The War: Lily Evans x James Potter
In which Lily Evans pursues James Potter, not out of interest but for information about the escalating war.
After double checking three times, Lily Evans was officially ready to go back to Hogwarts. Her prefect badge, which she was immensely proud of, was glittering from its spot above her chest. Her straight, red hair gently framed the edges of her sharp face.
It was her first day back to Hogwarts, her fifth year, and it felt different than the years before. With the war arising, she had felt unwelcome in the world of magic. She loved Hogwarts, and the friends she had there; that was constant, and the reason she persevered at all. But the magical world was changing. She had thought it had been a small, terrible thing with Severus. Naively hoped that life would return back to how it was in childhood, but Mary wrote about the terrible rumors she heard when visiting Diagon Alley.
Death Eaters, Mary wrote, that's what Voldemort's supporters call themselves. Severus has to be one of them, with how much he goes around disliking everyone, but I am not sure how to tell. Let's just say, I don't trust any of the Slytherins.
She turned off her bedroom light, quietly bidding goodbye to the Muggle books she would be leaving behind and the posters of her favorite singers. As she descended down the stairs, she spotted her sister Petunia on the sofa. Petunia's eyes slightly peeked over the rim of her mug to gaze sternly at Lily. She set the mug down with impatient force as her lips pressed firmly together.
“What is it?” Lily asked, annoyed.
She didn’t think she could handle another argument with her sister. Lily had never wanted this bridge that the Wizarding World seemed to create between them. Petunia constantly shamed her for being a wizard, but Lily never asked to be one, after all.
And the magical world wasn’t all that it was claimed to be. While most of it was so good, the other half of its greatness was not for her to enjoy. It belonged to people like James or Sirius. She could never explain that sort of thing to Petunia. Partly because she didn’t have the words and partly because Petunia never listened.
Petunia lifted her chin slightly, “You’re going back, then?”
Lily scoffed in defense, although, she did begin to feel a little silly at the carriage beside her, filled with all sorts of magical books and her wand.
“Of course I’m going back," she replied anyway.
“Well, if you’d like to, of course,” Petunia said simply, “Where's Severus to pick you up? Actually, I haven’t seen much of Severus these days.”
Lily stared at her sharply. She had missed Severus' presence, despite it all. But that friendship was over.
Her mother interrupted her thought as she emerged out of the kitchen, with a steaming mug of coffee. She was still in her mint green robe and had pink curlers woven in her brunette hair.
Lily took the mug gratefully and leaned into her mother's tight hug.
"I made some eggs in the kitchen," she said to which Lily smiled.
"We eat when we get there," Lily shrugged simply, but her mother looked scornful.
"That won't be until hours!"
Lily watched as her mother went back into the kitchen and came back with a donut. She took it with a playful roll of her eyes as she sat on the arm of the couch, far enough away as to not disturb Petunia, who eyeing her carriage with distaste. Lily ate and sipped her coffee quietly, pretending not to notice.
The rest of the hour was spent driving to the train station. Her father drove their minivan as her mother made joyful conversation. Petunia demanded she would be staying home.
-
Lily braced herself for the wall, which she still hadn’t seemed to get over. Sometimes she feared that magic had made a mistake in choosing her and that eventually, in a quick moment, it would abandon her. It made her smile each time she did make it through the wall. It was her slight reassurance that she was magic after all.
Her happiness grew as she saw Remus Lupin. She had known Remus from a few classes, and yeah, he was a Marauder, but he was different than the others. He was smart and humorous and didn't have a hobby of bothering her or bullying others.
His long, sandy brown hair covered half of the long scar that stretched from below his eye past his nose. Severus Snape had told Lily’s rumors in passing about that scar. Rumors like Remus was a werewolf. Severus always said it with such a sneering tone, but Lily concluded that this rumor could genuinely be true. If it were true, despite the small fear that resonated within her, she firmly decided that she would never disregard him. James and Sirius must not know, she thought. They would never understand a thing like that, being so secluded. Or what it meant to have flaws. Lily walked up to where he was standing, looking out of place without his friends.
“Hi,” she smiled at him brightly. The boy was startled, and Lily had to hold back a laugh at the sight of it. He turned towards her and smiled.
"You scared me, Evans."
She laughed, her eyes drifting over him, and she let out a small exclaim when she noticed the glittering badge on his uniform.
“Twins," she pointed to the one she was wearing. He laughed; his hair covering his eyes as he did.
Remus seemed to be genuinely pleased at this. “Of course you were made a prefect.”
“Of course?” she teased him.
He flushed slightly, “Let’s just say that if I am forced to do nighty patrols, I am glad it’s with you.”
“That might be a compliment, Lupin,” Lily replied.
"It is," he said and after a small pause, "James was a little disappointed that he wasn't made a prefect."
"Being the captain of the quidditch team isn't good enough for him?" she joked, and Remus laughed.
"I'll tell him you said that."
A squeal sounded behind her, and she turned to see bouncy curls and a dolled face. Mary MacDonald was beaming at the two of them.
"Guys!" she pulled at Lily's arm, "Come sit with us in the carriage."
-
Each year, Lily sat in a small compartment with Marlene and Mary. Sometimes, Mary would invite a friend of hers to share with them. However, the compartment was crammed as Lily entered it. Remus trailed in behind her, immediately eager to sit down with his friends, shouting out that he thought they hadn't arrived yet.
James Potter's legs were sprawled on the floor of the compartment, his head propped up on the edge of the train's seat.
"We've been in here for like ten minutes," James answered Remus without glancing towards him; his focus strictly engaged on the ball he was throwing upwards to catch.
"Hi, Lily," Sirius said with a smirk. He was sitting beside Marlene, the two of them in the middle of a game of cards.
At the mention of her name, James' ball went crashing down against his leg and his eyes glanced up. Sirius was laughing, but James was silent.
Lily took a seat next to Mary, trying to avoid his gaze. The way he gazed at her was almost soft, but it was just a disguise from his mischievous intentions. Mary kept throwing glances of her own at Sirius.
“Good summer, Evans?” The question came from no other than James Potter. Lily had to stop herself from rolling her eyes. But she couldn't attack him. It was a simple question, and she didn't have to give him a personal answer. If her friends liked the marauders enough to invite them into their compartment, then she could be civil.
“It was good,” she replied, “How was your summer, James?”
“My summer?” James looked stunned, and he broke out into a wide grin, his eye glittering, “Yeah, it was great!"
"Since when do you call him James?" Sirius teased to which Mary laughed. Lily gave her an unimpressed look.
"Is that not his name?" she said simply.
"It's a name that I've never heard you say before."
She rolled her eyes, leaning into the back of the train's seat.
"You never say James either, Sirius," Mary shrugged, her eyes warm and expressive. "It's always this... Pong."
"Prongs," James corrected.
Remus and Sirius were laughing loudly. Even Lily smiled.
"I win!" Marlene suddenly exclaimed.
"No way!" Sirius said instantly, pulling back his cards and scanning the ones between them before groaning.
"You looked away," she shrugged, "never look away from the opponent."
"Because they'll cheat if you do," Sirius responded.
"I did not cheat," she let out a low laugh and moved over to sit by Mary and Lily.
"Remember when it was just the three of us?" she asked humorously.
-
Most of Lily's concerns had worn away about the war. James and Sirius, who came from pureblood families, seemed happy enough and so did Mary, who Lily thought might be as nervous as her. Whatever must have happened in the summer to make Mary write that letter must have passed because the train ride, as much as Lily complained at first, turned out to be a good experience. And everyone seemed happy to go back to Hogwarts.
Dumbledore made no mention of the war in his welcoming speech, and Lily went up to the common room feeling relaxed.
It wasn't until late at night, when Mary and Marlene were asleep in the dorm after hours of the three of them talking, and Lily had gone downstairs to borrow a book to read that she heard the first signs that a war could be happening after all.
Low voices, that were instantly recognizable as belonging to the marauders, were bouncing back and forth.
"Regulus decided that nothing Dumbledore could teach him here would be any better than Voldemort," the tone of the speaker was hushed and angry.
"So he just left? But he's a kid, and he's still got what.. three years left?"
"That sort of thing doesn't matter to my parents. There is nothing more honorable to them than the choice he's made."
There was a silent pause in their conversation before another voice, filled with confusion and worry sounded.
"Are you saying that he made a choice, then?"
"He made his choice a long time ago, every time he sided with my parents."
At the end of his statement were two overlapping voices:
"But Voldemort?"
"Sirius, he wouldn't."
"For my parents, he would. I don't trust anyone anymore, and we can't trust any of the Slytherins."
"Any of the Slytherins? Don't be ridiculous," a strong voice replied that Lily clearly recognized as James. "Dumbledore didn't mention anything, and I trust him. Don't you?"
There was another pause of silence and then a quiet response: "I do."
"We'll talk about it more tomorrow, yeah?"
"Yeah, I'm knackered."
There was a shuffling sound of feet and chairs being pushed, and Lily darted back up the stairs and into her dorm, forgetting the book entirely.
She tried not to think about where Mary and Marlene slept peacefully, ignorant to how near the War was growing to them. If Regulus or Severus could be supporters of Voldemort, then the war was closer than she thought.
She decided, laying in her bed that night, that she trusted Dumbledore too, but she wasn't going to wait around for him to say anything.
She was going to talk to James Potter.
She was going to ask him to tell her everything he knew about the war.
It was her easiest option. He would know more than she did. And, James Potter was also loyal to her; he would tell her easily.
-
"No," was the short response Lily got from James the next day after Potions class. His glasses were falling away from his eyes. They were usually warm for her, but they only looked darkened now.
To say she was surprised was an understatement, James Potter never told her no. She had specifically put on mascara, blush, and lipgloss today hoping it would help her case.
"No?" she looked down at the ground and tried to curl her hair around her finger, the way Mary once taught her to do.
"I would help you if I could," he shrugged easily, "but I don't know anything."
She couldn't call him a liar because that would make her an eavesdropper.
She looked around the busy corridor, busy from the other students leaving Potions class. She spotted Sirius and Remus lingering around near the classroom, watching the two of them. She sighed and turned back to James.
"Fine, you don't have to tell me, but something is going on, James," she found his gaze, his eyes widening, "But you know that my obliviousness is dangerous. This war targets me."
James' eyes seemed to warm but his jaw remained tightened. His face looked mature and serious, a look Lily had never seen on him. In that mere second, she saw why he was the captain of the quidditch team.
"Nothing is going to happen to you," his words were gentle despite the sternness on his face. "Dumbledore wouldn't let that happen."
"Dumbledore comes from a line of respected wizards," her voice trailed off as her hopelessness arose. Why would such a respected wizard waste time on her?
"Yes, and that's exactly why you should trust him," James replied, his voice raising enough to get Remus and Sirius' attention, who began to walk near them with weary faces
Sirius put an arm around James, steering him away easily, not letting Lily have another word.
She groaned, and Remus stayed behind watching her nervously.
"What's going on?" confusion laced his tone, and he placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.
She clutched onto the books she was holding. Tired from that Potions lecture. Tired from feeling so alone in this war. And from James, who didn't owe her anything, but had somehow betrayed her.
Remus was way taller than her, so Lily had to tilt her chin up to meet his eyes. Her next words were sarcastic and filled with defeat.
"Haven't you heard, Remus? There's a war coming."
















