Lily

Chapter Eight:

Lily attended Hagrid's Care of Magical Creatures class and it ended with Draco getting carried off to the hospital wing. It was a little bit after that lesson that she had finally managed to escape Harry's watchful eye for a little bit when she came across Fred and George.

"Hey Lily!" They greeted.

"Hi." She said shyly.

"Could you help us with something?" Fred asked her.

She nodded and head and the twins grinned.

"Brilliant!"

"So, all you have to do it keep a lookout for Filtch or his cat." George said, "The code word is Pigeon Bear."

"What? But I-" Lily began to protest, not wanting to get wrapped up in their trouble.

"Thanks Lily." George called over his shoulder as he and Fred took off.

She sighed and sat down, looking around to see if Filtch was coming. The coast was clear, so she relaxed slightly. Then there was a loud banging noise that came from down the hallway, scaring Lily so much that she jumped.

She braced herself for an angry Filtch to come running around the corner, but instead was met with a cat. The cat looked up at her expectantly.

"Um... hi?" Lily said uncertainly.

Ms Norris slowly approached her and Lily began to panic. She had heard stories of the telepathic connection between Filtch and his crazed cat. As the feline approached Lily, she scooted backwards, the two continuing this until Lily's back hit the wall.

Ms Norris looked up at Lily and she got the feeling that the cat was judging her.

"I don't have any food." Lily said desperately.

Ms Norris moved closer.

"Please don't hurt me!" Lily whispered, cowering away from the cat.

Ms Norris sat down and looked up at her. Lily cautiously stuck out her hand and the cat sniffed it. She smiled at the tickling sensation. Lily then began to cautiously stroke Ms Norris who began to purr when she began to pet behind her ears.

"You're not so scary, are you?" Lily asked.

The cat hopped up onto Lily's lap and made itself comfortable. Suddenly, Lily felt as if another pair of eyes were resting on her and she looked up to see Filtch standing in the hallway.

"What are you doing with Ms Norris?!" He demanded, "Did you bewitch her?!"

"N-no sir!" Lily squeaked.

Ms Norris, casually crawled off Lily's lap and looked back at Filtch. Seeing that the cat was, indeed, under no enchantments, Filtch looked back at Lily.

"Mrs. Norris doesn't like any students." He informed her, "And yet she was sitting on your lap!"

"S-sorry?"

Filtch narrowed his eyes at her. Mrs. Norris walked back over to Lily and began rubbing her body against the girls legs. Lily gave Filtch a sheepish look and he frowned. Suddenly, Fred and George rounded the corner, pockets full of contraband items that they had stolen. Luckily for them, Filtch was too wrapped up in the mystery of his cat actually liking a student that he didn't seem to notice.

"Get out of the dungeons." Filtch ordered, "And go do whatever kind of mischief you kids get up to these days."

Lily nodded, and quickly followed the twins out of the hallway. Once they were out of earshot, the two turned to Lily with matching expressions on their faces.

"Pigeon Bear?" She said timidly.

"Lily, that was bloody brilliant!" They exclaimed.

"We didn't know you had it in you!" Fred added, "That was some mastery level distraction skills!"

"Oh." Lily said.

"And how'd you distract Mrs. Norris too?" George asked.

"I pet her?"

The twins burst out laughing.

"Nice try, Lily, nobody "pets" Mrs. Norris but Filtch." Fred informed her, "She'd scratch your eyes out!"

"Scratch my- is that something cats do?" She asked worriedly.

"Yes." Fred said very seriously.

"Knock it off, Fred, you're scaring her." George reprimanded.

Fred broke into a smile and apologized.

"Well, at least you passed the test!" Fred congratulated her, "Congrats by the way!"

"Test?" Lily asked, "What test?"

Fred and George exchanged looks.

"Umm..." George trailed off.

"...the one where we were trying to decide if you were trustworthy of our greatest secrets?" Fred admitted.

"We knew you'd pass!" George added.

"Yeah, we were pretty sure!"

"Like 99% sure."

"Gee, thanks." Lily said with a slight smile.

The three proceeded to enter a secret passageway. Fred took a bit of seemingly blank parchment out of his pocket.

"This, here, is the secret to our success!" He exclaimed.

"This?" Lily questioned, looking at the parchment.

"Watch." Fred instructed as he pointed his wand at the paper, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."

The parchment revealed the words "Messrs Mooney, Wormtail, Padfoot, Prongs and Miss Birdie are proud to present the Marauders Map". Lily read the words before looking up at the twins.

"Mooney, Wormtail, Padfoot, Prongs and Birdie...?" She questioned.

"We owe them so much!" George said, wiping away a fake tear.

Fred grinned and opened the map, showing the layout of Hogwarts and the people in it.

"This is amazing!" Lily whispered in awe.

"We know." They replied.

"You know, it's really creepy when you do that." Lily blurted out before she could stop herself.

"We know."

She smiled and shook her head, glad that they didn't take offense to her comment.

"So what did you take from Filtch's office anyways?" Lily asked.

"Some stuff of ours that he confiscated." Fred casually stated.

"Like... dangerous stuff?"

"Nah... well, not really." George said.

The boys pulled several items out of their pockets, naming them as they did so.

"Extendable Ears, Fanged Frisbee, Puking Pasties, dungbombs, acid pops, carrot wands... you know, that sort of stuff."

"Carrot wands?" She questioned.

"Yeah, why not?" George replied.

Lily shrugged and continued walking down the secret passageway. When they reached the end, Fred and George bid her goodbye before sprinting off to prank their next unsuspecting victim. Lily walked to the library to study more. It's not like they had a lot of work to do, seeing how it was the beginning of the school year, but Lily didn't want to fall behind. When she mentioned this worry and her method of solving it, Ron diagnosed her with a "Hermione Granger Complex". Hermione, naturally, rolled her eyes and hit him with her book.