Lily Evans and the Marauder's Secrets

Chapter 12: Retaliation

I'm basically feeling back to normal by breakfast the next morning. Transfiguration class went really well again; Potter and I were not late and actually ended up sitting together in there too. It felt, well, normal, after working together so well all morning in Potions, and then I had the added benefit of James hissing tips to me while we practiced Vanishing Spells on the same ravens from last week's lesson. The Marauders and my own mates took the seating switch with amused expressions.

"Oh, so we're sitting with James now, are we?" Marlene teased on our way to lunch. "Should we eat with him and his mates, too?"

"He's just helping me with Transfiguration, Marlene," I said, ignoring the 'James' jibe altogether. But the funny thing is, we did end up sitting together at dinner. And not even like my friends sat by his friends so we were tangentially sitting together, but like, I was early to dinner since I had a free period right before and I was sitting there eating my shepherd's pie alone and James plopped himself down next to me to help himself to some as well and then we just like... ate dinner together. And even had a perfectly civil conversation about Defense Against the Dark Arts. Wild.

It's all kind of confusing. All yesterday, I kept forgetting that I didn't really like him and that he's a huge git. Instead, I stopped frowning at him every time he looked at me and sometimes, I even laughed at his jokes.

I suppose these things do happen when you stop expecting the worst out of someone. And are kind of forced to spend a considerable amount of time together.

So today, despite the tight ball of fury in my stomach at Severus and the weird shift in my relationship with Potter, I'm feeling pretty good. Ready to take on a full day of classes and then tutoring again tonight. I'm not even dreading spending time alone with James for once. I feel like we maybe maybe might be starting to be... friends?

I should have known it was all too good to be true.

I look up when the owls swoop into the Hall to deliver the post, hopefully scanning the feathery mass for Barnaby. Mum had written me back, but I hadn't heard anything from Petunia yet, even though I sent Barnaby off with her letter nearly a week ago. But instead of finding my pale-faced, self-important owl, I notice a large swirl of gray mist coasting in with the post.

"What is that?" Alice asks.

All over the hall, students point and turn their faces upward to watch as the mist condenses and knots itself into a purple raincloud hovering in the center of the Hall. The owls ignore it entirely, flapping back out after delivering their parcels, so the mysterious cloud is the only thing left in the air. It pulses, ugly and dark and ominous, then lets out a rumble of thunder and starts to drizzle, raindrops splashing on the stone floor.

"What in the name of Merlin...?" I say, half-rising from my seat. I look at the staff table; it's not even half-full, since classes for the day start in ten minutes, and the few professors seated up there look just as baffled as the rest of us.

Then the little cloud starts to drift, aimlessly at first, but it picks up momentum until it's speeding quite purposefully down the length of the Slytherin House table. Students screech, diving out of the way of its soggy path, throwing their arms over their heads. The other Houses, relieved at being spared, snicker as several Slytherins end up on the floor in their haste to stay dry.