(no subject)
Title: Licorice Sticks and Aniseed Balls
Chapter Title: Victory March
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: Not mine
Pairings: Lily/James
Chapter Summary: Lily and James are an item. Officially. Eir is a closet Lycanthropes’ Rights Activist, and Voldemort has plans for Hogsmeade.
Author's Notes: I’m thinking here, that in JK’s timeline, Eir would’ve died in the attack, so leaving the Potions spot open, and her research on Wolfsbane incomplete. It wouldn’t’ve been picked up for a few years, which would explain why the Potion never helped Remus much until Harry was in school. These things take a long time to develop, especially when considering that helping werewolves isn’t really a high-interest area, so not many people would be interested in carrying on, and that when Eir died, her understanding of the Potion died with her. The chapter title comes from Rufus Wainwright’s beautiful song, Hallelujah: the phrase is “Love is not a victory march”. What you make of that is up to you.
Previous Chapter
Chapter 10: Victory March
‘Wow,’ Harry said, after staying silent through his not-yet-mother’s announcement as Alice just gaped. ‘I never thought you’d actually get ‘round to the “going out” part of your relationship with James.’
Lily, taking this as an insult, turned an unbecoming shade of scarlet, and promptly snapped at him, ‘I’m not completely incompetent at love-related matters.’ She sniffed. ‘He’s taking me to Hogsmeade this weekend as our first date.’
Recovering from her state of shock, Alice stuttered out (reminding Harry greatly of her future son), ‘Wait a second. Could you please clarify this for me? How, exactly, did you end up accepting James Potter’s offer of a Hogsmeade date? You hate him, remember?’
Calming down by this point, Lily said, ‘He’s not been so bad this year. He hasn’t hexed anyone in weeks. I really think he might be growing up.’
‘I’ve noticed the same thing,’ Harry said, shrugging, and Lily looked at him in relief.
‘You’re not going to ditch me, then, for going out with a guy who seems to despise you?’ she asked.
Harry raised an eyebrow. ‘Why would I do that? We’re friends, remember? And James isn’t so bad, when he doesn’t know I’m there.’ His response drew a chuckle out of both the girls sitting around the fireplace with him.
Passing by, said James Potter paused on his way up to the dormitories to watch the “new boy’s” interaction with his new girlfriend, a frown gracing his features.
‘‘Night, Lily,’ he said, placing a hand on her shoulder to get her attention, then nodding at Alice and deliberately ignoring Harry after giving him one short, strange look, he said, ‘Hart.’
Lily twisted her head around and looked up at him with a wide smile. ‘Goodnight, James,’ she said.
-------
That Saturday, Harry just watched with a warm mug of tea cradled in his hands as Eir pottered around the lab, fetching and carrying various potions ingredients and explained her experiment to Harry.
‘It’s supposed to help the transformations, and lessen the danger to people,’ she said. ‘The real trouble is creating a stable potion that will help the werewolf to keep its mind, which won’t react unfavourably with any of the painkilling potions. If I can’t manage that, then I either have to find a new painkiller, or the whole thing will come crashing down around me.’
Harry nodded, just about following her explanation, and she finished by saying, ‘And I can’t make it easier by adding aconite or silver nitrate, since they’d cause too many allergic reactions.'
Not understanding this at all, Harry frowned. ‘But I’ve seen this potion in the future, and if there’s no aconite, then how come it’s called the Wolfsbane Potion?’
‘It’s called the Wolfsbane Potion in your time?’ Eir repeated, looking troubled.
Harry nodded.
Frowning, she said, ‘Well, I don’t see how that would work… unless…’
And she trailed off, looking puzzled, then jumped suddenly when her cauldron started to boil over, rushing over to it and upturning a vial of painkilling potion over the mixture.
The potion exploded violently, and both Harry and Eir ducked out of the room, choking and covered in smelly brown gloop. ‘I left it unattended for too long,’ Eir said in response to Harry’s questioning look. ‘That’s why it reacted so violently.’
Sighing, she looked inside her ingredients cabinet, and shook her head. ‘I need to restock on ingredients. Fancy joining me on a trip to Hogsmeade?’
-------
Which is why, only half an hour later, Harry and the Hogwarts Potions Mistress found themselves exiting the Hogsmeade apothecary with an overflowing bag of ingredients carried in each hand. All of the students had returned to Hogwarts by this time, and that included Lily and James, who had been acting so lovey-dovey in the last few days that it made Harry feel irritated for some reason that he was only just on the verge of realising.
Perked up, Eir practically bounced along the street, only to stumble and fall when someone screamed. Automatically, Harry pulled Eir back up and shoved his bags into her hands, then took off for the source of the scream.
A white-masked figure in long black robes stood there, wand extended, surrounded by others in similar attire. A woman, looking shell-shocked, was the one who had screamed, seeing the dead body of her companion - her husband, maybe - lying in the dusty street.
There was shocked silence for a moment, and then all hell broke loose. People were screaming and running all over the place like headless chickens.
A few of the braver witches and wizards tried shooting a few spells towards the Dark Lord’s followers as soon as they had clear shots, but most of the spells did little to repel the Death Eaters. Harry, shoving his way through the crowd, seized the elbow of one woman and shouted over the almost deafening noise, ‘Alert the Aurors!’
She nodded, terror in her eyes, and didn’t even question his right to be giving orders in this situation. Then she darted towards the Three Broomsticks, presumably to use their Floo port.
‘Expecto patronum!’ Harry cried out, sending Prongs off to the school to summon Dumbledore in the customary way of the Order. He could only hope that the Headmaster would come, since he wasn’t familiar with Harry’s stag patronus.
Resuming his path towards the Death Eaters, he shot off stunners whenever he felt there was the least risk of hitting a bystander, and - slowly - he came within duelling range of the group.
For Harry, it was a long few minutes before the Aurors and the Order arrived, filled with volleys of light and dark curses, and a fierce rush of adrenaline which numbed the pain where a slashing curse had cut deeply into his left arm, which now hung uselessly by his side.
‘Get out of here, Blackmoon!’ McGonagall ordered him when she arrived, and Harry, too tired to argue, merely nodded, and let Eir drag him back towards Hogwarts.
Next Chapter
Chapter Title: Victory March
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: Not mine
Pairings: Lily/James
Chapter Summary: Lily and James are an item. Officially. Eir is a closet Lycanthropes’ Rights Activist, and Voldemort has plans for Hogsmeade.
Author's Notes: I’m thinking here, that in JK’s timeline, Eir would’ve died in the attack, so leaving the Potions spot open, and her research on Wolfsbane incomplete. It wouldn’t’ve been picked up for a few years, which would explain why the Potion never helped Remus much until Harry was in school. These things take a long time to develop, especially when considering that helping werewolves isn’t really a high-interest area, so not many people would be interested in carrying on, and that when Eir died, her understanding of the Potion died with her. The chapter title comes from Rufus Wainwright’s beautiful song, Hallelujah: the phrase is “Love is not a victory march”. What you make of that is up to you.
Previous Chapter
Chapter 10: Victory March
‘Wow,’ Harry said, after staying silent through his not-yet-mother’s announcement as Alice just gaped. ‘I never thought you’d actually get ‘round to the “going out” part of your relationship with James.’
Lily, taking this as an insult, turned an unbecoming shade of scarlet, and promptly snapped at him, ‘I’m not completely incompetent at love-related matters.’ She sniffed. ‘He’s taking me to Hogsmeade this weekend as our first date.’
Recovering from her state of shock, Alice stuttered out (reminding Harry greatly of her future son), ‘Wait a second. Could you please clarify this for me? How, exactly, did you end up accepting James Potter’s offer of a Hogsmeade date? You hate him, remember?’
Calming down by this point, Lily said, ‘He’s not been so bad this year. He hasn’t hexed anyone in weeks. I really think he might be growing up.’
‘I’ve noticed the same thing,’ Harry said, shrugging, and Lily looked at him in relief.
‘You’re not going to ditch me, then, for going out with a guy who seems to despise you?’ she asked.
Harry raised an eyebrow. ‘Why would I do that? We’re friends, remember? And James isn’t so bad, when he doesn’t know I’m there.’ His response drew a chuckle out of both the girls sitting around the fireplace with him.
Passing by, said James Potter paused on his way up to the dormitories to watch the “new boy’s” interaction with his new girlfriend, a frown gracing his features.
‘‘Night, Lily,’ he said, placing a hand on her shoulder to get her attention, then nodding at Alice and deliberately ignoring Harry after giving him one short, strange look, he said, ‘Hart.’
Lily twisted her head around and looked up at him with a wide smile. ‘Goodnight, James,’ she said.
-------
That Saturday, Harry just watched with a warm mug of tea cradled in his hands as Eir pottered around the lab, fetching and carrying various potions ingredients and explained her experiment to Harry.
‘It’s supposed to help the transformations, and lessen the danger to people,’ she said. ‘The real trouble is creating a stable potion that will help the werewolf to keep its mind, which won’t react unfavourably with any of the painkilling potions. If I can’t manage that, then I either have to find a new painkiller, or the whole thing will come crashing down around me.’
Harry nodded, just about following her explanation, and she finished by saying, ‘And I can’t make it easier by adding aconite or silver nitrate, since they’d cause too many allergic reactions.'
Not understanding this at all, Harry frowned. ‘But I’ve seen this potion in the future, and if there’s no aconite, then how come it’s called the Wolfsbane Potion?’
‘It’s called the Wolfsbane Potion in your time?’ Eir repeated, looking troubled.
Harry nodded.
Frowning, she said, ‘Well, I don’t see how that would work… unless…’
And she trailed off, looking puzzled, then jumped suddenly when her cauldron started to boil over, rushing over to it and upturning a vial of painkilling potion over the mixture.
The potion exploded violently, and both Harry and Eir ducked out of the room, choking and covered in smelly brown gloop. ‘I left it unattended for too long,’ Eir said in response to Harry’s questioning look. ‘That’s why it reacted so violently.’
Sighing, she looked inside her ingredients cabinet, and shook her head. ‘I need to restock on ingredients. Fancy joining me on a trip to Hogsmeade?’
-------
Which is why, only half an hour later, Harry and the Hogwarts Potions Mistress found themselves exiting the Hogsmeade apothecary with an overflowing bag of ingredients carried in each hand. All of the students had returned to Hogwarts by this time, and that included Lily and James, who had been acting so lovey-dovey in the last few days that it made Harry feel irritated for some reason that he was only just on the verge of realising.
Perked up, Eir practically bounced along the street, only to stumble and fall when someone screamed. Automatically, Harry pulled Eir back up and shoved his bags into her hands, then took off for the source of the scream.
A white-masked figure in long black robes stood there, wand extended, surrounded by others in similar attire. A woman, looking shell-shocked, was the one who had screamed, seeing the dead body of her companion - her husband, maybe - lying in the dusty street.
There was shocked silence for a moment, and then all hell broke loose. People were screaming and running all over the place like headless chickens.
A few of the braver witches and wizards tried shooting a few spells towards the Dark Lord’s followers as soon as they had clear shots, but most of the spells did little to repel the Death Eaters. Harry, shoving his way through the crowd, seized the elbow of one woman and shouted over the almost deafening noise, ‘Alert the Aurors!’
She nodded, terror in her eyes, and didn’t even question his right to be giving orders in this situation. Then she darted towards the Three Broomsticks, presumably to use their Floo port.
‘Expecto patronum!’ Harry cried out, sending Prongs off to the school to summon Dumbledore in the customary way of the Order. He could only hope that the Headmaster would come, since he wasn’t familiar with Harry’s stag patronus.
Resuming his path towards the Death Eaters, he shot off stunners whenever he felt there was the least risk of hitting a bystander, and - slowly - he came within duelling range of the group.
For Harry, it was a long few minutes before the Aurors and the Order arrived, filled with volleys of light and dark curses, and a fierce rush of adrenaline which numbed the pain where a slashing curse had cut deeply into his left arm, which now hung uselessly by his side.
‘Get out of here, Blackmoon!’ McGonagall ordered him when she arrived, and Harry, too tired to argue, merely nodded, and let Eir drag him back towards Hogwarts.
Next Chapter