Harry Potter and the Prince of Slytherin

Chapter 8: Dinner and Champagne

25 October 1994
4 Privet Drive

As the Welcoming Feast was commencing, Lily Potter was actually sitting on the floor of the "Magic Room" at 4 Privet Drive next to her open trunk, which was how James Potter found her when he stepped out of the nearby Floo from the Ministry. Lily was weeping openly, and in her hands was a book that she did not recognize but which was filled with notes in her handwriting scribbled in the margins. Applied Pharmacology was the name of the text.

"Lily?" James said tentatively.

"James," she said in a terrified whisper. "I think I may have murdered Vernon Dursley."

"What?!?" James asked incredulously. "What do you mean you think you murdered him?!? You already denied it under Veritaserum just this morning?!?"

She nodded dumbly and sat down on a nearby couch, her face still a mask of shock.

"Yes, I did," she said shakily. "And then, afterwards, I had a talk with Severus in which he told me that by the end of Fifth Year, I was nearly a level-four Occlumens, the level you need before you can alter your own memories and beat Veritaserum! But I don't remember it at all!"

And with a mounting sense of panic, she held up the Muggle textbook and showed it to her husband. "Just like I don't remember this!"

James studied the text in confusion. "Applied Pharma ...?"

"Pharmacology. It's the study of Muggle pharmaceuticals. Basically, their equivalent to healing potions. James, if there is a way to magically alter a Muggle's prescribed medications so that they would become poisonous and then revert back after death, this is the sort of knowledge you would need to do it!"

"And ... you learned how in your Muggle college studies?"

Lily sighed loudly and wiped her hand across her face. "Apparently, I took a First in this class, but I don't even remember signing up for it!"

"Calm down, Lily-Flower," James said as he took the book from her and held her hands in his own. "None of this proves that you murdered Vernon."

"James ...!" she said in exasperation.

"Lily, don't forget! Peter was screwing with us for years! He gave both of us potions and used both Confundus Charms and Obliviations on us. Even if your academic knowledge is responsible for Vernon's death, Peter might have influenced you into it somehow."

"I feel like you're stretching a bit, James," she said somewhat acerbically.

"And I feel like my head's been screwed with a lot over the years, Lily. So is it so hard to believe that yours might have been as well?"

"But to what purpose? Why would Peter have wanted me to kill Vernon in such a ridiculous way?"

"You mean in a way that only a brilliant Muggleborn could have done it? One who might have felt guilty over what Vernon did and might have wanted revenge? Peter had plans in place to do away with us both if he needed to. If he could have framed you for murder—or for that matter, Confunded you into actually committing a murder!—he could have sent you off to Azkaban and gotten an even stronger hold over me and Jim. Or worse ... When I ... when I met with the Goblins last Spring and finally went over the paperwork, I found..."

Then, he looked down in embarrassment.

"There was a document I had signed that would have made Peter regent for Jim and House Potter if something happened to us both. Yet another thing I was stupid enough to sign without even reading. I think his plan might have been to get you sent off to Azkaban for murdering Vernon and then get me out of the way somehow. Fake my suicide or get me committed for having a mental breakdown."