How it began: A Jily Fanfiction

Jily Part 11

Following the four boys for the rest of the day was no easy feat. First Lily followed them down to the kitchens, where you had to tickle a pear on a painting just to get inside. There they found house elves preparing the meals for lunch. They obligingly gave the four boys bottles of butterbeer and cookies and snacks as if they were guests of honor. Lily only took a small piece of bread, not very hungry, while Sirius and Peter stuffed their pockets with an assortment of sweet pastries and bottles of butterbeer.

Lily could already find herself fitting in with them; she could relate to Remus' sense of responsibility, but also Sirius's playful troublemaker attitude. Peter, she noticed, followed them almost like a little puppy, hanging on every word that the three boys said, laughing at their stupid jokes, and contributing to their plans. James was the leader, but that was no surprise to her. Instead of taking the lead, she noticed that he let Sirius take over today while he stayed by her side, her hand in his. She was excited to watch first-hand what these boys did more often than not, up-to-no-good fun.

It felt like they went through secret passage after secret passage before they ended up in a corridor on the seventh floor, Lily keeping up with their pace rather well. Remus stepped forward in front of a bare wall, no pictures hung and no door was present. The group watched as he paced three times before a door appeared. Lily had to look twice before she realized that it was real. They pulled her into the room, already feeling comfortable with their surroundings.

"What is this room?" Lily asked as she looked around, there were high lofted ceilings, and plush chairs sat in a ring in the middle of the room, random objects littering the room. A large mannequin with slashes on its chest, Pictures of the four boys were tacked on the walls along with Quidditch banners and drawn out plans. There were multiple shelves covered in odds and ends and a huge bookshelf stock full of books sat next to an old wardrobe.

"The Room of Requirement." James said as he plopped down on one of the sacks on the floor, watching her as she circled the room, looking at pictures and studying objects on shelves. She came to the wardrobe at the end of the room and jumped back, startled when it rocked violently, before becoming still again.

Sirius laughed, and Peter joined.

"There's a Boggart in there." Remus told her, pointing at the wardrobe with his wand. "We practice the patronus charm on it. We imagine them as Dementors; which is really effective. Have you ever tried a patronus charm before? I know it's been mentioned in charms a few times, but I don't think you've ever tried one have you?" He asked as he rose from his spot on the floor and came to stand next to her. She shook her head then looked at the three sitting in the middle of the room. She looked at each of their eager faces, saving James' for last. He gave her an encouraging smile then flicked his chin at the wardrobe.

"Go on Lily, Remus is the better teacher here." Lily kept her eyes locked with James' for another moment, her heart beating in her chest before turning to face the old wardrobe.

"Lily, think of the happiest thought you can muster. Let it fill you up from head to toe, if it doesn't fill you up completely then you might need something a bit stronger." Lily clenched her hands into fists and sifted through her memories, trying to find a memory happy enough to fill her up. She thought back to when she was a kid, but shook her head quickly, her mind alighting on a memory. She let it fill her body, and nodded towards Remus.

"Go ahead, I'm ready."

"Don't forget to imagine a Dementor, and when you do say, 'Expecto Patronum'."

"Expecto Patronum." Lily whispered to herself, and was surprised to see a small white light come from the tip of her wand. She jumped and lifted her wand in front of her face.

"There you go Lily, just like that but with conviction. Do you think you can manage with a Boggart Dementor? They are scary creatures, we waited a while before going right at them, but since you produced that much of a patronus do you think you could try?" Lily nodded and let her happy memory fill her up once again.

Remus opened the wardrobe and Lily became stock still when a dark, cloaked figure seeped out from behind the door, the ends of its black cloak billowing into small clouds of back smoke; the room instantly went cold. She swallowed hard and held onto her memory before shouting,

"Expecto Patronum!"