Putting The 'M' in Mystery~ Hinny/Jily

Truth, Dare and declining Oedipus

"Well done James," Harry congratulated his student as the boy left the front of the class, shaking but triumphant. Lily smiled at him as he passed, and he returned the smile in a slight daze. This had to be one of the best moments of his life. He'd fought off the Imperius curse for the first time, and Lily had smiled at him! Life didn't get much better than this!

"Now, the Imperius curse is a very difficult curse to fight," Harry informed his class, as they watched him in respectful silence, "But I'm going to try and help you learn to resist it, at least to some extent. Now, do I have any volunteers?"

No one seemed particularly willing, but after a second's pause, Lily Evans raised her hand.

"Lily? Well done, come on up."

Slowly, taking her time, she walked to the front, and turned to face Harry.

"Ready?"

Lily nodded. Harry gave her a half apologetic smile and raised his wand.

"Imperio!"

All at once, every crevice of her mind sank into blissful drowsiness, almost trance like. Far away, a voice crooned softly,

"Go back to your desk."

That's odd; Lily thought woozily, I could have sworn Professor Potter wanted me to do something.

"Go back to your desk!"

No thanks, I'll wait and see what my teacher wants...

"GO BACK TO YOUR DESK!"

No, really, I...

"GO BACK YO YOUR DESK, YOU STUPID GIRL!"

I WON'T!

All at once, the room came back into focus. Lily stared around, confused,

"Sorry Professor, didn't you want me to do something?"

Harry stared at her steadily, "Lily, you just threw off the Imperius curse on your first try."

Lily didn't say anything, wondering why her teacher seemed to think she'd thrown off the Imperius curse. And why was everyone staring at her? She blinked.

"Sorry, sir?"

"You just threw off the Imperius," Harry repeated.

Lily giggled. "No I didn't, Sir."

Harry's eyes bored right into her. "Did you just feel like you didn't have a care in the world?"

Lily nodded, a little disconcerted,

"And was a voice telling you to go back to your seat?"

"Yes."

"And your own voice, the voice that said you didn't want to, was louder?"

"Yep."

"Then you just threw off the Imperius curse." He smiled at her, "D'you believe me now?"

Lily nodded wordlessly, and walked in a daze back to her desk. Whispers broke out around her, only to be silenced by one glance from Professor Potter. She slid in next to Alice, as Ginny stood up and flicked her wand at the board. A tightly wadded note landed on Lily's desk. She unfolded it, and recognized James Potter's neat, round handwriting.

Way to go, Evans!

She turned around and flashed James a quick smile, before turning to face Ginny. The assistant teacher's face was serious.

"Listen up. This class is incredibly important right now so you need to all PAY ATTENTION! You'll be needing to use your skills sooner than you think so you'll all need to practice CONSTANT VILIGANCE!"