crossroads ✿ jily

Chapter Four - The First Link

Within days, Lily found herself practically alone, as almost all the other students had chosen to return home for the holidays. In light of the current instability, most people had their concerns about passing up a chance to spend time with loved ones. Lily understood this completely, and as a result had literally forced Arabella and Helen to return to their families...they had insisted upon staying with her at first, but Lily had refused to allow it. Truth be told, she wanted the time to herself to think without being coddled. She appreciated very much what everyone was trying to do for her in their various demonstrations of support, but she was growing weary with it. There weren't really many choices for her to make...she was going to be miserable over the holidays no matter where she spent them. It was the first Christmas she would ever spend without her family around her, and she would rather spend it alone than bring her sorrow and killjoy attitude into someone else's merrymaking. Arabella in particular had ranted and scolded for days, assuring her that she was going to be in a bad enough mood just imagining her sitting there alone at school over the week-long hiatus, but it hadn't changed Lily's mind...and finally Bella had grudgingly conceeded to leave her to her own plans.

After about a day of this, however, she found that sitting in the common room was quite oppressive if no one else was around, and so she often took herself to the library. Mrs. Hoodwinkle had also gone home for Christmas, so Lily found that she could have the entire, huge room to herself. Wandering the aisles and perusing the shelves, she plucked book after book from their resting places. She read at her favorite table when she could, but when darkness fell she moved to the common room...even if it was slightly depressing to sit there during daylight hours, it was lovely at night to sit in front of the fire in her nightdress with her books. One day, as she was looking for her next literary venture, she wandered into a section of the library she had only previously used for study purposes. Just as she was about to turn and walk back to the other side, a title caught her eye.

"Rivalry Through Generations: The Legacies of Gryffindor and Slytherin"

Frowning in curiosity, she pulled it from its shelf and scanned the first page...and found she was transfixed. She couldn't put the book down once she had begun reading it, and in it she found information that they had never mentioned in her History of Magic classes. She read the thick volume until it was time for dinner, but instead of going down to the Great Hall, she merely hurried back to Gryffindor tower. Throwing herself into one of the chairs, she continued reading. She kept on until her eyes were falling closed, and even then she didn't shut the book. She was driven to finish it. Finally, hours later, she turned the last page. After she had wearily closed the cover and the book rested heavily on her lap, she found she still couldn't quite bring herself to go to bed. Everything she had learned was spinning through her brain, and she couldn't help wondering why she hadn't picked up that book ages ago – why it hadn't been assigned as required reading.

"After the school's reputation had begun to spread, children from all over Britain who were magically inclined flocked to Hogwarts to develop their abilities. The enrollment soon surpassed the original expectations of the four founders, and conferences commenced on how to best manage the growing problem. Soon unrest between the four began to increase. Slytherin suggested that the enrollment could be cut in half if they issued a decree that only students born to full-blooded wizarding families would be allowed to enter the school. Gryffindor vehemently disagreed with the idea, accusing Slytherin of harboring unjust prejudce against Muggle-borns. Arguments became more frequent as the months wore on, and soon the dispute turned to matters of theory. Slytherin claimed that it was a waste of resources to fully train Muggle-borns, as they could never grow to be as powerful as purebloods. Gryffindor hotly dissented, and the tension only became worse. Eventually, Salazaar Slytherin broke from the others completely and left the school permanently. Before his final departure, Slytherin vowed to Gryffindor that the rivalry between them was not yet over, and that it would only be settled in a final confrontation between their two true heirs."