The Girl With The Emerald Eyes

I'm Yours

The petition had been the subject of much discussion between their classmates throughout the week and even a few teachers had stopped to share their opinions. While they had of course faced some negativity, particularly from Slytherins, this was outweighed by the amount of people who had thanked them for what they were doing. Of all the signatures though the one Lily was most proud of was Regulus Black. He had approached her privately on Friday night after their prefect meeting and while he had warned her not to tell anyone else he expressed that he hoped the Black name would add some weight with the board.

By the time the board got back to them with a meeting date May was already rushing by. Between preparing for exams, helping Charlotte and prefect duties, she barely had any time to stress over the upcoming meeting and she knew James was in the same position with the quidditch final looming. In a way that was a good thing as they could prepare for the meeting without wasting too much time on needless worry. On the day itself they met in the common room , James's uniform neater than she'd ever seen it, and spent the walk rehearsing their speech. When they arrived at the designated location, a room Lily was almost sure had never existed before, they were informed by a short witch with coifed hair that they would need to wait to be called as the board were dealing with other pressing matters first.

" Nervous?" Asked James , watching the way she picked at her nails.

" A bit." Admitted Lily, she'd never faced a roomful of adults like this before. Or had to convince them their position was wrong.

" I know its scary but when you're up there try to imagine who you're doing it for , in this case Charlotte. Works a treat for quidditch nerves." Said James reassuringly patting her arm.

" Who are you trying to win matches for?" Inquired Lily.

" My own ego obviously."

Lily snorted with laughter just as the witch popped her head back round the door and informed them the board were ready to see them. She self consciously straightened her robes before following the woman into the room. The room was dimmer than most in Hogwarts, with the exception of the dungeons, with rich wood panelling and an intricate chandelier. A selection of well dressed older witches and wizards were seated around an expansive dark wood table. Lily recognised Mrs Longbottom, Frank's mother, and she was sure that a few other faces were familiar although this could have been from the Daily Prophet. The pair of them were offered seats in front of the table although they were considerably less plush than the ones the governors were sat on.

" Good morning Mr Potter and Miss Evans. I'm Governor Fawley , the chairman of this board. I must say it's been a while since we have had any students appear before the board. At least for non-disciplinary purposes. We all have a copy of your petition in front of us, by all means take the floor." Said a tall wizard with a perfunctory smile.

Lily and James launched into the speech they had painstakingly prepared and practiced in front of their friends in the common room. Personally Lily thought they came off as passionate and informed but at least half of the room couldn't even seem to muster a polite interest. They'd been expecting quite a lot of questions, even sketched out what those might be in advance, but in the end only one witch in deep mauve robes spoke up.

" Thank you students for such an impassioned presentation. However, I must ask, do you believe that the other children in this school are old enough to sign a petition? Might they have been swayed by two charismatic older students?" The witch said, peering at them inquiringly over her horn rimmed glasses.

" With all due respect governor I think if they are old enough to witness their classmates die they are old enough to put pen to paper about it." Retorted Lily, struggling to contain her outrage at the woman's patronising tone.