To no-one in particular, he remarks, “Can’t wait to watch those first years shit themselves while they’re Sorted.”

“You would think we’d be allowed a little time to adjust since returning from a six week break, wouldn’t you?” Lily commented to no one in particular as she dropped her Transfiguration text book down onto an available table in the back corner of the library, the wood creaking under the weight of it. She dropped down into her chosen seat with a huff, her bag falling to the floor at her feet as she opened her textbook. “If today’s anything to go by, I’ll be lucky if I have time to breathe let alone do anything else.”

Location: The Library

There was something unexplainably soothing about the library at golden hour. The bookcases glowed in the warmth of the sun which streaked through the windows in a way that it never could in the Slytherin common room. Narcissa sighed as she located a quiet table in the far corner of the library, far away from the main thoroughfare, content to work away at her Potions essay in some peace and quiet. Unfortunately her peace and quiet only lasted a couple of minutes before the chair across from her scraped back loudly followed by the unmistakeable sound of a body falling into said chair. The blonde didn’t bother looking up from her work as she set her jaw, “The library’s just about empty you know.”  

“Won’t you join me?” Pale hands tightly gripped the handle of a heavy-laden basket, the wicker weaving subdued red marks into her skin. No one ever mentioned just how tiresome an affair it was, going on a picnic; between clinking bottles of Superior Red, obscenely expensive cheeses, and jams and cream for spreading on scones, the basket proved rather heavy.

It’d been Amycus’ idea: spend this year immersing themselves among their peers, pretend to be your typical teenage mages so as to avert suspicion and throw everyone off their scent. Logically, it was a sound plan, but that didn’t make the execution any more pleasant. Still, she plastered on a friendly smile.

“Oh, for Christ’s sake, I am not chasing you around this castle all god damn day.” Lily called after the black kitten as she watched her speed off around the corner, and she found herself vaguely wondering how on Earth she’d managed to wind up in an involuntary game of hide and seek with her cat—whom, at the moment, had outsmarted Lily at every turn.

The cat had been a gift from her parents, they had bought her over the summer before Lily began her sixth year at school; her father had said they’d picked her because she was black and he had thought it awfully fitting, with Lily being what she was, and she suspected he thought himself oh so hilarious for it. But Lily had fallen in love with her immediately, regardless.

“Agatha—oh you are so bloody grounded—” She huffed out, momentarily cursing the third year who had entered the common room at precisely the wrong moment, leaving her opportunist cat free to make a break for it. “Hey—excuse me!” She called when she spotted someone at the end of the corridor, “Please can you grab a hold of that little menace for me!”

Friday 3rd September 1976

The castle was oddly quiet for a Friday night, this was the first thing Lily noticed as she made her way up the stairs towards Gryffindor tower; she’d spent the past hour since leaving dinner out by the lake, desperately clinging to what was left of the summer sunshine as she set to work on her first letter home of the term.

But now that that was seen to, and the letter had been sent off with one of the Hogwarts owls, she had more pressing matters to attend to. She was starving, disappointed that the Great Hall had run out of her favourite dessert before she had managed to help herself to some, and she knew exactly the person to help with her predicament.