices this year and Frank will kill us all if you are late. Maybe it’s good to start getting up earlier now,” James called from where he appeared walking down the stairs.
“You’re one to talk Potter, I got here before you,” but Lily could see the look of dread on her face thinking about the future morning practices.
“The boys dorms are farther away,” James whined.
“It is literally a magic castle, that doesn’t make any sense,” Marlene shot back.
Everyone got up as one and started walking to breakfast, James and Marlene continuing to bicker behind them. One would think they were siblings and considering they grew up as neighbors, they practically were related at this point. Poor Euphemia and Fleamont was all Lily could think.
They finally reached the Great Hall, late per usual, but there was a spot at the far end of the table big enough for all seven of them. While everyone was loading their plates, James and Sirius informed Peter of their plan to spy on the Slytherin tryouts and invited him to join them to which he quickly declined, questioning why he would want to spend his time in the heat spying for a sport he didn’t play, Remus nodding along with him. James and Sirius just sighed and got to planning, whispering with their heads bent together.
“How did your meeting with Professor McGonagall go yesterday Lily?” asked Remus. James and Sirius’ heads shot up so quickly they knocked together, James looking guilty for having forgotten to ask last night. He sent a sheepish look in her direction and she just smiled forgivingly back at him.
“You had a meeting with Professor McGonagall last night? Is that why you got back into the room so late?” Mary questioned as they had gone up before Remus had gotten back.
“Yeah, she wanted to talk to me about the student I was tutoring, the schedule, what room we could use, and whatnot,” Lily said to Mary and Marlene.
“Anddd? Share with the class Evans,” Sirius this time.
“Yeah, who's the student, do we know them?” James next.
She had known this was coming and thought she was ready for it but now she wasn’t so sure. She looked at Remus who had his full attention on her, perhaps sensing a little of what she was going to say through her hesitation. So with a deep breath she told them, “It’s Barty Crouch Jr.”
Silence dawned on their group, a rare occurrence. “Barty Crouch Jr as in son of Barty Crouch Sr as in fifth year Slytherin?” James was the first to speak, always able to voice his thoughts.
“As in Regulus’ best friend.” She heard Sirius say under his breath catching the concerned look James sent him before refocusing on her.
She nodded in answer to their question.
“WHAT” Marlene practically yelled, causing almost every head in the room to turn their way.
“Marlene, be quiet. You are drawing attention. ” Lily hissed to her friend. Luckily everyone was used to their antics so they soon turned their attention back to whatever they were doing before.
That seemed to break the dam and all of a sudden everyone was speaking.
“Who’s decision was this?”
“Why didn’t they just ask another Slytherin?”
“Why does he need tutoring in the first place?”
“How stupid do they have to be to think this will work?”
“Do they want you to get hurt?”
“We will help you protest this Lily,” from Peter. At that five heads nodded in agreement; all except Remus who seemed to be letting his thoughts ruminate.
“No.” Lily said firmly, making eye contact with each of them, willing them to understand. “McGonagall entrusted me with this and so I am going to see it through. Trust me I was just as angry as all of you when she told me but she explained that she, along with Professor Dumbledore and Professor Slughorn, had chosen me for the task. She also said that if things truly aren’t going well they will reevaluate.”
“Fat lot of good it’ll do to reevaluate after Crouch has already cursed you.” Sirius said spitefully.
Everyone else still looked doubtful but didn’t say anything else. “And Professor McGonagall might’ve alluded to the idea that if I do this I’ll have a high chance for head girl.” Lily revealed, rubbing the back of her neck nervously as she heard herself explain the blatant bribery.
They exploded again.
“Are you fucking serious?”
“No he’s Sirius.”
“NOT THE TIME.”
“Who else would they choose over you?”
“This is manipulation and they aren’t even trying to be sneaky about it.”
“Who do they think they are?”
“I already told her I would do it, I will not sacrifice my goals because of one lazy, spoiled pureblooded wizard, I already deal with two every day, what’s one more?” She said with a pointed look at James and Sirius, trying to lighten the mood. It didn’t work.
“She also said something about how I might be able to change more than his grades. I think she was trying to say that she believed his political and social views could be changed as well. And I am going to at least try.” Lily told them confidently.
James scoffed, “As if, she’s just trying to butter you up Lils. They can’t and won’t change, they won’t even try.” There was perhaps a bit more resentment behind his words that went farther than what a random Slytherin deserved but Lily didn’t have time to focus on that right now.
At James’ words Sirius looked downcast, no doubt thinking of Regulus.
“I don’t know, Meadowes isn’t so bad and she’s part of their lot. Maybe he isn’t so bad either, and from what I’ve heard he’s not a complete idiot. You might be able to catch him up quickly and still get the boost for head girl,” Remus finally added his opinion.
Sirius, Peter, and James rounded on him, shock evident on their features. “You’re supporting this?” Sirius asked unbelievingly.
“Don’t compare Dorcas to them!” Marlene huffed indignantly at the same time.
Remus rolled his eyes before answering, “Yes I am. Lily is perfectly capable of handling herself if things go wrong and it could be a good thing. Crouch’s views would never change if tutored by a fellow slytherin, and now there is a real chance. And if his views change maybe it’ll rub off on those around him like a chain reaction.” The last sentence was said while Remus looked straight at Sirius, the meaning lost on none of them.
Now it was Sirius’ turn to scoff.
“I just don’t want you to get hurt,” James said pleadingly.
For some reason this was what sparked her anger, “What James, you don’t think I could defend myself from an evil Slytherin, even one younger than me?”
That seemed to provoke James as well, “ No Lily. That’s not what I was saying and you know it. They are dangerous, and you being in a one on one situation with someone from a sacred twenty eight family in a private and secluded setting is irresponsible and imprudent. Forgive me for being worried.”
“I’m not defenseless James, this is nothing new to me but you wouldn’t know that because you’ve never had to worry about it in the same way me or Remus or Mary have. I’ve been aware of the dangers of other students for a long time before now and Crouch doesn’t scare me. My magic is strong and capable, I don’t appreciate the doubt coming from you. And like Remus said, this is a real chance to change him for the better,” Lily responded, red with anger.
“You trust too easily, just look at what happened with Snape. This won’t be any different but this time it’ll be with a person who actively does not believe you should even have magic. You’re right, I don’t have to worry about the same dangers you, Remus, and Mary face but I don’t have to have worried about them to know how this is going to turn out. How do you think he is going to react when being told he needs to listen to the authority of a muggleborn, you need to be realistic, ” They were starting to draw attention from the rest of the students, probably due to the fact that Lily and James were the least likely of the group to have a public outburst, yet here they were.
“How dare you bring up Severus, you knew nothing of what our friendship was like because you refused to even listen. That's who you are, James Potter who knows better than everyone else, has the perfect life, and since he says all Slytherins are bad then it must be true. Well guess what James? I’m going to tutor him because I, unlike you, refuse to judge someone based on unconfirmed beliefs, and you can’t do anything to change that," she stormed away, not allowing James the chance to respond.
The anger slowly left James once Lily was gone, Sirius just patted him on the back sympathetically but it didn’t change what had happened. Remus shook his head at James and got up to go after Lily, indicating for Mary to come with him.
On the other side of the hall, at the Ravenclaw table, Pandora Rosier had watched the entire altercation and was now sitting with a contemplative look on her face.
~ ~ ~
Lily rushed out of the great hall, her anger pushing her along, flush still evident in her face. She had some time before her first class so she let her feet lead the way and ended up walking past
McGonagall's office where she heard raised voices. Her feet slowed as she paused to listen. She could hear McGonagall, Professor Slughorn, and a voice she didn’t recognize but it sounded like a student.
“-I must ask that you calm down.” came Professor Slughorn's voice.
“Calm down? You want me to calm down? You just told me that in your infinite wisdom you have chosen to have Lily fucking Evans, gryffindor princess, be my mandated tutor. This is as calm as it’s going to fucking get.” Well that answered the question of who the third voice was.
“Mr. Crouch, crude language such as that will not be tolerated. I will excuse it just this once due to the situation but if I hear it again you will be serving detention on top of the tutoring.” McGonagall said harshly.
Lily heard a huff in response which she assumed came from Crouch. By now she had stepped to the side and squished herself to the wall in an effort to remain unseen should anyone walk by in the corridor.
“Now as I said before, Horace and I agreed that this was the best choice, Ms.Evans is top of her class in both transfiguration and Ancient Runes and has been known to help her friends successfully learn the content they struggle on. Need I remind you that this was what we agreed upon at the end of term last year.”
“Well obviously I never imagined you’d choose Her.”
“The agreement was that in return for us not notifying your father of the tutoring you will be receiving, we would get to choose your tutor. There were no further specifics agreed upon about who it would be and so we have chosen Ms.Evans,” Slughorn replied calmly.
“How exactly do you foresee this arrangement playing out? I’ll consider it a miracle if we get through one session. I cannot be seen being tutored by her, not only is she a gryffindor, she is muggleborn. I can’t be seen being tutored at all and Evans all but assures that the entirety of Gryffindor will know by the end of today and the rest of the school before even the first meeting. And then how exactly does our deal benefit me? I am a Crouch, one of the sacred twenty eight, this is not the way things are done, don’t you understand? Pick someone else, you must. ” He responded seemingly desperate now at the mention of his father.
“We must all face the consequences of our actions Mr.Crouch, you chose to not attend class this past year. If you truly want someone else, you can choose from a list of options and we will inform your father of your choice as well,” Professor McGonagall responded. The room was dead silent, she could almost believe there hadn’t been an argument going on seconds ago if she hadn’t heard it yourself. Professor McGonagall was one of the bravest people Lily had ever met and she doubted anyone else could be as good a head of Gryffindor house as she but not for the first time, Lily wondered to herself if the hat had almost placed the professor in Slytherin, as it would have certainly been fitting.
“Now that that's settled, you and Ms.Evans will meet every Tuesday and Thursday starting next week at 4 pm sharp for one hour. We have commissioned an abandoned classroom on the third floor for you two to work, that is the most we will offer you. Ms. Evans has been instructed to give progress reports and should it be found that you are not attempting to improve your studies, more drastic measures might have to be put in place.” There was nothing hidden about this threat from McGonagall who was apparently done with all pretenses.
“And she agreed to this?” Crouch demanded to know.
“Yes Mr.Crouch, Ms.Evans has already agreed to tutor you and was frankly a lot calmer about it. Perhaps you should use her as an example. Now you have classes to get to and I have one to teach, I’ll send you a reminder with the final details in a few days.”
Lily realized that this was her cue to leave and she quickly disconnected from where she had been trying to become one with the wall, thoughts swirling around in her head. Nothing was making sense.
First of all, Professor McGonagall had lied about a few details. Crouch had not already been told about the situation and had not been fine with it, instead she had used this tactic on the both of them to force their compliance. Additionally, Lily had not reacted calmly to this news, in fact she thinks she took it harder than Crouch somehow. And what was this deal about not telling his father? Pureblood family dynamics made no sense to her.
At least he hadn't called her a “mudblood” Lily thought to herself before stopping that thought in its tracks. Why was she trying to humanize him? She knew exactly what type of person he was: entitled, privileged, snobby, lazy, and a prick. The only reason he hadn’t referred to her as a mudblood was probably because he didn’t want to deal with the resulting reprimand, not caring that it was a slur.
Her anger came rushing back, who did he think he was? Lily was ranked in the top three across every subject she took, he should've felt honored to be tutored by her. She was older, smarter, and 100 times more capable than he’d ever be. And he was lucky to have her.
Lily Evans vowed to not let Barty Crouch Jr ruin her year, she had all the power now.
Lily had begun to walk towards the charms classroom for her first class which was all the way on the other side of the castle when Remus and Mary caught up to her. “I’ll apologize to James later, I don’t know why I got so worked up.”
Remus grabbed Lily’s arm and turned her to face them, “He’s the one who should apologize. They are my best friends but you’re right, they don’t get what it's like to be raised by muggles or be muggleborn at Hogwarts, they’ve only seen parts of it.”
Mary nodded along fervently, “They know that you are perfectly capable of defending yourself against Crouch, you’re probably the best witch of us all. I think they were just understandably angry about why McGonagall would put you in this position. I’m sure James will apologize later when he sees you. And hey don’t feel too bad, they all need a little reminder every so often, especially James. His life is perfect, he just doesn’t get it because he didn’t grow up the same way.”
“Thanks you two.” Lily said feeling a lot better, “I’ll probably still apologize later though.”
Mary laughed, “Typical Evans.”
Remus just smiled and they continued walking together towards class.
~~~
James and Lily avoided each other all day, both of them still retaining some of the anger from this morning. She knew he would apologize eventually, because as much as she had insulted him this morning, James was at heart a good person who would realize his mistakes. Once he did, she was going to make sure he said it in front of the entire group so he could be kept accountable.
He finally seemed to figure out what he wanted to say by the time they got to dinner.
They had all loaded their plates with food but conversation was tense, everyone waiting for James and Lily to address this morning. Sirius seemed to have enough of being patient and smacked James in the back of the head.
That got him to seemingly zone back into the situation at hand. “I’d like to apologize Lily. I definitely do not think that you can’t fight back against Crouch if the situation comes to it. I was, no, I am worried about you because the Slytherins have a track record of being unnecessarily hateful and he’ll probably be ten times worse because he doesn’t want to be tutored, especially by a Gryffindor who is friends with his best friends disinherited older brother. I’d be worried about anyone in this situation, not just you Lils. You are one of the most important people in my life and I don’t know what I’d do if you got hurt and I just let it happen. But I am sorry, I know I will never truly understand what you go through as a muggleborn because of my family and how I was raised but I promise I’ll do better.”
Lily smiled at him, happy with the well thought out apology, ready to give one of her own, “Well I’m sorry too. I shouldn’t have snapped at you like that, I’m just a little stressed about the whole thing. I won’t be going in there under any naive pretenses about what type of person Crouch is but if I can help, I want to.”
He nodded in acceptance and the whole table seemed to deflate.
“Thank Merlin, I hate seeing mum and dad fight.” Marlene said, making everyone laugh and mutter their agreement.
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James still felt bad about his argument with Lily, he really did think she could handle herself. He knew that he had lived a cushioned life as a wealthy pureblood and Lily was right calling him out on it. How was he any different than the Slytherins he hated if he acted like one of his closest friends was incapable of defending against magic because of what?
Did James have some unconscious prejudice of his own, why else had he acted the way he did, would he truly be this worried if it was any of his other friends? He couldn’t find a clear answer to these questions and it concerned him.
But he also knew what these people were like. Even though the Potters were not part of the sacred twenty-eight, they were still purebloods and had interacted with those families on numerous occasions.
James had met most of the pureblooded kids his age before coming to Hogwarts and he knew what kind of people they were.
He especially knew what Barty was like.
They had grown up together: James, Marlene, Peter, and Barty. All four of them had lived near each other as neighbors up until James, Marlene, and Peter were eleven. Around then, Barty’s father had started to climb his way up the career ladder and they had moved away, closer to the ministry higher ups.
The four of them had promised each other that they would stay best friends once they were all at Hogwarts, together again, as Crouch Sr. ensured they didn’t see each other anymore after they moved. James, Marlene, and Peter were a year older and had all been sorted into Gryffindor, confident that their fourth member would be as well when he joined them the next year.
Barty had been the biggest daredevil of them all even back then, he was always the first to volunteer to try something new or climb a taller tree even as the youngest. He had also consistently stood up to his father when Crouch Sr tried to force Barty to stop hanging out with the three of them, insisting they were bad influences and that he should not associate with Peter, a half-blood. The boy had naturally refused which James knew had brought on more than one punishment, yet Barty had never faltered when it came to his friends.
Which is why James was utterly surprised when he was sorted into Slytherin. Barty had been the bravest person James had ever known at that age and if not Gryffindor, he was incredibly loyal and clever. James, Marlene, and Peter had discussed it after, each of them saying they had ranked Slytherin at the bottom of where they thought their friend would be sorted.
In the first days of their second year the trio had sought out Barty, having not seen their friend since he had moved away. They had decided to cast away their hate for Slytherin for the sake of the group, but it hadn’t gone the way they'd planned. Barty had pushed them away. They hadn’t been easily deterred and kept trying to come back, telling him they didn’t care if he was a Slytherin and that his father couldn’t get to him here, thinking that was what worried him. Barty had refused time and time again and after one attempt too many on their end, he had said some nasty things to the three of them, even commenting on Peter’s blood status.
That had been the last straw and they stopped trying to recover the friendship they once had with him. That night the three of them had agreed to not tell anyone of their relationship with the young Slytherin. They knew the others wouldn’t get it and there was no point if he didn’t want to be associated with them anymore. In the years since, no one learned of the other boy the Gryffindors had been best friends with before Hogwarts, even Sirius, it was the one thing James kept from him.
James had initially kept tabs on him in the beginning, just making sure he looked healthy especially after breaks when he visited his father. Over time though James hadn’t noticed anything amiss and slowly stopped paying attention, finding that it just made him sad when he reminisced about what used to be.
Lily being assigned to tutor him was the first time he had truly thought about the younger boy in months outside of the realm of quidditch and the reason why confused him. Barty had always been smart, even before beginning school it was obvious, he was naturally bright. There was no reason for him to need tutoring, James didn’t understand. He had tried bringing it up to Marlene and Peter later but they had quickly shut him down.
“Don’t you guys think it’s weird that Barty needs tutoring?” James asked them.
“What, why would I think that?” Marlene frowned.
“Don’t you remember when we were little, he was always smart, finding ways to get out of trouble or solve one of our problems.”
“This is not the same Barty we knew when we were ten James, I thought you learned that back in second year,” Peter told him, uncharacteristically sharp.
“I did, I did…I just thought it was odd,” James said, failing to come up with a good explanation as to why this was important to him.
“I’ll give you some advice James, I stopped concerning myself with the activities of Crouch a long time ago and so should you. I don’t know who this Barty is and I don’t want to,” Marlene’s stance was clear, she didn’t care about Barty anymore.
Peter had nodded and went to bed along with Marlene, leaving James to his thoughts.
He would have to ask Lily about it after her sessions. He was still worried about her because he had been witness as to what Barty had turned into; he liked to taunt and tease just like every other Slytherin but covered it up with his carefree personality. James had also seen him react to people telling him what to do before, it didn’t often go over well.
Not to mention he is best friends with Regulus Black, who James knew enough about from Sirius, and most of it wasn’t promising of the type of person Barty had matured into. He wasn’t sure how Barty would act around Lily and that scared him because once upon a time he could’ve told anyone what the boy's exact reaction would’ve been.
Luckily Lily had seemed to appreciate and accept his apology and had even apologized herself. He would have to find Remus and Mary later to thank them for whatever they said to her after she stormed out of the Great Hall.
~~~
One week in and James already felt like he was drowning in homework, he was beginning to question what his past self was thinking when signing up for seven NEWT level courses. Only five were required, where the decision to take extra had come from he didn’t know. Honestly he’d just assumed it’d be similar to years past when he had taken 7 courses, in hindsight he probably should've thought about what it would be like to take said classes.
He actually only needed five NEWTs passed with at least an Exceeds Expectations to become an auror, which was difficult in itself but he was confident in his abilities. And with the news getting darker and darker every day, James wanted to give himself the best advantages he could; so here he was taking seven subjects for his final two years.
Said classes had jumped right into the curriculum on the first day under the claim that they were all older now and class should reflect the rigorous curriculum expected of a NEWT level course. This meant several quizzes to see how much they knew already, brewing potions from memory so that Slughorn could see which steps they were struggling with, and practicing charms repeatedly until James' hand grew sore from gripping his wand. And that was just the in class portion, they had also been assigned multiple sections of reading and essays that were to be turned in before the following week's class.
It hadn’t gotten to the point of being overwhelming yet but James knew it was only just the beginning. Having his friends in class with him made it much easier to handle, they all made sure the others were caught up on everything and understood the content. Some were more helpful than others like Lily and Remus but overall everyone tried to help each other out. Except for Sirius, who was having no trouble at all in his classes, his natural talent seemingly was able to push him through another year.
But these were problems for tomorrow James because today was Saturday which meant quidditch tryouts. By far James’ favorite part of school was getting to play for Gryffindor, and it being his 5th year on the team meant he would be taking a much more active role in helping run practices and decide who made the squad. However, Gryffindor tryouts weren’t for another 30 minutes or so.
Right now, Slytherin had the pitch and was conducting their own tryouts. David Goyle — a dreadful brute of a man who was one of the Slytherin team's beaters and their captain— was currently running the chaser tryouts. This consisted of three aspiring chasers to run formations against the team's current two chasers—Meadowes being one of them— and attempt to score, safe to say none of them in the current round looked very promising.
James, Sirius, and Marlene had arrived 15 minutes ago and silently hiked up to the faculty stands which were shaded before squeezing themselves into the darkest corner. They had decided that they would just watch for the first half hour to try and glean any information that could help them in the upcoming season. James knew that based on last year's team and who had graduated that Slytherin needed a keeper, a chaser, and a backup seeker. So here they were, trying to figure out if anyone of note would be joining the rival team.
So far what they had learned was that Sirius needed to pack on some more muscle because Goyle and Barty, who was the other beater, were hard hitters along with the fact that the most likely pick for keeper was slower to block the goal to his left. The Gryffindor chasers had always been better than the Slytherin chasers so they weren’t paying as much attention to this section of the tryouts, Dorcas being their only real threat.
Which is why it wasn’t much of a surprise when Sirius said out of the blue, “Don’t you lot think that Goyle's authority needs to be better tested as a captain?”
“What an excellent idea Padfoot, what did you have in mind?”
“Well it can’t be anything too obvious, we’ll be caught in seconds,” Marlene chimed in, eyes locked on Dorcas even as she spoke.
“Something subtle it is then, I think I have an idea,” Sirius said after he spent a moment thinking.
James and Marlene waited, wondering what Sirius was going to do that wouldn’t draw any attention to the three spies in the stands. Just in case though, both of them moved to the edge of their seats ready to bolt knowing Sirius had a bit of a flair for the dramatics.
They watched as Goyle yelled at the chasers to stop before giving them new instructions from where he was sitting proudly on his broom midair. But suddenly Goyle's broom shook hard causing him to sway and then quickly grab on to the end to stabilize himself. It wasn’t much, just looking like a strong gust of wind had come through, but everyone had seen the small moment of panic that had flitted across their captains face when he had lost control, and if there was one thing that Slytherins could be counted on for, it was to latch onto weakness.
The other chaser, also a seventh year, James was pretty sure his name was Rowle, barked a laugh. “Woah David try not to let the broom get the best of you, yeah?”
Goyle barred his teeth at the other boy but obviously couldn’t think of anything to say in return, “Run it again. This time we’re adding a bludger.”
Everyone got back into position and Goyle whistled, signalling the start of the drill. Barty and Goyle hit a bludger back and forth through the line of chasers a couple of times, where Goyle was strong, Barty was precise. Now James had an idea.
The next time the bludger came rushing towards Goyle and he raised the bat in his hand to hit it back, James silently cast his spell, causing Goyle to completely swing and miss. This time the laughter wasn’t just limited to Rowle, the entire team and those trying out erupted. James could see Goyle’s face red in anger, just looking at his hands wondering what had happened. The confusion was fair, James had played against Goyle for five years now and there was no denying he was a good beater but the damage was done.
In the back corner of one of the stands, three Gryffindors were doubled over with silent laughter.
“Did you see the look on his face?” Marlene got out between laughs.
“I might just have to buy a pensieve to relive that over and over again. Genius Prongs!” Sirius told them.
After a few minutes, they had finally calmed back down again to see Goyle try and regain authority by switching to the backup seeker tryouts. There were two people trying out, neither of which James recognized but they looked to be on the younger side. This tryout was saved for last because they only needed a backup, making it less important.
Slytherin already had a seeker, a really good one at that, none other than Regulus Black. Any games Gryffindor lost to Slytherin was because of him and the three of them were well aware of that little fact, Dorcas and Barty were good but they could only do so much. Regulus however, could change the tide of the game all by himself, that was the nature of any seeker. Baby Black walked out of the locker rooms just then, not having concerned himself with the rest of tryouts, he knew they couldn’t afford to kick him off and took advantage of it.
James chanced a look at Sirius and even though Regulus was still on the ground making him tiny from where they were at, Sirius’ eyes were locked on his little brother's every move. “Sirius, do you want to leave?” James asked lightly.
“No.” Sirius answered determinedly, “I hardly get to see him anymore, I want to watch.”
And oh if James’ heart didn’t break at that. Even though he had often and loudly encouraged Sirius to leave that god forsaken house, he regretted that Sirius had had to leave Regulus. James didn’t know much about the younger Black brother, just that according to Sirius he was the perfect son who never spoke out against their mother but he still loved him. James would do anything for Sirius, even die for him, but he had no idea how to help with this particular problem. He had told Sirius that the Potter estate was open to both of the brothers, but Sirius had told him the offer had been scoffed at and refused.
James shared a look with Marlene and they all turned back to continue watching the Slytherin tryouts. By now Regulus had gotten on his broom and was doing lazy circles around the field while Goyle explained the drill to the two trying out. From what James could gather, Goyle would be releasing the snitch and each of them would get a chance to compete against Regulus to catch it.
Goyle made the one who wasn’t going first land and wait in the changing rooms so he didn’t have any advantages and then released the snitch, Regulus still doing circles. Although in games, the snitch would probably disappear for a good while until allowing the seekers to spot it, it could be charmed for circumstances such as this so that seekers wouldn’t have to wait 45 minutes to practice. The Snitch still flew away out of sight but only for around 30 seconds before suddenly appearing again somewhere on the field.
James, who had been watching Regulus, saw that he had immediately spotted the snitch but gave no outward indication of it, continuing to fly slowly towards the other side of the field. He did the same thing in games and James had had many many discussions with their seeker about it. At some point the girl trying out had spotted it as well and set off in pursuit, mistakenly believing her head start would get her there before Regulus.
James watched as Regulus finally focused and raced off not towards the snitch but a little ahead in the path it was flying. Now he and the girl were equal distances away flying towards the snitch almost certain to collide with each other instead. James could give credit where credit was due, the girl seemed determined to make Regulus back off first, but she should’ve known better. If there was one trait the Black brothers shared, it was stubbornness.
Suddenly the snitch switched to almost a straight freefall to which both Regulus and the girl dove after it. The girl ultimately pulled up about 15 feet from the ground to avoid injury, but Regulus just stuck his hand out and kept going before eventually curling his fingers around the golden ball and pulling his broom swiftly up, narrowly avoiding crashing into the ground. While his teammates cheered him on, he just tossed the snitch back to Goyle and went back to doing slow circles around the field.
The second student was in the air now and Goyle once again released the snitch. James took this time to analyze Regulus’ flying hoping he could find a mistake to help his team but really he was deluding himself. There were no mistakes, Regulus, much like James, had probably been riding a broom since he was old enough to not tilt sideways and fall off. Whereas Sirius exuded strength and confidence when flying as a beater, Regulus was fast and graceful with a sharp quality to his flying as a seeker.
It was clear that every move he made while flying was intentional and had a reason for it even if it couldn’t be seen by everyone else right away. James could admit that his flying and technique were beautiful to watch when you weren’t the one playing against him. The snitch was visible again and the boy competing set off, but this time Regulus didn’t. Instead he flew low to the ground keeping pace with the boy above him who seemed unaware that Regulus was below toying with him. The seeker in question tired of playing around and shifted his broom to fly straight up directly in front of the boy, grabbing the snitch with his right hand while still completely vertical. The result led to the boy spinning completely out of control when he had tried to pull back, startled by Regulus, and falling off his broom.
“Show off!” James heard Dorcas shout from where she perched at the top of the Slytherin stands with Barty.
“Yeah Reg, we get it, you are very good at catching a little golden ball. I’d like to see you handle the quaffle or bludger for once, then we’ll see how good you are,” Barty yelled jokingly.
“Don’t be jealous Crouch, it’s unbecoming,” Regulus countered once he’d flown back near his friends.
Barty said something back but James couldn’t hear them now that they weren’t yelling. The three of them sat there in shocked silence for a few minutes. Sirius, Marlene, and James turned to look at each other, none of them knowing what to say.
“How the fuck do we compete against him?” Marlene hissed.
Sirius and James shook their heads, having no ideas on how to stop Regulus Black. Their seeker was nowhere near his level.
Speak of the devil and he shall appear, Regulus Black was now hovering in front of the stands they were hiding in and could clearly see them. “Spying are we, how very Slytherin of you.” He drawled in that posh accent of his, a bored look on his face, “It's best you start to accept your losses now, after all how are you going to compete against me?”
And with that he flew back down, tossing the snitch to Goyle before going directly to the locker rooms.
“Did he just use my own words against me?” Marlene demanded.
“Well that's Reggie for you.” Sirius offered. “He didn’t even seem affected by me, just looked at me like I was another random Gryffindor he had a house rivalry with and there I was speechless like a fish out of water.” He shook his head and got up to go down, no longer having to worry about being spotted by the rest of the Slytherin team.
Neither Marlene nor James had anything to say in response to that so they just walked down silently to the Gryffindor changing rooms. Frank was the only one there so far, “So how did it go, how does Slytherin look this year?” their captain questioned.
“Regulus Black is going to tear us to fucking pieces.” James offered dismally, Marlene nodding in the background, Frank just sighed.
Notes:
My author notes are a space for me to yap sorry guys!
Favorite pieces:
- this fandom does not understand or love peter like i do. Guys why are we scared to give him a real personality that is likeable, he was their friend. Thats why the betrayal hit so hard remember. Writing him makes me lowk want to change some of the cannon compliancy i can't even lie.
- I wanted to show James and Lily as real people who aren't perfect for each other. Like yes James is a little hot headed and quick to get mad but thats ok because i love him. And yes Lily still faces the insecurity of her abilities but shes a baddie and figures it out. I hope that argument made sense for their characters.
- On that note it is so hard to write nine different personalities, like the friendgroup and now reg and barty. So if they all seem a little similar, ignore that. I'm working on it.
- just a reminder, wolfstar and dorlene are very background this fic.Yay 7000 word chapter, enjoy everyone. As always I will beg for comments. See you next week!!
Chapter 4: Chapter 4
Summary:
Our first introduction to our two love interests!! A lot more Barty than Regulus but still, hope you love it.
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Lily Evans was having a terrible day. And it wasn’t because of any of her classes or friends, no Lily Evans was having a terrible day because it was the second Tuesday of the fall term. Which meant that today would be her first meeting with her tutoree, and she had been dreading it all day.
She was hoping that he wasn’t truly as bad as all her friends seemed to think he was, hoped that he wasn’t like Avery or Mulciber or Bellatrix. But one could never be sure.
This morning James had come up to her with a coin, “Here I have something for you before your tutoring session.”
“I’m not sure money will help me James, Crouch is quite rich if you haven’t heard,” Lily said flatly.
James flushed a deep crimson, “Sorry I should explain what it is, I enchanted it with the protean charm. If you get into any trouble with Crouch just put pressure on it for three seconds and it’ll tell me you’re in trouble, you can even put a small message on there that will transfer to the one I have.”
“The protean charm? But that's a NEWT level charm, we haven’t gone over that in class,” Lily was stunned.
“Like I said Lily, you matter to me and always will. I learned it so that I could be of some help to you. It wasn’t too hard actually,” James said this with a nervous look on his face, obviously worried that she would think he was saying she wasn’t capable of defending herself again.
“Thank you James, I’ll keep it with me at all times. I really appreciate this,” Lily was sincere in her gratitude.
In their earlier school years, James and Sirius’ natural aptitude for magic had aggravated Lily beyond reason. They had understood and were able to achieve everything insanely quick and she hated it, the jealousy had been overwhelming. It is part of what made her so angry with James’ flirting, it had felt like she was just another thing for him to easily check off the list. But eventually she had grown past that point and now she was instead appreciative, realizing James wasn’t that type of person.
His shoulders relaxed instantly and he smiled that bright smile of his at her, “You’re welcome. Just so you know I do expect Crouch to get an O in transfiguration and Ancient Runes now that he has the brightest witch of her age tutoring him.”
Lily had laughed at the nickname Slughorn had dubbed her with and that was that.
So here she was, 10 minutes to four, pacing in the classroom McGonagall had told her they would be using, flipping the coin James had given her between her knuckles— a trick she had learned when she was little and obsessed with the idea of magic. Just over 2 years after that Lily received her Hogwarts letter.
She had figured out how exactly these sessions would go the night before. Tuesdays would focus on transfiguration and Thursdays on ancient runes.
Lily had made a quiz from her fourth year notes that she had saved to test Crouch on what he knew already, seeing as McGonagall hadn’t specified what lessons the fifth year had skipped. They were general questions, only a few per each topic; that way she could structure her tutoring on blocks of information rather than anything specific. Then she had a few transfiguration spells that she was going to ask him to perform to determine whether he was lacking more in theory or practical application, or if both were equally dismal.
Lily had repeated the mantra that she was going to be completely professional and not let her temper get the best of her all day long. She repeated this to herself still as the minutes ticked down to four, waiting for the door to open. Except it didn’t, the clock on the wall ticked past four pm, then 4:10, 4:15, and finally at 4:20 the door opened.
Crouch strolled in like he was early rather than 20 minutes late, walking with confidence to a desk and sitting down before looking at her expectantly.
Lily stared at him dumbfounded, he hadn’t said a word and already she could feel the familiar flush of anger filling her cheeks. In an effort to calm down, she didn’t say anything right away, instead choosing to really look at Crouch closely for the first time.
He was taller than her but seemed to be a little shorter than James and was leaner than him as well. Both of them were on the quidditch team for their respective houses but whereas James had packed on muscle and now had a broad torso and strong legs, Crouch was the opposite, still sporting muscle but nothing extensive, which was surprising for a beater. He had a neon green streak in his otherwise dark hair, a silver piercing through his left eyebrow, black studs in each of his ears, and a silver hoop in his right helix. He didn’t wear any robes, just the white button down, untucked, with his green and silver tie loose, reminding her of Sirius.
He sat in the chair lounging seemingly unbothered, one eyebrow raised as she continued to stare. But she knew from what she had overheard in McGonagall's office that he didn’t want to be here just as much as her.
She refused to break the silence and just kept staring. Eventually he lost patience, “I know I’m attractive but are you really going to spend the entire mandated hour I have to be here staring Red?”
A nickname. He showed up late and decided the first impression he was going to make was with a nickname.
“I couldn’t stare the entire hour because if you didn’t notice it's 4:20. Or did you never learn how to read a clock, just had the house elves tell you whenever you wanted? And don’t call me Red,” She added as an afterthought.
“So you admit I’m attractive?” He responded unphased by her jab at his upbringing.
Lily huffed incredulously, “No.”
“Ah ah, can’t take it back now Red. You know people have been wondering why you and Potter haven’t gotten together, had to be something on your end seeing as he was quite vocal with his feelings. I guess we know now, he’s not your type,” he said with a smirk plastered on his face.
Lily had expected insults, bribery to leave, hexes, anything but this. He was being friendly and borderline flirting with her and she was entirely unprepared on how to respond. “Stop calling me Red. Why were you late?” Some of her impatience was beginning to seep into her voice, she was still standing.
“I was busy,” he shrugged.
Lily felt like a house elf the way she wanted to bang her head against the wall. This was going to be a long couple of months. “Do you plan on making this a habit? Will you be late on Thursday as well?”
“Well I haven’t quite set the Thursday schedule yet so unfortunately I can’t answer that.”
“Well plan around these meetings and don’t be late again, we have things to do.”
“Or what, you’ll give me a stern lecture? I could imagine worse things than a girl talking down to me, I mean I usually prefer the other way around but I’m always open to switching it up,” he replied with a wink, looking up at her from his chair.
“No, I’ll just have to report to Professor McGonagall that you aren’t cooperating and she may have to find some form of disciplinary action,” She said this innocently but kept eye contact the entire time, the threat clear.
Crouch’s mouth clicked shut, she could see his jaw ticking, eyes narrowed probably trying to decipher what she knew, “Fine.”
“Fine what?” Lily was feeling petty.
She saw why he and Regulus got along, his glare would make most people falter. But Lily Evans was not most people and so she glared back. “Fine, I won’t be late on Thursday.”
“And?” She was really testing him now. A small part of her wanted him to blow up at her, give her something to report to McGonagall.
“And I won’t be late any other days after that,” Crouch bit out.
“Great! We can get started. Tuesdays we will focus on transfiguration and Thursdays we will focus on Ancient Runes. This week we are going to figure out what you already know so I can learn what you need to catch up on. I made a quiz on fourth year transfiguration topics to see what areas you were lacking. Here,” she handed him the papers.
He didn’t take them, “Look Red, I don’t want to be here, and I know you don’t want to be here. Can’t you just let me leave and we both don’t say anything to McGonagall?”
Again with the nickname, “It’s Lily. You seem to forget that it is not just you who would face punishment if caught Crouch,” this, she had expected.
“Are you deaf, I just said we both wouldn’t tell her. My friends won’t snitch on me and based on what I saw in the Great Hall last week, your friends would be more than happy to turn a blind eye if it got you out of this,” he sneered.
He was lying, straight to her face. Lily knew for a fact Crouch hadn’t been in the Great Hall when the argument between her and James had occurred, he’d been too busy talking to McGonagall about his tutoring. Regulus or Rosier must have told him what had happened.
Looking at him now, Lily would never have been able to tell he was lying if she hadn’t been eavesdropping outside McGonagall's office, his face not betraying even a hint of dishonesty.
“And what about when your grades don’t improve? That will be a sure sign that you are either skipping your tutoring sessions and I failed to report it or that my tutoring isn’t working and I refuse to let that be believed,” as much as Lily would like to get out of these sessions there was no way it would work.
“My grades will be fine, I know the information,” Crouch told her slowly, enunciating the words more than necessary, acting like she was stupid.
“From what McGonagall told me Crouch, you skipped over a fourth of your transfiguration lessons and over a third of your Ancient Runes lessons last year. Additionally, your grades reflected the effects of missing so many classes. How could you possibly know the information?”
“I failed on purpose, Red. I know the content,” Crouch seemed tired of talking to her already but unfortunately for him, Lily didn’t care.
“Why would you fail on purpose?” Lily could not understand any reasoning that would cause someone to fail their classes on purpose, affecting the rest of their Hogwarts career negatively, she had never failed a single class, even in primary school.
“That is none of your business, the only thing that matters is that I. Do. Not. Need. Tutoring,” this last part he said slowly as if he was speaking to a child. In his eyes she probably was the equivalent of a child.
“Prove it.” Lily said challengingly.
He raised his eyes from where he’d been watching his wand twirl around his fingers, “What?”
“You heard me. Prove that you know the information and I’ll consider letting you leave,” she told him, offering him the transfiguration quiz.
He looked at her inquisitively for a few seconds before snatching the paper out of her hands. He soon realized he didn’t have a quill, as he had come in here with the intention of leaving soon after. Lily knew that he’d rather die than ask her for a quill but he would have to if he wanted a chance to leave, she waited smugly. But he simply looked around and transfigured a piece of chalk into a quill. Wordlessly.
‘Huh.’ Lily thought to herself, nonverbal magic was difficult and usually only taught to sixth years and up. Transfiguration especially was hard because in order to change the form and composition of something, the intent and goal of the spell needed to be crystal clear, accomplishing this without words was significantly more difficult than with them.
But here Crouch was, having not batted an eye at his use of advanced magic; he must have been taught at home Lily concluded, it was the only thing that made sense. She scoffed and shook her head, just another way purebloods had an easier time of things.
He began filling out the quiz, and quickly too she noticed, barely pausing to read the question before writing down an answer. “He must be pulling my leg,” she guessed, marking down random answers that were surely wrong but she’d have to read through anyways.
Before she knew it, he had finished the quiz. “Here, can I leave now?”
“No. I have to do a spell work assessment as well.”
“Fine. Hurry up and tell me what you want me to do.”
“Conjure a bouquet,” She told him, an easy first request.
“Orchideous,” He did the necessary wand movement with a bored expression, a bouquet of bloomed flowers immediately spouting out of his wand.
She pulled out a beetle she had stunned earlier, “Turn this into a button.”
A flick of his wand and on her desk sat a perfect circular black button.
She pulled out a blue book, “Change this cover to red and gold.”
“Colovaria,” the cover changed to green and silver.
She looked up from the cover, “I said red and gold.”
“I know,” he answered with a shrug, “I prefer green and silver, it really brings out my eyes. Don’t you agree?”
She ignored his question, giving him new instructions, each of which he did flawlessly. At least he wasn’t in an irritable mood anymore.
“Turn this lovebird into a lovenote.”
The note flew at her but she refused to open it, until he sent ten more. She unfolded the last one, it read “This isn’t the only way I can show my love,” with a big heart around the words.
“Turn this hedgehog into a pin cushion.”
“Switch this Guinea fowl into a Guinea pig.”
“Turn this rat into a watergoblet,” this was the last of her prepared spells.
Naturally he did it perfectly. He really did know the information.
“Can I leave now?”
“Sure, go ahead.”
“You don’t need to tell me twice,” he said as he got up to leave.
“That was a productive first hour Crouch, looking forward to the rest,” Lily called out, unable to resist herself.
He paused, obviously hearing her mocking tone, and quickly cast a tempus. “It’s 5 o’clock,” he said with an annoyed sigh.
“If only you’d been here at four,” she remarked with fake pity.
She saw his shoulders tense, hand gripping the door handle, before they relaxed as Crouch laughed out loud.
Now Lily was confused, “You know Red, you aren’t so different from us Slytherins as you think. See you on Thursday,” he left the room, not having turned around for that last little comment.
“Stop calling me Red,” she yelled after him as the door closed.
She decided to ignore that comment, remembering the promise to herself that she wouldn’t believe anything he said about her. She couldn’t break it one week in, instead, she set to work grading his quiz. As she went down the page she saw that he had gotten every single question right, except for one: ‘When was the term “transfiguration” first coined as a specific type of magic?’.
Although it was wrong, Crouch had only been a year off, answering ‘1534’ rather than ‘1535’. Lily couldn’t even blame him for getting this one wrong, it was something they had covered in first year and Crouch was now a fifth year.
That didn’t disregard the fact that he had gotten everything else right which meant he truly did know the information and hadn’t been lying. So he really did fail on purpose, the question now was why?
Lily found it hard to form a reason as to why anyone would fail a class at Hogwarts on purpose, especially one as essential as transfiguration. Of course she could understand not working for an Outstanding score on every single assignment and test, seeing as she herself was happy as long as she received Exceeds Expectations on most of them. But failing on purpose? That was unheard of to her, even Sirius wouldn’t fail a class if it meant upsetting his parents.
It was even more odd considering who he surrounded himself with. Regulus Black and Evan Rosier were in no ways bad at their classes, Black was even a prefect. Grades were a large consideration of who made prefect so it’s not like he would have a similar track record as Crouch. So what had happened to get him to this point? She couldn’t imagine his two friends encouraging it.
No matter how long she thought about it, she could not come up with a plausible reason. Maybe Crouch is missing a little something in the brain, she reasoned, ready to put the unsolved mystery out of her mind until Thursday at 4 pm.
~~~
Lily had gone on a walk around the grounds after she had finished reviewing Crouch’s quiz in order to clear her mind. The whole encounter had disconcerted her for some reason, and it wasn’t just the fact that he hadn’t been horrible to her, it was something else, she just couldn’t quite put her finger on it.
She had thought that fresh air might help and so here she was, sitting on the grass, staring into the depths of the Black Lake like it was a magic 8 ball that would give her the answers she needed. Her entire idea of how the year would go tutoring Crouch had been altered and she was unsure how to plan for the rest of it.
Did she stay as she was today? Stone-faced and directly to business or should she entertain his jokes and flirting to try and get him to do the work? She didn’t want to ask her friends for help, didn’t want to admit she didn’t have it all under control but she resigned herself to probably being forced to talk about it anyways.
There wasn’t much of an option because if she didn’t tell them how today’s session went they would assume the worst and that would surely cause more damage than harm. She didn’t need them going after Crouch in the hallway on misguided beliefs. Besides, it wasn't like she was admitting she couldn’t defend against an attack from Crouch, just that she didn’t know how to deal with this new side of his personality.
“Hey Lily, you okay?”
She looked up, startled to see Marlene walking towards her, she hadn’t realized how late it was but the sun had already set, she must’ve missed dinner. “Oh hey, yeah I’m fine. Just lost track of time,” she cracked a smile at her friend.
This did not seem to appease Marlene in the way she had hoped, “Well you missed dinner but Sirius and Remus promised to grab you something to eat later while the rest of us looked for you. Did something happen with Crouch?” She asked, eyes narrowing.
“Are the rest of them really out looking for me? Ugh I’m sorry. I really did just lose track of time, I was enjoying the time out of the castle to myself, a rare break in my schedule, I had to take it. But I’m good now, want to head up to the common room?” Lily asked.
“Yeah let’s go, hopefully everyone else will already be up there. And then you can share how exactly your first tutoring session went!” Marlene told her, obviously not missing the fact that Lily hadn’t answered her question.
The redhead just sighed and hooked her arm through Marlene’s as they began the long journey to Gryffindor tower together.
When they finally walked through the portrait of the fat lady, Marlene leading the way into the common room, the rest of the group sat in front of the fire save for James who was pacing.
“-back in five minutes I’m going back out to look for her,” James was in the middle of saying.
Remus, who had spotted them the second they entered, raised an eyebrow, “I don’t think that’ll be necessary Prongs.”
“What? How could you possibly think that, what if Crouch did something to her. I mean I gave her the coin but maybe that wasn’t enough, maybe I-”
Lily decided to put him out of his misery when it was clear no one else would and cleared her throat behind him. He whirled around, eyes widening when he saw her, pink rising to his cheeks.
Marlene chimed in, “Aw nice to know you care so much about me Jamie.”
James’ embarrassment turned to a glare pointed towards Marlene, “I was worried about Lily, we all know you would’ve just annoyed them into giving you back to us.”
Marlene opened her mouth to retort back but Lily beat her to it, “Well I’m fine no need for you all to worry but I am tired, so I will see you lot tomorrow morning,” she turned to walk upstairs but a hand grabbed her arm pulling her back.
“You’re not getting away that easy Lils, I told you we would talk when we got upstairs and here we are. So talk,” it was Marlene who had grabbed her and was now pushing her into the seat next to Mary.
It was silent for a few moments, “I don’t know what you guys want me to say,” Lily told them, stubbornly holding onto her perceived dignity.
An awkward silence followed and it was Mary who decided to say what they were all thinking, “Well tell us how it went with Crouch! Spare no details.”
Each person in the circle nodded in agreement like the gossips they were.
Lily groaned, “There’s really not much to say, it was fine. Crouch showed up late of course but then was relaxed and amicable the rest of the time. He was even…flirting with me, I think to try and annoy me which it did, but better than the alternative.”
Lily swore their jaws all dropped in disbelief followed by Marlene cackling delightedly, “He flirted with you? What exactly did he say, tell us every word.”
“This isn’t like your little love story with Meadows, Mckinnon. Keep it in your pants.” Sirius told her.
“No no! It wasn’t like that, he was just trying to get under my skin and he succeeded. He even took to calling me “Red”,” She shuddered.
Their jaws dropped further while Marlene continued to laugh and laugh.
“And you let him?” Peter asked incredulously, well aware of the temper she harbored underneath her skin, having been on the receiving end of it his fair share of times.
“Well I told him not to obviously but I couldn’t do much more beyond hexing him,” she was quickly getting tired of this interrogation.
“I wonder why he’s acting like this, there's little benefit for him, I mean I’m sure he isn’t happy with the tutoring,” James wondered aloud.
Lily bit her lip, remembering the conversation she had overheard in McGonagall's office, not happy indeed. She didn’t say anything but Remus had clearly noticed her reaction and she knew she was in line for another questioning later.
“Maybe he’s trying to make Lily so annoyed she’ll refuse to tutor him and he’ll get a Slytherin assigned instead or tutoring ended entirely,” Mary offered.
“I doubt it, McGonagall had mentioned that he was not on the greatest of terms with the older Slytherins. It wouldn’t matter anyways, he can try and annoy me all he wants but I refuse to back down. But I do ask that you guys keep this tutoring arrangement quiet please,” Lily requested of them.
“Why?” Peter asked.
“I for one don’t need everyone in Gryffindor much less the school knowing I’m tutoring someone like Crouch willingly. Also I’m sure he doesn’t want anyone else knowing either,” She said, remembering Crouch’s worries to McGonagall.
“Well I couldn’t care less about what Crouch wants but I’ll keep this to myself and the group for you Lily,” Marlene smiled at her.
“I promise I’ll keep you guys updated,” Lily told them honestly, she was going to keep them updated.
They all seemed content with that answer and started to peel off to bed as the hour was late. Sirius came up to her with a plate stolen from the great hall full of food, “Here, me and Remus snagged this for you, wasn’t sure if you’d eaten.”
“I hadn’t, thank you Sirius and tell James thanks as well for the concern,” Lily said as she took the plate.
“Will do Evans,” Sirius returned with a mock salute, “Moony, you coming up?”
“Not yet, going to do some reading by the fire,” and with that Sirius turned up towards the dormitories.
Yet when Lily looked up, Remus’ molten gaze was not focused on the pages of a book but were rather boring into her. Sometimes she felt like he could see into her very soul and pluck whatever strings he needed at will to elicit his desired information, it was an eerie feeling.
Her and Remus were both patient people, most of the time, but tonight Remus had her beat. She cursed under her breath and decided to play dumb, “What do you want, Remus?”
“Are you going to tell me how it really went with Crouch, or should I bring everyone down here again to wear you down?” Remus asked politely in a manner at odds with his words.
“Are you going to tell me what's going on between you and Sirius or should I bring everyone down here to wear you down?” Safe to say she was not in the best of moods tonight.
He just tilted his head, calling her bluff, but she could see the tips of his ears turning red.
“I wasn’t lying when I said he didn’t hex or insult me,” she huffed out.
“But?” Remus asked, having guessed correctly that she hadn’t shared the full story.
“But it’s weird, he’s weird. He walks in late and immediately starts flirting every chance he gets, steering every word I say off topic, and I can’t seem to understand why.” Lily said, finally admitting her weakness.
“Give me an example of what he’d say,” Remus requested, always wanting the full story before offering advice.
“When he walked in late and sat down I just looked at him for a while, trying to see what kind of person he was and what excuse he’d offer for being late. Instead he says and I quote “I guess we know why you and Potter aren’t together, he’s not your type.” A couple minutes later he tried to get out of tutoring by saying he knew the information and when I questioned him further he became guarded and closed off. Then 15 minutes later it was like a switch had flipped, I told him to change the color of a book cover to red and gold which he changed to green and silver and when I questioned his decision he said “I prefer green and silver, really brings out my eyes, don’t you agree?” Not to mention that daft nickname.” Lily remembered the entire meeting, word for word.
Remus seemed to gather his thoughts and opened his mouth to speak but Lily wasn’t done yet, “And the worst thing is that he wasn’t lying.” Lily said, dragging her hands down her face.
“Wasn’t lying about what exactly?” Remus sounded the question out slowly, no doubt trying to figure out the answer himself.
“About knowing the information. I gave him a quiz and tested him on fourth year transfiguration spells and he aced it, he said he failed on purpose. Why would anyone do that? And more importantly how am I supposed to do a full year of tutoring for someone who doesn’t need it?” Now she was done.
“Hm, I had known that he was naturally intelligent but not to this level. Maybe you could go to McGonagall, tell her he doesn’t truly need tutoring?” Remus proposed.
“She’ll just think I’m trying to get out of it because I don’t like him and there’s no way in hell he’d do the spells correctly in front of her if he’s put this much effort into failing on purpose,” Lily said, now laying down on the couch staring at the ceiling.
“Well you are tutoring him for ancient runes as well right, maybe he’s worse at that, since it’s not a core class like transfiguration, wouldn’t have had as much exposure as a child.”
True, very true. There was still another subject but she wasn’t entirely confident he needed tutoring in that area either. “I just don’t know Remus, how should I even interact with him. That’s my biggest struggle right now, should I dismiss every joke or attempt at semi-friendliness like a professor? Should I lean into it, flirt back, see if it gets under his skin instead?”
He paused for a minute, “I’m honestly not sure Lily. If I had to offer some advice I would suggest acting the same way you did today on Thursday and based on that session you can figure out what to say to McGonagall if something needs to be said. After that we can talk again.” Remus put forward his well thought out advice and got up to go to bed.
She stayed laying on the couch for a little longer, contemplating her and Remus’ conversation before heading upstairs. When she opened the door to her dorm, both girls were still awake.
“So “Red” are you going to be next on Crouch’s list of hookups?” Marlene asked, grinning. If Lily had looked closer she might’ve seen that the smile was strained and didn’t quite reach the girl's eyes.
Mary was bent over with laughter which only worsened once Lily chucked a shoe at Marlene, catching her in the shoulder. So much for chaser reflexes, Lily thought to herself but she could hear Marlene laughing from where she’d fallen backwards on her bed, causing her sour mood to fade away as the room soon devolved into an undignified pillow fight.
Lily went to bed that night with a smile on her face, all thoughts of Crouch long faded away.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Out of the seven classes James was taking, Astronomy was the only class he had once a week. Most other courses convened twice or even three times a week depending on what days they fell on, but not astronomy. Since astronomy assignments could only be completed at night, and there were only five school nights that class were held, there was no way for them to meet more than once a week.
It also meant that classes were shared between multiple houses and grades. The first and second years shared Monday night, the third years had their own class along with the fourth years, the fifth and sixth years shared a night since so many students dropped astronomy after their fifth year, and the seventh years had their own class in preparation for their NEWTS.
James along with all of the other sixth years from every house who had chosen to take NEWT-level astronomy numbered about 13 as it was rarely a necessary course for any future occupations. There were three from Gryffindor, 5 from Ravenclaw, 3 from Hufflepuff, and 2 from Slytherin. The rest of the class was made up of Gryffindor and Slytherin fifth years, putting the total class size to 31, a tight fit in the astronomy tower but they made it work.
James hadn’t made the connection last week during his first class as he was too busy trying to figure out how he was going to get everything done this year, but now as he settled down in his place near a telescope he realized that sharing a class with the fifth years meant he shared a class with the fifth year slytherins as well.
Namely one Regulus Black and his closest friends, Barty Crouch Jr and Evan Rosier. He spotted them now across the room, Regulus looking focused like the perfect student he insisted on being, Rosier looking bored out of his mind, and Crouch incessantly talking to them, not letting their lack of engagement deter his speech.
Rosier was the one who noticed James’ attention first, nudging Regulus to alert him to it. James did not falter but just kept staring at the three boys. All purebloods of the sacred 28, each emanating the arrogance that came with that title in a different way. Whether it was Regulus’ belief that he was the best, Rosier’s indifference, or Crouch’s constant need to take up space and volume, they all screamed “ancient and noble” family.
Now James was no stranger to this, the Potter family went back centuries, but they weren’t a sacred 28 family, muggles and muggleborns having first married in long ago. These families were different, believed in their bones that they were better than everyone, and that anyone who wasn’t a pureblood didn’t deserve to even breathe the same air as them. It was pathetic.
Once upon a time, James had been convinced Barty didn’t believe that nonsense. But he had been proved wrong.
Regulus was now glaring at him but James was unphased, having been on the receiving end of Sirius’ glares many times. He glared back, hoping the younger Black felt his dislike and anger for him. In turn, James got Remus and Lily’s attention gesturing to the Slytherins across from them; Remus just raised an eyebrow and turned to look at his two companions.
“Look Lily there's your tutoree, in class for once it seems,” James joked.
Lily pushed at his shoulder. Barty had finally realized that his friends weren’t paying attention to him even more than usual so he turned to see what they were looking at. When he spotted Lily, a slow grin spread across his face and he blew a kiss.
James watched as a flush spread across Lily’s face, unable to stop it as a result of the blatant flirting across the room. He laughed at Barty, knowing he was actively making his tutoring sessions a hundred times worse. Lily, who had been glaring at Crouch turned her glare on James, thinking he was laughing at her. It was Crouch’s turn to laugh, a loud uncontrolled sound, the same as when they were kids, causing Lily to glance over and he used the opportunity to wink at her.
Lily was fuming now, so James took it as his sign to steer her head back towards their telescope. He glanced at Remus, hoping to share a laugh at Lily’s expense but found him watching the Slytherins with an odd look in his eye. James would have to ask him about it later.
Professor Sinistra began the class first focusing on the fifth years as their OWLS were more important than the sixth years mock exams. James tuned out her instructions and glanced again towards Regulus and his posse.
He would have to tell Sirius later about the fact that he shared Astronomy with his estranged younger brother and knowing Sirius would want details about Regulus, James took this time to catalogue some.
The younger Black brother, former spare and newly made heir, looked well enough. His posture was straight, skin pale but not in an unhealthy way, waves tight on his perfectly styled head, and eyes focused. He looked the same as he normally did, James wouldn’t be able to figure out if something was truly wrong unless he got closer. Seeing as Regulus would probably hex him to hell if he tried, Sirius would have to be happy with what he could gather from afar.
James refocused on what the professor was saying when she shifted to the sixth year instructions, telling them which constellations they’d be charting tonight. They were allowed to work in groups as she would rather focus her efforts on the fifth years who had OWL exams at the end of this year which James was more than fine with, now he could work with Lily and Remus.
They set up everything they needed while Lily looked through the telescope first. “Are you going to tell Sirius about Regulus being in our class?” Remus questioned James.
“Well, why wouldn’t I? Wouldn’t you tell him anyway if I didn’t?” James responded.
Remus looked at him thoughtfully, “Honestly James, probably not. If he directly asked I wouldn’t lie to him but why hurt him more. How do you think he will feel when he finds out we get to see his little brother every week in a class he dropped while he never sees Regulus anymore, it would crush him. And it's not like there's anything for him to know, Regulus is the same prick he’s always been, no need to get his hopes up.”
James nodded slowly, “Yeah maybe you’re right, but I share everything with Sirius. I don't know if I can keep this a secret, Moony.”
“The choice is yours, I’m not telling him but I won’t stop you if you want to,” Remus shrugged.
The rest of class goes by smoothly, their group easily charting the constellation they were assigned to. The whole time James not so subtlety sneaks glances at the Slytherin trio across the room where it seems like Regulus is doing most of the work of actually looking through the telescope while Rosier charts down what he says and Barty keeps rambling away about who knows what seemingly not helping.
The class ended at 1 AM, and they immediately headed back to the Gryffindor common room, walking down the stairs instead of up for once. This made Thursdays the hardest day of the week, after going to sleep late on Wednesday nights because of Astronomy and then having to be up at half past five for quidditch practice, followed by his hardest classes that day. Safe to say, James did not enjoy Thursdays.
When they got back to the dorm, James quickly said goodnight to Lily and headed up the dorm where Sirius and Peter were already passed out in their beds. He quickly changed and went straight to bed, nodding a goodnight to Remus, and barely remembered to set his glasses on the nightstand before falling asleep in minutes.
~~~
James cracks his eyes open to complete darkness in his room as his wand vibrates next to him from the alarm he had set before going to bed.
Everyone else in the dorm is still asleep, even Peter which was the real sign it was early. Today was a chaser and keeper practice only as Frank wanted to work on integrating the new chaser with James and Marlene as soon as possible, which meant Sirius was able to sleep in.
James checked the time just to make sure he truly had to get up and hadn’t set it early in his half-awake state the night before.
5:50 AM.
No he hadn’t set it early, the opposite actually. He was supposed to be at the quidditch pitch in ten minutes.
James scrambled out of bed before promptly slipping on one of his socks that were strewn about the floor. His head smacked the floor and he groaned, “Ow.”
Somehow none of his roommates had woken up so he peeled himself off the floor and rushed to the bathroom, just focusing on getting ready as quickly as possible. He was out the door in 3 minutes and running down to the quidditch pitch, where he changed in quite possibly world record time. He made it on to the pitch with seconds to spare, hands on his knees and chest heaving; no one could say that James Potter wasn’t in shape but even that run had winded the sixth year.
“What was it? Oh I remember, you know we are going to have morning quidditch practices this year and Frank will kill us all if you are late. Maybe it’s good to start getting up earlier now,” came a voice above James.
He looked up to see Marlene looming over him, hands on her hips with the other reserve chasers and keeper not far behind her. “‘m not late,” he wheezed out, still out of breath.
She snorted but Frank stepped in before she could say something else, “But you almost were, why?”
James had finally recovered enough to speak more than three words in a row, “I have astronomy on Wednesday nights, got back to the dorm late, and miss set the alarm, won’t happen again.”
“It better not,” Frank told him sternly before cracking a smile, “We don’t need our best chaser so tired he gets beat by McKinnon over here.”
“Hey!” Marlene squawked indignantly, the team well aware of her and James’ little rivalry, something Frank liked to egg on occasionally when he’d make a comment supporting one over the other. “I am a million times better than Potter. And I’m on time.”
“I’m on time too,” James said, sticking his tongue out at her like he used to when they were younger.
She flipped him off once Frank turned his back and they started practice, the first game of the season only a few weeks away.
An hour later, the group trudged to the changing rooms, each one of them muddy and slick with sweat. Frank may be one of the nicest guys in all of Hogwarts but he was unrelenting in practice and the drizzling rain that had started about halfway through practice certainly hadn’t helped.
Despite the miserable conditions and his earlier workout, James had had a great practice, he had felt good. Him and Marlene had worked together seamlessly and their new chaser wasn’t bad either, a quick learner; James had high hopes for the season.
Seeing that there was still a little under an hour until breakfast, James opted to take a longer shower in his dorm. So he just changed out of his practice clothes and started the walk back to Gryffindor tower, still quite muddy. Not for the first time he wished he knew how to apparate and that it was possible on Hogwarts grounds, the walk was long and his legs were tired.
Since he hadn’t showered in the changing rooms, he was out and headed back to the castle far earlier than usual. Which is why he saw the shadow in the distance walking back towards the castle from the direction of the quidditch pitch.
It had to be someone spying on their practices, and he would bet his entire inheritance that it was a Slytherin getting them back for tryouts. He couldn’t tell who it was from where he was standing, they were too far away and he wouldn’t be able to run quick enough to catch them.
Besides he didn’t want to try catching up and alert them to the fact that he knew they had a spy, then they wouldn’t come back and they would never know who it was.
No, that wouldn’t do. He resolved to tell Frank about it later and continued walking back. He got back to his dorm in about 15 minutes which makes him feel even better about making it to practice on time this morning and sees that Peter is already up and about while the other half of the group is still snoozing away.
“Hey Wormy, mind if I use the shower?” James asks the boy, unsure if he was planning on taking one this morning.
Peter just looks him up and down, no doubt judging his muddy appearance, “I have decided because I am such a kind and generous person, that you can use the shower this morning. You definitely need it more than me,” he said, wrinkling his nose.
Although Peter and Remus were an animagus and a werewolf respectively, they did not like getting dirty outside. Maybe James could fix that.
“Well since you’re so kind and generous as you said, you wouldn’t mind if I gave you a hug would you? It was a rough day at practice and I think some comfort from one of my best friends would really help,” James said with a blank expression, walking towards Peter with his arms open.
Peter's eyes widened and darted around James, probably trying to figure out how to escape, “Now now James, let’s think about this. Wouldn’t you gain more comfort from Sirius, let me just wake him up.”
James laughed, “Don’t go diminishing yourself Pete, you are also one of my best friends and would cheer me up just as well. Come here.”
James sped up his walk towards Peter who then started running away, James giving chase. Eventually, due to the small confines that was their dorm James was close enough to Peter to jump from the bed he was on and tackle him to the ground. Getting the other boy also covered in mud through a big bear hug. “Thanks! I feel much happier already.”
Peter just pushed James off of him and stood up, taking in the state of his robes which were now too dirty to wear. He looked down at James who was sitting with a proud smirk on his face and suddenly donned one on his own.
“I take it back, you can’t have the shower,” and with that sprinted into the bathroom, evading James’ attempts to grab his ankle.
“Wormtail, you traitor!” James yelled through the door.
The traitor in question said nothing, simply turned the shower on and started humming, surely just to annoy James.
It was a good thing, Sirius and Remus slept with silencing charms around their beds, James was not in the correct mindset to deal with two groggy marauders. He didn’t want to sit on his bed and get it dirty, so he sat on the floor in front of Peters instead, leaning against the foot of his bed so that if anything got muddy it would be his duvet.
Finally about 20 minutes later when the time was nearing 7:40, Peter finally emerged from the bathroom and set to his usual duty of waking Sirius and Remus up. James looked upon the act mournfully, silently cursing whoever allowed the pitch to be booked in the morning.
He headed towards the bathroom for his long overdue shower. He’d have to be a little faster than usual, lest he wanted Sirius bursting in there while he was still washing the conditioner out of his hair. James considered Sirius to be his brother in all but blood, but he still liked having the shower to himself. He was in and out in 15 minutes giving Remus and Sirius the go ahead to go in the bathroom, so much for a longer shower.
“Finally Prongs, some of us actually have a routine for our hair you know? We can’t all look effortlessly flawless,” Sirius joked, pushing himself in front of the mirror and effectively blocking everyone else’s view.
Remus wrapped a light hand around the boy's bicep and gently moved him to the side so that the mirror could be shared. The touch lingered longer than necessary but no one commented in the moment of awkwardness that followed. They just moved past it like they always did, James rolled his eyes and left the bathroom, cracking the door behind him. His hair was still damp but he’d just have to deal with it.
“I swear one of these days I’m going to lock those two in a broom closet,” James whispered to himself, Peter already having headed downstairs.
The two friends had been dealing with this for the last 2 years; Sirius confessing his feelings for Moony to James and Peter drunkenly one night in fifth year and Remus having done the same thing days later after seeing Sirius make out with a girl at a party. At this point, it was turning less amusing and more annoying. James would never truly interfere, knowing that things would only go well if they progressed naturally, but his patience wore thin some days.
He finished getting ready and checked the time, 8:00. He decided to head to the common room, opting to wait for everyone else with Lily and Peter. As he made his way down the stairs he could see Lily reading on the couch and Peter on a nearby chair, practicing the color changing charm on a textbook.
“My Lily Petal! How bright your heart burns, my love for you eternal, together a blaze,” James proclaimed.
He had stopped the public displays of affection the previous year when he had finally realized that Lily did not enjoy them or the pressure that came with it. Since then, he occasionally did something to remind her of his feelings, like a haiku spoken in the privacy of her and a friend, but he had toned it down a lot. She seemed to appreciate it as they had grown a lot closer in the time since.
She looked up from her book and laughed, “How long have you been saving that one James? Even got the amount of syllables correct, you never cease to surprise me,” she said, teasing him, but he could see the slight red tint on her cheeks.
“Should I tell her how many earlier renditions of that poem were scrapped once you ran them by the rest of us and realized how many syllables ‘eternal’ was,” Peter asked in an exaggerated whisper to James that did nothing to hide what he was saying.
“Well I think you made that decision already Pete,” James said with a deadpan face, “Here I wanted to come spend some time with two of my favorite people and now I’m being made fun of, I’m never coming down early again.”
“Wow I’m only one of your favorite people? You sure are convincing me to give you a chance James,” Lily said, acting offended.
“Did I forget to mention that Sirius would be a constant presence to any relationship I ever have? We go everywhere together, ” James responded with a shrug.
“He’s not even here now James, not a very good point you’re making. And you two don’t do everything together, what about showers?” Lily retorted.
“Why Evans, wanna join? I knew you were a lot of things but I didn’t know you were also blind. James and I are a package duo, won’t see him without me unless it's class,” came the voice of Sirius who was now standing next to James, arm slung over his shoulder.
“You literally just came down, Sirius. What do you take me for, an idiot?” Lily asked, rolling her eyes.
“What are you talking about, he was here the whole time. I wasn’t lying when I said we go everywhere together,” James said innocently.
Lily had once told him he should never play poker, whatever that was, because he had a terrible poker face. She had explained that it was the ability to keep a blank face and not give anything away to help your opponents during a card game, but right now he thought she’d be proud of him for the lack of a smile currently showing.
“No, you just walked down with Remus. Peter help me out,” Lily turned to the boy she sat with every morning.
“Lily, are you okay? Padfoot and Prongs came down early today remember, said Moony was taking forever in the bathroom,” Peter was now playing along.
“Yeah Lily, I woke up late today and told them to go down without me. Stayed up late reading,” Remus added.
Lily was fuming now, spinning to face each of them who now donned equally questioning faces. She used her wand to throw four pillows quickly in succession at Sirius, James, Remus, and Peter. James was the only one alert enough to dodge it— the other boys taking the throw pillows to the face— only to come back up and take a pillow to the head wielded by Lily herself.
“I hate you all,” she told them, having calmed down. They finally broke and laughed.
“I don’t know what's going on down here but you should show this side of you more often Lily, it’s hot,” said Marlene, joining them near the couches.
“Just these four acting like first years as usual,” Lily answered, still a little annoyed.
Everyone chuckled in response and they made their way down to breakfast together.
Once they got to the Great Hall, everyone settled down and started loading their plates. “How was practice this morning?” Sirius asked where he was across from James.
Marlene who was a few seats down heard Sirius’ question leaned over and so helpfully provided the story of this morning, “Jamie here was almost late, had seconds left to spare. Haven’t seen him that out of breath in a while, maybe lay off the toast,” she said, poking him in the side with a laugh, James smacked her hand away.
“Really? That's not like you, what happened?” Sirius wondered aloud.
Everyone knew how important quidditch was to James, and it was unusual for him to be fewer than 10 minutes early to practice, much less almost late.
“Ugh, Astronomy happened. We didn’t get back to the dorm until 1:15 and I guess I set my alarm for 5:50 instead of 5:30. But I made it on time so it’s no big deal, I was just a tad out of breath once I got there,” James answered honestly.
“A tad?? I thought you were about to fall over and die. No need to lie to try and impress Lily,” Marlene countered, apparently set on making as much fun of him as she could.
Sirius leaned over the table and patted James’ bicep, “Don’t worry Prongs, we all know you are jacked, and anyone would be lucky to have you. Even if you were huffing and puffing before practice even started,” Sirius teased.
“I’d like to see any of you make it from Gryffindor tower to the quidditch pitch in seven minutes, then we’ll see who is out of breath,” James told them, Sirius was probably the only other one who had a chance.
“Why don’t they make your astronomy class earlier in the night, like 11pm?” asked Mary.
“The fifth years have astronomy on Wednesday’s as well,” Remus told her, “The Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw fifth years have the 10:30 PM class and so we have the class after.”
“Well that’s nice at least, I don’t remember there being that many sixth years who had kept up with astronomy, so at least it’s a small class,” Mary responded.
Remus stared at him intently, waiting for him to make his decision. There was never much of one to make, James told Sirius everything about his own life, there was no way he could keep something about his own brother from him.
James grimaced, “I wish. No, we share class with the fifth year Gryffindors and Slytherns so there’s around 30 of us.”
He watched Sirius for a reaction but there was none. James had known Sirius long enough to know that was a reaction in itself, he was being purposefully silent without an expression in an attempt to get over missing his brother. James also knew it would never work because that would mean Sirius would have to truly hate Regulus.
“Oh so there really are no good aspects to this class. I wish you three luck this year, but I for one am glad I opted out of astronomy,” Peter told them.
“Oh yeah Pete? How’s Trewlawny and divination?” Remus asked with a smirk.
They quickly moved on to this new topic of conversation, and while Sirius continued to chime in, it wasn’t with the normal energy he did. James resolved to ask about it later, when they were alone.
~~~
Turns out James wouldn’t have to ask, Sirius came to him. They were alone in their dorm after the afternoon quidditch practice with the whole team, Remus and Peter probably studying in the library.
“So, you share astronomy with the fifth year Slytherins?” Sirius asked without warning from where he was laying next to James on the floor, something they liked to do after practice to relax.
“Yeah, Professor Sinistra usually gives the fifth years their assignment first and then ours. She tends to help them more since they have OWLS coming up,” James answered.
“Did you see my brother?” Sirius whispered, not looking at James.
“Yes,” James wasn’t going to offer anything Sirius didn’t ask for. He wasn’t sure what would help and what wouldn’t.
“What did he look like? Healthy, happy, was he hurt? I don’t get to know much about what he’s like when he thinks that I’m not watching.” Sirius asked.
“He caught me watching him and continued to glare at me for the next couple minutes but I’ve dealt with you so nothing I couldn’t handle,” They both laughed slightly. “But he looked good, the same as usual. Always straight faced but he was healthy and focused, Crouch and Rosier were there with him and they all seem close. Somehow their friendship works, it doesn’t make sense, especially Crouch. I can’t say if he was necessarily happy, not like he would give a clear sign but from what I could tell, he wasn’t unhappy or struggling in any capacity.”
Sirius was silent for a few minutes, “Thank you. For watching him and for knowing I would ask.”
“What are best friends for?” James responded, trying to show it wasn’t a burden for Sirius to ask.
Sirius smiled in appreciation, “I miss him.”
And they just laid there in silence, in light of that dejected confession, appreciating each other's company until dinner.
It wasn’t until later that night when he couldn’t sleep that the lightbulb went off in James’ head—an expression Lily had taught him— he would get Regulus to make up with Sirius and hopefully leave Grimmauld place too. It was perfect and guaranteed to make Sirius happy.
Okay maybe that was too optimistic. James decided he would at least get the two brothers to talk, just get the ball rolling.
Obviously he couldn’t tell Sirius or anyone right away, that would come with a lot of problems and the others would try and convince him it was a terrible idea. Which granted it probably was, if Regulus didn’t leave when his own brother asked him, why would he do any different when James did?
Nevertheless, the idea was in his head now and he couldn’t let it go. He would have to find a way to talk to Regulus alone but the finer details could be figured out tomorrow. He would do this for Sirius. Having a vague goal was enough for his eyelids to start drooping and he soon fell asleep, tired after the long day.
Notes:
Guys I know it says I update a day late but Its midnight here and I haven't gone to sleep so it doesn't count as late. Anyways I hope you enjoy this chapter resting at about 9900 words, its a long one.
Quick notes:
- Barty may be my favorite character to read about in fics so I hope I'm doing him justice
- Also I really hope the gryffindor groups friendship is coming off as genuine because I love them
- I know a lot of people don't like the nickname 'Jaime' for James and normally I don't either but I like it in the context of Marlene using it because she's like a sibling to James and its just to annoy him
- I was deep into harry potter wiki trying to find transfiguration spells so please don't ask why theres only like seven spells listedAs usual please please please leave comments. Much love, muah muah!
Chapter 5: Chapter 5
Summary:
Literally our first real introduction of Regulus and Lily being done with Bartys BS. Enjoy!
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Lily had spent that last day and a half trying to push Crouch out of her mind and go about her business as usual, the key word being ‘trying’. She just couldn’t get this mystery of a boy out of her head, nothing he did made sense no matter how many times she spun it around and looked at it from a different direction.
She went over the things she knew about Crouch again. One, he was a pureblood of the sacred twenty-eight. Two, he was a Slytherin and a year younger than her. Three, he was failing transfiguration and ancient runes. Four, he actually was up to date on transfiguration? Five, he wasn’t rude to her on Tuesday. Six, he didn’t want his father knowing about his tutoring.
Six things, that was all she could name about him, and apparently it wasn’t enough to connect the dots of who he was. She had to consider what few conclusions she could form based on these six facts.
The first three supported her belief that he was snobby, rude, privileged, and a blood supremacist; him being a member of the sacred twenty eight all but confirmed it even without the other two points.
The last three just served to confuse her beyond reason. Why would someone who knew the information fail on purpose, probably aware that tutoring would be a certainty, but then be adamant his father didn’t find out?
Crouch was just a series of conflicting ideas and Lily didn’t like that, it made her nervous. She couldn’t guess how to deal with Barty because she wasn’t even sure he knew what he would do next.
Which was why she was sat in a chair, bouncing her knee a hundred beats a minute sitting in the third floor classroom, ten minutes to four. She had once again assured everyone this morning that she would be fine with him alone, but it seemed most of their worries had been eased after her retelling of the first session. Everyone but Remus and James who had both seemed even more worried somehow, Lily understood Remus but James?
At four o’clock on the dot, the door slammed open and in sauntered Crouch. He walked straight to the desk in front of hers and swung himself into the seat, throwing his bag haphazardly onto the floor.
She tried to analyze him again just based on his looks, hoping that maybe she could decipher the puzzle that he was from this alone. He looked much the same as Tuesday but was now sporting black eyeliner and black nail polish that was chipped. One thing that she hadn’t noticed last time, however, was that no matter how much he tried to hide it, Crouch couldn’t escape the perfect posture of purebloods. Even his slouching wasn’t really slouching, he just leaned slightly back in the chair, shoulders still pulled back, spine and head straight, and legs crossed at the ankle. Just another thing to remind her of their differences, even someone as defiant as he couldn’t undo years of pureblood training.
“If I had realized that you wanted me to be on time just to stare some more, I would’ve put up less of a fuss. No need to hide behind excuses Red, you can just say you want to see me.” He told her with a mocking smile.
Fact 7- He is not a patient person.
Lily had planned on acting the same as she had Tuesday but decided to try a different tactic, “Not much to look at if we’re being honest,” she said with a tilt of her head, looking him up and down for good measure.
Surprise flashed across his face for a split second before he cracked a grin, “My ego isn’t so small it can be bruised by a comment like that, you’re going to have to try harder if you want to truly insult me. Besides I’ve looked in a mirror, you can pretend all you want but we both know I’m not unattractive."
She rolled her eyes, “Haven’t you heard the phrase “beauty is in the eye of the beholder”? Besides I’m around James, Sirius, and Remus all day long, where do you think you rank?”
“And I’m around Regulus, Evan, Dorcas, and Pandora all day. What’s your point?” He asked with a raised eyebrow.
Well there was nothing she could say to that, they were all objectively pleasing to look at. Unfortunately, Dorcas and Pandora were the only two decent human beings of the bunch, Lily had never understood how they were all friends even if Pandora was related to one of them.
“You’d rank last in both of those groups just letting you know.”
“Ha! I’ll be sure to let Regulus know you think he’s more attractive than I, he’ll love it,” Barty teased.
“I’d rather you not,” Lily said with a shudder, “Anyways we’re getting off topic, today we’ll-”
“You know I’d rather actually hear the words “You’re right Barty”, but sure lets move on.” he proclaimed, a smile fixed on his face.
She took a deep breath, “I’d appreciate it if you didn’t interrupt me.”
“I saw your friends the other day: Potter, Sirius, and McKinnon. They were spying on our quidditch tryouts. Imagine that, Gryffindors spying on Slytherin, how the tables have turned,” he said, clearly trying to distract. “Obviously they weren’t very good spies, they are still Gryffindors after all, loads of bravery but lacking the necessary technique.”
Lily had heard the story of how Regulus had caught her three friends from Marlene after they had gotten back from tryouts that night. What she didn’t know, however, was that Barty had seen them as well. She had just assumed Regulus’ with his sharp eyes from being a seeker had been the one to catch sight of them. That wasn’t what gave her pause though, it was his wording.
“YOU literally just said “lets move on” and here you go diving off into a tang-. Wait, what did you just say?” Lily questioned, her brain having caught up with her halfway through her sentence.
“I said your friends are lousy spies,” Crouch looked confused, undoubtedly recognizing that there was something specific he’d said that had thrown her off.
“No you said “how the tables have turned”, where did you learn that?” James struggled to use muggle sayings correctly no matter how many times she explained them and here Crouch was, using one perfectly and not batting an eye.
“What? Why does it matter?” He looked something akin to startled, but as Lily was quickly learning, Crouch was only forthcoming with his emotions when he wanted to be so it was hard to tell.
“That is a muggle phrase, where did you learn it?” Something in her needed to know.
“Dora taught it to me, she likes learning about muggle things including the way they talk,” Crouch finally relented after a slight hesitation.
She accepted his answer, now content, “Dora?”
“Pandora, Evan’s twin sister, white hair, ravenclaw. Any of this ringing a bell?” the sarcastic attitude returned as quick as a snap of her fingers.
“I know who Pandora is,” She snapped, “Now, like I mentioned the other day, Thursdays will be for Ancient Runes. I have a few sentences here for you to attempt to translate, let me know when you’re done.”
Crouch groaned dramatically, “I thought I told you I knew the information, why are we continuing with this charade?”
“You know everything you missed for Ancient Runes as well?” She asked incredulously.
“Merlin, I didn’t realize you Gryffindors needed things explained to them in such simple terms. Yes Red, I know everything I need to for both Transfiguration AND Ancient Runes. Get it now?” It was his turn to be annoyed.
“Well forgive me for being skeptical, you do understand how it would look from my end, yes?”
“Whatever, give me the paragraph so I can prove again that I’m not stupid,” Barty said, obviously irritated.
“You do realize that it is your actions that got you and me both stuck in this situation?” Lily asked while handing him the paper.
He flipped her off and she whispered a small stinging hex in return, watching as he jumped in his chair and then lifted his head to glare at her. Nevertheless, he kept his mouth shut and got to work quickly translating the words.
It took him about twenty minutes which was still faster than the average student, translation took a lot of time no matter what. Lily spent the time practicing the few nonverbal spells Flitwick had begun to teach them, currently she was floating a feather in the air, albeit shakily. He tossed the paper onto the desk she was sitting at and leaned back with his hands behind his head, she glanced at him.
“Now that we’ve wasted both of our time, can I leave now? Have to get back to dignified members of society and all that, I’m sure you understand.”
Lily knew he was trying to get a rise out of her and much to her chagrin he was succeeding, the feather she had been levitating fell. She had about a pinky's worth left of the tether on her anger and used it to come up with a way to further aggravate him.
“No, I have to review this. Can’t have you running off if you submitted a mediocre translation, I’m sure you understand,” She told him sweetly.
He gritted his teeth— it seemed he had underestimated the type of person Lily was—but ultimately just waved his hand in a gesture to continue. She wasn’t going to let him stomp all over her in an attempt to get what he wanted. So she took her time going through his translation. She had received an Outstanding on her Ancient Runes OWL and could’ve translated these simpler sentences in ten minutes, but she wanted to make him wait, make him sit in silence, bored. The phrases she had configured were at the skill level of a mid-year fifth year and he had again made few mistakes, some grammar issues and commonly switched meanings but the majority of it was correct.
She looked up at him stunned, the previously tethered anger quickly gathering under her skin. He wanted to make a fool of her.
“See I told you, I know the information.” He told her with a shrug.
“What are you playing at?” She questioned him, anger pushing into her voice.
“What are you talking about?” He asked, seemingly at a loss for words from this change in attitude.
“If you know it, why are you here? Is this a game to you, to waste my time? Or maybe a bet you lost, so now you have to endure the presence of the Gryffindor mudblood as punishment? Are your little friends waiting for you, eager to hear of your interactions with one of the lesser?” Lily demanded, she was done being the punch line.
“Woah, feisty much! Well I hate to be the bearer of bad news Red, but not everything is about you. Do you really think I would be here if I wasn’t forced to show up? I’m leaving, write some nice things about me in your report to McGonagall will you?” He walked out, not looking back but casting a tempus for her to see.
4:58
She slowly deflated, skin cooling. She wasn’t sure why she had reacted that way, it was just what she expected of them; it seemed her fight with Severus had done more damage than she initially assumed. He didn’t truly answer her question though, why was he here? Obviously he’d been threatened by Slughorn and McGonagall, she’d heard it with her own ears, but why skip the classes in the first place if he knew this would be the outcome? His arrogance irked her so much she’d gotten to the point of exploding at him. She was better than this, she knew she was. There was something about him that made her react quicker than any other time even when she’d been dealing with the Slytherins for years.
Lily put her head in her hands, what was she going to do?
~~~
This time she made sure that she went to dinner, not wanting to cause a mass search again. She had calmed down since then and was ready to face her friends and their all but guaranteed barrage of questions.
She adjusted the strap of her bag as she walked through the door of the Great Hall and spotted her friends already sitting at the middle of the table, a space empty next to Peter.
“Hey Lily, how was the second tutoring session?” Mary asked from where she was across the table once Lily had sat down and served herself some food.
“It was okay. I tested him on Ancient Runes today and he got almost everything right again.”
“So he knows all of the fourth year information?” Peter questioned confusedly.
“The sentences I gave him were at the skill level of a January fifth year, so actually he knows even more,” Lily told them.
“What? Why is he even in this situation then?”
“So you can go to McGonagall and get out of it then right, he obviously doesn’t need tutoring,” Marlene and James asked at the same time, glancing at each other before looking back at her.
“I’m not sure she would even believe it based on the scores on all of his assignments, but I think I’m going to at least try and broach the topic with her,” Lily decided.
She knew that she had said she would stick it out but that was when she had thought he needed actual tutoring. There was no need for her if he didn’t need any help catching up. Maybe if this arrangement ended after she told McGonagall that Crouch didn’t need help then he would stop plaguing her thoughts and she could ignore him forever.
Everyone nodded their agreement, “I’m sure Minnie will agree, just you wait Evans,” Sirius proclaimed.
Lily dipped her head in acknowledgement but in the back of her mind she couldn’t help but think things wouldn’t go as smoothly as they all were hoping.
Conversation moved onto brighter topics as James, Sirius, and Marlene started animatedly discussing the upcoming quidditch match between the Chudley Cannons and the Holyhead Harpies.
Lily tuned them out, while she enjoyed watching her friends play quidditch she had never been interested in at a professional level. Seeing as she was essentially cut off from all things concerning the wizarding world including quidditch any time she wasn’t actively attending Hogwarts, there wasn’t much opportunity to become invested in the sport.
Instead she looked around the great hall and found her attention latching onto the Slytherin table, her eyes automatically drawn to a group of five students sitting together, a set of blue lined robes distinguishing them from the rest of their house. The vast majority of students chose to eat meals at their respective house tables, there were occasionally a few outliers to this phenomenon but rarely were they at the Slytherin table.
Pandora Rosier was seated in between Dorcas Meadowes, the only sixth year of the group, and her twin brother, Evan Rosier. Across from her sat Regulus Black and Barty Crouch Jr, two opposite ends of the spectrum that encompassed the children of the sacred twenty eight.
Regulus who was a member of the Black family—possibly the most wealthy and influential house in all of wizarding Britain— was the picture perfect pure blood son, a prefect who would likely become head boy, good grades and extremely talented if he was anything like Sirius, and well-mannered when it mattered. Not to mention he agreed with all of their blood-supremacist beliefs.
Barty on the other hand was a member of the Crouch family—one of the least important houses of the sacred twenty eight— and was far from what Lily could guess were the desired traits of an oldest/only son. His appearance fell short of being what she would call put together, his grades were suffering, his manners were nonexistent, and he apparently was not easy to work with according to what McGonagall had told her of his relationships with other Slytherins.
She could see him now, talking, something he never seemed to stop doing. He looked like a different person when around his friends, even though he flirted with her and presented as relaxed she assumed there was an ounce of fakeness to it. Watching him now, he seemed truly relaxed and at peace with the other four students, who were all obviously involved in the conversation.
As she watched, one of the three sitting with their backs to her started to talk and Crouch appeared very attentive to whatever was being said, nodding along at different points in the conversation and adding his own thoughts occasionally.
Eventually, their conversation died down and she saw Crouch glancing about the hall, first up at the faculty table with a scowl on his face before it smoothed out as he looked around at all of the students. She desperately wanted to know what his thoughts were right now, did he view them with disgust, indifference, annoyance? As if he had heard her question, his eyes caught hers just then and he tilted his head quizzically.
She could feel the heat rise to her cheeks at being caught but she refused to be the first to look away, Gryffindor courage strong as ever, choosing to raise an eyebrow in return. Something from the conversation happening around him caught his attention and he refocused back on his friends with a shake of his head.
Lily was about to look away as well when she realized she’d caught the attention of another cloaked in silver and green. Severus was sitting a few metres away and was looking between her and Crouch frantically, before making eye contact with her, looking indignant. Severus was still a sore topic for her and would probably remain so for months, possibly years to come, seeing him in person just made her realize how much she missed him. He had been her best friend and the one who had first introduced her to magic, who had made her truly feel like she belonged, it was a hard thing to forget. Apparently her Gryffindor courage didn’t extend to this as she quickly looked away and back at her food.
She missed the scrutinizing look Regulus Black was sending her way.
“Hellooo, Earth to Lily,” Mary said, waving a hand in front of her face.
“What? Sorry did you say something, I zoned out a little,” Lily responded.
“A little? You haven’t said a word in forever, even when we were planning pranks you most definitely wouldn’t approve of,” Sirius said jokingly.
“Ha ha.” Lily said deadpan.
“What were you thinking about?” asked James, turning around to see what she had been looking at.
“Nothing! Just the homework I have to do this weekend. I stopped listening once you lot brought up quidditch,” Lily said a little too quickly for her liking.
James’ brows furrowed, obviously gathering that she had been looking at the Slytherin table. Luckily there was an easy explanation for him to create. Although she regretted the circumstances, Severus was an easy conclusion to jump to, her recent altercation with him combined with the boy's hate for their fellow sixth-year gave her an easy out.
His face cleared in understanding and he set his jaw. Lily made the mental note to make sure he wasn’t planning anything against Severus later. Awful as he had been it didn’t change the fact that he was extremely talented in magic and could probably make their lives that much worse.
Last year, before their fight, Severus had shown her what he was working on: creating new spells. It was brilliant really, she had been amazed beyond belief and they hadn’t even been perfected yet. She assumed that the problems he had been encountering were solved now though and who knew what else he had come up with in the time since.
“Anyways, I was asking if you wanted to go to the library after dinner to work on our charms essay?” Mary continued.
“Hm? Oh yeah sure, I want to get a head start on that,” Lily smiled at her friend.
“Ok great! It can be me, you, and Marlene, a girls night!”
“Hate to break it to you Mary but when I think of girls night, the library isn’t exactly the first place that pops into my head,” Marlene said from where she was sat, eating pudding.
“Oh hush,” Mary patted the other girl's arm. “If we get this essay done now, we’ll have more free time during the weekend.”
“Fine but I’m only staying an hour, I had practice this morning AND this afternoon. ” Marlene said, pretending to be put out but Lily and Mary knew she would stay as long as they did.
They soon finished dinner and the three girls headed off to the library, the boys scurrying away to Merlin knows where.
They found a quiet table near the back to sit at and got to work on their essays, sitting in companionable silence for about a half hour. Lily took a break, pausing to stretch when she was about halfway done with her essay. It was on a topic she knew relatively well and so it didn’t take nearly as long as when she had to do research.
“Barty, I swear if you don’t shut the fuck up I am going to hex your mouth shut for a week,” whisper-yelled a voice she didn’t recognize.
This caused Marlene and Mary to look up from their parchment as well, if there was one thing that knit them together it was their common love of eavesdropping. Marlene and Lily leaned back in their chairs to try and hear better while Mary leaned forward over the table, essays forgotten.
“Rosie, you wound me. Reg are you really going to let him talk to me like this?”
Lily could hear the barely restrained laugh in Barty’s words, she could imagine his face right now, that patronizing look stuck firm on it.
“You’re lucky, I wouldn’t have given you a warning. We need to study for this test and you are not helping,” said a new voice who she could only assume to be Regulus Black.
She was almost positive the first voice had been Evan Rosier, but the nickname ‘Rosie’ had thrown her off. What was with Crouch and nicknames?
“Fine, fine. You guys are no fun,” Barty responded, placatingly.
Silence settled again, and the three girls exchanged glances before getting back to work, their temporary distraction having reenergized them. It lasted five minutes.
“What are you guys studying, maybe I could help?” came the voice of Barty again.
She heard one of them sigh, “I’m not even sure you are capable of helping Barty, even if you wanted to. We both know, it's not the same for us. You can just learn things the first go around and know it forever, Regulus and I actually need to study.” It was Rosier then.
“You know you don’t have to just sit here with us. You are free to spend your time elsewhere, perhaps at the dorm?” said Regulus who seemed annoyed.
“But then I would be even more bored,” whined Barty. Different around his friends indeed.
“I’ve got an idea, how about you can keep talking if you tell us who is tutoring you.” Rosier offered dryly.
She heard a huff which she presumed came from Barty, but the start of his reply was interrupted by a large crash.
Lily had leaned a bit too far back in her chair in an attempt to see around the shelves and lost her balance. She whipped her head around back to Mary and Marlene, staring at them in horror as she heard the group of Slytherins get up to investigate.
Marlene stood up swiftly and helped get Lily back into her chair, and her parchment back in order. The three of them went back to their essays pretending to have been working for the last while just as Barty and Evan appeared around the corner.
Lily glanced up, hoping the red on her cheeks could be chalked up to annoyance, and saw a frown appear on Barty’s face before it quickly disappeared, replaced by his signature grin.
“Dropped a book, sorry,” Mary said apologetically.
Both of them looked to be in various states of disbelief but just turned around without a word, going back to their desks.
Lily groaned once they were gone and put her head in her hands while Marlene and Mary giggled. “I think I will be finishing my essay another day, once I’ve gotten over the mortification of this whole thing.” Lily proclaimed.
The other two girls just continued to laugh but dutifully began to put away their work as well.
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James finally finished his homework on Sunday evening after dinner, sixth year was quickly becoming something not to joke about. It wasn’t the practical magic he struggled at, in fact he excelled at it. No it was the copious amounts of work that came with it and the content wasn’t even necessarily hard except for a few classes, it was time-consuming. Every weekend he had piles of it up to his neck, and on top of quidditch practice it exhausted him. He wasn’t sure how Lily and Remus did it along with prefect duty.
It was actually their prefect duties that had given James the idea, that's when he would talk to Regulus. He had been having trouble coming up with a way to talk to the boy alone and for longer than 5 minutes, it appeared he was always with his friends when James had stalked him on the Marauders map, the only exception being when he was in his dorm alone. Now James could probably find a way into the Slytherin common room but it would be a lot harder without the help of the rest of the group. Something also told him that his presence there would not be well received by the younger Black brother.
He had of course noticed Regulus walking around the halls of the castle alone late one night but had dismissed it as being a one time thing, perhaps he had trouble sleeping like Sirius used to. James didn’t want his plan to hinge on hopefully catching whenever Regulus maybe took a late night walk, it was too risky seeing as he’d have to be practically attached to the map which would only be seen as suspicious and lead to questions he wouldn’t be ready to answer.
He had only realized it would be a regular routine for prefect duty when Lily had been discussing their patrols.
“Wait so when do you two have patrols?” Peter had asked one night.
“It varies, for the first month Remus and I will patrol together on Mondays and Fridays. Then every week each of us will patrol alone one night, I always do Thursdays and Remus always does Tuesdays. The next week we pick up an extra alone patrol which can be any other day of the week,” Lily explained.
“Why do you have to do alone shifts?” Mary wondered aloud.
“There aren't enough prefects to cover every floor in pairs unless we want to have patrol every single night. So Frank and Claire, the head girl, got permission in advance to schedule each of us with one or two single shifts per week. I honestly prefer it, especially once we start getting paired with other house members.” Remus had answered.
They had all nodded in understanding and Remus and Lily peeled off for their shift.
Now all he had to do was figure out which day a week Regulus consistently did his solitary prefect patrol, it was perfect.
He would watch the map each night this week to try and figure it out, he had already seen him patrolling alone on a Thursday night but he wasn’t sure if that was an every week patrol or the random second day every two weeks. Luckily, he knew for certain that Regulus wouldn’t be scheduled on Wednesday nights because they shared astronomy class, which made his plan infinitely easier.
With his homework done, James could go join his friends in the common room. He had learned long ago that in order to have any hope of actually getting homework done he had to exile himself to his room. Whenever he tried to do work with the group no matter the location, he could not focus. It wasn’t as bad when it was just him and the girls but the second one of the boys joined he just gave up on being productive.
He checked the time, 8:47.
Perfect, it was a good time to check the map, he tried to remember who’d had it last. Remus had snuck out to honeydukes last week to stock up on some chocolate and the whole group minus Remus had used it to get around Filch on the previous Wednesday during the full moon but who had kept it after? James was pretty sure it was Sirius, he usually fell asleep with the map open watching to see when Moony got back to the castle.
So he got up and went to look through his best friend's things, luckily he was a man of habit, the map was in Sirius’ nightstand drawer.
He quickly opened it and said the password, wanting to take as little time as possible. Although his friends typically left him alone to do his work knowing he couldn’t focus otherwise, it was still a shared dorm and sometimes they just came up to grab something or use the bathroom.
He scanned the halls of Hogwarts looking for Regulus, starting with the Slytherin dormitories, then the library, then outside the castle; all were missing the fifth year in question. It was harder to find him tonight because although prefect patrols had already begun, curfew varied year by year for students and fifth year curfew wasn’t until 9:30. So realistically he could still be out and not actually be scheduled for a shift.
Just then James spotted him on the fourth floor, he was with Crouch and the Rosiers, Dorcas was absent but James had already spotted her earlier headed back from the quidditch pitch with Marlene. He and the rest of the group had a pretty good idea of where Marlene and Dorcas were headed, they were just waiting for Marlene to actually tell them.
He wasn’t sure what she was waiting for and honestly was surprised it was taking this long. Marlene had never been shy about anything in her life especially towards her friends but boy did she seem hesitant to share any scrap of information about Dorcas. The group could be patient though, they would bite at any detail provided but wouldn’t push her.
Besides, James liked Meadowes. They had played against each other in quidditch many times and she was quite good, he respected that. They’d also shared defense against the dark arts in fifth year and had been partnered to duel against each other. She had knocked him flat the first time, and it had irked him even though it was his own fault underestimating her. He had been irritated, ready to defend his reputation as a good dueller but then she’d stuck a hand out and helped him up. They continued dueling and while she didn’t beat him like that again, it was a very even match, she being one of the only others he struggled against besides Sirius. Her magic was extremely powerful.
Although she was a Slytherin—her ambition and cunning often a shining part of her personality— she was also friendly and loyal. A not so small part of him wanted Marlene to hurry up and introduce her to the group so that he could become better friends with her.
Really the only one he didn’t know from Regulus’ little posse was Evan, he was a quiet boy and since he didn’t play quidditch, there were no realms for him and James to interact in. He didn’t care much to meet him though, his list of Slytherins he was willing to talk to was getting longer than his liking at three.
James wanted to be sure if this was patrol or not so he decided to go check, under the guise of getting a late night snack. He shoved the map in his back pocket and walked down stairs, careful to keep his pace even so that he didn’t disrupt the neatly folded invisibility cloak tucked under his jumper.
“Hey James, finally finish your work?” Peter asked, having spotted him first.
“Yeah, remind me why you lot let me sign up for seven courses?” James questioned his friends.
“Hey Remus is taking the same amount of classes as you and I one more, you don’t see us complaining,” Lily teased from her spot near the fire.
“I hate to break it to you Prongs but I distinctly remember checking if you were sure you wanted to take this many classes, Effie was my witness, you can ask her.” Sirius laughed at him— although he himself was taking six classes, he breezed through them.
Magic came easy to James yes but to Sirius it was like second nature, as easy as breathing. James couldn’t remember a time Sirius had ever struggled on an assignment and it required little to no effort on his end to stay at the top of rankings. James was sure Sirius could be number one if he put just a small bit more effort in, but it wasn’t his business.
“I can ask her! Perhaps in person?” Marlene said with a wink, just then walking into the common room.
The rest of the group chuckled, Marlene’s crush on James’ mother a long standing joke amongst them. “Stay away from my mum McKinnon,” James said sternly.
“You can take Euphemia, if that means I can have fleamont,” Mary joked.
“Amen to that,” Remus concurred, raising the flask he was drinking from in a toast.
Sirius’ eyes darted to Remus’ in surprise before quickly coming back in a failed show of indifference. A movement that was not missed by a single member of the group even as they all cackled at the disgusted look on James’ face.
“That’s it, none of you are ever allowed to step within six feet of my parents. Ever. Again.” James told them with a shiver.
“Well what if your mum steps within six feet of me using her own free will?” Lily countered while wiggling her eyebrows, causing everyone to laugh even harder.
James was affronted, Marlene he had expected but Lily? He sputtered now trying to find something to say in response, his surprise seemingly having stripped him of his verbal abilities.
“I’m going to place tracking charms on all of you that will tell me when you get too close to my parents so I can save them from you animals. Now I’m going to get a snack from the kitchen and none of you are getting anything,” James quickly turned and walked towards the portrait hole.
“I hope you enjoy having me as a stepfather soon enough James!” Peter called out, their laughter rang out behind him up until he closed the portrait.
James shook his head as he stepped into the calming silence of the halls of Hogwarts. He had been out past curfew loads of times throughout his years at school, but more often than not he was with the boys trying to pull a prank or sneak out during a full moon. And although it wasn’t past curfew yet, it would be before he made it back to the dorm. The majority of the students were already in their common rooms by now, only fifth years and above still being allowed out at this time of night, and it was relaxing. James didn’t have to worry about how he was perceived out here, he could just exist, and so the walk down to the main floor was peaceful.
He did truly want something to eat, sitting for hours on end doing homework always made him hungry. Before he got there though, he realized that perhaps it was better to check on Regulus before going to the kitchens. He didn’t want to get caught so early in the plan by dropping a piece of treacle tart because although he had said he wouldn’t, he was going to bring up some food for his friends and that could very easily turn into an armful.
So he checked the map again before doubling back towards the fourth floor where it said Regulus still was with his friends, the only difference being his location on the fourth floor. Once James reached the stairs he donned his cloak, making sure it covered all of him in the reflection of a nearby glass case—he had begun to outgrow it.
He slowly made his way towards where Regulus was, periodically checking the map to ensure he was headed in the right direction. He soon reached the hallway where the Slytherins were and crept towards them, choosing to plant himself on the wall about halfway down the hall where he could hear them but not so close as to risk discovery.
Although the set up was almost identical to when they pulled a prank, this one felt different, it felt heavier, he could feel the weight of it beating in his chest. This could be the only chance to repair Sirius and his brother's relationship, he couldn’t mess this up for fear of making it worse.
Said brother and his friends were slowly making their way down the hall, Regulus clearly in the lead, Barty, Evan, and Pandora walking by his side. At that moment, Dorcas rounded the corner and jogged to catch up with her friends.
“And where might you be coming from Meadowes?” Barty asked with a smirk.
“Fuck off Crouch, it’s none of your business, ” Meadowes said with a smile.
“Correct me if I’m wrong, but were you perhaps with a certain blonde gryffindor?” Evan implored, sharing a grin with Barty.
“It isn’t your business either Rosier,” Dorcas retorted.
“Meadowes and McKinnon sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-”
Barty didn’t get to finish his little song (James had never heard it before and assumed it was something Barty had come up with himself) because he was too busy dodging the hex Dorcas sent his way, James struggled to hold in a laugh.
“Well I think she is lovely, Dorcas, just with a little bite to her.” Pandora said with a soft smile.
Dorcas ducked her head bashfully, in an attempt to hide the smile breaking its way onto her face. She didn’t hide it well enough as Barty and Evan obviously saw and started making kissy faces towards her.
“Must you two bother me as well with your antics?” Regulus wondered aloud, speaking for the first time since James had arrived, turning to face the other two boys.
“Thank you Regulus, this is why you’re my best friend and they aren’t.” Dorcas said, turning her head to stick her tongue out at Barty and Evan who just laughed.
“Like I’d want to be your best friend Meadowes, go hang out with someone your own age,” Evan joked.
“Or is Marlene the only one who you can find?” Barty taunted.
“So when are you going to stop being a coward and finally ask her out? Perhaps you could bring her around to meet us, we could make sure she’s good for you.” Regulus said with a carefully placed mask of innocence.
Dorcas whipped her head around so fast to stare mouth agape at Regulus, all the while their three companions were standing with equal amounts of shock before dissolving into laughter. Barty’s expression was one of pure glee, like a kid on Christmas.
“Absolutely not, she will not be meeting you three until absolutely necessary which is hopefully never. Pandora is the only one who I will allow.”
The edge of Regulus’ mouth quirked up as Barty and Evan tried to convince Dorcas otherwise, promising they’d be on their best behavior.
“I better not see you making heart eyes at McKinnon in the middle of a quidditch game, Dorcas, I’ll knock you out with a bludger myself,” Regulus threatened. James found himself making a mental note to tell Marlene something of the same caliber.
Dorcas to her credit just looked offended at the accusation, “Regulus I don’t think you could hit me with a bludger even if I made myself ten times bigger. Nevertheless I take it back, Pandora is my best friend, now I know how you all truly see me.”
Regulus just raised a disbelieving eyebrow at her, “Whatever you say Meadowes. Now need I remind you all that curfew begins in five minutes and I still actually have to do my prefect patrol, best be headed back.”
“Always ruining our fun Reg,” Barty complained but dutifully began to turn away dragging Evan and Dorcas with him.
Pandora was the last to go, her common room closer than the dungeons, she looked Regulus over concernedly, “Are you alright?”
“I am perfectly fine.” Regulus responded in a perfectly even voice.
Pandora must’ve heard or seen something James couldn’t because she was obviously not fooled but chose not to push, “You need more sun in your life Regulus,” she told him solemnly, resting a hand on his cheek.
Regulus rolled his eyes fondly, “Thank you for the advice, good night Pandora. I’ll see you tomorrow,” he removed her hand from his face and walked down the hall, with much more purpose to his stride in the absence of his friends.
James sat there for a few minutes longer, wanting to ensure none of them had stuck around leading to him accidentally getting revealed. It was weird seeing Regulus in this light, James could count on one hand the interactions he had had with Sirius’ little brother and they had not been warm.
In fact, the only time James could remember Regulus being even close to amicable to James was the very first time they met, on the train in second year when Regulus was a first year. Sirius had been parading his brother around, proud to show him off to his friends. James had introduced himself and Regulus had too in turn, he was shy but remained the epitome of politeness expected of a pureblood son.
After that, once Regulus had been sorted into Slytherin it had all gone downhill. He remained indifferent towards James up until last year when indifference had turned to scorn and judgement. James had never learned what had caused the shift in attitude but he hadn’t much cared, especially once Regulus refused to leave with Sirius and he would bet Regulus didn’t feel any goodwill towards James himself.
That didn’t matter though, their feelings towards each other were not important in the grand scheme of things. James had one goal and one goal only, he would get Regulus to talk to Sirius and with a little luck, hopefully they could reconcile. James would have to put aside his personal feelings for the Slytherin seeing as he was almost certain Regulus would make this as difficult as possible.
James got up and started making his way towards the kitchens, remaining under the cloak just in case Filch was hiding somewhere nearby. Although he still had the map, he didn’t always choose to use it. It reminded him of their first couple years at Hogwarts where they snuck around with nothing but James’ cloak to protect them. He occasionally missed the thrill that came with not knowing exactly where the prefects and Filch were.
So he kept his footsteps quiet and stuck to the middle of the hall lest he round the corner and run right into a prefect.
As he walked he thought about the two new things he had learned about Regulus. One, he did have prefect patrol tonight, so now James just had to check again Thursday and he would know which day was his weekly day. Two, there was a person with a personality under that stone cold demeanor. It gave James more hope than he’d initially had that he would succeed in his task.
He made it to the kitchens and tickled the pair on the portrait after checking the coast was clear. Once inside he discarded the cloak, the house elves wouldn’t snitch.
“Mr.Potter! What are you needing from the kitchens?” A house elf asked, appearing with a pop.
It was Whimsy, she had worked in the kitchens at least as long as James had been there and specialized in desserts.
“Whimsy, just who I wanted to see,” the elf ducked her head in embarrassment, “Would you mind procuring some pastries for my friends and I, we wanted a little bit of a snack.”
“Was dinner not satisfactory, is that why you and your friends are hungry? I must adjust the menu, what did Mr.Potter and his friends not like, was it the pie?” Whimsy now asked in shame.
James cringed having forgotten how prone the house elves were to self admonishment, and rushed to console the elf whose ears were now quivering in sadness.
“No! Dinner and dessert was amazing, per usual! We have all just been doing homework for the past couple of hours and worked up an appetite,” James explained.
The elf brightened, “Whimsy can help with that! Any requests?”
“I’m sure anything you make will be delicious Whimsy,” he assured.
The elf ushered him to a table near the fireplace and got to work, asking a few other elves for help, all of them eager to please. In no time James had a basket filled with desserts, from treacle tart to cauldron cakes to chocolates. He thanked the elves and began his journey back upstairs, having to awkwardly hold the basket in front of him to make sure it was covered by the cloak.
He made it back to Gryffindor tower and placed the basket on the table by his friends. They all looked up at him and immediately started peeking in the basket.
“Wow James, did you take a nap on the way down there?” Sirius teased.
“Well if that's the attitude you are going to have, then I guess I’ll just keep these to myself,” James grabbed the basket and started making his way towards the stairs.
“NO!” came the collective cry from the rest of his friends.
Remus smacked Sirius on the arm, “Don’t give Pads any for all I care but don’t restrict the rest of us.”
James chuckled at the now apologetic Sirius who surrendered with his hands up, and placed the basket back down.
They stayed down there for a couple of hours while some of them finished up some last minute work and the rest just enjoyed each other's company, James was beyond content.
Notes:
Chapter 5 everyone!! 34,000 words later and one of our main couples hasn't even exchanged any words yet LOL.
Anyways quick thoughts:
- I love sassy Lily
- I actually love the Barty ravenclaw headcanon it needs to be included in more fics, unfortunately not this one but maybe something in the future.
- On that note, Rosekiller is my favorite couple like i adore them, but BartyLily has a chokehold on me right now
- Love James trying to create a plan all by himselfJust letting everyone know, Chapter 6 might be out a little later than expected because I've had the biggest writers block recently.
Per usual, comments will motivate me five thousand times more than anything else but all interactions are appreciated :)
Chapter 6: Chapter 6
Summary:
Lily tries to get out of tutoring and James talks to regulus!
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Chapter 6
Lily had been debating how to approach McGonagall all weekend. Considering it had only been two sessions of tutoring, she didn’t want to disappoint her head of house by making her think she hadn’t tried.
Initially she had considered staying after class on Monday to avoid the formal meeting setting in her office, but had ultimately decided against it because she didn’t want her friends lurking outside the door, eavesdropping. They would’ve meant well, claiming they were there to help but she knew them, they were all very nosy. Instead she chose to wait until the school day was over on Monday and go straight to McGonagall's office where she was sure to be because it was her time for students to get help on homework.
She didn’t want McGonagall to have time to prepare a list of reasons as to why Lily would not be able to end her role as tutor. So here she was, pacing outside the professors office hoping there were no other students who wanted to seek help today because she feared she would lose her nerve if interrupted.
The clock struck four and the ring of the bells reverberated throughout the entire castle, signaling that all classes that weren’t astronomy were concluded for the day. It also meant that McGonagall's hour of open office had just begun. Lily immediately opened the door and pushed into the room, letting her feet lead the way rather than her head which was screaming at her to avoid confrontation and just be the perfect student.
McGonagall looked up from her desk at the sound of the door opening, “Ms. Evans, is there something from last week's lessons that you did not understand?”
“No Professor, that’s not why I am here,” Lily answered, standing near the middle of the room from where she’d paused when McGonagall had started speaking.
The older woman just sighed, “No I didn’t think so. I haven’t seen you here for help since fourth year, and there hasn’t been any new content introduced that a student as talented as you would struggle with.”
Lily said nothing, just dipped her head with a smile at the compliment.
“You’re here about Mr.Crouch I assume?”
She knew that McGonagall didn’t truly think it was about anything else but still gave a curt nod, just to confirm.
“Well I can’t say I am necessarily surprised but please, explain to me how your tutoring sessions have gone so far. And do sit Ms. Evans, there is no reason for this to be a standing conversation,” the older woman gestured to the chair in front of her desk.
Lily did as asked and took a seat, the chairs just as uncomfortable as they had been the last time she was in here. Now that she had a moment to think about it, the words caught in her throat at the worry of sounding childish. Thankfully McGonagall just sat there patiently, waiting for Lily to speak first.
“I do not think this arrangement between me and Crouch needs to continue any longer,” she began.
Her head of house just raised an eyebrow, “I know he can be a difficult student to work with, but he requires a tutor ms. Evans, surely you can understand the necessity of doing well on the OWLs.”
“That’s the thing, he doesn’t require a tutor, Professor,” Lily responded.
“In what way?” McGonagall was clearly skeptical.
“I mean he knows the material, everything he has missed, he knows. I tested him on transfiguration and ancient runes and he excelled, he only missed one or two questions that I would expect most fifth years to get incorrect. Even with the practical transfiguration magic, he didn’t have a single struggle!” the words rushed out of her, so much for a controlled conversation.
Lily knew she wasn’t doing the best job explaining which is why she had brought the quizzes she had given him. She dug them out of her bag now and handed the crumpled pieces of paper to McGonagall, who took them and began to look them over.
She drummed her fingers on her knee impatiently while she waited, a tick she had gotten from Petunia when they were younger and waiting for their parents at the office. The silence was deafening, Lily began to lose her confidence the longer McGongall took to read through the quizzes. She wasn’t sure how much the professor knew about ancient runes but she figured she got the gist of it and for good measure Lily had written the correct translation under Crouch’s.
McGonagall looked up, “And how long did it take Mr. Crouch to complete each of these?”
“The transfiguration quiz took him around fifteen minutes and the ancient runes translation took around twenty.” She was quick to respond, having herself been confused by the short time it took him.
“I see.”
“Not to mention the ancient runes translation is one that we would be given to spring term fifth years and he barely made any mistakes. I also made him practice common transfiguration spells to see if that's where he was struggling and he did even better at that, his spells are precise and it requires little to no effort on his end!” Lily began listing off the spells she had had him perform on her fingers, “Worst of all, he claimed to be failing on purpose and obviously I didn’t believe him but what other explanation is there? I mean—”
“Ms. Evans,” McGonagall raised a hand and politely cut off her students rambling, “I understand your frustrations but I’m afraid you will need to continue tutoring Mr.Crouch for the time being.”
“What? Didn’t you hear me, you read the papers yourself. He doesn’t need it.” Lily couldn’t fathom why this would need to continue.
“Did you happen to ask Mr. Crouch why he is supposedly failing on purpose?” McGonagall questioned.
Lily was confused by the change in topic but answered anyway, “Yes I did. He said it was none of my business, I didn’t question it any further. Why does it matter?”
“As you know, while OWL and NEWT examinations are the most important aspect towards getting a job after graduation, employers, especially the ministry, often look into other things as well. Things like attendance as it shows reliability,” McGonagall paused for a second, “Unfortunately, although Mr.Crouch has a higher attendance rate this year, his assignments and in class participation are still lacking. Detention has no effect on him and so we are forced to try and find other measures of…motivation.”
‘I’m sure the possibility of his father finding out would be plenty motivation,’ Lily thought bitterly to herself. She wisely kept this thought to herself as she felt her professor would not approve but still, she sat borderline pouting in the chair.
“So where do I come into this? I can’t tutor him obviously, what other possible role is there for me to play?” She genuinely had no idea what they now expected of her.
“Perhaps a friend? Or more likely, someone to study with. Many people are better persuaded to do their work if there is another doing it with them.” McGonagall said this all matter of factly, like the statement wasn’t the most absurd thing Lily had ever heard.
She could feel her jaw physically drop, a friend? Who did they think she was, who did they think he was?
“Crouch has friends, ones who study and do their work, in what universe will I change anything?” Lily sputtered out.
“We suspect that Mr. Crouch may be a sort of bad influence on his friends. As a pureblood, he likely grew up with the majority of his friends and thus they are used to his antics and him to their behaviors, including the more responsible ones. It doesn’t affect him, but a new person entering his routine could.”
“You think that I, Lily Evans, could turn Barty Crouch Jr. into a good student when Regulus Black, the most perfect pure blooded son to ever exist couldn’t?” No matter how many times McGonagall said it, she couldn’t wrap her mind around the idea.
It was foolish. It was farfetched. It was ignorant of the status of Lily and Barty and of the outside world.
“Why can’t he just fail? Face the consequences of your actions and all that?” Lily was done being polite.
McGonagall just gave her a slightly disappointed stare, “As you very well know, we try to help every student succeed if we can. Sometimes they have other things going on that we do not understand or have the right to know and we help them anyways. I know that you understand this no matter your current confusion but if you truly want to end this, then I won’t stop you. For what it’s worth I honestly think you can help him.”
Lily decompressed, she could feel the fight leaving her. The innate desire to not disappoint her teachers fighting its way through her body. She understood how they had come to this as a last resort; she just didn’t understand why it had to be her.
She sighed, “Fine, I’ll continue for now but if I ever come back asking to end it, I will be allowed to, end of story.” McGonagall looked a little smug but Lily let it slide, “Just answer me this question and then I will leave. Before you asked me to tutor him, did you know that he didn’t actually need help?”
“I suspected,” She at least had the decency to look apologetic, “I have taught Mr.Crouch since his first year and he has always been exceptionally bright even more than the typical pureblood. His recent actions only began during his fourth year and I’ve been trying to find a solution.”
Lily huffed a laugh and shook her head, grabbing her bag roughly from the floor she got up and began walking to the door.
Professor McGonagall was truly testing her as she spoke up again, “If I can suggest a place to begin, maybe start by calling him by his first name.”
Lily gave a short, “Thanks for the help, Professor,” and continued out, without breaking her stride.
She chose to head to the library where she knew her friends would leave her alone, and if anyone did join her, it would be to study in silence. Figuring she could hide away in here until her prefect patrol with Remus later that night, she chose a table near the back and pulled out an arithmancy essay that was due later this week.
The minutes passed and she couldn’t focus on it, still feeling some residual irritation from her conversation with McGonagall. Lily was a reasonable person, she could understand that the professors were truly trying to help Crouch succeed and were running out of options to get him to complete assignments. What she didn’t understand was why they had chosen her, if they wanted someone with good grades they should’ve just asked Regulus.
If Lily tried to tell him to complete assignments, he would probably turn in less out of spite. Maybe as a form of tutoring she could ask him to bring his assignments for them to work on? She wasn’t confident that this particular idea would be successful but she couldn’t think of anything else.
It was nearing 7:30 when Lily began to regret her decision to forgo dinner in an effort to avoid her friends. She was starving and even worse, she had gotten no work done so all this effort was in vain. But she was determined to stick it out, not wanting to have to rush to get food before patrols.
She decided to just take her losses and packed up her things wanting to drop off her bag at her dorm rather than carry it during patrol for 4 hours. And this way she could grab Remus so they could walk down to the third floor together.
She took her time going up the stairs, for once not in a rush. Trailing her fingers up the railings, it was nice she realized, it had been a long time since she’d first been introduced to the wizarding world but she didn’t think she would ever get over the wonder of it all. The halls of Hogwarts especially always felt magical to her, even more than everything else around her. She knew it was by default a magical castle, but there was more to it, the walls themselves emanated warmth and had always felt welcoming.
She knew she would miss it once she graduated next year, nothing else she had come across in this world had given her the same feeling of awe as Hogwarts did. She had just made it to the sixth floor and peeked over the bannister, far below she could see dozens of students going about their day, most likely getting ready to head to their common rooms soon.
It gave her a sort of feeling of alienation sometimes, when from her current vantage point it looked like everyone belonged. They were just dots in a society that made sense and she wasn’t sure where she fit in. This feeling happened less and less each year but when it showed up it consumed her.
It was part of the reason she hated Crouch, he represented everything she didn’t have and he took it for granted. It infuriated her that he had quite possibly every resource possible at his disposal and for some reason was throwing it away and getting them both stuck in a situation they didn’t want to be in.
She shook her whole body out and continued heading upstairs, hoping to force herself out of the mood she’d gotten into. She knew it was just because of her earlier conversation with McGonagall, her time in the library having done less to calm her down than she’d hoped it would.
By the time she dragged herself through the portrait hole— never having quite developed the athletic ability to not be tired after climbing to Gryffindor tower— her mood had brightened a little. She checked the clock right next to the entrance and saw that it had just hit 7:50; perfect, she had 10 minutes before she would have to go to patrol.
As she passed through the common room she didn’t see any of her friends which was mostly a relief. Unfortunately it also meant that she would have to go knock on the boys dorm to see if Remus was there. She was hoping he wasn’t and that no one else was there either so she didn’t have to interact with anyone just yet.
She knew that there was quidditch practice that ended at 9:00 so she didn’t have to worry about running into James, Sirius, or Marlene at the very least. That left Mary and Peter who weren’t any better, they would be the first to remember and question her about her meeting.
Lily trudged her way up the stairs towards her room and put her ear against the door, trying to tell if Mary was there. She didn’t hear anything from the other side and cautiously opened the door; no one was in the room. She breathed out a heavy sigh and set her bag down near her bed, going to sit at her desk to touch up her appearance.
Looking in the mirror she put her head in her hands. Why did she agree to continue tutoring him? Lily wanted desperately to be able to change him if it was possible, but what would it take to get there? She wasn’t even sure if this was an achievable goal, it could just be her wasting her time for at least an entire semester. She had now signed herself up for a minimum of twelve more weeks of tutoring, and that was only if she succeeded. Because now it wasn’t even tutoring anymore, no, Lily had to somehow get Crouch to willingly actually do his work; she had no idea where to even begin about going about that.
She decided to consult Remus first, he could usually be counted on to give sound advice. Plus, she had little hope that he would forget about her agreement to talk to McGonagall. Speaking of, her ten minutes of respite was quickly dwindling so she grabbed her wand and headed to the boys dorm.
Although there was the enchantment that didn’t permit boys to go into the girls dormitories, no such thing existed for the opposing gender. Luckily this allowed Lily to walk right up to the sixth year boys dorm so she could grab Remus.
She forewent knocking and just opened the door, knowing it would only be Remus and Peter in there at most. Peter sat at his desk—doing some homework— and lifted a hand in greeting.
“Hey Lily, Moony is in the bathroom. He’ll be out in a second.”
She nodded and took a seat on James’ bed. While she waited she glanced around his area, James’ space was clean but not very organized. He had papers and clothes strewn about and stuff hanging all over the wall behind his bed. Taking a closer look at his wall, she noted that it was mostly photographs of loved ones and letters from both friends and his parents. She herself was included in a few of the photographs taken of the whole group and even one of just her and James from last year during winter in which Lily and James were posing next to the snowman they had built together for a contest between the whole group. In the picture they were both laughing at something Mary—who was taking the photo—had said. Lily smiled at the memory as she looked around some more, recognizing some of her own letters to James that she had penned to him over breaks.
It was obvious to anyone who looked that James cared extremely deeply about people and this wall was just evidence of it. Lily liked seeing the things that James deemed important or good enough to go on the wall, it was like seeing through his eyes, which of her letters made it and which didn’t.
She was still tracing through all the pages stuck to the castle when the bathroom door opened and Remus came out, freshly showered. He noticed Lily snooping through James’ things and raised an eyebrow but didn’t comment. “Hey Lils, ready to go?”
“Yep,” she answered as she hopped off the bed and walked to the door. “Bye Peter.”
“See ya,” the boy in question called out behind them.
Her and Remus walked in companionable silence down to the fourth floor where they patrolled every Monday. For the first hour and a half, they just kept up idle chatter about their classes and the upcoming week, discussing nothing of true consequence. There weren’t even that many lowerclassmen out past curfew making it a relatively quiet shift and Remus had given her some chocolate, which put her in a better mood.
If Lily was a betting woman she would bet that the second Remus opened his mouth again it was 9:31, just past final curfew. She couldn’t exactly say she was surprised but she hadn’t quite accepted the conversation that was to come.
“I noticed you were strangely absent after classes and from dinner,” Remus remarked mildly.
“Wow you should really think about becoming a detective with those observation skills Lupin,” Lily responded dryly.
Lily wouldn’t deny that she had the tendency to become a little prickly when defensive.
“Funny.”
“So I’m told.” One had to have a little stubbornness when growing up with Petunia.
Remus just sighed, “I take it your meeting with McGonagall didn’t go as planned?”
“Bingo.”
Remus stopped walking and Lily turned to look at him, ready to ask if he’d seen something.“Please, will I be graced with details today ms.evans or shall I fight for scraps with everyone else,” he asked from where he’d dropped to his knees like a beggar, hands together pleadingly.
“You have spent too much time around Sirius and James,” Lily scoffed. “Whatever, get up and I’ll tell you.”
Remus grinned, victorious and used the wall to help himself up, Lily refusing to offer a pinky to the smug bastard.
She turned on her heel and continued walking, waiting for him to catch up before talking.
Looking around one last time to make sure no one was lurking in the hallway, she told Remus of what their head of house had told her. It was a good ten minutes later before Lily finished, just as exasperated as she’d been when it initially happened.
“Well it looks like you’ll be spending much more time with Crouch than you thought you would be,” Remus offered unhelpfully.
“Seems so,” she had nothing to add.
“Hey,” Remus nudged his shoulder into hers, “I’m sure it won’t be that bad. And look at the bright side, at least you don’t have to try and actually teach him something.”
“Oh sure. I just have to somehow force him to turn in assignments consistently. Like that’s so much easier,” She responded sarcastically.
Remus rolled his eyes and tapped his finger to the side of his head, “Come on Lily, just tell him what it takes for the both of you to get out of this and he’ll probably start asking for extra credit.”
Lily spun towards him, she hadn’t thought about that. Crouch was just as desperate to get out of this situation as her and now he had the power to. Surely once she told him what McGonagall had told her, they could end this farce in a matter of weeks, just as soon as he started showing some reliability.
“Remus you’re a genius!”
Her fellow prefect chuckled, “Hardly, you would have figured it out yourself once you’d calmed down. I just sped up the process a little.”
She beamed at him and they continued their rounds, with her in much better spirits than she had been when they began.
~~~
Lily walked into her Tuesday “tutoring” session with almost a skip in her step, she just couldn’t wait to be done with this. And the more she thought about it, she figured that she wouldn't even have to come to these anymore because as long as he completed assignments there was no reason for them to meet. She had immediately chosen to not take McGonagall's suggestion on attempting to become Crouch’s friend.
She was still early because even though she didn’t have anything to prepare, she knew if Crouch got there before her he would just leave and she did actually need to update him about the conditions.
Crouch walked in at 4:01 and sat on one of the chairs across from her, throwing his bag on the floor.
“I hope you aren’t going to chastise me for being late,” somehow managing to look down at her while sitting.
While his comment probably would’ve normally riled her up, she brushed it off today, too eager to share her news.
“Ha ha. I talked to Professor McGonagall about our arrangement.”
Crouch raised an eyebrow, “Giving up after a week are you?”
“After you revealed that you do understand the information that you need to, I talked to her about ending tutoring seeing as you don’t need it,” Lily replied.
“Obviously. I tried to tell you that,” he scoffed.
Lily was proud of the patience she was keeping right now, “Well now that it was confirmed, I had reason to go to her. Anyways she said that we couldn’t end the tutoring, not yet-”
“Why not?” Crouch demanded.
“If you would stop interrupting I would tell you! Merlin, you’d think as a pureblood you’d have learned how to have a polite and proper conversation,” she retracted her earlier thought.
The boy across from her just glared and gestured impatiently for her to go on.
Lily eyed him making sure he wasn’t about to say something the second she started speaking again. Once content he wouldn’t, she continued, “She explained that you need to start turning in assignments regularly and on time because future jobs like the ministry look into more from your time at school than just test scores.”
“What if I don’t want to work at the ministry, then what does it matter?” He asked indignantly.
“Take it up with McGonagall, not me. Now hush I haven’t even gotten to the best part yet. Sinc-”
“What could possibly be the best part of this?”
She just stared at him until he sat back in his chair and closed his mouth. “Since the only requirement is that you have to turn in assignments, there is no reason for us to continue meeting. Then after a couple of weeks of you being a good enough student we can officially cut this off.”
Crouch just looked at her with something she didn’t care enough to decipher, “Okay.”
“Okay?”
“I hope we never talk to each other again,” He told her as he grabbed his things and got up to leave.
“Likewise,” Lily rolled her eyes at his retreating form, “Good luck on this new page your turning!” She just couldn’t help herself.
He flipped her off.
~~~
Lily went straight to the common room after Barty left, having finished much earlier than the past two sessions. Once there, she dropped her bag off in her dormitory and practically skipped back down to the common room with a book in hand, her spirits were high.
She had been reading her book, Watership down, for about fifteen minutes before the first of her friends appeared.
Mary walked through the door with Remus and Peter in tow, their school bags still with them, they had just come from the library if she had to guess. The trio was laughing at something Mary had said and failed to notice Lily from her place near the fireplace.
“Hey guys, where’s everyone else?” She decided to make herself known.
Mary spun towards her, “Lily!”
“You probably just missed them depending on how long you’ve been here, they have quidditch at 4:15 on Tuesdays, remember?” Remus told her, answering her question.
“Shouldn’t you be with Barty right now?” asked Peter.
Lily nodded, she had forgotten about that, the quidditch practice schedule far from memorized. “Yeah technically but things have changed, I’ll explain at dinner when everyone is together. Speaking of, how long is their practice today?”
“An hour, Franks keeping it light right now since it's only September according to Marlene.” Mary replied.
“Perfect, we can go eat once they get back.”
They finally headed down to the great hall around 5:45 once Marlene, James, and Sirius had gotten back from practice and put all their things away. On the walk to the Great Hall, Marlene regaled them with a tale about how she thought Frank was going to throttle their seeker if he didn’t get it together soon, James and Sirius humming their agreement.
Eventually, the conversation died down and Peter repeated his question from earlier. Lily told them about her talk with McGonagall from the day before which was news to everyone but Remus, and then shared how the meeting between her and Crouch had gone today.
“Thank Merlin you are done with this, even a week was enough.” Sirius pointed his spoon at her from his place across the table.
“I’m glad to be done as well, what would’ve even been the point?” Lily confessed.
Everyone nodded in understanding and talk shifted away from her and Barty, for which Lily was grateful. She was glad to be rid of these interrogation sessions that had been occurring.
“Hey Lily, did you ever finish the charms essay?” Mary asked her.
“Ugh no, I’ll do it sometime this week, it's due Friday right?” Lily had forgotten about the essay.
Mary nodded, opening her mouth to respond when James cut her off, “Charms essay? I thought you guys went to the library last week to do that?”
Lily's cheeks grew hot as she saw the devilish smile grow on Marlene’s face. “Unfortunately Lilykins here didn’t get the chance to finish her essay, she had to leave earlier than expected.”
“How come?” Peter asked confusedly.
“Well we were working on our essay when we suddenly heard a certain three slytherins talking and decided to eavesdrop. Alas, Lily leaned a little too far back in her chair and fell. Two of them came to investigate and I don’t think my excuse of “I dropped a book” was very convincing, so we quickly left after.” Marlene started laughing after finishing her story while Lily buried her head in her hands.
Everyone at the table joined in, “Who were the Slytherins?” asked James with tears in his eyes.
“Regulas, Crouch, and Rosier. Crouch and Rosier were the two who came to investigate,” Mary supplied helpfully.
Everyone laughed some more, “I’m surprised he didn’t bring it up when you saw him today,” Sirius told her.
Lily looked up at him horrified, “Imagine! I don’t know what I would’ve done if he had.”
“It’s ok Lily, next time we can just go up to them and ask to join the conversation, no need to hurt yourself.” Marlene patted her on the back sympathetically.
The entire group howled with laughter— Lily ducking her head in embarrassment—garnering attention from the entire hall, including the three aforementioned Slytherins who looked over in annoyance.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Why am I even taking this class? It’s five grades of E’s or O’s and I am taking six other courses. Why are you two even taking this class?” James questioned his friends as they trudged up the stairs to the astronomy tower.
“Because we like astronomy James and it can actually be extremely useful,” Remus answered.
James raised an eyebrow disbelievingly, Lily cutting him off before he could respond in pure opposition to that statement. “We all agreed to take this class at the end of last year James and you know it, stop being a big baby about the late hour.”
“Oh I’m sorry, did you two forget that I have quidditch practice at six in the morning on Thursdays? Because as I recall you two don’t have to wake up two hours earlier after this appallingly late class.” He knew he was being annoying but he couldn’t help it.
Both of his companions rolled their eyes, “It is not appallingly late James, don’t be dramatic. We all know you stay up until midnight on most days,” Lily poked at his shoulder.
“That’s not the poi-”
“And besides, you only have Thursday morning practices when Frank wants the chasers or keepers to practice so not every week. And need I remind you that you willingly signed up for this sport and I’m sure will support a very similar schedule next year as captain.”
Damn Remus. “Well I do have practice tomorrow morning so I reserve my right to complain. I just don’t understand why we can’t switch with the hufflepuff and ravenclaw fifth years for the earlier Wednesday night class.”
By now they had reached the tower and made their way towards one of the telescopes on the left side of the room where all the sixth years congregated.
“Because then they would be tired. Someone is always going to get the short end of the stick Prongs, it just happens to be us this year, and you don’t hear Lily and I complaining about our late nights on prefect patrol, ” Remus told him before turning away, effectively cutting off the conversation.
“Perfect prefects,” James muttered under his breath and continued to pout, looking around the room. He left Remus and Lily to set up the telescope as they were picky about it, a lesson he had learnt way back in second year.
Again, his eyes were drawn to Barty, Regulus, and Rosier—James was pretty sure Evan was his name but didn’t know how to confirm. Rosier was holding a parchment with drawings and writing on it but James couldn’t distinguish what it said in the dim lighting.
He watched as Rosier showed his two partners the parchment and they all looked at it for a little bit before Rosier took it back and sat down. Regulus, like last week, took to the telescope and started looking through it, his mouth moving every so often to explain what he saw. Surprisingly, it was Barty this time who took up the quill, hands moving surely across the parchment.
Even now, Professor Sinistra had just begun to provide instruction to the fifth years but of the three Slytherins, only Rosier seemed to be listening. James watched as he would listen to Sinistra give a constellation, planet, or star to find and then look down at the parchment in his hand as if comparing.
Somehow it seems they had gotten the assignment before even coming to class, so that they could get a head start. That would never work for James’ group, Lily and Remus would be too worried that Professor Sinistra would change the assignment and they would have to start from the beginning anyways.
At one point, Regulus moved the telescope around for several minutes, unable to find whatever he was looking for specifically, before stepping back with his hands on his hips. Obviously frustrated he said something to Barty who got up and looked over Rosier's shoulder at the parchment briefly and then moved to the telescope.
Barty looked through the telescope before adjusting it in under a minute to what could only be assumed as the correct position. He stepped back and gestured to Regulus to resume their earlier roles, the latter of which looked put out by the speed at which Barty had completed the task. Barty himself didn’t notice, already charting the next piece of the assignment.
“Huh,” said Lily from slightly behind him.
James looked up, not having realized she was there and followed her gaze to the three slytherins as well. Deciding against playing dumb, he told her instead, “Looks like he is taking his assignments more seriously.”
Lily turned her head towards him, “Thankfully,” but even she looked slightly miffed at Barty’s skill.
Was it skill or was it luck? James was inclined to believe the former based on his own knowledge of the fifth year and Regulus’ reaction.
He turned back towards their telescope as Professor Sinistra shifted towards the sixth years.
~~~
It had been a long day of morning practice, then a full day of class, and then full team quidditch practice again and James was exhausted. All he wanted to do was take a warm shower and go straight to bed, Sirius already having passed out since he too had had morning practice. But he was adamant to stick to his plan, not having the patience to wait another week to see if Regulus patrolled alone on Thursdays.
Luckily, he already had the map as no one had needed it in the past week, and it was tucked away in his dresser. As a group they had decided to reign themselves in this year and pull less pranks, especially with the heavy class load each of them had. This made it easier for James to have the map more often and not have to worry about asking one of the boys for it.
It was only 8 and with an hour and a half until final curfew, James decided to take the hot shower so he didn’t have to worry about it later after coming back. After he was done it was nearing 8:30 and he wanted to get there early again, maybe Regulus would be with his friends and James could see more of what they were like, especially Barty.
Stepping into the dorm room he saw Sirius asleep on his bed, and Remus and Peter on the floor playing a game of wizarding chess.
“Hey James, want to play winner?” Peter asked.
“No thanks Pete, I’m going to go bother Lily before curfew. Besides, I've gotten beaten by you enough times recently,” James joked.
“Hey! The game isn’t over, I can still win,” Remus said from where he was staring intently at the board, clearly stuck.
Peter snorted.
“I’m sure you can Moony,” James said with a wink in Peter's direction.
With that he grabbed his invisibility cloak and headed out. He wasn’t lying when he said he was going to go bother Lily, he needed some sort of cover story. James wasn’t stupid, even if Sirius was asleep he knew the other two would question his absence.
He checked the map for Regulus’ location, seeing him on the fourth floor again with his friends, he also knew that Lily patrolled the second floor on Thursdays. His plan was to go sit and spy on Regulus much like Sunday for around 20 minutes. Then he was going to go find Lily and talk to her until she forced him to leave because of the curfew. Finally, if it truly was Regulus’ day to patrol alone then James was going to go back and hopefully try and talk to him.
It was perfect because this way everyone would think he was just with Lily the whole time and they wouldn’t be able to confirm with the map because he needed it to “get back to Gryffindor tower”. And even if his friends teased Lily about him coming back after curfew, they would just take her denial or confusion as being shy. He felt a little bad taking advantage of their relationship like this but it was necessary, and since it wouldn’t directly harm Lily he thought it was okay. He couldn’t think of any other way to meet with Regulus regularly without suspicion.
He made his way down to the fourth floor and checked the hallway, ensuring it was clear before putting on his cloak. Tracking Regulus on the map he placed himself in an alcove of a hallway the group would be most likely walking through soon and waited.
He didn’t have to wait long, after a few minutes he saw the five friends enter the hallway, walking at a leisurely pace. One aspect of Hogwarts that James was quickly growing appreciative of was the acoustics, he could hear their conversation fairly clearly from his place farther down the corridor.
“I don’t understand how you do this on Thursday nights after Astronomy Reg,” Rosier commented.
“I think I would pass out on the floor somewhere and just pretend I did my rounds,” Barty added.
“Well Evan, it's not like I get to choose the days I patrol and that’s exactly why they didn’t choose you for prefect Barty,” Regulus sniped back.
At least that confirmed Rosier’s first name.
“Sure they did, I just declined it. We all know I have the brains for it,” Barty said in mock offense.
It was Dorcas’ turn to chime in, “Sure but the teachers definitely don’t. Remind me how many assignments you didn’t turn in last term?”
“And how many times you skipped class?” Pandora said airily.
“And what your grades are currently?” Evan this time.
“And remind me which one of us is being tutored?” Regulus put the final nail in the coffin.
Barty put his hands up in surrender, “Whoa whoa whoa, when did this become criticize Barty time?”
“You just make it too easy,” Dorcas told him playfully.
“I pinky promise to stop making fun of your grades if you tell us who your tutor is,” Evan said dramatically, holding out his pinky for the promise.
Why was Rosier asking Barty who his tutor is, did they really not know it was Lily? Lily had told them all that she was tutoring Barty almost immediately after she found out, the next morning actually. James wondered why Barty hadn’t told his friends, it was obvious even from James’ limited observations that they were all extremely close. Maybe he was embarrassed to be being tutored by a Gryffindor, James would be embarrassed if he was being tutored by a Slytherin.
He would mention it to Lily later, ask if he’d said anything about it during one of their three sessions. What surprised him even more was that seemingly, Barty’s friends hadn’t tried to figure it out themselves beyond asking. He would’ve thought that after he didn’t tell them, that they would’ve just followed him to tutoring or something similar. He knows that's what his friends probably would’ve done, even as well meaning as they were.
“How do you even know what a pinky promise is Rosier?” asked Dorcas, the only non-pureblood of the group.
James himself would’ve been confused by the term had Mary not taught it to the entire group the year before when making them promise not to eat the sweets her parents had mailed to her.
Evan shrugged, “Dora taught it to me.”
The girl in question smiled, “I did!”
“What is a pinky promise?” Barty asked, obviously wanting to know but also to probably distract from the question at hand.
“It’s like an extra special promise, you can’t break it no matter what and it's signified by locking your pinkies like this,” Pandora explained eagerly while showing how it works with her brother.
“So like an unbreakable bond?” Regulus asked, having been drawn into the conversation.
“Kind of, but there's no magic, it’s something muggles do,” Pandora answered.
“So you can break it?” asked Barty.
Dorcas rolled her eyes, “Technically yes, but it's supposed to be a show of a guaranteed promise.”
“Now that we’re all updated about the terminology, answer the question Crouch,” Regulus turned his full body towards Barty now, stopping the procession in the middle of the hallway right next to where James was tucked away.
“What question?” Barty played dumb, an innocent look on his face.
Evan rolled his eyes, “Who is your tutor?”
“What tutor?” The act continued.
Dorcas smacked him on the back of the head, “Don’t act stupid Barty, you were just preaching about how smart you are.”
“Yeah and then I got verbally attacked by the rest of you,” he responded drily, “Besides, our tutoring sessions have come to an end so there's no need to tell you. And I don’t trust this pinky promise of Evans.”
“How did you already drive them away?” Regulus questioned of the other boy.
“Why do you have no confidence in me? I didn’t drive them away I’ll have you know. They went to their head of house complaining that I already knew all of the information and tried to get out of tutoring. The deal was made that if I start turning in assignments consistently, the arrangement can end, therefore we have no reason to continue meeting,” Barty explained much of what Lily had already told them.
“And you are actually going to turn in your assignments?" Evan did not sound confident.
“Only time will tell.”
“So they aren’t in Slytherin?” Dorcas asked at the same time.
“Where did you get that idea?” Barty raised an eyebrow.
“Well if they were a Slytherin, you would’ve said they talked to Slughorn not just “their head of house”,” Dorcas explained.
“I could’ve told you that. If it was a Slytherin the whole house would likely know by now, including us,” Regulus scoffed.
“So someone from a different house?” Rosier mused.
James wondered if he was going to watch in real time as they figured out it was Lily.
“Perhaps a red-cloaked student?” Pandora offered with no doubt in her voice.
Barty gave no obvious reaction, but from his vantage point James saw his quizzical look towards Pandora and the way he was acting almost too casual. Regulus noticed too but said nothing.
“Even Dumbledore isn’t stupid enough to put him with a Gryffindor, so that's ruled out. I wonder, Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff Crouch?” Evan continued.
“Over my dead body will you lot find out,” Barty shrugged, effectively ending their guesses.
“So secretive Bartemius,” Dorcas joked but she conceded nonetheless.
James was again surprised at the dynamic of this group, the way they dropped the topic when one of their members was clearly done with it. It made him feel awkward in his current position, this wasn’t something he was privy too and yet here he was.
James watched as Barty casted a tempus, 8:56.
“Now Reg shouldn’t we be continuing along, this is your prefect patrol after all. You never know where students could be hiding,” at the end of his sentence, Barty suddenly sprang forward towards the alcove James was hiding in.
“Boo!”
James’ heart nearly fell out of his body, he knew logically Barty couldn’t see him but that didn’t mean he expected the younger boy to jump at him. He squeezed himself against the wall, concentrating on his breathing even as Barty turned back to his friends.
“Well, no first through fifth year in that one. Let’s move on,” he clapped his hands and the group continued, everyone shaking their heads at his antics.
James waited a few minutes for good measure and then crept from his place on the fourth floor, discarding the cloak once he was a few hallways away. He still had about half an hour until curfew and he needed to meet with Lily.
He quickly made his way down to the second floor, checking the map to find her precise location, not wanting to waste any additional time.
He finally made it to the hallway where Lily was walking and went to sneak up behind her. But she must’ve heard him coming because before he knew it a hex was coming his way and only his reflexes led to a shield being hastily casted, his wand moving before his brain.
“James? What are you doing here?” Lily demanded.
“I came to keep you company, little did I know I would be fighting for my life,” James joked.
She winced, “Sorry. I just heard someone sneaking up behind me, I didn’t know it was you.”
“All is forgiven. Anyways before I forget, did you know B-Crouch hasn’t told his friends that you are his tutor?”
James was always careful with the use of Barty’s last name in reference to him, any one of his friends would notice if he used his first name and question it. Recently though, he kept almost slipping up; having gone from not speaking about his old friend in years to his name being a near daily mention in his friend group was taking a little getting used to. Once this whole arrangement ended, James was looking forward to Barty becoming inconsequential again.
Lily opened her mouth and then closed it again, “Yes I did know that, I heard Rosier ask him who his tutor was in the library. I meant to ask him about it on Tuesday but it slipped my mind. How do you know that?”
It was James’ turn to wince. “I was walking down here to meet you and heard them in the hallway. I decided to eavesdrop,” James' mother had always told him to leave some truth in his lies to better keep track of them if necessary.
Lily slapped him on the arm, “James! What were you thinking, what if they caught you?”
“They didn’t! I had my cloak on and hid. I know I know, it won't happen again.” He felt thoroughly admonished and wanted to move back to the topic at hand.
“I wonder why he hasn’t told them,” James continued.
“So do I. Probably just embarrassed, I’m not exactly the type of person his friends would associate with.” Lily said matter of factually.
James nodded, that's what he had assumed too. “It’s weird though, they don’t seem like they would judge him, I mean they already know he has a tutor and that seems the worse bit of information does it not?
Lily scoffed, “Think about it James, the Slytherin-Gryffindor rivalry runs deep through generations, especially for families like theirs. This wouldn’t just be a “that's unfortunate” situation in their eyes.”
James hummed, “Yeah you are probably right. Even when they pestered, he still didn’t tell them.”
“Did he say anything about our new agreement?” Lily asked curiously.
“Yeah he explained the situation to them and when Evan asked if he was actually going to complete his assignments, he responded with “only time will tell”.” James told her truthfully.
Lily had raised her eyebrow at his use of Rosier's first name but quickly rounded on him at the end of his sentence, “He better. I swear if he doesn’t do his work he is in for a world of hell.”
James put his hands up placatingly, “Don’t hex the messenger.”
“Sorry it’s just I really don’t want to have to deal with him for any longer,” She sighed.
“I get it, I wouldn’t either.”
Lie.
While James normally had trouble being a convincing liar to his friends, this one was easy. He’d been lying to his friends about Barty since second year. But the truth was he would love for Barty to be forced to talk to him, at least so he could learn what had happened to make Barty push them away.
They continued down the hallway, Lily leading the way down her prefect route. After a few minutes of silence, James couldn’t take it anymore, it made him antsy. Something in him begged to fill the silence, he felt awkward in it, made him feel like he wasn’t doing enough.
“Do you ever get bored during patrol?” James knew he would, alone with nothing but his thoughts.
“When I’m with Remus no, we just talk the entire time. But occasionally on my alone nights, it gets lonely. I mean four and a half hours of patrol is a lot,” Lily responded.
“Would you rather do more days with a partner or keep the alone nights like Remus prefers?”
Lily took a second to think, “I think I’d keep the alone nights if given the option. I wouldn’t want the unknown of who I’m partnered with each month, imagine if I had to patrol for four and a half hours with Regulus Black.” She shivered at the thought.
And here I am trying to willingly talk to him. James laughed, “I don’t imagine that would go over well.”
“What about you James? How has life been?”
“I can’t complain about anything.”
Lily huffed disbelievingly, giving him a sidelong look.
“Let me rephrase that, I can’t complain about anything seriously wrong in my life.”
She smiled at that, “Good, I’m glad. I missed you, you know, over the summer.”
James could feel his face pulling into a grin. He knocked his shoulder into hers, “Aw thanks Lils. I missed you too.”
“Honestly, I can’t wait until I graduate and can stay in the wizarding world forever. It’s hard only being here during the school year, and being basically separated from all of you during breaks.”
“Me too, there is a certain level of restriction that comes with being a student. It’ll be nice to have you, Remus, and Mary around all of the time. All of us can buy flats near each other and eventually houses to grow old in as neighbors,” he joked.
Lily chuckled, “You mean you aren’t just going to house everyone at your massive estate?”
James pretended to think about it, “Well I guess that could be arranged, as long as everyone’s rooms are far away from my parents, especially Marlenes.”
He shuddered at the thought of the open flirting Marlene would do with his mum. Lily let out a snicker, flirting with his parents had been a long running joke between him and Marlene and now it had spread to the rest of them.
“Come on James, your house is big enough. You would be none the wiser if anything was happening,” Lily said laughing at his horrified expression.
“That’s it, you all will be fending for yourself in the future.”
She just continued to laugh, “You wouldn’t even offer me a room?”
James softened, of course he would. If it was up to him it would be because they are married and she would be tied to the Potter estate as part of the family.
“You’ll always have a place at my house Lily,” the change in mood was clear.
She stopped laughing and looked up at him, a slight blush evident.
They kept walking.
Eventually, the clock tolled, the sound echoing throughout the entire castle signifying the beginning of curfew. It was then that James remembered the rest of his plans for the evening.
“Well I best get back before someone hears us talking and we both get in trouble.”
Lily stopped walking and nodded, “Thank you for coming down here James, I am really glad you did.”
James smiled, “Anytime, goodnight Lily.”
“Goodnight James.”
He gave her a conspiring look and wrapped his cloak around him before turning towards the stairs. Yes he normally liked the risk but he couldn’t risk getting caught today, he needed to get this done.
He pulled out the map and whispered the password, eyes immediately going to the fourth floor searching for Regulus. It wasn’t hard to find him, almost everyone was in their respective dormitories besides the prefects and people sneaking about like James. Regulus was alone which confirmed that Thursdays were his individual prefect patrol days. He scanned the fourth floor looking for other students, the last thing he wanted was to be overheard. This could not spread to anyone else, he didn’t want it reaching Sirius’ ears before James could talk to him.
Seeing none, he finally stepped onto the fourth floor, plotting a course that would eventually intercept with Regulus. Once he reached his desired corridor—a small one that wouldn’t echo much— he stopped and waited.
He figured the best way to go about it was to be direct with Regulus, he didn’t seem like the type of person to enjoy listening to any unnecessary words. James also figured that he would just go with the flow, he had never been much of a planner and didn’t think now was the best time to start.
He had just begun to get nervous when Regulus rounded the corner, walking calmly. James waited for Regulus to pass his hiding spot before silently taking off his invisibility cloak, there was no reason for the other boy to learn of that little tool. He was without his robes today so he opted to tuck the cloak under his shirt, using his waistband to hold it up, the map was folded and in his back pocket.
Here goes nothing, “Regulus,” James had his hands up hoping to convey peace.
The boy in question whirled around with his wand pointed straight at James, his previous relaxed stance replaced by a much more defensive one. Once he saw it was James, his wand lowered but only slightly.
“Potter? Five points from Gryffindor for being out after curfew,” Regulus turned and walked away.
James was taken aback, he hadn’t expected Regulus to so quickly resort to punishment. He hadn’t even been curious as to what James wanted. Before he could get much further James jogged after him.
“Wait!”
Regulus' steps continued evenly away from him.
“Regulus wait!” James reached for his arm, wanting to force him to stop.
Regulus reacted as if burned, snatching his arm away from James' grip while sending a stinging hex towards James’ fingers. He wasn’t quick enough to repel the spell and flinched as it hit him. At least Regulus had stopped walking, he was now facing James, his calm composure returned.
“Was that really necessary?” James asked, rubbing his knuckles where the hex had hit.
Regulus didn’t react, “Never touch me again. Now go back to your dorm before I take away more points.”
This time it seemed he was going to watch to make sure James left.
“Wait, just hear me out.”
Regulus raised an eyebrow but said nothing. James paused for a second, he hadn’t expected him to actually listen. Flicking his wand, James wordlessly cast a muffliato, he wanted the extra assurance. Regulus noticed, his eyes tracking the movement before focusing back on him.
“You need to talk to Sirius-”
Regulus scoffed, “Five points from Gryffindor. Leave now or I’ll report you to McGonagall for being out past curfew and you can explain why to all of your little friends.”
James stared at him, trying to see if he was bluffing but if he was James could not tell. If he got reported to McGonagall he would get detention. And everyone would question why he wasn’t just using the invisibility cloak and even worse the boys would wonder why he didn’t use the map, they knew he had it. Regulus obviously had no way of knowing this but he had bet on the fact that James wanted to keep this whole encounter a secret and he had bet correctly.
He sighed and turned around, he’d have to come back next week to try again, perhaps with a better plan on what to say. He wasn’t naive, he knew his plan would take more than one conversation before coming to fruition. He also knew Regulus would be stubborn much like Sirius but he hadn’t expected their conversation to be cut quite that short.
Once he made it to the stairs he put his cloak back on, no way was he getting caught now. He made it back to the dorm as the clock struck ten, waving to Remus before collapsing into bed and falling into a dreamless sleep.
Notes:
Guys I'm sorry, I had no motivation to write James' half of the story until like two days ago. But here is a long chapter, 9600 words, so please enjoy. And please please please comment your thoughts, I'm not lying when I say it gives me much needed motivation and I just want to hear what you are thinking so far. Anything you like or I should change?
Favorite moments:
- Lily and James my beloved
- I always love in fics when Pandora just knows everything somehow
- I also love seeing hints of Barty being smart like in the astronomy sceneTwo little rants:
I have seen so many fanfictions being sold on tiktok and its actually driving me insane. I have reported every single one but tiktok says my reports aren't valid and so the videos stay up. Just a reminder to everyone that it is ILLEGAL to sell fanfiction and that it threatens the fandom space. Binding it for yourself or to gift to someone is one thing but you absolutely cannot make any money off of it.Also why is there an epidemic on AO3 where people are scared to show they like a fanfiction. Is that not what you are here for?? I have seen many people say that people aren't leaving kudos or comments anymore and its leading to many writers abandoning their fics. I know I only have like 100 something hits but please don't be those people, if you don't like a fic you don't have to interact with it but if you do please let the author know!
Okay now that thats over I'll hopefully be updating again soon, I go on winter break in like 2 and a half weeks so wooo
Chapter 7: Chapter 7
Summary:
Barty and Lily talking yay (they don't like each other), James listens
This chapter goes out to the two users who left me comments last week, you motivated my writing!
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Lily watched as the owls flew low throughout the Great Hall, spreading out across the four tables and dropping their mail to their intended students. She wasn’t expecting much, maybe a letter from her parents but nothing more. If she wrote to them and asked for something specific they would send it but she never did and never would. Her relationship with her parents was a weird one, rather than acting like parents and daughter it was more akin to cousins who lived far from each other. She knew that her parents loved her but they were in different worlds now and forever would be, her mum and dad would never be able to truly understand the wizarding world in the way Lily did. She had accepted it a long time ago just like Mary had, just like almost all of the other muggleborns at Hogwarts did.
So Lily watched as James received a package from his parents, passing a letter from his mum to Sirius, as Peter exchanged a piece of the food off his plate with the owl in exchange for the letter tied to its leg, and as Marlene unrolled the letter that had been dropped on her plate. Remus was flipping through the copy of the daily prophet that had been dropped on the table, one of the only things he put his money consistently towards.
Eventually, an unfamiliar owl landed in front of her, blinking its large eyes impatiently. Lily accepted the envelope from its talon and fed it a piece of bacon before it flew away. She read through the letter quickly, much of the same as it normally was. Her mother and father expressing that they missed her and were counting down the days until Christmas holiday, and then explaining what they had been doing recently. Her father was trying to keep the plants in the garden alive as far as he could into the winter season and was trying out some new techniques, while her mother had begun reading a new book that she thought Lily would enjoy. They wished her luck with her studies this year and wanted a letter back, before signing off. Naturally, nothing from Petunia accompanied the letter, and for once her parents didn’t mention her. It seems they had finally come to realize the tension between their two daughters and now that Petunia was eighteen weren’t going to bother with the feigned ignorance anymore.
Lily was pulled out of her thoughts by Remus, “Hey, look at this.”
He was pointing to one of the articles in the daily prophet and spread it out on the table so that everyone could see it.
Mary read the title aloud, “Muggle-born ministry employee Clarence Oakwood's home attacked this past Thursday.”
Remus continued, “It’s by pure luck Oakwood was not present at the time of the attack, having gone out with a coworker after work. When he returned home, planning to retire for the night, he found his house ablaze with the words “Filthy Mudblood” painted on the front pavement. Reports say that there was also a green emblem of a snake and a skull flying high above the house marking this as the work of he who must not be named.”
All of them sat back in silence, stunned.
“They are getting braver,” Lily said mostly to herself, “more public.”
“Was there anything on there about who did it? I mean which of Voldemorts followers it was?” James asked.
“James! Be careful who you say that name around!” Peter exclaimed.
James rolled his eyes but still the people nearest were giving them weird looks even with their own copy of the daily prophet in front of them. Lily wanted to roll her eyes too, she didn’t understand the fear. It wasn’t like he was suddenly going to apparate into Hogwarts right there and then if you spoke his name. She kept her thoughts to herself though because she knew Mary didn’t like when James said his true name either.
“I don’t think calling him “You know who” is going to keep him or his fanatics from burning down houses and murdering people. If anything it is adding to the fear people have of him Peter,” James responded with air quotes around “you know who”.
Peter sat back nodding but still looking apprehensive along with Mary. Lily knew that realistically it was because Peter and Mary felt more at risk as a half-blood and muggleborn but it was still hard for her not to scoff at their superstitions even as a muggleborn herself.
In turn, it was clear that Sirius, Marlene, and Remus agreed wholeheartedly with James. Lily leaned over and grabbed the newspaper from Remus, skimming to try and find the answer to James’ question.
“It says here that there is an investigation going on but there are no current suspects,” Lily told them disappointedly.
“I could give you a list of likely families that they came from right now and you are telling me they can’t narrow it down from there?” Sirius said disbelievingly.
At this they all murmured words of agreement. Although Sirius hadn’t named any specific families they all knew the ones he was referring to, his own likely among them.
“I just don’t understand how we are still seemingly no further to stopping them. This war has been going on for years, how much longer will it take?” Marlene asked.
Lily understood her frustrations. While Lily hadn’t learned about the true extent of this war until fourth year she knew the ministry had been having problems with Voldemort since her first year, or at least public problems.
“I mean his followers are literally called death eaters! Did you all know that? Their intentions are quite clear if you ask me but the ministry is too cowardly to actually do something about it!” Marlene continued.
“Well at least they are while the attacks are limited to non-purebloods,” Remus huffed.
Mary heard what he didn’t say, “Do you think they will attack purebloods too at some point?”
Remus shrugged in response but Lily picked up his reasoning, “I mean it’s only a matter of time. Voldemort is just getting stronger and gaining more followers, soon enough it won’t matter how well respected a family is. If they aren’t a follower they are a muggle-born sympathizer making them targets too.”
“Well I just hope this all ends before we graduate, that’s not something I want to have to deal with,” sighed Peter.
“Me too,” James said but he, much like the rest of them, was not confident that it would be over anytime soon.
They all sat in solemn silence for a few minutes, picking at the remains of their food before Marlene decided to try and lighten the mood.
“Hey James, did your mum send anything for me?” She asked with a wiggle of her eyebrows.
James snatched his package and letter from where it was sitting in the middle of the table and held it close to his body, “No McKinnon, she didn’t.”
Marlene sighed with exaggerated sadness, “Oh, I guess that means she didn’t receive my letter then. I’ll have you confirm the address for my next one.”
James looked scandalized, “What letter?”
Marlene imitated sealing her lips shut, “No no James, that’s between Euphemia and me,” she told him with a wink.
James blanched, obviously unsure if Marlene was being truthful or not, “Stay away from my mother.”
The rest of the group laughed, Lily included, feeling better but her worries from earlier lingered.
~~~
“Ms. Evans, would you mind staying back for a few minutes?” McGonagall called as everyone packed up their bags.
Were it anyone else the class would probably immediately start teasing but they all knew Lily was a prefect and that she often helped McGonagall so they just continued packing up.
Lily waved her friends off, most of them were done with classes for the day besides Remus and James who she had astronomy with later that night.
She finished putting her things away and walked up towards the front of the classroom where Professor McGonagall was waiting, the chalk board behind her being cleared by a floating eraser.
“Yes, Professor?”
McGonagall smiled at her, “I just wanted to ask how your progress with Mr.Crouch was going since our last meeting?”
Lily inwardly grimaced, knowing McGonagall wouldn’t approve of her decision to stop meeting with Crouch.
“They are going as well as they can be,” she chose to answer instead, technically no lie in there.
“Good, I am glad. I know this isn’t what you wanted but I along with Slughorn and Dumbledore do appreciate it and see the work you are putting in.”
Lily was about to turn and leave but remembering what James had told her during prefect patrol decided to ask McGonagall about his progress.
“Sorry Professor, do you mind if I ask if he’s turned in any assignments more in the past week and a half? I understand if you can’t tell because of the short time it's been but I don’t want to ask him outright.”
It was McGonagall's turn to wince, “I’m afraid not, but I didn’t expect this to be an easy task. I have full faith that you’ll get him there someday.”
This sparked Lily’s annoyance, she had been hoping since talking to James that Barty was just joking and he would do the work, because what possible reason could there be for him to not. Unfortunately it seemed her hope was misplaced.
“And what if I can’t?” Lily asked desperately.
McGonagall gave her a disapproving stare but answered nonetheless, “We can reevaluate before Christmas holiday if nothing has truly changed.”
Lily nodded and left, at least somewhat mollified that she wouldn’t have to continue this into spring term.
She began the walk towards Gryffindor tower, as dinner wasn’t for a few more hours. Lily wondered what she should do about Barty, was it too soon to be assuming he wouldn’t turn in any assignments? Maybe he was just so far behind that he needed to catch up a little in order to turn in quality assignments.
Lily was fooling herself, Crouch obviously knew the material, she was sure he could do the assignments at any time he wanted. No, he was taking advantage of her.
She would have to find a way to talk to him, she just wasn’t sure how. It wasn’t like she could walk up to the Slytherin table during dinner, that wouldn’t go well for either one of them. And although she was confident that she could find him outside of classes, chances were that he’d be with at least one of his friends. As much as he annoyed her, Lily didn’t want to reveal the secret that it was her tutoring him, it was obviously important to him.
That left few options. She doubted she would stumble across him in the castle alone, which meant she’d have to get a note to him somehow to meet up. Luckily, they both had astronomy later that night and Lily could simply float a note into his bag, the darkness of the classroom would help to conceal it.
Later that night, when Professor Sinistra is giving the fifth years their instructions, Lily focuses her attention on her target.
Barty has once again been relegated to scribe duty, writing down whatever Regulus tells him. Not having to worry about either of them seeing, she was more concerned with Rosier who was currently comparing Sinistra’s instructions with his own parchment.
She assumed they got the assignment beforehand from Pandora, the other Rosier twin, seeing as the Ravenclaw fifth years had class just before them. She wasn’t even sure what the point of getting the assignment early was, it wasn’t like they could leave class early.
She shook herself out of her thoughts, it didn’t matter what they did. What did matter was getting her note to Barty. She cringed, all three of their bags were lined up against the wall, and two of them looked like Barty’s. Lily racked her brain trying to remember the bag he had brought to tutoring but she couldn’t conjure any specific details.
She would just have to pick one and risk it, luckily she had just signed her note, “R” for ‘red’, trusting he’d understand. The nickname irritated her but she was not about to put her actual name unless she was certain he would be the one reading it.
“Wingardium leviosa,” she whispered, choosing to forgo nonverbal magic for precision.
She watched as her note floated neatly into the middle bag, the three slytherins none the wiser. Satisfied, she leaned back in her chair and waited for their instructions.
~~~
Lily was walking back from the library the next day when someone grabbed her arm and pulled her into a hidden alcove.
She spun around, wand raised and hex on the tip of her tongue. Her wand lowered slightly when she saw that it was just Barty, if he was going to attack her he would’ve brought more people or done it as she walked past, unaware.
“What is wrong with you?” She whispered harshly, aware anyone walking by might be able to hear them.
His eyebrows raised, “What’s wrong with me? What’s wrong with you Evans!”
Somewhere in the back of her brain, she registered that this was the first time he had called her by some semblance of her name. The rest of her though, was quickly filling with anger.
“What are you talking about? I’m not the one who snuck up on you and then yanked you into a dark alcove.”
At that, Barty raised his hand,a piece of paper held between his index and middle finger. “I got your note.”
“And? Why am I here?” She asked exasperatedly.
His eyes narrowed, “Let me rephrase, I got your note from Regulus who said he found it in his bag and then proceeded to give it to me.”
Lily flushed so deeply, she was sure Barty could see it even in the dark. It seems she had guessed incorrectly.
“That was not intentional, but I needed to get in contact with you somehow. It was the only option unless you wanted me to march up to you in the hallway demanding to talk?” She raised an eyebrow, her earlier apologeticness fading.
In the dim light she could almost physically see him biting back a remark.
“Maybe next time, try being a bit more confident about which bag is mine.”
She scowled, “Well I wouldn’t have to send you a note in the first place if you didn’t go back on your agreement.”
“What are you talking about?” He questioned, obviously still angry.
“Are you dense? The note said you need to start doing your work. McGonagall told me that you hadn’t turned in any more assignments, need I remind you that we will both face the repercussions if you refuse to change,” She poked him in the chest, her impatience seeping through her words.
He smacked her hand away, “I said I would do them, calm down Evans.”
“Well do them sooner rather than later, I don’t want to have to lie to McGonagall when she starts questioning me on your lack of progress.”
He scoffed, “Oh poor Evans, she has to lie to a person of authority once or twice. Get over it, I’ll do the work when I do the work.”
He walked out like he wasn’t the one who had dragged her in here in the first place. She huffed, staying there a few more minutes so that she could calm down. He aggravated her like no other, the only one who had him beat was Petunia. She hated that this entire situation boiled down to her trusting his words, it felt like she had no control even when she should have all of it.
She would give it another week or two and check in again, she decided.
~~~
“Ms. Evans, would you mind staying back for a few minutes?”
This time McGonagall caught her as she was almost out the door, the rest of her classmates already having left.
“Sure, I’m done with classes for the day anyways,” she walked back towards the professor’s desk.
The older woman smiled at her, “I just had a quick question. I’ve noticed Mr.Crouch around the castle a few times during your scheduled tutoring sessions. I stopped him once, and he said you had let him go early but it was only 4:30. Is this true?”
Lily carefully kept her face neutral, fighting to come up with a believable answer. She said the first thing that came to mind, knowing a prolonged pause would make McGonagall even more suspicious than she already was. Because she was suspicious, Lily was sure of it, if she believed Crouch she wouldn’t be asking Lily about it.
“I’m trying to become friends with him like you suggested Professor. I thought that it’d work better if I didn’t force him to interact with me for a full hour twice a week, since it would feel similar to detention as we aren’t actually friends yet.”
McGonagall nodded, she seemed to accept her explanation if not a bit skeptically, “I see. Well, Ms. Evans I have another suggestion. Seeing as he still turns in minimal assignments, a full hour of interaction twice per week might actually help to achieve your goals, sometimes proximity is the key.”
Lily nodded with no plans of doing that.
“I do hope I see less of Mr.Crouch in the hallways,” McGonagall said as she walked away.
Lily chuckled politely as her grip tightened on her bag. It seems she would actually be accepting this suggestion.
What was lacking in Crouch’s brain for him to let himself be seen by McGonagall during their tutoring hours, she wasn’t sure. But now, they would be forced to revert back to meeting twice a week because of his mistakes. It had barely been just over two weeks since she had seen him last, apparently she could find no peace. Now she would watch as he did his assignments and make sure they were completed, if he refused to do things the easy way.
Unfortunately this meant she would have to talk to him again, and she doubted he would take the news well. The question was how to contact him, sending a note was the last resort.
Luckily, it came to her rather easy when she was studying in the library during dinner, having eaten earlier. When she had walked in she had quickly noticed Barty, Regulus, and Rosier sitting at one of the tables near a bookshelf. Regulus and Evan had been studying, Barty per usual was trying to be distracting.
Regulus had been the only one to glance up when she walked past, Rosier focused on his work and Barty with his back to her, facing the window.
She had been quietly working her way through her potions essay for about half an hour when Barty’s voice broke through her concentration.
“How much longer are you two planning to be here?”
“Until we finish our work Barty, we told you that before we came,” said a voice who she thought belonged to Rosier.
“Well I didn’t think it would take this long,” Barty responded.
It was Regulus who spoke up this time, “Shouldn’t you also be doing your homework, wouldn’t want your tutor to get mad if you don’t.”
Even from her place she could hear the teasing lilt to Regulus’ tone, Lily assumed it was because of the note. She wished she could see what Barty’s face looked like right now, if his annoyance was the same for both of them.
Rosier picked up on it as well, “Regulus, do you know something I don’t? Tell me right this second.”
“Regulus knows nothing and I am leaving,” she could hear the hard set in his voice.
“Aw don’t leave Barty, the conversation was just getting interesting,” Rosier called.
Lily heard Barty’s chair scrape the floor, and quickly packed up her things, trying to be as quiet as possible. This was the perfect timing to talk to him alone without alerting his friends, who knows when he’d next be alone.
She made sure to keep her pace relaxed as she passed by Regulus and Rosier, both of them still chuckling to themselves. She felt more than saw Regulus’ gaze on her again but refused to look at him for fear of giving her destination away.
She walked out of the library and saw Barty heading in the direction of the stairs, likely to go to the Slytherin dorms. She sped up her steps to catch up to him and was about to call out before she got a better idea.
She wordlessly aimed a silencing spell at her feet to keep her steps quiet, and sped up even more. Taking a quick glance around to make sure no one was in the nearby vicinity, Lily quickly grabbed Barty’s wrist and yanked him into a nearby broom closet. She didn’t need anyone walking by, and starting a rumor that her and Barty were a secret couple.
She quickly cast a lumos, knowing how she herself had reacted to this same situation, and couldn’t help but laugh at the defensive expression on his face. Once he realized it was her that expression quickly shifted to annoyance.
“I didn’t know you were the type for broom closet rendezvous Evans,” he sneered at her.
Her laugh finally died out, she hadn’t fully thought through the implications of this, “Oh hush, it was just to get back at you.”
“So you what? Pulled me in here for a laugh? I have better places to be, ” He tried to push past her to leave.
Lily blocked the doorway, “No you don’t, I just heard you leave Black and Rosier in the library once they brought up you doing your class work.”
Barty’s eyes flashed, “You were eavesdropping? Just because you are my mandated “tutor” doesn’t mean you are privy to the rest of my life Evans. Now move.”
“No. Let me tell you what I need to and then you can leave.”
Barty crossed his arms and leaned against the wall, eyes narrowed but mercifully silent.
“Starting on Tuesday, we will be resuming our tutoring sessions. You will bring your assignments and I am going to make sure that you actually do them, since you can’t be trusted to do anything on your own time.”
“No.”
“No?”
“No Evans. I am not going back to those just because you want me to write an essay on the differences between two runic symbols and their importance.” Barty told her seriously.
“It is your fault we’re having to do this Crouch! McGonagall pulled me aside after class today, wondering why she had seen you in the hallways a few times on Tuesdays and Thursdays between 4 and 5 p.m and I had to make up an excuse. I have given you plenty of time to start turning in your assignments again and you haven’t so this is what it’s come down to. Maybe next time, try and avoid the teacher who put you in this situation in the first place!” Lily exclaimed.
“I don’t see the problem, you gave her an explanation, let's just move on. Report me to McGonagall if you want but what could she possibly do that's worse than this?” Barty shrugged, without a care in the world.
Lily knew he was likely bluffing. She knew that he did not want his father finding out about his tutoring under any circumstances but he didn’t know she knew that and she wasn’t going to reveal it now. It would ruin any and all chances of a real attempt at civility. But it didn’t matter, she had another trick up her sleeve.
“If you aren’t in that classroom at four p.m on Tuesday, I will personally ensure that by Wednesday morning the entire school not only knows that you are being tutored but that you are being tutored by a Gryffindor mudblood. Including your little friends. I wonder how they would feel about that?” She asked innocently.
Lily was an accommodating person and was desperately trying to listen to his wishes, but every time they walked her patience waned.
She had seen the surprise cross his face when she had referred to herself as a “mudblood” but it was gone as quick as it came. If there was one thing she had learned about Barty it was that while he unmistakably had strong emotions, he was good at quickly recognizing and shutting them down. The only reason she often noticed them before he schooled his face was because she was looking right at him. Now he was just staring, like it was his turn to analyze her.
She didn’t give him the chance, extinguishing her light and leaving the closet after peeking out the door to check the hallway was clear. Let him have to wait there a few minutes lest he risk starting a rumor about the two of them. It would be bad for her if he did because of the judgment she’d no doubt receive but it would be a lot worse for him and both of them knew it.
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Contrary to what he had decided initially, James had not tried to talk to Regulus again that next week. Rather, he had followed him around under the invisibility cloak for an hour trying to find a good time to talk again or even something good to say and had ultimately failed. Then the next week, James had tried just talking outright and Regulus had promptly taken away ten points before walking away, not even making sure he went back to his dorm. James hadn’t been stupid enough to try and grab him again so he had instead, retreated in defeat.
This week he had a new plan. He had left the dormitory even earlier under the guise of talking to Lily again, planning to follow Regulus and his friends for longer.
He hoped that by watching them he would be able to learn more about what Regulus was like and what he would respond to. Secretly, James was hoping that he would hint at missing Sirius, it would make his motivation to continue a lot stronger. James would do anything for Sirius, he would, but he wondered if his plan was potentially doomed from the start.
So here he was at 8:15 watching the group again. The only difference being that Pandora was absent and he was walking nearly side by side with them instead of hiding and listening.
“Barty, have you turned in any more assignments?” Evan asked, turning around to face Barty who was behind him.
Barty, who had previously been quietly talking to Dorcas about their recent quidditch practice, crossed his arms, a sour expression on his face.
“No, but I fear I have no choice now.”
“How so?” questioned Dorcas.
Regulus turned and raised an eyebrow but said nothing.
“I got in trouble. Apparently my tutors head of house chastised them because they had seen me out and about during our tutoring hour. So now I have to go back to our meetings so that they can actually watch me do my work. Can you believe it?” Barty was getting more worked up with each word.
Evan and Dorcas laughed at him.
“Now why would you be wandering around the halls during the specified tutoring hour Barty? It seems you aren't as smart as you thought,” Dorcas proclaimed, poking Barty in the forehead.
He scowled and looked away, “It gets worse! They decided that the best way to inform me of this decision was to yank me in a broom closet after I left you two in the library.”
James watched as Regulus’ brows furrowed in thought and then cleared in what seemed to be understanding. A contemplative look settled on his face before he too questioned Barty.
“What did they say as the reason for resuming your sessions? I’m surprised you didn’t just refuse.”
“Well I tried to! They told me that I had been given plenty of time to start doing my work again and that now that their head of house had seen me, I couldn’t be trusted by myself anymore. And then when I said I wouldn’t do it, that they could report me for all I care, she threatened to tell the entire school that she was my tutor! So believe me, if I could get out of it I would.”
A look of surprise crossed Regulus’ face at the use of “she” but it quickly cleared into a disbelieving huff. If James had to guess, Regulus had just figured out who Barty’s tutor was or at least was very close to.
It was unlike Barty to slip up with his words, even in circumstances like this in which he was trying to give no gender specific pronouns. And it looked like Barty hadn’t even realized his mistake yet but if the looks on his friends' faces were anything to go by, they sure had.
James was surprised by this new piece of information, Lily hadn’t mentioned any recent conversations with Barty, or even resuming their tutoring sessions. But maybe this development was recent and she just hadn’t had the chance to.
“You said she!” Evan pointed gleefully at Barty.
At that Barty stopped walking and looked up, “What?”
Dorcas had picked it up too, “When you said they threatened to tell the whole school their identity, you referred to them as a “she”.”
Barty’s eyes widened slightly as he finally realized his error and desperately tried to fix it, “I did not, you two are hearing things you want to hear.”
“Yes you did Crouch, don’t even try to hide it. We all heard you,” Regulus had reined in his incredulity enough to contribute to the conversation.
“Fine. But what does it matter, you still don’t know who it is.”
“No,” Evan agreed.
“But the list narrows further,” Dorcas finished as they both put their heads together, trying to discern the identity of Barty’s tutor.
Barty himself just looked resigned and kept silent.
They continued walking, James having to jump out of the way from where he’d paused in front of them when they’d stopped to talk.
After a few minutes Evan cast a tempus and cursed when he saw the time, “I told Dora I’d help her with an assignment before curfew and I am late.”
“Here, I’ll come with you, she borrowed a jumper from me a few weeks ago and I want it back,” Dorcas told him and they both quickly left towards the stairs.
This just left Barty and Regulus. James debated leaving but the ache to see more of his childhood friend won.
Regulus was the first to break the silence, “Evans, really?”
Barty, who was still brooding a little, looked at his friend quizzically, “What about Evan?”
Regulus rolled his eyes, “I said Evans not Evan idiot.”
At this Barty’s neck flushed, “What are you talking about?”
Even James could tell that Barty was just playing dumb, Regulus had clearly worked out that it was Lily tutoring Barty. James was curious as to how Regulus had solved it as the only hint Barty had provided was that it was a girl.
Regulus for his part was not letting Barty play the clueless act and just stared at him until he broke.
Barty sighed, “You amaze me sometimes Reg, how did you even figure it out?”
The boy in question shrugged, “I only confirmed just now when you said they were a she, but I’d had my guesses. I’d assumed it was a Gryffindor from the beginning otherwise you wouldn’t have been afraid of sharing what house they were in even if it was Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw, we don’t know enough of them for it to be embarrassing.”
They had stopped again, Barty tapping his foot impatiently against the floor as he listened to Regulus' explanation.
“I was proven correct when Pandora suggested it was a Gryffindor and you gave her a slightly panicked look, the others didn’t notice but I did. Then it was a matter of what Gryffindor would McGonagall assign to tutor you, it had to be someone responsible and trustworthy. That removed McKinnon, Potter, and my brother.”
A small part of him was offended by Regulus calling him and Sirius irresponsible and untrustworthy considering he knew next to nothing about James and had lost that insight into Sirius’ life the second he had refused to leave with him. A larger part of him recognized that it was a fair assumption considering their reputation.
“Probably most importantly, they were likely hoping to choose someone who could actually deal with you and had a chance of getting you to do anything. That took out all of the fifth years, which left Evans, Lupin, Pettigrew, and Macdonald. I don’t know anything about Macdonald and aside from the fact Pettigrew would’ve been a terrible choice, neither of them are in ancient runes. Which left Lupin and Evans, it was just a matter of which one,” Regulus finished.
“So me saying “she” was the final clue was it?” Barty asked annoyedly.
“No. It was when you said they grabbed you after you left us in the library. I had seen Evans enter and leave but she was only there for a half hour before leaving immediately after you did.”
Barty shook his head, “I didn’t even see her in the library. Well now you know, are you going to tell everyone else?”
Regulus stared unimpressed at Barty, “If I was going to tell them, don’t you think I would’ve said something before they left?”
A grin split across Barty’s face as he knocked Regulus’ shoulder, the other boy just walked away, Barty jogging to catch up.
Now that Barty wasn’t worried about the other finding out, he was back to his normal talkative personality. “I’m actually relieved you know Reg, now I can actually talk to someone about it without having to worry about revealing too much.”
Regulus held up a hand, pausing Barty’s talking, “Don’t make me regret this Barty.”
Barty shook his head seriously, “I promise you won’t, think about it, now you get to hear every update accurately and first.”
Regulus looked skeptical as to whether this was a good thing but didn’t object, “I do have one question actually, the note she sent, why did she sign it R?”
What note? And when did she give it to him? James wondered
Barty’s hand came up to rub the back of his neck, embarrassed, “During our tutoring sessions, I was trying to be purposefully bothersome to provoke her so I called her ‘Red’ instead of her name. I guess she was trying to ensure if someone else came across the note like you did, you wouldn’t know it was from her.”
Regulus nodded in understanding.
They walked together for a little longer, Barty chatting aimlessly and before he knew it, it was almost curfew. James had begun to get bored but was determined to stick it out.
“Regulus.” The seriousness in Barty's voice caused Regulus to stop and turn to his friend, “So you really don’t, you don’t care that Evans is my tutor? I remind you that I do have to go back to these sessions again which means spending more time with her.”
He looked nervous asking like he wasn’t sure if he truly wanted to hear the answer.
James saw Regulus’ face soften almost imperceptibly, “No Barty I don’t, you didn’t have a choice in who it was. But you do know how I feel about the choices that led you here, you need to stop jeopardizing your future just to get a few points against your father.”
Barty’s jaw clenched at the mention of his father, “What future Reg? We’ve both seen the papers and heard the whispers, we both know what's coming and a few bad grades isn’t going to stop that.”
Regulus’ face hardened. “No Barty, we only know what they tell us, which is nothing. Your grades could be the key to you staying out of this conflict, a good enough job could save you. So find some form of obedience and fix your grades before it's too late. I won’t be able to save you even with my family name.”
“You don’t know that Regulus! Like you said, we know nothing. A good ministry job could put a target on my back.”
From what James could tell, this wasn’t the first time they had had this argument and it didn’t look like it would be the last either.
“Your name will put a target on your back Barty! Your father is the head of magical law enforcement, you will be the first person they go after. Don’t leave yourself to the protections he can offer,” Regulus hissed.
Barty was unmoved, “I’m not an idiot, I can handle myself and I will figure it out when the time comes.”
“What is it going to take for you to understand that this is bigger than me and you? This war has been going on for years, once we graduate sides will have to be chosen. I know where I’ll be, do you?” Regulus asked with his arms crossed.
James had never seen the boy so animated, normally Regulus had a cool demeanor that was unshakeable. It was becoming increasingly clear that while the whole group was very close, Regulus and Barty were best friends.
Barty, for his part, was silent. He had no answer to Regulus’ question but he seemed to recognize that under the anger was Regulus’ fear for him.
He grabbed Regulus’ shoulders, “I’ll be okay Reg, I can take care of myself, I always have. Goodnight.”
Regulus watched him go, the only evidence he wasn’t over their argument was a finger tapping repeatedly on his arm. After Barty rounded the corner, he whirled around and kept walking, a tenseness to his shoulders that wasn’t there before.
James stayed put. Now more than any other time, he had felt like he was truly invading into something personal. Conversations in the open hallway between a group of friends was one thing but the conversation between Barty and Regulus just now was not meant for outside ears. He wasn’t even sure anything he had heard would help him achieve his goal.
He didn’t know how to feel about it. Him and his friends had obviously talked about the war before, how could they not? It wasn’t the same though, they all knew which side they would fall on and had plans to try and stay safe. None of them would have targets on their back besides maybe Sirius, but James doubted it unless Orion tried to come after Sirius himself, which was unlikely. Even the Potter name wasn’t big enough to bring about extra risk since they weren’t a part of the ministry.
With these thoughts circling his brain, he shed the cloak and walked down to the second floor to meet with Lily. He wished he was still close to Barty so that he could talk to him about it, but that boat had sailed long ago.
“Hey Lily,” he said from where he leaned against the wall at the end of the hallway, waiting for her to reach him.
She smiled, “Hey James, I wasn’t sure you were coming today.”
He smiled back, “Yeah sorry, I took a longer shower today after quidditch practice, I caught the tail end of a bludger,” which wasn’t technically a lie, he had been hit by a bludger earlier.
“Why Frank lets you guys practice with bludgers is beyond me, one of these days you are going to get a nasty concussion.”
James chuckled, Lily had never loved quidditch, “Well that day hasn’t come yet so I remain happy.”
Lily just shook her head.
“I spied on Crouch and his friends again. Regulus knows you’re his tutor,” James told her.
Lily’s jaw dropped, “He told him? And here I was threatening to tell the whole school.”
“Huh?” He feigned confusion, Lily didn’t know that Barty had told his friends about their meeting.
“McGonagall saw him during our tutoring hour and very unsubtly suggested that we should be meeting for the entire time and that she knew what I was trying to do. So earlier today, I told him that we are going back to meeting, where I can watch him do his work. He said no at first so I told him I would tell everyone that I was his tutor including his friends and I thought that would work, but if he told Regulus…” Lily seemed lost in thought.
James was quick to clear up the confusion, “No no. Regulus figured it out, Barty actually looked quite worried when he did, so I think your threat will hold up. His friends do know it's a girl though so they may figure it out sooner rather than later too.”
Lily looked up in surprise, “Really? I wonder how, we’ve both been secretive.”
James wiggled his eyebrows and put a contemplative finger to his chin, “Yes I wonder.”
“Did he say how? Tell me. Please please please James.” Lily asked with her hands clasped together in his direction.
“Since you asked so nicely. Long story short he basically said he knew it was a Gryffindor because of how tight lipped Barty was and that it couldn’t be any of the fifth years because they wouldn’t have a chance of making Barty change his ways. It also couldn’t be me, Sirius, or Marlene because we aren’t responsible supposedly and then Peter and Mary aren’t in ancient runes which left you and Remus. He said he confirmed it was you when he saw you leave the library the other day after Barty and then again when Barty revealed you were a she,” James shrugged.
“He’s smart, I'll give him that. I knew I saw him staring at me in the library, he must’ve had his suspicions then,” she concluded.
“Yeah, he said he wouldn’t tell their friends so I think it's a safe bet that your student will be there on Tuesday,” James told her.
Lily nodded, content with that answer, “Did you hear anything else interesting during your eavesdropping?”
He did but he didn’t want to share, “Tsk tsk Evans, I thought you didn’t approve of my actions.”
She rolled her eyes, “Yeah yeah, it’s not like my disapproval will stop you.”
He smiled, he found himself smiling more when he was with Lily. “You know me so well. But to answer your question, no I didn’t. The conversation ran short when Barty left to go help Pandora with something.”
She looked disappointed by that answer but didn’t say anything. They continued walking, talking about nothing of consequence.
Pretty soon it was time for James to head back, “Before I forget, would you do me the honor of accompanying me to the first Hogsmeade trip next weekend?”
If Lily rejected him again, this would be it, James would stop pushing for the foreseeable future. He looked at Lily, her mouth was slightly open like she hadn’t expected him to ask tonight.
“I would love to, James,” she said with a small smile.
He exhaled in relief and flashed a smile before bidding her goodnight and beginning the long journey upwards.
He was just passing the third floor when he spotted Barty sitting in a nook just off the stairs, looking out the window. He looked lost in thought, probably a result from his earlier conversation with Regulus.
He slowed his steps and attempted to creep past his old friend.
“All these years and still, you are as quiet as a hippogriff. A wonder how you got away with the pranks you did,” Barty said, head not lifting from the window.
James froze. Looking around to see if there was literally anyone else Barty could be talking to, he found none.
Barty looked up, “I know you’re there James, at least have the courtesy to remove the cloak.”
James did, albeit slowly, “How did you know I was here?”
“Maybe the cloak isn’t as infallible as you thought?” When James looked alarmedly at his cloak, Barty laughed, “I’m lying, I saw you put it on down on the second floor before climbing up and your steps really aren’t quiet.”
James cracked a hesitant smile, he wasn’t sure what was happening right now. He hadn’t exchanged any words with Barty in years, “I see. Why’d you stop me Barty?”
“You know, your friend Evans is a real pain sometimes,” he said instead of answering.
“Don’t talk about her like that,” James missed his friend but he wouldn’t accept the slander of another one.
“I don’t mean it in a harmful way and you know that, I’m just saying her insistence at this whole tutoring thing is grating on my nerves. Maybe you could talk to her about it, yeah?” Barty said placatingly.
“Why are you even in tutoring Barty, we both know you don’t need it. Is it something to do with your father?” James asked softly.
Barty’s tone hardened, James should not have mentioned Crouch Sr, a mistake he realized a second too late.
“I know you were there earlier when I was with Regulus, following behind in your little cloak. And I know that you have been trying to talk to Regulus for some reason and I am telling you now to stop. Leave him alone, abandon your heroic idea to fix the Black brothers and go back to caring about nothing but your friends,” Barty told him bitingly.
James was shocked, no one had ever noticed him or anyone else in the cloak before, “Why didn’t you say anything then, if you knew I was there?”
“Because my friends don’t deserve to feel like they have someone following them, especially Regulus. What you hear is not information you are entitled to, however much you think you might be. Do it again and I will tell them, and your cloak will be reported to McGonagall,” He left no room for question.
“We were friends once too Barty,” James said pleadingly, he didn’t want this to be the last conversation between them two.
“Once James. Not anymore,” Barty turned and started walking down towards the dungeons.
James had no doubt that Barty meant his threat. Not for the first time he wondered what had happened to push Barty so far away. He wasted no time going straight to bed once he reached the dorm, memories of his childhood tinted with Barty’s words plaguing his dreams.
Notes:
Sorry guys I disappeared again. I am actually so tempted to delete this story and re-upload it as only Lilys parts and create a separate story for James. I think it would help me get updates out sooner if I only had to do one POV because I've been really struggling with James' for some reason. The chapters would be about half their length though, let me know what you think! I hope each characters personality is shining through. Sorry James' section is shorter, I just wanted to get this chapter published.
Super side note, has anyone read the byler power outage fic? They've been my obsession recently and I am literally praying they are cannon.
As always, I appreciate any and all interactions and love every single person that comments.
niva_archive on Chapter 1 Tue 23 Sep 2025 10:44AM UTC
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Jurdansupremacy00 on Chapter 1 Tue 07 Oct 2025 07:12AM UTC
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dellaelopez (Guest) on Chapter 1 Mon 15 Dec 2025 12:04PM UTC
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Wendy_luuozh on Chapter 3 Tue 07 Oct 2025 10:27AM UTC
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Jurdansupremacy00 on Chapter 3 Tue 14 Oct 2025 07:00AM UTC
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melo_2818 on Chapter 4 Tue 14 Oct 2025 09:26PM UTC
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Jurdansupremacy00 on Chapter 4 Tue 21 Oct 2025 06:59AM UTC
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niva_archive on Chapter 5 Wed 03 Dec 2025 07:55PM UTC
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Jurdansupremacy00 on Chapter 5 Thu 04 Dec 2025 07:10AM UTC
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amarodiarefimero on Chapter 6 Sun 30 Nov 2025 05:44AM UTC
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Jurdansupremacy00 on Chapter 6 Thu 04 Dec 2025 07:06AM UTC
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