Lily comes into the library holding a copy of the Daily Prophet in one hand and a crumbled paper in the other.
She sits down across from me and throws the newspaper on the table between us.
I would reach for it but I'm sure she'll have told me what's going on before I even get the chance to read the headlines.
“Seven attacks in one week! One of them in Hogsmeade!” she says angrily.
Keeping track of Death-Eaters' activities is all she's been doing these days. But something about this doesn't make sense.
Lily doesn't get angry about the news of more muggleborns getting attacked. She gets upset and she gets worried, but she doesn't get angry.
I raise my eyebrows in question, knowing it won't be long till she gets to the real reason behind her current bad mood.
“And Petunia's getting married!” she bursts out.
Now things just got interesting.
I've never met Petunia Evans but I dislike her on principle. She's got a sister like Lily, yet she never shows up at Kings Cross and never replies to Lily's letters. Lily, of course, being Lily, never speaks ill of her or gives up trying to make amends, but one can guess that the reason she's been spending Christmas at Hogwarts since third year is that she feels more welcome here than she does at home.
And her sister is to blame for that.
So it really comes as a surprise to me that there's someone out there who wants to marry Petunia Evans.
“To whom?” I ask in disbelief.
Lily shakes her head.
“You wouldn't know him. He's a muggle. And I've only ever met him once, but he was so... intolerable. He was horrible,” she says, looking pained to even have to admit this.
Which is totally understandable. Who'd believe that there's actually someone out there that Petunia Evans is too good for?
Forget about Death-Eater attacks. This is headline material.
“When's the wedding?” I ask her curiously.
“I don't know. Mum says sometime in the summer. They just got engaged.”
So Lily's sister is getting married and she didn't even write to Lily herself to tell her the big news. I wonder how much longer Lily will be able to make excuses for her.
“I'm done making excuses for her!” Lily says unexpectedly.
She must be a mind-reader.
Or I could be one.
“She can marry that moron and keep ignoring me for the rest of our lives. That's fine by me. I couldn't care less.”
But that's not the case and we both know it. Lily does care. If she didn't, she wouldn't be Lily.
“James says I shouldn't be the one making all the effort. And he's right.”
Wait, wait.
What was that again?
“You talked to Potter about Petunia?” I ask in shock.
“Well, he was there when I got mum's letter. And he's not that bad,” she says defensively.
Okay, this newspaper thing I was talking about? How big can a front page be? Because damn if this doesn't make the headlines too.
“Lily, I never thought he was bad. I just couldn't care less,” I point out. “You were the one that used to say he's an arrogant toerag. ”
“People change,” she shrugged. “Or sometimes you realise you've been wrong about them all along.”
She could be talking about James Potter or her sister.
Or about me and the way Sirius Black is now the one avoiding me. Or about the fact that a month ago I wouldn't have cared enough to notice.
I guess we've all changed.
Too bad I still haven't changed enough to like this new development.
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