Lily Potter And The Secret Bewitchment

Chapter Twenty-Five - Information and Accidents

The year was nearly over as June begun, and everyone in the castle knew it, unspoken as it was. There was a sense of summer anticipation in the air, and an unusual hush had fallen over the castle, as it was OWL time. Homework had not yet petered out inside the castle, and the History of Magic teacher, Professor Golds, was being as foul as ever. The class knew to be silent after their disastrous first class where the Professor had revealed Jayla's secret and called Lily and Hugo ginger nuts. Mostly she criticised half-breeds and ministry officials. Lily did find it hard to hold her tongue on these occasions as the teacher insulted her parents. To date, forty-seven students had complained about her to their heads of house or parents, but all their concerns were dismissed and the students were given detentions or had house points deducted. People simply stopped complaining after a while, as Golds continued to befriend the staff and get under the students' skins. No one knew what to do, as Lily found out while talking to Rosie one night in the common room one evening. George and Hugo were at an extra history of magic class, Jayla had gone to send a letter and Oli was who-knows-where. Rosie came over to talk to Lily at her chair as the latter wrote her name at the top of a recently completed essay for Professor Longbottom.

"Are you alright Lils?" Rosie asked. Lily looked up.

"Sure, why d'you ask?" Lily questioned, a little confused. Rosie sat down next to her.

"I don't know. Odd things just seem to happen around you and your friends." Rosie shrugged. "You know, the whole thing with Rita Skeeter, then Jayla's been in the hospital wing a lot, then that cat showed up at your house, and there was Christmas day as well, all the crap with Malfoy. It's a lot to take in your first year here, you know." Lily could see her cousin's natural curiosity in Rosie's face.

"Oh don't worry Rosie. Malfoy has been very quiet since Amelia shut him down just before Easter." Lily smiled but Rosie's face was almost the opposite emotion.

"Yes," Rosie said, looking concerned. "Amelia told me something the other day, just after the holidays."

"What?" Lily asked, urging her cousin to tell. Rosie bit her lip.

"James is pretty worried about all this stuff. Your dad sent a letter just before Easter, and it's some heavy stuff."

"What, Dad told James something, and I don't know?" Lily said indignantly. A nearby second year looked around at Lily's tone and sneered. Rosie pulled a face and turned to her cousin.

"Do you want to see the letter? There isn't much actual information in there, but it's worrying." Lily nodded immediately. "You have to promise not to do anything stupid if you see it," Rosie warned.

"Okay."

"Right then." The elder of the two stood up. "I'll nick it off James, maybe Amelia can get it for me, I'll see. I'll let you know." Rosie walked away and Lily turned back to her pile of homework, her mind on more than just Transfiguration essays and practice spells for charms.

***

Lily chose not to tell anyone what Rosie had said. She didn't want to drag others outside of her family into it before she knew what the letter entailed, and she didn't want Hugo to blab to anyone, least of all their three close friends. Lily had decided that if her and Hugo's families were targets, then anyone with information was in danger. Hugo and Lily would already be in danger, naturally, so it didn't matter if they knew or not in Lily's mind. However, the longer Rosie didn't tell Lily she had the letter, the more Lily lost hope that she'd ever know what her father had disclosed to James and not her.

The common room was where Lily now spent most of her time. She and her close-knit group of five were sitting there one evening, having a wizards chess tournament. Hugo was excellent at chess and Lily had just watched him beat Jayla after a spectacularly short match consisting of ten excellent moves by Hugo, and ten slightly less excellent moves of Jayla's.