MOD NOTE: I've edited the topic title. Orig one was Blatant Plagiarism ... should have been removed by now.
-gal-texter, Jan 2009


The fic at http://fanfiction.portkey.org/story/2556 is blatantly ripping off a fic by Phoenixsong. Every single reviewer has noticed this, and yet nothing has been done about it in over 24 hours. This should have been taken care of quite a while ago, and has yet to be.

Where are the admins for this? This kind of thing should be a priority.

Plagerism is not tolerated by ANY of the admins. If we know about it - we suspend authors. We don't give second chances. We've been busy - especially me with real life things for the last month or so, so it has taken me sometimes days to get back to people.

I got one email about this, and I do acknowledge that I had to delay taking actions - because I was at work - still am - just closing now. While lots of reviewers might have had found out this is a plagerized text - and reviewed it - admins don't read reviews or know about fics or situations like this till we get notified via emails , via online messages, via PMs or in this case, a thread in the forums.

This incident highlights the need for a reporting feature - we've been thinking of implimenting one and hopefully we'll add one soon.

NAPPA

A report feature sounds good. People need to realize though that

• Mods/Admins should be given reasonable time to deal with complaints, requests, and other issues.
  Team members come from various time zones around the world. Hence, a delay in response might actually be because it's bedtime or worktime for some of us.
  
  
• It's not as if Mods / Admins can drop their Real Life commitments anytime to attend to Portkey matters asap.
  
  
• Most issues need to be investigated or studied.
  This isn't the first case of plagiarism we've encountered. In this particular case, a comparison still needs to be made between this story and the other one.
  
  
• The Mod Team cannot be expected to read all reviews. There are simply too many of them.

I do appreciate that someone brought this to our attention, but I personally could care less for the berating tone. (I admire my co-Mods' calm responses.) Report issues to us directly; give us enough time to deal with it; follow it up if you haven't seen us replying after a while. In most cases I've seen, the Mod Team immediately does something behind the scenes.


We Mods/Admins do our work here on our volunteer time -- when we can get away from work and/or school.

I agree entirely with gal-texter's response, and must admit, I have found it difficult to hold my tongue and not make a number of comments based on the tone of the post. I had typed out a reply earlier but chose not to post it.

I agree with Pen throughoutly but I want to add there something because this post made me bit angry but sad too.

You must realise we as staff-team are a minority against a majority this means you cannot expect that we see everything. We depend on our members that they PM or tell us about it.

Now I can only speak for myself but I hardly have time to controll every fic on this site or compare which one is stolen and which one not. We have everyday at least 20 fic-updates or 10 new fics. We get everyday at least 500 posts if not more which need to be moderated, everyday 10 new threads and sometimes new members who troll Portkey.

I do this job because I kinda love this site but by all means you can't expect that we can see everything directly and act on it.

I won't start a blood, tears and sweat speech because I think everything is said though you are bit unfair to us if you expect that we got no life.

To defend my annoyance a little:

I belong to the mailing list of the original author. It had taken less then ten minutes between the fic and between its posting for e-mails to go out, according to people there. There had been no response, nor any evidence of a response, after more than 24 hours time. No-one had been informed of any kind of investigation, the fic was still there and as easily accessed as it ever had been, and as near as anyone could tell nothing was happening on the report as all.

I do appreciate that an investigation is needed -- that, in and of itself, is better then FF.net has ever done. I also appreciate the hard work the admins put into each and every day's work at Portkey. An open and shut case like this, however (where it's notable that the original author's fic, which has been on Portkey for months now, is actually visible on the same page, and this particular case of plegiarism is especially explicit, in that it was literally a copy-paste of the original and even the title is mostly the same) should not take too long to investigate.

If the tone of my post seems 'hot,' my apologies. I definitely support the admins, mods, and other staff who work here. My temper mostly came from the specific incident of plagiarism, and not really the lack of response. I am aware that the mods cannot be expected to read every fic for themselves, nor the reviews the members leave. I was, nevertheless, surprised by how much time it took for this specific case to be addressed, given the details. In truth, I was not angry at the admins at all -- just surprised that what is normally a well-coordinated group of effective mods and admins had done nothing about reports of plagiarism in over 24 hours.

In other words, you'd set high standards for yourselves, and hadn't met them. Again, my anger was more for the person who plagiarized and not the admins. It may have appeared to be against the admins, however, because the anger against said offender was combined with the surprise at slower-then-average admin effectiveness in one and the same post.

My apologies to any admins\mods\staff who were offended by my post. My anger was not with you.

I am sure the Mod Team will accept your apology. A few more points to hopefully close this issue.


Suggestion for Admins/Techies - it may be a good idea to set up a centralized email account for complaints, like complaints@portkey.org or issues@portkey.org. It would be great if that email could immediately generate an automated response to acknowledge receipt of the complaint.


FYI for Desaix and other members,

As someone very actively involved in many parts of Portkey, and thus often interacting with many Portkey Mods, I can vouch that the Mod Team will endeavor to respond asap. If not solve the problem directly, then acknowledge receiving the complaint. When they can't do that immediately, it's because of some or all of the factors I mentioned above. I am referring to my Teammates' actions here.


Personally, I do not think 24 hours is a reasonable time, considering the difference in time zones and real life commitments. That email was sent on a workday. Mods get 5 - 10 emails every day for new applications, and perhaps at least 2 PM'd inquiries and such. Often, it takes time to sort which emails are more important than others. Plus it is not unreasonable for Mods to wait until they're done with real life before replying to emails.


Lastly, Desaix, this isn't the first time your message to Mods had an angry tone. You may say that you support us, but this particular complaint gave a contrary impression. My suggestion is that you take the time to re-read your complaints before posting them or sending them by PM.


Again, thank you for reporting this directly. But in the future, kindly report cases in a less belligerent fashion.

We do take plagiarism very very seriously. Recently we've prevented 2 confirmed plagiarists from becoming Portkey authors. These weren't based on complaints -- we took action before Portkeyers could see the story. But we'd be the first to acknowledge that we need Portkeyers' support in guarding against plagiarism.

I think I should take a bit of responsibility here. PS did find out about this from CC within about 10 minutes and reported it..I found out not too long after when I happened to log on to IM.

I went straight to the story and left my own review.

I never ONCE thought about reporting it. That was my mistake. You guys can't be expected to know what's going on with the hundreds...if not thousands of fics...you have posted here. Even though every one of the reviews flamed this girl up, you can't possibly be expected to read those as well.

I really liked NAPPA's idea about some sort of reporting process. As both and author and a reader I can say i probably would've done it immediately if that reporting button-or whatever it might be-was down were the review box is. So if you're looking for some reader suggestions for your idea...that might be one.

I must apologize to PS and the Mods for not having the forethought to have reported it myself. You can't help if you don't know about it, and one email or PM is bound to get lost in the mess your inboxes must be.

I'll be sure to be more proactive in the future. I just want to say that I think the mods are doing a great job. I've already told NAPPA in an IM but I absolutely LOVE the addition of the author's response thing for the reviews. With that, PK has become my number one site to post because I feel like I can get that interaction that I missed with this not being a "forum" board fanfic type place.

I can't speak for anyone else...the group desaix referred to is the Triumvirate of Verbosity where PS, CC (CheeringCharm) and myself post our stuff on Yahoo....but I think all of the passions on the TOV were running a little high with this "story." I didn't see a single comment on our group that was derisive to the mods here at all...they were all completely in shock over the blatent theft of PS's story. I've never been so flabberghasted in my life as to see someone just cut/paste a story someone else had poured themselves into. As one of the founders of the TOV I apologize if any of our passions about this issue spilled over to the mods here at PK. I am sure that was not the intent, but feel bad about it anyway.

You all are in a volunteer job with your own lives and are doing a wonderful job providing a space for we fanficcers to have an outlet. I appreciate your hard work.

I've linked this thread in the site policies topic, not to dig at Desaix but to give insight on how all PK-ers can help in improving PK and minimizing plagiarism.

- Pen / gal-texter, JaN 2009

Reviving this thread in this new "Plagiarism" forum.




For reference:
the RIP-OFF was renamed "Lily Evans and the Book of Ancient Elvish" by Emily Harrison.


The ORIGINAL fanfic was "The Ancient Book of Elves" by Phoenix_Song. This one (rightfully) remains archived in Portkey, so I won't copy all of it in here. But here are excerpts, again to aid others in fighting plagiarism. Phoenix_Song gave this story a PG rating.


Chapter 1: Going to Hogwarts

Eleven-year-old Lily Evans woke up with excitement on the morning of September 1st, unable to believe that the day had finally arrived. Later on that morning, she would be heading off to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry to learn how to use the magical talents that she’d only recently learned she possessed. She smiled slightly as she remembered what had happened when she’d gotten her letter. At first, she had been sure it was a practical joke—that magic didn’t, that it couldn’t, exist! Everyone knew that. But when she told her parents, who had always encouraged their children to believe in the impossible, they hadn’t been surprised. Quite the contrary, they had told her that they’d guessed she might have an extraordinary talent because of the extraordinary things that so often happened when she was around. Her father had congratulated her and immediately begun to call his friends, hoping one of them would know where they could buy the supplies that she would need for school. Her mother had happily informed Lily’s grandparents, aunts and uncles, and anyone else who would listen, that “We have a witch in the family! Isn’t it wonderful?!”

Lily got dressed, swept her hair back into a braid, and quickly tidied her room, then went over to the trunk sitting open in the corner. She wanted to check one last time before they left for the train station to make sure that she hadn’t forgotten to pack anything, and she knew there wouldn’t be time after breakfast. As she was going through her list of schoolbooks for the second time, she heard a slight noise in the hallway. Glancing up, she saw a blond little girl with a messy ponytail standing there. She was attempting to arrange her mouth into a smile around her horsey teeth, but her pale blue eyes were full of tears.

“Now don’t cry Petunia,” said Lily soothingly. Nine-year-old Petunia was Lily’s sister, though hardly anyone would have guessed it by looking at them. In contrast to the little girl standing in the doorway, Lily had full, auburn hair, even teeth and a wide, welcoming smile. The most startling difference between the two girls, however, was their eyes. While Petunia’s were a very unremarkable pale blue, Lily’s eyes were striking, a very deep green that most people noticed immediately. Lily hopped down from her bed and hurried over to comfort her little sister. “There there, Pet,” she cooed, “It’ll be Christmas before you know it. And I’m sure I’ll be able to send letters. I’ll write you loads. And you know what?” she asked with as much enthusiasm as she could muster, “I might even be able to use an owl, like the one that brought me my letter!” Far from comforting Petunia, however, the thought appeared to trigger the tears that had been threatening to fall since she'd walked in the room. Lily hugged her tightly, trying to be reassuring. It wasn’t easy. The truth of the matter was that her little sister’s tears had brought to the surface the insecurities that her excitement about school could not quite squelch.

She had always been good at school, but she wouldn’t be studying the familiar subjects of Mathematics or English. Instead, she was going to be taking classes with names like “Charms”, “Transfiguration”, and “Potions”, and learning about any manner of creatures that, until her letter had arrived in July, she had thought were imaginary. She was pretty sure that her talent in Geography wasn’t going to help her in those classes. But it wasn’t the classes that were causing Lily her greatest misgiving. In a few short hours, she would be heading away from home for nearly four months. Four months seemed like an incredibly long time to Lily, who had never been away from home for longer than one night before. And it wasn’t just herself that she was worried about. Petunia had been the only one in the family who was quite unexcited about Lily going to Hogwarts, but in the hustle and bustle that came with preparing her to leave for school in a short month and a half, Petunia’s reaction had gone completely unnoticed by their parents. Lily had noticed, however, and she was very worried about Petunia, who had become clingy and melancholy since she’d found out her sister would be leaving home in September, rather than going to the local public school. Only one thought consoled Lily when she thought about how much she was going to miss her little sister. While it was true that neither of their parents possessed the magical talent that Lily had been born with, she figured that there was a reasonably good chance that Petunia would turn out to be magical, too, and would be joining Lily at Hogwarts in a few short years. Lily refused to think about the fact that Petunia had never accidentally turned the baby-sitter’s hair blue when she didn’t want to go to bed, or caused a doll that she really wanted to come zooming out of the store after her as their parents were making them leave without it. The thought that Petunia would one day be joining her at Hogwarts gave Lily too much comfort to let her doubts get the best of her, and she decided to tell Petunia about the possibility.

“Really?” Petunia asked, sniffling. “I suppose I could. I mean… Yeah! Why not? Why couldn’t I be a witch, too?” Lily felt a little guilty as she saw her sister’s eyes light up with the thought that she, too, might be going to Diagon Alley to buy a wand for school, but before her doubts about Petunia’s magical ability could push their way to the surface, a voice from downstairs called them to breakfast.

“Better not let Mum see you’ve been crying, Pet,” Lily said to Petunia, who hastily wiped away her tears, “You know she’s already worried about me heading off to school. We don’t want to get her on about how hard it’s going to be for you.” She smiled at Petunia, who returned Lily's smile with one of her own, and they headed down the stairs together. “What’s for breakfast, Mum?” Lily asked brightly as they entered the kitchen together.

****************************************


In the car on the way to the station, Lily couldn’t stop moving around. Petunia snapped at her crossly to hold still or she was liable to make the whole car fly away. A reference, Lily supposed, to the time that, in a fit of nervous energy just before she was supposed to go onstage in a school production, she had caused a desk to float across the stage. Petunia’s mood, which had improved considerably after Lily made the suggestion that Petunia might be joining her at Hogwarts, had soured during breakfast when their mother remarked that it was too bad Petunia would not be attending Hogwarts as well. “How do you know I won’t?” Petunia had snapped, glaring at their mother. She had been in a bad mood ever since, and Lily had tried everything that she could think of to cheer her up. Eventually, she had given up, and turned her attention, instead, to reading Hogwarts, a History. It wasn’t required reading for class, but she had managed to convince her parents to buy it for her when they were at Fluorish and Blotts, the wizarding bookstore where they had gotten all of Lily’s textbooks.

History had always been Lily’s favorite subject in grammar school, and she found Hogwarts’ history to be even more exciting than European history. “Did you know,” she exclaimed, looking up from her book, “that the ceiling in the Great Hall at Hogwarts is bewitched to look like the sky? So if it’s raining, it looks like it’s raining, except that you don’t get wet, because the ceiling is still there to protect you. And at night, you can see the stars.” Petunia looked like she was about to start crying (or yelling) again, so Lily hastily added, “I bet you can’t wait to see it, Pet!” Anxious not to give either of her parents the opportunity to tell her to stop putting false hopes into Petunia’s head, Lily quickly added, “It’s the oldest school of magic in Europe. It also says here that it’s the ‘best’, but I would say my school was the best, too, if I were writing a book about it! Still…it might be true. Mrs. Figg certainly seemed to think quite highly of it. There are four houses." Lily looked down at the book and began to read. “’Each house selects its students based on their defining characteristic. Hufflepuff students tend to be loyal. They aren’t necessarily the brightest students in their school, but their work ethic compensates for what they lack in natural talent. Ravenclaw admits only the brightest students in the school. Ravenclaws also tend to hold to high standards of behavior. Gryffindor students are the bravest, but their cleverness often rivals that of the Ravenclaws. Because with bravery comes confidence, many Gryffindors rise to leadership positions within the school. Slytherin accepts as its members only those with the most slyness and cunning. Because Slytherins use their cunning to gain positions of influence within the school, only Gryffindor house rivals Slytherin for the number of head boys and girls it has produced. Which one do you think I’ll be in?” ”

Petunia had stopped scowling, and was looking over at the book in Lily’s lap with interest. “I bet you’ll be a Ravenclaw,” Petunia predicted. “You’ve always been very good at school.”

“Maybe,” Lily replied thoughtfully. “Though I think I’d like Gryffindor. I’m quite brave, too. I’d have to be, going off to this school without knowing anything about the world I’m entering.” Lily shook off the nerves that once again threatened to rise to the surface, and smiled at her sister. “Here, Petty. I’ll read some more to you.” The two sisters spent the rest of the car-ride engrossed in the book, learning everything that they could about the magical school that Lily would be attending. When they arrived at King’s Cross, Lily’s parents and sister accompanied her to the barrier between Platforms nine and ten. “I guess this is the one, then” she said once they’d arrived. “Mrs. Figg says that you can’t get through the barrier, because it’s protected with charms so that non-magic people don’t discover it.” Lily sighed. “I wish it was like Diagon Alley, and someone could tap a brick and an entrance would appear that you three could go through, too. But I suppose that other people would notice if an entrance to a new platform kept appearing and disappearing.”

“I’d forgotten that we won’t be able to see you off,” Elizabeth Evans said, her voice trembling. It wasn’t difficult to see from where Lily had gotten her looks. Elizabeth also had thick auburn hair, and a light complexion, but her eyes were light blue, like Petunia's. In fact, Lily's eyes were the only feature that she appeared to have inherited from her father. Petunia, on the other hand, looked almost exactly Harry Evans, who had light blond hair, a large, horsey smile, and more neck than was usual for a person. Harry was also looking quite put-out at the news that he wouldn’t be able to accompany his daughter on to the platform. Not one to allow disappointment to get him down for long, however, he was trying to convince Elizabeth that they could say goodbye to Lily there, and it would be just as well.

After Lily had hugged her parents good-bye, and had promised Petunia yet again that she would send her “so many letters that you won’t be able to read them all!” Lily turned to push her cart through the barrier. She was still fairly certain that Mrs. Figg was mad, that there was no platform on the other side of this brick wall, but she didn’t have much choice in whether or not to believe her. Either the platform was there, or it didn’t exist. And it must exist, or else she wouldn’t be able to get to school. Trying to summon all of the courage that she had inside of her, she set off toward the solid wall with a last wave at her parents. As she approached, she closed her eyes. When she finally opened her eyes (after she was quite certain that she’d have hit the brick by now if she was going to hit it), she saw that she was indeed standing on a platform next to a smoking train with the words “Hogwarts Express” written on the side.

Lily quickly tried to mask the awe that she felt as she took in the scene around her. While most of the kids were dressed in normal clothing, the adults on the platform all seemed to be dressed in wizarding robes in every color and style imaginable. In addition to trunks packed full with clothing and supplies, there were a variety of cages holding owls, or rats, or cats. Here and there, she saw someone carrying a broomstick. A round-faced man with two girls standing next to him was discussing the merits of Quidditch with a man whose bored-looking teenage son was standing next to him.

“Of course, the Americans have never been as taken with Quidditch as the rest of the world. My cousin lives in Atlanta, and to listen to him talk, you’d think that balstar was the best game in the world. I’ve never seen what’s so exciting about it myself. Only two balls to worry about, and no bludgers chasing after you.”

The man with the bored-looking teenager shook his head in amusement. “There’s just no understanding American tastes, are there?” he said.

Not wanting to be caught eavesdropping, but wondering silently to herself what exactly quidditch and balstar were, Lily continued to look around the platform. Her eyes landed on a nearby messy-haired boy about her age playing with what looked like a little golden golf ball with wings. “James!” said an exasperated witch that she assumed was his mother. “Your father will have your neck if he finds out that you nicked that from his Quidditch set. Hand that snitch over right this instant!”

The boy handed his mother the “snitch”, and mumbled an apology, but the glimmer in his eye told Lily that the only thing he was sorry for was having gotten caught with it. The boy turned to greet a dark-haired boy who had just come running up to him exclaiming, “Hey Jamey-poo!”

“Call me that at school, and I’ll make sure everyone knows about your mum’s nickname for you, Sirikins.” Just then, the boy called James looked up and saw Lily watching them. He winked at her, and she looked away quickly, embarrassed. Realizing that they would be leaving shortly, she started to heave her stuff onto the train.

“Here, let me help you with that.” Lily looked up to see the round-faced man who had been discussing quidditch and balstar standing there. He hauled her stuff on the train and then turned to look at her. “I saw you come in alone,” he said, conversationally. He had friendly eyes, and a welcoming smile. “Your parents must be muggles. My wife can’t come to see the girls off either. She’s a muggle, too,” he explained as the two girls who had been standing beside him walked over. “I’m Edmond Parker. These are my girls, Alice and Anna.” He motioned to the shorter and the taller of the two, respectively.

“Er—thank you.” Lily replied, still slightly taken aback. “It’s very nice to meet you,” she said to the two girls, then, unable to think of anything else to say, she said, “Well, I better find a compartment, then.”

Lily began to pull her stuff down the train corridor. She found an empty compartment about halfway down, and settled her stuff in. A few minutes later, as she was flipping through “The Standard Book of Spells—Grade 1” (by Miranda Goshawk), the compartment door opened. She looked up and saw Alice standing there. "Mind if I sit with you?” Alice asked. “Anna won’t let me sit with her. She says I’ll embarrass her. She's probably right, too. Anna is easily embarassed!” Alice smiled. She had the same round face as her father, and the same smile, but her eyes were blue, rather than brown, as her dad’s had been.

“Sure,” said Lily, moving over to make room. “I’m Lily Evans, by the way. Your dad seems nice.”

Alice looked a little pained. “Yeah, he’s very sweet. Of course, it can be embarrassing. He finds muggles really intriguing, you see—well, he’d have to. He married one, didn’t he? But he can’t get enough of them. One time we were on the subway, and he started asking a woman next to us how a washing machine works. We don’t have one in our house—Dad does all of the laundry because Mum can’t use magic, and she says it’s so much easier for him to do. Anyway, dad even works in the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office at the Ministry of Magic. He’s very excited, just got a new assistant, Arthur Weasley. He’s been asking for one for ever such a long time, but the Minister didn’t think he needed one. He was only able to convince him after the muggle Prime Minister started complaining about the flood of bewitched merchandise making its way into muggle shops…” Alice trailed off. “What about your parents?”

“They’re both muggles,” Lily replied, finding it funny to use the word. As she spoke, the Hogwarts Express whistle blew, and the train started to make its way out of the station. Lily wasn’t surprised to discover that there was a ministry of magic (it only makes sense, after all!), but it did throw her a little bit that the British Prime Minister was not only aware of it, but also appeared to maintain an ongoing dialogue with it.

“Hang on,” said, Alice, “I’d better wave good-bye to my Dad,” She stood up and waved frantically out the window. Lily, having nobody on the platform to wave to, settled herself into her seat, hoping fervently that everyone at Hogwarts was as nice as Alice Parker.


After the station was no longer in view, Alice sat down and turned to face Lily. “So,” she said, conversationally, “I’ve always wondered how muggle-borns find out where to get their supplies and stuff. I mean, it’s not like you can just walk into any old store in London and get a wand.”

“No,” said Lily thoughtfully, “I don’t suppose you can. I don’t know how most people do it, but my dad just called everyone he could think of, asking them if they knew where to get supplies for Hogwarts School. Most said they’d never heard of it, of course. It just so happened that a friend of my Dad’s—Arabella Figg, was born to a wizarding family. She’s not magical, but she knew how to find the wizarding shops. She told us to go to the Leaky Cauldron and talk to the bartender, said he’d tell us what to do. Then she told us how to get onto the platform. My parents were ever so disappointed that they couldn’t come through and see me off.”

“I know what you mean. My mum always gets upset about it, says the whole thing shrieks of anti-muggle mentality. She’s probably right, but I mean really, what are they going to do? You can’t have muggles leaning on the barrier while consulting a schedule, and falling through, can you?”

Shortly after they had left the station, the refreshment trolley came by and Lily bought the items that Alice recommended. “The chocolate frogs are good, but you want to stay away from the Bertie Bott’s. I had a smelt flavored one once!”.

As they were eating their way through the snacks, the door to their compartment slid open and a dark haired girl walked in. “I’m sorry to bother you, but I was in a compartment with some Slytherin third years, and they were giving me a hard time. Do you mind if I join you?” the girl asked, shyly.

Alice smiled broadly. “Sure!” she replied, “I’m Alice Parker, and this is Lily Evans.” Lily waved, but was unable to say hello, as her mouth was full of chocolate frog at the time.

“Nice to meet you,” the new girl said formally. “I’m Amelia Bones.” She sat down in the seat next to Lily.

Lily swallowed, licked the remaining chocolate off of her fingers, and turned to Amelia. “Did you say Slytherin?” she asked. “What are they like? I read about them in Hogwarts, a History, but it doesn’t seem like the nicest house, does it?”

Alice snorted. “I’ll leave school if I end up in Slytherin, and I won’t speak to either one of you again if you do. You might be perfectly nice now, but two minutes inside the Slytherin common room and I won’t want to know you. It’s not likely I’ll end up in Slytherin, mind you. I possess all the slyness and cunning of a turtle. Mum says I’m too honest sometimes, but I’d rather be too honest than dishonest.”

Lily and Amelia both looked at Alice with mild surprise. She laughed. “See what I mean? Too honest. I think I’ll end up in Gryffindor. All of the best aurors come out of there. My Grandpa did,” she said proudly.

“An auror?” inquired Lily, bewildered. “What’s that?”

“A dark wizard catcher,” replied Alice. “They haven’t got a lot to do right now, mind, the last major dark wizard was defeated by Dumbledore in 1945, but Grandpa seems to think that we oughtn’t get too complacent.”

Amelia looked impressed. “Your grandpa’s an auror?” she asked.

“Yeah,” Alice replied, unable to hide her pride. “He was part of the group that helped defeat Grindelwald, and he says that there have been some rumblings that make him think that our time of peace is about to come to an end. Course, Mum always shushes him before he can tell me what’s going on, but I’m really keen to know.”

“Hasn’t he told you anything,” Lily asked, quite intrigued, but a little disturbed at the possibility of a dark wizard. She wondered why she hadn’t thought of the possibility before.

“All I know is that there have been a few disappearances, and Grandpa says disappearances are never a good sign. Anyway, my Grandpa would be so proud if I were in Gryffindor. Of course, I don’t suppose that Ravenclaw would be too bad, would it?”

Lily looked between Amelia and Alice, but as neither one seemed to be too concerned about the thought that even now a dark wizard might be consolidating his power, Lily decided that she shouldn’t be either. After all, even if there was a dark wizard out there, plotting, it wasn’t as if her worrying about it was going to do anything to stop it. She ignored the butterflies that had started fluttering in her stomach at the unexpected turn in the conversation, and turned her attention back to the topic at hand.

“Well, I’d like Gryffindor,” Amelia was saying with a sigh, “but I think I’ll probably end up in Hufflepuff. Most of my family does. Not that there’s anything wrong with it, mind you. It’s just that the house has a bit of a laughable reputation. I do have an auntie who was in Gryffindor once, so I suppose there’s hope for me!”

“How do they put you into houses, anyway?” asked Lily, “Is it some sort of a test? Do you have to do something?”

“Well, nobody really knows before they get there, do they? I mean, Anna told me that she wasn’t allowed to tell, or she’d have to do the task all over again, and she didn’t fancy that, so it must be something really bad. But one time I was walking by her room, and she was talking to her friend and I heard her say something about wrestling a werewolf. I don’t know if she was kidding or not.”

“My brother just told me not to be worried, that no one had died in at least 20 years. I asked mum if he was kidding, and she wouldn’t look me in the eye when she assured me that he was.” Amelia smiled. “But I’m sure it isn’t so bad. If my brother can do it, anyone can! He’s the greatest idiot that ever lived!”

“Which house is he in?” Alice asked in interest.

“Hufflepuff, of course. See what I mean—that house isn’t the house I want to be associated with!” Amelia shook her head. “I just don’t know how much hope there is for me.”

Their conversation was interrupted shortly thereafter by shouting and laughing in the hallway. Lily stood up to see what all the racket was about, and saw the boy who had stolen his father's snitch, and his dark-haired companion taking bets on what appeared to be some sort of contest. When she reported this fact back to Alice and Amelia, Alice stood up and looked out too.

"Oh, a dung bomb throwing contest," she said without a trace of surprise. "Boys. They can't sit still for very long without causing a ruckus, can they?" She snorted in disgust and sat back down.

Lily shook her head in disapproval. She wasn't entirely sure what a dung bomb was, but she didn't think it was anything good. "Honestly," she said, "You'd think that they'd want to make a better impression than that!"

The girls nodded in agreement, and went back to their conversation. As the journey continued, Amelia and Alice filled Lily in on a variety of subjects including quidditch, dung bombs, the teachers, and Dumbledore, the school headmaster. Lily, in turn, obligingly answered questions directed at her about growing up in a completely muggle family.

It wasn’t long before the sky had turned dark, and a girl wearing Hogwarts robes with a badge engraved with a P pinned to the front came into the compartment and told them to get changed into their school robes. “We’re almost there!” Alice exclaimed, a touch of nervousness in her voice. The three had just managed to get into their school robes when the train slid into the station.

Lily took a deep breath to calm herself, turned to her companions, and said “Well, I guess it’s now or never.” Alicia and Amelia followed Lily out of the compartment and queued up to file off of the train. The smell of dungbombs lingered in the corridor, but the three girls were too nervous to notice. They made their way off of the train and on to the platform; all three ready to meet whatever challenge it was that would determine their house for the next seven years.

....

random chapter:

Lily awoke very early the next morning, not feeling much more rested than she had before she'd fallen asleep. She had slept fitfully at best, her sleep interrupted by dreams of flying, and falling. In the dream that had awoken her this time, she had been plummeting toward the earth and screaming for someone to catch her. She had seen Potter standing below her, pointing and laughing, and when she had yelled at him to help her, he had called back, “I can't, you picked death, remember?” She tried to clear her mind of the dream, reminding herself that if she wasn't comfortable on a broomstick, she would not be asked to fly any higher than a few feet off the ground anyway. The thought didn't calm her completely, but she still felt better as she walked down into the common room to wait for her roommates before going to breakfast. Lily pulled out her potions textbook (999 Magical Herbs and Fungi) and started leafing through it. She heard a voice call out, “Hey, Lily!” and looked up to see Lupin standing there, looking pale and even more sick than he had the previous night.

After she looked around to make sure that none of his friends was with him, she patted the chair beside her. “Sit down,” she said, concern clearly evident in her voice. He looked exhausted, but unsure whether he would find it rude if she inquired how he was feeling, she decided not to say anything about his appearance. “Err—who won the chess game last night?” she asked

He sank into the chair next to hers gratefully, and smiled. “I did,” he said with a touch of pride. “Sirius is a little too rash to do well at the game of chess. He'd do much better if he were patient; you know, use a strategy, rather than coming after all of my pieces straight away, wand blasting.”

“I didn't know you had to use your wand to play,” Lily said in confusion. She certainly didn't recall seeing any flashes of light coming from their direction last night.

Lupin looked confused at first, and then he laughed. “It's an expression, Lily,” he said. “You must be a muggle-born.”

“I am,” she said, feeling suddenly defensive for some reason. “What's wrong with that?” she asked, as a few students began to trickle into the common room and out of the portrait, on their way to breakfast.

Lupin sighed wearily. “You really might try relaxing a bit, Lily. I'm not James,” he said in amusement. “And you might find that he's not so hard to get along with, either, if you learn to relax around him, too.”

“You're assuming that I want to get along with him,” she snapped, now irritated that Lupin was defending him. He ought to be apologizing for the things Potter said to me, she thought furiously to herself, “And I don't see him trying so hard to get along with me!” she added, thinking about how Potter had singled her out yesterday.

“Fair point,” Lupin added, but before he could say anything else Alice and Amelia came bounding down the stairs, Kaylie and Desdamona behind them.

“There you are, Lily!” Amelia called, before noticing who was sitting beside her. “Oh, hi Remus,” she said with a blush.

“Remus?” Kaylie asked, peering around Amelia and catching sight of Lupin sitting there. She grinned at Lily. “Fraternizing with the enemy, then?”

Lily laughed. “As Lupin here has just pointed out, he is not Potter, and therefore not `the enemy'. Though I don't think I would classify Potter as the enemy, anyway. I don't care enough about him to give him that sort of status.” She put her book into her backpack and stood up.

“He'll be very disappointed indeed to hear that,” Lupin said, looking at her oddly, but before she could ask him what he meant, she noticed Potter, Black and Pettigrew coming down the staircase.

“See you in class,” Lily said, and eager to avoid a confrontation with Potter again this morning, she hurried out of the portrait hole after the other girls.

The girls found their way down to the great hall, only getting lost once on the way. At Lily's urging, they sat down at the far end of the table, away from the other students. The table gradually filled up around them, and Lily noticed happily that Potter was sitting down toward the middle of the table, away from them. While they were eating, a flurry of hoots and flapping wings announced the arrival of the morning post, and Lily looked up in awe, as she had done yesterday. While much of her transition to the wizarding world had come naturally, she thought again that it was going to take her awhile to get used to the way some things were done there.

A tawny barn owl swooped down toward Alice, and landed softly on her shoulder with a hoot. “Everyone, meet Archimedes. He's the family post owl,” Alice said with a grin before removing the letter that was tied to his leg. She fed Archimedes some bacon rinds and he flew off, hooting happily.

As Alice was preparing to open her letter, a commotion in the middle of the table caught their attention. Potter, Lupin and Pettigrew had jumped up and were laughing as Black gingerly held up a bright red envelope. “Looks like Black's got a howler,” Amelia whispered to Lily and Kaylie, who were staring at the boys in bewilderment.

“Might as well open it up,” Frank Longbottom was saying to Black. “It'll just be worse if you don't. Mum sent me one at my Gran's once.”

Black nodded, and began opening it just as it began to smoke. As Lily watched, the letter jumped out of Black's hand and began shouting.

“SIRIUS BLACK! I AM COMPLETELY DISGUSTED! HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO OUR FAMILY? THE SHAME! AS IF IT WASN'T BAD ENOUGH THAT ANDROMEDA IS IN GRYFFINDOR, YOU HAVE TO FOLLOW IN HER FOOTSTEPS. YOUR FATHER IS SO UPSET THAT HE'S HAD TO TAKE THE DAY OFF OF WORK. I NEVER THOUGHT I'D SEE A SON OF MY MINE IN GRYFFINDOR HOUSE. WHERE IS YOUR FAMILY PRIDE? DOES YOUR BLOOD MEAN NOTHING TO YOU?”

The letter then burned up and fell back to the table, the voice of what Lily could only assume to be Black's mother still ringing in the stunned silence in the hall.

Black was still sitting at the table, his head in his hands. “I'm surprised she didn't call me a traitor to all purebloods,” he said, grimacing at his three friends, who were still standing up, watching him.

The noise level in the hall was slowly going back to normal, so Lily was unable to hear how Potter had responded as he, Lupin and Pettigrew quickly sat back down. Kaylie and Desdamona got up to go talk to Black, as Lily turned her attention back to her meal, troubled. This was the second time in as many days that Lily had heard a reference to the importance of blood, but before she had the chance to ask what in the world Black had been talking about, she noticed Alice was staring at her letter, her face pale and her hands trembling.

“Alice, what's the matter,” Amelia was asking in concern.

“My letter, it's from my Grandpa,” she said quietly. “Here, take a look.” Amelia and Lily hesitantly took the letter Alice was holding out and began to read.

Alice—

Don't let your mum and dad know I've written you about this, they'd have my hide, but you know my opinion's always been that it's better to have you scared and prepared than caught unaware. There has been a murder. I'm nearly certain that it is linked to the disappearance of the Ministry of Magic Officials earlier this year, but I've got no proof of it. I've enclosed a clipping from the Daily Prophet for you.

I know that your folks don't want me to scare you, Alice, but I'm telling you that there is a Dark Wizard working out there, operating covertly right now. And until we know just how powerful he is, and what his intentions are, you can't be too careful.

I love you,
Grandpa Parker

Lily looked up from the letter in shock. “There's been a murder now?” she asked, her voice shaking. Alice held out the article from the Daily Prophet. “Here, take a look at this.”

Lily took the article, then gasped as she stared at the horrifying picture above the headline, “Famous Retired Auror Found Dead in His Home”. Sparkling at her in black and white was the image of a hideous skull with a snake coming out of its mouth. The picture was captioned, “This mark was found hovering above the home where the body of retired auror William Kingsley was found, and is believed to be the signature of the witch or wizard that killed him.” Lily read the article quickly, and then looked up to find Alice and Amelia staring at each other, fear clearly evident in their eyes. Not sure what to say, Lily looked up at the staff table, and noticed McGonagall and Dumbledore chatting fervently, the Daily Prophet hovering in front of them. Lily looked again at the article and a sentence she had missed in her haste to read it caught her eye.

“What do they mean, `it is not known whether Kingsley was targeted because of his muggle heritage'?” Lily asked. Neither Amelia nor Alice answered her, so she went on, “And what was Black talking about when he said `pureblood', what does that mean? Alice? Amelia?”

Amelia sighed, and then looked at Alice, as if hoping she was going to answer for her. Alice continued to stare pointedly at the table, so Amelia reluctantly began explaining. “Well you see, the thing is, Lily, some wizards—not most—but enough to make trouble, believe that being pure-blood, that is, being born from a long line of wizards, makes you better than witches and wizards that are muggle-born, like yourself, or that are half-bloods, like Alice here.”

Lily gasped, unable to stop herself. “That's horrible!” she said angrily.

“Yes, it is. But that doesn't make it any less real. There's a long history of that way of thinking, going back at least as far as Salazar Slytherin,” Alice said, “the founder of Slytherin house,” she explained as Lily looked at her blankly. “Anyway, every time there's a muggleborn murdered, they always have to suspect that blood-hatred may have motivated it.”

Lily suddenly became aware that the Slytherin table was chanting, “Traitor, traitor” in Black's general direction. “And most Slytherins, you'll find, subscribe to their founder's way of thinking,” Amelia added, with a look of disgust toward the Slytherin table. Lily followed Amelia's gaze, and saw that a teacher she didn't recognize was striding quickly over to them. The chanting died out, but the Slytherins were still glaring threateningly at Black.

Lily nodded in understanding. “So that's why Snape was looking at you with disdain when he mentioned that he knew your family.”

“I told you what his father thinks of my dad,” Alice said, shrugging.

“But why does Black hate the Slytherins so much then?” Lily asked. “It sounds like his whole family has been in that house—well, besides Andromeda.”

“For the same reason you or I do, I suppose,” Amelia said. “It's disgusting and wrong. Just because his family is like that doesn't mean that he can't be a better person than them. I wonder what his dear old mum thinks about him running around with James Potter, though” she added, almost as an afterthought.

“Why would she care?” Lily asked. “He said his dad taught him to fly and his mum was seeing him off on the train—”

“How do you know that?” Alice asked with interest.

“I noticed him on the platform,” Lily said defensively. “His mum was yelling at him about knicking his father's snitch. Anyway,” she said, trying to get back to her question, “so he can't be a muggle-born. That should please Black's mum.”

“No, Lily,” Amelia said, shaking her head. “In order to please the `pure-bloods are better' crowd, the wizarding in your family has to go back a thousand years or more. Potter's blood would be considered the same as Alice's, because his mum's a muggle-born.”

“And Black's mum, if the rumors are accurate, would certainly not consider Potter to be a worthy friend for her son,” Alice said thoughtfully, “Which tells you a lot about Black's character. I was talking to Lupin the night of the sorting, and he told me that Sirius and James have been friends for ages.” The bell rang to signal the end of breakfast, and Lily suddenly remembered that their first lesson this morning was flying. She felt the butterflies began to swarm through her stomach again.

“Ready to go fall off of our brooms?” Amelia asked with a grin.

Lily tried to ignore the butterflies now swarming through her stomach. “As I'll ever be, I suppose,” she said with a grimace. The three girls got up and walked quickly out of the great hall, through the huge entrance doors, and down the smooth stone steps toward the quidditch pitch.

To her immense relief, Lily did not fall off of her broom in flying lessons. Potter hadn't been lying, either, when he'd said that flying was more natural to him than walking. Madam Alipes, an energetic older witch with short white hair, had even asked Potter to demonstrate the proper kick-off technique, and had awarded Gryffindor 10 points when he'd done it correctly. Alice, Amelia and Desdamona, who had all had at least some flying experience, had gone swooping around the quidditch field, playing tag with Longbottom, Lupin, Potter and Black. For her part, Lily considered the class a success because unlike Pettigrew and most of the Hufflepuffs, with whom they were having class, both Lily and Kaylie had been able to move beyond hovering, and had advanced to some basic maneuvering exercises before the class period had ended. Still, she found that she was quite relieved when class was over. She got an unpleasant feeling in her stomach every time she took off, and also discovered that she possessed an apparently long-dormant fear of heights that had given her some trouble every time she got over ten feet or so above the ground. Now that she was safely on the ground and walking back to the school for Defense Against the Dark Arts, however, Lily's dreams of last night seemed very silly to her, so she decided to share them with her friends. She had just gotten to the part about James telling her that he couldn't help her when she heard an amused voice behind her call out, “You were dreaming about me last night, Evans?” Lily froze, not wanting to believe her ears. She turned around slowly and saw Potter standing there, hair messier than usual because of flying, and wearing the arrogant smile that she was coming to detest. “I'm flattered, Evans. I really am.”

“Hasn't your mother ever taught you not to eavesdrop,” she spat at him, unable to think of anything else to say.

Potter shrugged. “She might have,” he said, “I probably wasn't paying attention. So tell me—did you kiss me?”

Black and Pettigrew laughed, but Lupin looked at her with an expression of what might have been sympathy. Lily stood gaping at him, unable to think of anything to say. “That was in your dreams, not hers, Potter!” Alice snapped. "Come on Lily, let's go!"

“Is that right, James?” Lily heard Lupin ask Potter as Alice grabbed Lily's hand and started pulling her toward the entrance hall. The sound of Black's laughter followed them inside.

Lily was able to ignore Potter in Defense Against the Dark Arts, but the class itself had turned out to be a disappointment. The subject was taught by the Slytherin Head of House ("I'll never understand that teaching appointment,” Alice had commented), and as it turned out, they were paired with the Slytherins for that class as well. Professor Amos had shown considerable favoritism to his students from the first (awarding Snape 5 points for Slytherin simply for having his parchment and quill ready when he arrived) and to make matters worse, they were told that the first couple of weeks would be spent on theory, and that they wouldn't actually be practicing any spells for about three weeks. As a result, Lily, Alice and Amelia were already decidedly short-tempered when they got downstairs for lunch, and discovered that news of the murder had spread around the school. Alice's sister Anna, who had also gotten a letter from their Grandpa, actually came over and sat with them, along with Frank Longbottom, and Desdamona's brother Iago. Amelia's brother Edgar had even stopped by on his way over to the Hufflepuff table to speak with her about it. Nobody really knew what to make of it, but all of them agreed that it was a very bad sign that the killer had left a mark. As Edgar had put it, “That means he wants us to remember him.”

“Which means,” Frank had added with a shudder, “he's planning to do it again.”

The mood was very somber as Lily, Alice and Amelia headed to Gryffindor Tower after lunch. The first years had the afternoon off, as they had astronomy with Professor Sinistra that night at 10:00, and they were all looking forward to getting back to the common room and relaxing for awhile. When they had reached the third floor, they discovered Sirius Black, by himself for once, arguing with a dark-haired girl that Lily vaguely recognized as having been sorted into Slytherin.

“You're an embarrassment to the family name, Sirius,” she was saying. “I thought it was bad enough that you insisted upon running around with that half-blood, Potter,” she said with contempt, “but now you're in Gryffindor, and you don't even have sense enough to be ashamed about it!”

At this, Sirius pulled out his wand, “You can say anything that you want to about my house, Bellatrix, but if you ever say anything against James again,” he didn't finish the threat, but moved toward her, his eyes narrowed in fury. The girl that Black had called Bellatrix backed away, but she continued to sneer at him. At that moment, the two cousins noticed that Alice, Lily and Amelia were watching them, and they turned to look at them.

“What's this Sirius?” she asked, her voice mocking. “Your fan club? Let's see, a pure-blood who is also a traitor to the name wizard, a half-blood whose father is an embarrassment, and a mud-blood. This is who you're—“ but she didn't have the opportunity to finish her sentence. Alice pulled out her wand and shouted “rictusempra”. A flash flew from her wand, and the next thing Lily knew, Bellatrix was doubled over, wheezing. “If you ever say anything about my father, or either of these two again,” she said, her eyes flashing with anger, “I will make you pay for it, Bellatrix.”

Black looked at Alice in amazement, but Bellatrix, still doubled over by whatever curse Alice had hit her with, simply glared. “Come on,” Alice said, motioning toward Lily and Amelia, who were also staring at her, dumbfounded. The three girls and Black hurried up the stairwell, leaving Bellatrix gasping for breath behind them.

“Will she be okay?” Lily asked hesitantly, a little concerned that they should maybe take her to the hospital wing.

“She'll be fine,” Black said, glaring behind him, “No more than she deserved, anyway.” By this time, the three girls and Black had reached the portrait. “Aprasio,” Black snapped.

The fat lady looked offended, “Well you needn't say it with such attitude,” she huffed before swinging open to admit them. They climbed into the common room, which was deserted at the moment.

“It's disgusting, how anyone can think that they're better than anyone else just because of who their parents are,” Black said, throwing his books down on to a table. “Please don't judge the entire Black family by that,” he added, looking at the girls, an odd expression on his face. “Well, actually,” he said, laughing humorlessly, “you can judge most of us by her, I'm afraid. But not Andromeda and I—we're not cut out of the same cloth. I can't believe she used that word, either—Lily, I'm sorry about her, she had no right to—”

But Lily cut him off. “You don't need to apologize for that,” she said, feeling decidedly wrong-footed, “I don't even know what the word is, to be honest with you.”

Alice, who had been pacing around the room, muttering things like, “she's lucky that's all she got this time” and “Next time I'll know a better curse” paused mid-mutter and stared at her, and Amelia looked extremely upset, but neither one seemed to want to explain it. “Well,” Lily prompted, getting frustrated by her friends' lack of response. It was the same reluctance that she had encountered this morning at breakfast, and she was getting rather tired of it.

Black, however, showed no such reluctance to explain. “A mudblood,” he spat out, still seething, “is a very foul and vulgar name for someone of muggle-parentage. Someone like you, Lily. It's meant as an insult, as if you aren't the same quality of witch as someone like her. She's got that much right at least,” he said, laughing bitterly. “You're already a much better witch than she'll ever be, because you're a much better human being.” With that, Black stormed off up the stairs, leaving the three girls staring at each other in amazement.

“She looked at me like I was filth,” Lily said after a moment. The shock at what had happened was now wearing off, and Lily's eyes filled with tears against her will. Alice and Amelia, who had been staring at the boys staircase which Black had just stormed up, both hurried over to Lily and hugged her.

“She's the filth,” Alice said firmly. “It's her problem, not yours, Lily. You can't let people like her get to you.”

“People like who?” they heard Lupin's voice ask. Lily looked up in surprise, she had been so caught up in her thoughts that she hadn't even noticed Lupin, Potter and Pettigrew arrive in the common room, but they were now walking very quickly toward her.

“Bellatrix,” Amelia explained as the boys came to a halt in front of them. Lily noticed that their smiles instantly disappeared at this information. Amelia turned back to Lily. “Alice is right. If you let people like her get to you, you might as well get back on the train home.”

“What did she do to you?” Potter demanded, an edge to his voice that Lily had never heard before. “What did she say?”

Both girls turned back to Lily. “Lily—,” Alice began, but she was interrupted by Potter.

“Well?” he asked, his expression unreadable, “What happened?” Alice looked at Amelia. Both seemed unsure whether or not to tell Potter, so Lily explained what had happened as calmly as she could, determined that she was not going to start crying in front of Potter.

When she got to the point in the story where Bellatrix had called her a mudblood, Potter looked at her with an expression of outrage, jumped up, and began pacing, re-tracing the route that Alice had been following a few minutes before. “Where's Black now?” he asked angrily. “She's his cousin, Lily. He'll take care of her for you.” Lily was still so upset about what had happened that she didn't even notice that Potter had called her Lily for the first time. She had never encountered the kind of hatred that she had seen in Bellatrix's eyes before, let alone been the target of it, and she didn't know quite how she felt at the moment. She wrapped her arms around herself, and sat down in a chair, blinking back the tears. Alice and Amelia were now staring at her, concern evident in their faces. Potter opened his mouth again, as though to say something, but Lupin stopped him.

“What happened next?” he asked Lily, looking at her intently. Potter stopped pacing and sat down heavily beside Lupin again. Lily continued with the story. When she had finished, Potter looked at Alice with admiration in his eyes.

“Well done, Parker” he said to her with an attempt at a laugh. “Sirius was right, nothing more than she deserved.”

Pettigrew looked confused, though. “What does she mean, `mud-blood'?” he asked.

“We'll explain it to you later, Pete,” Potter answered. He seemed to have calmed down once he realized that Bellatrix had at least been punished for what she had said. “And make sure that's the last time you use that word. It isn't fit to say, even when you aren't directing it at someone.”

Lupin continued to watch Lily with an intensity that almost made her blush. “Alice and Amelia are right, Lily,” Lupin said at last, smiling gently at her. “And Sirius too, while we're on it. You can't let people like her get to you. I wouldn't be here if I let what people say about my kind,” he broke off abruptly as Potter, Alice and Amelia all turned abruptly to stare at him.

“What are you on about, Remus?” Potter asked him, clearly confused. “From what you told us last night, you're family line doesn't even have so much as a squib in it!”

Lupin looked suddenly uncomfortable. “I think we'd better go find Black,” he said, standing up. “He'll need calming down before supper,” and he began to walk toward the staircase leading to the boys' dorm.

Potter looked like he didn't want to let the subject drop, but as Pettigrew was already following Lupin out of the room, he seemed to realize he had no choice. “Will you guys take care of Evans?” he said. Lily felt momentarily annoyed that Potter had decided that it was his responsibility to assign someone to `take care' of her (she was quite capable of taking care of herself, thank you very much, and she certainly didn't need him to tell her friends to take care of her, either!), but she decided to let it pass when she realized that nothing he had yet said to her had made her feel as terrible as she was feeling just then. Alice and Amelia nodded, and turned back to her as Potter followed Lupin and Pettigrew up the staircase.

Alice and Amelia eventually managed to cheer Lily up, and by the time they began to climb the north tower for their astronomy lesson, Potter and Black had reverted back to their usual selves as well. If anything, they were actually worse that evening than usual (Alice suspected that it was to make up for having been so nice to them that afternoon). Potter had teased her some more about the dream, and then one of the four had caused her telescope to go floating around the tower when they were supposed to be drawing out the positions of the constellations in the sky. She was nearly certain that either Potter or Black was responsible, but all four were laughing when she had looked over at them. The stunt had cost Gryffindor a round ten points, and also kept Lily from finishing the assignment during the class period. Her annoyance at Potter and Black for the extra homework she had ended up with overcame any feeling of awkwardness she might have had about what had happened earlier during the day, and by the time that she settled into bed that night (pushing aside the feeling of guilt that she still had yet to get a letter off to Petunia), she felt that things were quite back to normal.