The Marauders: Year One | #Wattys2016

Lily's Open Ear

Lily's Open Ear


Lily was several flights down the rotating staircase - would have been all the way to the Great Hall if it hadn't been for one of the staircases thinking it funny to spin 'round for several turns, causing several Ravenclaws to be sick all over the landing - when Sirius caught up with her. He caught her elbow, "Lily," he panted, having run all the way down from the Gryffindor common room. "We need to have a talk."

"I haven't got anything to say to thieves," Lily replied hotly, tugging her elbow out of his grasp, "You deserve whatever punishment Dumbledore gives you for what you've done."

Sirius scampered around her and blocked her way forward, splaying out his arms and legs to take up as much space before her as possible, "Lily, please. Please," he said urgently, diving to catch her as she attempted to dive beneath his outstretched arm, "It isn't Dumbledore who's going ot punish me if you tell."

Lily glowered at him, "Of course he's going to punish you -"

"No. The Dark Lord would, Lily, not Dumbledore!" Sirius's voice was a desperate hiss. He looked about and saw a cluster of Ravenclaws coming their way and quickly grabbed hold of her hand and Lily, too stunned by the words he'd said, allowed him to pull her into the empty classroom they'd stopped before. Sirius looked at her imploringly, "You don't understand what's been going on around here, but there's a lot more to all of this than just the mirror, alright?"

"I understand plenty," she said snobbishly, "I'm not a dolt, you know."

Sirius shook his head, "You're anything but a dolt, and I didn't mean it like that. I meant that there's a lot of stuff we haven't told you and it's important to understanding why we took that mirror and why we can't tell Dumbledore now, even though that was our original plan." He cleared his throat, "But Lily, you've got to swear you won't tell anybody."

Lily considered for a moment. She stared at Sirius, at his pleading face. It was a very nice face, one that was rather hard to say no to, and she was curious, after all, exactly what was going on with the Gryffindor boys she'd been thrown together with by the Sorting Hat. Other than James Potter, she didn't particularly dislike any of them... and Lucius Malfoy did seem as though he were a less than good person... All these things combined in a swirling mess in her head. "What if you tell me and it's a rubbish reason?"

Sirius hesitated, "It's not a rubbish reason."

"Then you won't mind saying that if it is, I can tell Dumbledore," Lily said.

"Fine," Sirius said, "But it isn't."

"Well go on, then," she persisted, "Tell me."

Sirius took a deep breath. "Lucius Malfoy is working for the Dark Lord."

Lily snorted, and headed for the door, "Not rubbish, my ar--"

Sirius grabbed her again, "Let me finish!" Lily stopped and folded her arms across her chest. "Lucius Malfoy is working for the Dark Lord. Remus saw him, and Bilius found out he was impiriusing Professor Tutman. We went down to the Slytherin dungeons awhile back to investigate it and we saw Malfoy talking to You-Know-Who in a bewitched mirror in the Slytherin prefect's toilet. We got caught by Filch and Dumbledore and told Dumbledore about Malfoy and he promised to look into it. The very next day, Tutman's mysteriously disappeared from Hogwarts and Malfoy's bragging to us that he got Tutman out to protect himself! Then Moody showed up and he's been looking into it all, too, but then Malfoy went and moved the mirror out of the prefect's toilet and Moody thought we were all mental since he couldn't find it! Then we figured out that Malfoy must've moved the mirror and in order to prove to Moody and Dumbledore we aren't all making this stuff up, we had to get the mirror. So we stole it back from Lucius Malfoy."

Lily shook her head, "Wait, wait, wait. How was he talking to the Dark Lord through a mirror?"

"I dunno," replied Sirius, "He's a seventh year and the Dark Lord is only the most powerful dark wizard on the planet, you expect me to know exactly what spell they used to bewitch the mirror?"

"Okay, okay, sorry," Lily ceeded. "But that doesn't explain why you aren't telling Dumbledore now!"

Sirius took a deep breath, "Because my mother's found out it was me that stole the mirror from Malfoy."

"So? Once she finds out why you stole the mirror, she won't be angry at you for stealing, and she'll be really proud of you for -- Why are you shaking your head no?" Lily interrupted herself as Sirius vigorously shook his head.

"Because," Sirius said with a sad little shrug, "My mother isn't going to be proud of me no matter what I do. She's... well, she's one of the Dark Lord's followers, too. She utterly hates me now I've gone and been sorted Gryffindor instead of Slytherin, and I'm friends with..." he paused, the word mudblood on his lips, swallowed it back, and ammended, "...muggle borns. Like you."

Lily was stunned. "We're friends?"

"Aren't we?" Sirius asked.

Lily wasn't sure. She shrugged. "I s'pose so."

"I think we are," Sirius added with a shrug back, "Especially now. Plus you're friends with Remus Lupin, and any friend of Remus's is a friend of mine." He smiled a bit awkwardly.

Sirius wasn't so bad, Lily thought, and she couldn't help but wonder why she had disliked him so strongly before. She studied him a moment. "So your mother and father are... are dark wizards, are they?"

"The darkest," Sirius replied. "Our family goes back eons practicing dark magic. Pureblood for centuries, you know." He pursed his lips a bit and shook his head, "Not that it matters at all, of course. Look at you, you're loads smarter at magic than I am. Blood's useless compared to brains."

Lily tucked her hands into the pockets of her robes, embarrassed by the compliment, her cheeks pinkening. She looked up into Sirius's eyes steadily for a moment. "So... so if your mum is mad at you anyway... I mean... I don't mean it as crude as it sounds but... if she's already angry, why not tell Dumbledore anyway? At least you'll have done the right thing."

Sirius's eyes said it all.

"Does she hurt you, Sirius?" Lily asked. She thought of the time Severus Snape had admitted to his father and mother fighting and how the first spell he'd ever cast was one to stop his father from beating on him. Her heart had broken for Severus then... and it broke for Sirius now. She swallowed back the lump in her throat, "Oh Sirius. You should tell Dumbledore that. You needn't go through that. There are... are people who can help you... get you out of there."

Sirius swept an angry fist over his eyes, annoyed that he'd teared up at all. He felt like such a ninny. He shook his head, "No. I can't tell Dumbledore anything. They'll know if I tell and if it was just my mother then... then I'd be fine and I'd take it, it would be worth it, but Lily, my mother had to have found out from somebody. The only person who could've told her is the Dark Lord himself. Voldemort. He knows it was me. I'd be marked by him, and trust me... I've - I've heard the stories before. When he doesn't want somebody around anymore... they just aren't anymore."

Lily's face had paled. She felt quite breathless. "Oh," she said quietly. "I hadn't thought of that."

"Yeah," Sirius nodded.

She took a deep breath. "Alright. I won't tell anybody. But you've got to figure out a way to clear Bilius Weasley from being blamed because Lucius Malfoy's decided it was him that's stolen the mirror and if you don't get him cleared it'll be Bilius who's got a mark on his back from the Dark Lord."

"What? Bilius?" Sirius looked surprised and Lily realized that he hadn't heard about what happened.

"Yeah.. Lucius attacked Bilius for mocking him in the entrance hall last night, just before he found out about the missing mirror. Bilius spent the night up in the hospital wing with Madam Pomfrey - Lucius blasted him right into the hour glasses with the house points, all that glass cut him up good!" Sirius's face was wide-eyed as Lily spoke, his expression moving through various stages of horror. "Then Malfoy found out about the mirror having gone missing and he assumed Bilius had known more about it than he let on and that's why he was mocking him and he's really angry."

"Bloody hell," whispered Sirius. "I'll figure something out."

Lily nodded. "Okay. As long as you fix that, I'll keep the secret for you."

"Thank you," Sirius said firmly. "I really, really appreciate it. And if I can figure a way to safely tell... I will."

Lily nodded.

Sirius didn't know what else to say, so he edged toward the door. "Alright. Well. I - I s'pose that's it, then, 'ey?"

"I s'pose so."

"I'll, er, see you, then," Sirius said, and he turned to leave.

He'd opened the door and was on his way out into the corridor when Lily stopped him. "Sirius."

"Oi?" He turned around to look at her over his shoulder.

"If you ever need to - you know - talk about... anything at all, really..." she shrugged sheepishly, "I'll have an open ear for you."

Sirius smiled. He was truly thankful for all of the people he had met, all of the friends who truly cared about him, as a person, rather than as a future pawn in the Dark Lord's games, like his parents had always done. He'd never felt love quite as powerful as that which was given him here, at Hogwarts. "Thanks, Evans," he said casually - though the true depth of his emotions was plain on his face.

"No problem, Black," Lily replied.