Lily Evans and the Marauder's Secrets

Chapter 25: A Different Kind of Invitation

So, yeah. I decided to play it safe with my letter to Mum. Give Petunia a cover. She and Mum shouldn't argue right now; it is her wedding, after all.

Sometimes, I'm too kind for my own good.

That didn't stop me from slipping a note for Petunia in Mum's letter though.

Petunia,

We'll talk wedding when I'm home next week. Thanks for the invite.

Lily

I walk my letters up to the Owlery early Sunday morning. The creamy morning light is only just starting to pour in through the open windows, swirling dust motes in the air. Barnaby soars down to me and nibbles at my fingers a little too affectionately while I attach them to his leg.

"Stop that," I say, poking his feathery tummy. "And Mum's feeding you too many treats. You're getting tubby." He just gives a happy sort of hoot and cuffs me round the head with his tawny wing before soaring out the window, over the Forbidden Forest, and out of sight. I head downstairs for breakfast quickly; December makes for cold Owlery visits.

The Great Hall is predictably low in attendance at this hour on a Sunday morning, which, as always, is why I enjoy my Sunday mornings. So quiet, and I don't have to fight anyone for the sausages. I spear a few for my plate when I feel someone slide into the place next to me.

"Not going to eat all those yourself, are you, Evans?"

"None of your business how many sausages I want to eat, Potter," I say. I pile a few more on just to spite him. Never mind I definitely don't have the stomach capacity for seven. "And don't you know this early breakfast hour is sacred? What are you doing disrupting me morning?"

"Quidditch practice!" Marlene says brightly, sliding into place opposite James and me.

I should have known. Always Quidditch interrupting my Sunday mornings.

"In this weather?" I ask incredulously. I glance up at the enchanted ceiling. The sun is shining, but that hadn't stopped me from wishing for an entire extra layer of clothing while I was in the Owlery, even though I was wearing my thickest jumper and my wool cloak. And there's a crusted layer of snow across the grounds outside.

"It's good to practice in all conditions," James says. He starts loading scrambled eggs onto his plate. "You don't get to be the best team in the castle by only practicing when it's pleasant out."

"Where is your team, anyways? I suppose you need all of them out for practice to 'be the best'," I say.

"They'll be down," he says confidently. "Any moment now..." But when he looks towards the Great Hall doors, he breaks off in a scowl.

I follow his gaze and am surprised to see, instead of the remainder of the Gryffindor Quidditch team coming down the aisle between our table and the Hufflepuff one, Severus striding quite purposefully towards us.

"Severus! Hi!" I say, surprised, once he draws level to where we are sitting. I turn in my seat to face him.

"Morning, Lily. I was hoping I'd find you here," he says, but his eyes stray to James next to me. "Up a little early today, aren't we, Potter?"

"Quidditch practice," Potter says. I don't need to look at him to know he's gone tense and meets Severus's eyes with distaste.

"I know," Sev says. "Flint was upset you claimed the pitch first today."

"My team's got to practice," Potter says. "That's how we keep winning."

Sev's eyes darken and I know it's time for me to intervene before these idiot boys start rowing during my quiet breakfast over bloody Quidditch. "So!" I say, extra loud so I can pull Severus's attention back to me. "What did you want?"