Lily's Revenge

Chapter Three: Planning Stages

Distractedly, Lily pushed at her mass of now-silky red hair, forcing it behind her ears. Considering that she was in the process of running, this was rather difficult and the hair subsequently fell forward again, remaining as a thick red cloud. Cursing her hair, Lily Evans stopped and pulled it back into a rough knot, wrapping a band around it for good measure. That done, she continued on her way.

Rushing up the stairs she nearly stumbled, then questioned herself as to why she was running at all. She didn't need to question; she already knew the answer. She was trying to run away from the serenity that she had felt that morning, as during it she had thought logically of what she was doing - and for a moment regret had replaced revenge... Yes, she knew why she ran. She was running from herself, from the fear that she was doing the wrong thing, meanwhile she was angry with herself for thinking such thoughts.

Not concentrating on where she was going, Lily once again stumbled, falling to her knees. Growling at her own clumsiness, she struggled to her feet, glancing up in the process. And froze.

Ahead of her was Severus Snape.

"Why Lily!" Severus said happily, "How nice to see you again."

Lily only glared at him. She could see the mockery under his gaze, and hated him all the more. Deciding on silence, she slowly got to her feet and began to walk past him, avoiding his gaze as she did so.

"Not so fast, Lily Sweet," growled Severus, smirking as he grabbed her arm, "I believe there are some problems that we may not have sorted out yet..."

She looked at him, hatred in her eyes. Wrenching her arm out of his grip, she once again moved to walk off.

"Frightened of speaking to me, Lils? Well, perhaps you should be... there are a lot of things I know about you, Lily. And the chances of me letting one slip will be all the more likely if the... other... rumours I've heard about you are correct." Although he had kept his voice light, there was a threatening under current in it. Turning back, she noticed that he was still smirking, as though he had nothing to fear.

Refusing to fall for his jibes, she turned once again and continued to stalk down the hall. Fury raged through her stiff body, encouraging her to take longer, faster steps. She faltered, however, when she heard the steps continue behind her.

Moving even faster now, she was tempted to break into a run. The stubborn part of Lily's mind, however, refused to give in to him by running away. Trying to ignore the tension building up within her, not to mention the fear that nibbled on the edges of her mind, Lily decreased her pace, trying to quell her seething thoughts.

"Running away, Lily dear?" asked that voice again. Lily tried to forget the mockery, though she hated his treatment of her. "Of course, I shouldn't be surprised. You always run from things when they scare you, don't they, Slut?"

Lily froze. She hated him. More than that, she detested him. He was vile, rude - and a liar. And there Severus stood. Smiling at his own personal victory. His oily black hair stuck close and lank to a face that was near as greasy. For a moment, Lily lost her rage as she wondered just what she had ever seen in him. Then his mocking eyes and smirking face got to her. All she could think of was: here he is, my one and only boy friend. The one boy I've ever been close enough to kiss... Here he is. And how I hate him.

"Having a fun time thinking, Flower?" a nasal voice, asking pointless questions. Lily was tempted to leave again, forgetting her anger. "Perhaps you should have thought harder before you attempted something you're obviously not good enough for..."

For the first time since their little interlude began, Lily spoke.

"What are you talking about?"

Severus smirked once more, perhaps it was just a permanent feature, Lily wondered idly.

"Me?" Severus asked, pointing to himself. His mouth opened into a wider smile as he continued. "I'm talking about you and your lack in ... hmhmm ... certain qualities..." If anything, Severus' smile grew more so. Lily was tempted to spit.

"I hate you." It was a statement - the truth, and Lily knew that. Turning to walk away, she was stopped as his voice pierced the silence one, last, time.

"Already, Slut Flower? Because, you know, I can make this a whole lot worse... Unless you were to-"

"Avada Kedavra!" Lily hissed, loathing every inch of him. She knew there wasn't enough power behind it - perhaps if she hadn't felt so unstable she could have managed - though there was a little voice inside of her that didn't want her to become a murderer. Lily squashed it with her mind, she didn't want to think like that. Severus was her enemy, a monster, a bastard, a beast...

Severus was currently lying unconscious on the floor. After giving him a quick kick, she turned back to the way that she had been going. Almost sparking with anger, she walked slower, more purposefully. Smiling at the evil deed.

***//\//\***

Outside, the rain was pouring. Pink and purple streaks of lightening flickered through orange clouds. Or was she just seeing strange colours? For by the lake stood a giant tree that Lily was certain had never been there before. It almost shone through the storm, yet Lily supposed that fluorescent highlights would usually have that effect. She almost smiled at what was obviously a 'Marauder' creation - then scowled. How could they possibly be happy when she, herself, was upset? How unreasonable and rude of them! she thought to herself, glaring fiercely as she strode purposefully towards the multi-coloured tree.

She didn't realize it, but she was muttering over and over to herself as she walked: "Soon, revenge will be soon. Soon..."

***//\//\***

Peter Pettigrew looked up from where he was sitting to see Lily Evans walking over. She had a horrid look of glee on her face, though Peter hoped it was only the distance and the rain obscuring his vision. People who looked like that scared him.

"Er... Guys?" spoke Peter, interrupting their game of cards. "Um, I think Lily's coming, though she doesn't look to happy..."

Glancing away from the game towards Peter, Sirius suddenly heard a loud "BANG" and muttered curses as his pack exploded into a million fragments.

"So much for that game," grumbled Sirius. Then he turned to get a better look of the path that lead up to the castle. Sure enough, Lily was walking towards them, not seeming to notice the rain that poured down around her. "Not happy, huh?" said Sirius as he noticed her face, "Why, I'd say she's in a perfect state of bliss; contemplating her revenge."

"Yeah," responded James, sourly, "That she's only going to achieve through the use of US."

"Aww... Come of it, James. This is a win-win situation: we get Lily off our backs and rid of Snape all at once! What could be better?" asked Sirius, still watching Lily intently.

"I'm just not happy with how dangerous it is..."

Sirius guffawed at James' answer. "And as if that hasn't stopped us before! This is completely fool proof - all we're doing is droppi"

"Starting without me?" asked Lily, glaring. "Please don't do that. Why, I've so many ideas that I don't know how to begin!"

She sounded well enough, but James was certain he could see a nervous tic jumping erratically above her temple. Her eyes were bloodshot, he noticed, turning the green pupils to a powerful emerald. Her small nose and sweet mouth were perfectly aligned, fitting nicely on her face, while the red-hair just set her on fire. James couldn't help but agree with Sirius' comments on her looks, for she truly was beautiful. When her face wasn't twisted with all this hate and rage.

"What are you staring at?" Lily asked succinctly, pulling James out of his thoughts. Lily wondered if he could see through her, see the confusion and imbalance that made her feel as though she were about to scream or cry at any second. She looked at him for a moment longer, then returned to the conversation. James hadn't answered; just remained watching her, with something that closely resembled concern in his gaze.

"We were thinking," Sirius was saying, "that perhaps if we got someone to drop Snape a few hints we might be able to force him to the... er... bait. Do you have any ideas?"

Lily almost smiled in honest humour at this, suddenly lighting her whole face. Immediately, however, the scowl returned, as though she had noticed her break in concentration and was now angry with herself. "Well, it certainly can't be ME who drops the hints - Severus would never listen." More likely he'd try to hurt me, she thought to herself, shivering. "We could try Emma. She might listen to me, we were friends before Severus and I... split. Whatever are you thinking, anyway?"

Sirius smiled secretively, while James, snapping out of his daze with a worried frown, also managed a smile for her. Dry beneath the tree, he wasn't damp at all, which made his crazy black hair remain wild, as usual. His smile was slightly mischievous, though his dark eyebrows still drew together into a worried frown. Sirius sat beside him, looking a little more malicious with a nastier smile that Lily doubted meant any good for Severus. Changing her smile to match Sirius' own she muttered: "You mentioned some 'hints'. Might I ask what these 'hints' might be referring too?"

"We're going to tell Severus how to get to a little hidey-hole of ours... Only thing is, he won't know that a fully grown werewolf awaits him."

Lily gasped in unsuppressed glee, malicious awe flooding her body.

***//\//\***

Conflicting emotions flew all over my face, confusing me, twisting me, upsetting me, until I thought I would faint. The black darkness swelled up around, and I nearly allowed myself to be drawn towards it. Then the hot red of my joyful anger pulled me out as revenge sang in my thoughts.

"Brilliant," I whispered, not noticing the odd look on James' face as he observed mine. All I saw was Sirius, a huge grin on his face as he saw with how much joy I took to the plan. "Already, he knows about Remus' monthly travels - I told him that much." I nearly spat in self-disgust for ever having spoken to that slime in the first place, then controlled myself and continued.

"He knows nothing, though, about the whole werewolf thing. I thought that if he did it could get a little dangerous." I remembered Severus' almost fanatical desire to expel the Marauders, and shuddered at what he could have done with the material. Not much different to what I'm doing now, I thought to myself. Though at least I had a reason: the wish for sheer revenge derived from pure anger drove me on.

"But why don't you tell him, Sirius? He'll suspect a trap either way, so at least from you it will seem far more tantalizing. Besides, where is this 'hidey-hole', anyway?" I asked, for the moment curiosity overrode my ire.

Sirius waved away my second question with his hand, "It's somewhere near the Whomping Willow," his vagueness stoked my fury for a moment, but then I calmed down - a crafty look on my face.

"Don't tell me, then, I'll just find out some other way."

Sirius didn't respond to this, instead continuing, "Are you certain that it won't be better coming from... what did you say that girl's name is? Emma?"

First, nodding my head at his latter question, I then shook it in reply to the former, saying as I did so:

"Severus is already suspicious of me, and Emma - and anyone else, for that matter - cannot be trusted to keep him from knowing the information's origin." Sirius appeared to become deflated, though at the same time I noticed a daring gleam come into his black eyes. Apparently Sirius enjoyed the thought of danger.

"Don't do it."

That was James. For almost the entire meeting he had been the silent observer, locked in his own little world. Now he dared to protest the fulfillment of my greatest desire?

Alike a snake preparing to strike, I whispered to him: "You wouldn't be thinking of pulling out, Potter dearest? That could be dangerous, you know."

James looked up at me, appearing completely unafraid. I almost screamed at him for being so stubborn. I was furious - this was to be my greatest moment! The day I rid myself of the person who had caused me the greatest harm!

"Don't do it," he repeated, "We'll all get expelled for this - at least Remus will - simply because nobody will be able to keep quiet the fact that a student werewolf mauled - no, let's face it - a werewolf KILLED-."

He didn't notice the crazed light that shone in my eyes when he said that. Sirius did.

"-Yes, killed a student. What will it matter that the student was Severus Snape, the hole fiasco will still-."

James suddenly stopped. Unconscious, due to a curse by Sirius, who was neatly putting away his wand. Inside I was complete turmoil, though one look at Sirius' face returned my dangerous air. Sirius had stopped putting away his wand and merely stared at it, as though in disbelief. Peter appeared to be frightened, and a sense of unease came over me as I truly did think of the consequences of our actions. My rage aided me to pull through, though, and looking up to the preoccupied Sirius I murmured:

"Tonight?"

A slight nod of Sirius' head was the only indication I had of his agreement. Without waiting for a spoken response, I quickly turned - stepping over James in the process - and walked from beneath the tree. A loud clap of thunder seemed to finalize the deal, and I shuddered as I thought of what I had done. Tonight the full moon would rise over the horizon in all its proud regalia, though the trouble that would occur beneath its single eye was yet to be fully predicted.

I shuddered as a cold feeling gripped my heart, then walked on, my shape fading into the thick rain.