Firewhiskey
Chapter Two: Footwork

You can paint a wall but you can't cover up the cracks
and things will never change, until you change the way you look at it.
Transit - Footwork

Lily found the first day back to school to be extremely nostalgic. As she woke up in the morning, she remembered how it would be the last time she would wake up in her Four Poster bed on the first day of school, eager for her timetable, ever again. She realized that, the night before, their welcoming feast would be the last Hogwarts welcoming feast she would ever have, the sorting hat song the last she would ever hear, and the current breakfast she sat at would be the last first breakfast at hogwarts she would ever have.

"Why is there never any bacon left by the time we get here?" Marlene moaned as she sat near the back end of the Gryffindor table. Lily took place across from her, and joined in glaring at the empty plate. Lily sighed.

"Just another thing we'll miss when we graduate." She mused.

"Mm, but when we graduate, we can have all the bacon we want, and we wont have to worry about ruddy Sirius Black hogging it all." Marlene glanced down the table towards where Sirius sat with James, Peter, and Remus, and to James' side, Olive.

"Isn't she in Hufflepuff?" Lily asked, her tone coming out more harsh than she'd intended to.

Marlene shrugged. "Couples sit together a lot. I'm not sure Dumbledore really cares."

"You don't sit with your boyfriend." Lily raised her eyebrows.

Marlene rolled her eyes. "I'm not lovesick."

"Olive and James are cute together." Mary cooed, as she took her place beside Lily.

"Adorable." And although Lily couldn't place it, her sarcastic tone said it all. The couple simply rubbed her the wrong way, as un-explainable as it were. She watched them as James held her hand beneath the table, and she occasionally leaned over for a kiss between bites. Maybe she was simply bitter because they unlike much else of the Gryffindor table, still had a healthy supply of bacon.

"Hey, Marlene, have an alright summer?" Asked one Caradoc Dearborn as he slid into the table next to Marlene, and across from Lily. Lily had met Caradoc, a member of Ravenclaw and Keeper for the house Quidditch team, a few times. He was a handsome man, standing a tall 6'2", or so, with pearly white teeth, gleaming blue eyes, and tidy brown hair. Marlene nearly jumped in surprise of the newcomer, having been halfway through a story about a dream she'd had last night, but smiled all the less.

"Yes, I did, thank you. And you?" She replied politely. He shrugged.

"It was alright. That Arithmancy work was a pain, wasn't it? I found myself wishing I had your help all summer." He grinned sheepishly. Marlene hardly fought to supress a giggle.

"It was a doozy." She agreed, taking a drink of her pumpkin juice.

"You're still continuing this year, right?" He asked in hopefull tones. She nodded.

"Wouldn't miss it for the world."

"Good." His smile grew. "I'm not sure I could make it through without you."

Marlenes cheeks filled with color.

"See you fourth period, then?" He asked, his bright blue eye's not leaving hers. She nodded excitedly.

"See you." She replied, and turned back to her breakfast, not looking up to meet the eyes of her best friends, but a small smile plastered on her face all the same.

"So... Caradoc Dearborn, hmm?" Teased Lily. Marlene didn't say a word, but struggled to whipe the smile away.

"What would Orsino say?" She pressed, still teasing.

Marlene looked up now. "There is nothing between Caradoc and I. We're just partners in Arithmancy." She shrugged.

"I'm no expert, Marlene, but I'd say you two were flirting." Piper added.

Marlene snorted.

"He know's I have a boyfriend." She added.

"I'm not sure he cares." Mary pipped in, giggling. "And he's fit."

"All I know, is I should have taken Arithmancy." Lily teased, as she packed up her belongings, took one last bite of toast, and headed off to her first Potions class of the year.

In previous years, Lily would have gone as far as to say Potions was her favorite subject, though occasionally put in second to Charms, depending on the ammount of homework given. That, however, was previous years.

It was not that she didn't like Potions, no, she did like it, it was more the air of awkward air that surrounded the room since the end of her fifth year.

It was convenient, however, that Peter Pettigrew merely scrapped by, to the disdain of his mother, with an Acceptable in Potions, and therefor could not continue onto the N.E.W.T. potions class, and Remus Lupin was rendered partner-less at the beginning of the year. This, coupled with the fact that James Potter had practically begged Sirius Black to continue on with him, left the three Gryffindor Boys, as well as Lily, (Mary had graciously opted out of Potions, as she dreaded the entire affair, in spite of receiving the needed Exceedes Expectations - barely, to her words.), at an Even number of Gryffindor students and, therefor, and even number of partners.

Every day as Lily wandered into the classroom, try as she might, she couldn't help but scan the room for the sight of the greasy headed Severus Snape, who sat, as per usual, in the back of the classroom, beside Howard Mulciber - a student in which Lily was nearly positive had figured out a way to cheat in order to obtain the correct scores for the class. As far as she was aware, and as much as Severus had told her back in their time as friends, he couldn't tell a Bezoar from a Ginger Root.

Lily snorted at her own Joke as she took her seat next to Remus, who bid her an amused and confused expression.

"Don't tell me you've started the day with a cheering charm?" He asked, placing his hand on her arm. "I know the first day back is rough, but really, Lily, laughing alone-"

He smiled at his joke.

Lily rolled her eyes, and shooed him off. It wasn't long after that the newest Head Boy and his sidekick dashed into the room, barely centimeters ahead of their Professor, and crashed into the desk besides Remus, who gave them a furitive look.

"Don't let this be routine, boys!" Slughorn smiled at them, as he tapped his wand against the board. A scribble of notes about the upcoming N.E.W.T exams scrolled across it, ready to be recited to the class.

"Good to see you, class, Good to see you. I trust you've all made it back from summer in tip-top shape, ready to jump right back into the exciting world of Potions!" Reamed Slughorn, who, with a smile on his face, gazed down at his pupils eagerly. The class muttered good-mornings and hello's to their cheerful Professor.

"As you're aware, this year is, quite possibly the most important year you have yet to have at Hogwarts. Your N.E.W.T.'s, or Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Test's, as they are so rightfully named, will take place at the end of the year, and will determine what you go on to do with your lives." He smiled again. "We all, your other Professors and I just hope, that as the future leaders of our nation, you remember to thank us when giving your congratulatory speeches." He joked.

"Now!" Slughorn continued, the brashness of the continuation causing his enormous belly to jiggle, "Let's not waste any more time, why don't we start with something a bit fun, for your first day back? Something I'm sure you'll all be needing a lot of by the time you approach your exams in June."

He tapped his wand against the board again, and a scrawl of instructions to create an Elixir to Induce Euphoria spread across it in white chalk.

"Whenever you're ready, you may begin."

The class set to work immediately. Remus began to light the cauldron while Lily wandered off to the storage closet to grab ingredients.

Pulling open the drawer for the Ashwinder Eggs, a arm eached across her and stole two before she could grab them. She stole a glare towards the perpatrator, only to see that it was Snape, and turned back immediately. She would not give in to his taunting. This didn't mean she couldn't help glancing from her peripherals to see that he also grabbed peppermint, an ingrediant not typically found in Euphoria Elixers. She scanned her list twice over to make sure she was not mistaken.

She grabbed her Scarab Beatles, six of them, and carried the rest of her ingredients back to the table she shared with Remus.

"We didn't need peppermint, did we?" She asked, as she crushed the beetles with the dull end of her knife, a trick Severus had shown her to make the beetles release more juice. Remus shook his head.

"Not that I'm aware of." He reread the instructions on the board. "Why?"

"Nevermind." She shook her head.

By the end of the lesson, Lily and Remus were quite satisfied by their concoction. It was precisley the exact shade of Sunshine-Yellow that they had intended for it to be, and the consistency was near enough to the slight muk that was described in the book. Beside them, James and Sirius' potion was slightly opaque, though still passable.

"Delightful! Simply delightful! Miss Evans, Mr. Lupin, you've done wonderfully! Full marks!" Slughorn grinned as he approached their table. Lily couldn't help but smile. No matter how suffocating Slughorn may be, she had to admit she liked being prided on her accomplishments. "I see they've picked a very capable Head Girl." He winked at her, and then lowered his voice. "I hope to see you at the first Slug Club meeting of the year? I've got a few surprises up my sleeve." He grinned, and Lily took the small tan scroll, tied together by a red ribbon, that he extended to her. Slughorn clapped excitedly as he scurried away to examine their neighbors potion.

"You know, you really aught to be invited." Lily shook her head as she untied the scroll with nimble fingers.

Remus chuckled. "I believe hell would freeze over before that."

"You worked just as hard as I did on this potion, and every one we made last year!" Lily protested.

"It doesn't matter, Lily. He doesn't care how good I am at Potions. You heard him, he only cares about the future leaders and whatknot. You, Head Girl, are a future leader." He grinned. Lily rolled her eyes.

"And who's to say you aren't?"

"I think his "furry-little-problem" may have something to do with that." Joined in James, as he vanished the remainder of potion in his and Sirius' cauldron.

Lily, who had known of Remus' 'Furry Little Problem' since fifth year, folded her arms. "That doesn't matter, he's an exemplary student."

"And while that doesn't matter to people like you and I, it does to old-fashioned walrus's like ole' Sluggy, and-" he nodded towards the table Slughorn was currently examining, and lowered his voice, "Future death eaters like Snape and Mulciber."

Lily didn't look towards them. She didn't have to. She heard Slughorn lecture Snape on the addition of peppermint, although a stunning observation that it would remove the side effects of Excessive Singing and Nose-Tweaking, tampering with potions ingredients was a dangerous task. He did not recieve an invitation to the Slug Club. Lily knew, however, that if it were her adding peppermint, that she would be praised and receive extra marks.

"I'd rather not go." Said Lily, stuffing the invitation deep into her pocket.

"Why?" Barked Remus. "Go! You've been to everyone since your third year, Lily-"

"They're no fun, Remus, and I'd rather not be a part of such obvious favoritism."

It was now Remus' turn to roll her eyes. "Honestly, Lily, it's not like he's out campaigning for Anti-Wearwolf legislation, I just didn't get an invitation to his club. It's good for you, you get to meet some very amazing people, don't you? I heard last year you met Bathilda Bagshot."

Lily blushed and smiled. She had been very excited to meet Bathilda, who had written every of their History of Magic texts. Although a boring subject at the school, that was mostly caused by the ghastly teacher, and hearing accounts straight from the elderly lady, over some of the most delicious pudding she had ever had, was much more exciting.

"Who would I go with, Remus?" She folded her arms and shook her head. "Piper stopped being invited since she openly insulted the owner of the Wimborne Wasps."

"Well, I've been invited." Shrugged James, as he twiddled his Slug Club invitation in his hand. "Reckon' I aught to see what the fuss is all about. I hear they've got really great food."

Lily sighed, leave it to James Potter to be more concerned with the food they'd be eating than the fact that one of his best friends was so openly discriminated against.

"We've got Defense to get to." She stated, and exited the room, the 7th year Gryffindor boys on her trail. They had all been invited to continue onto their N.E.W.T. Defense program.

Defense Against the Dark Arts, while not steady enough to be one of Lily's favorite subjects, was definitely seen, to her, as one of the most important; not only for the scores she needed to become a Healer, but for application to the curent state of the world outside of Hogwarts.

Lily marched in and took a seat beside Mary, who had just left Divination, a subject she had taken purely inspite of her parents, who were highly religious and saw any sort of 'fortune telling', as they called it, to be dark magic and thoroughly insulting to their deity. Mary, of course, and fallen in love with the subject, and refused to drop it as her parents requested. This was the cause of many spouts between the family.

Lily, who had thought she would enjoy it, had dropped it after their 5th year, finding no significance to what tealeaves at the bottom of a teacup were swished together to look like, if you turned it just a certain way, and squinted a bit too much. The subject, to her, was laughable, and she found much more comfort in facts and statistics than guess work.

Mary has since told her that she is only prejudice against the subject because it was one that, for once, she did not immediately excel at.

Nevertheless, in the spirit of plesantries, Lily asked how her first class had been.

"Marvelous!" Mary grinned, her brown hair was coming undone from the tight bun it was typically pulled into, and her cheeks were tinted pink with exasperation. "We went to the Forbidden forest in attempt to talk to the Centaurs. They're very advanced in reading stars, you know. It's different that muggle astrology, of course. Though that Rolanda Peters from Hufflepuff insulted them by asking if it were the same. We were asked to leave after that. Madame Pengrave was not pleased. I believe she took 25 points from Hufflepuff for it."

"Ouch." Lily laughed. She had learned through the years that Centaurs were very proud creatures, and understood that if the class had been granted enough to just talk to them, it was a big achievment.

Marlene filed in after that, her blonde hair cascading down her back in waves, and falling into the seat beside them with little energy.

"You know, having free period first is probably the greatest thing I've chosen in all my years of schooling. An extra hour and a half of sleep? Yes, please." Marlene grinned, pulling her book from her bag and leaning against the back of the chair with ease.

"Where's Piper?" Lily asked. "I thought she had a free period as well."

"She did, ever the overachiever, she's been at the Quidditch pitch. I'd say she's more dedicated than Potter." Marlene explained. But without further wait, Piper scrambled into the room, taking the last available seat by the girls. It was only moments after that the bell rang, signaling the beginning of class, and miliseconds later, a tall, handsome-faced man, strolled into the room, wearing dark black robes, with short, messy brown hair, and dark brown eyes that surveyed them all intimidatingly.

Lily straightened in her seat unconsciously.

"Hellooo." Marlene whispered quietly, causing Lily to suppress a giggle.

"Good morning, class." He started. The class muttered back, not enthusiastically, as they typically did.

The man, who a moment before had turned to the chalkboard, turned back and examined them all with narrowed eyes.

"That was pathetic." He sighed. "Now, as your elder and your superior, I expect more respect. Lets try again? Good morning, class."

This time, with vigor, the class replied with a simple "Good morning, Professor."

"Better. We'll work on it." The professor shook his head, turned back to the board, and tapped his wand against it twice.

"Now, I am, Walter Aragon the Third, you will refer to me as Professor Aragon, or Sir, whichever you please." His name became etched across the board automatically. "You can put your books away, we wont be needing them."

Most of the class cheered, sliding their books back into their bags. Professor Aragon's expression of strictness did not falter, and the class silenced under his glare.

"Today we will talk about the rising threat to the Wizarding world." If the class wasn't silent before, this sentence brought it to the feeling as if a dementor had just entered the room. Chills grew up Lily's arms, and the only students who seemed to grow more attent were the Slytherins.

"Can anyone tell me who that is?" She asked.

A few people raised their hands, Augustus Avery, Severus Snape, and Howard Mulciber being three of them.

"You, boy." He pointed to Avery.

"Robert Avery." He introduced. "You're speaking of You-Know-Who. The Dark Lord, right, Sir?" Avery grinned mischievously.

"Wrong, Mr. Avery. While we might touch on the rise of You-Know-Who in this class, we have more pressing matters to attend to. Anyone else?"

Not a single hand was in the air.

"I'm talking, of course, about Muggles." Professor Aragon sighed. He stood from where he was previously leaning, casually, almost handsomely against his desk, and seemed to survey each student individualy as if to guage their reactions.

"Excuse me?" Lily blurted, utterly dumbfounded.

"Excuse Me, Miss...?"

"Evans." Lily filled for him, her chin trembling.

"Miss Evans, I would appreciate it if you'd raise your hand. But please, speak your mind."

"How can you possibly claim that Muggles are a threat-"

"Miss Evans, please, if I'm giving you the respect of letting you share your opinion with the class, I'd really appreciate it if you'd give me, again, your superior, the respect of not speaking to me in such insulting tones." He raised his eyebrows. "And although I will not allow you to continue talking to me in such ways, I will answer your question."

Lily felt her heart sink. She hadn't meant to insult their new Professor. Much of the class had "oooh"'ed, or laughed when Aragon had reprimanded her, as seeing Lily Evans reprimanded was not a common occurance. In fact, she was more comanly praised for her excelled scores. Lily sank into her chair.

"Muggles, Miss Evans, have been a threat to our society since our existance was clear to them. Witch hunts from the 1480's to the 1750's resulted in the deaths of nearly 100,000 humans, Magic or otherwise. Though those day's are overwith, since the Statue of Secrecy in 1692, they've been a threat to us furthermore, by dictating our freedoms." Aragon surveyed the class again. Lily couldn't help but notice the faint grins on the Slytherins faces.

"For as long as Muggles are - seemingly - unaware of our existance, we will forever have to put them before us." He continued. "We will forever have to worry about what a Muggle will think, or if they'll noticed what we are doing."

Lily raised her hand again, unable to help herself. Though Aragon met her eyes, he ignored her. Lily raised her hand more prominantly.

"We're forced to hide not only our ministry, our hospital, our schools, and our sporting events, but our lively hood as well. Our freedom to be able to do what we want, where we want, will forever be ruled by them, as long as the statue of secrecy remains in place."

Lily's hand did not falter, and Crooks speech only paused when James raised his hand as well.

"Yes, Mister...?"

"James Potter." He nodded to the new Professor. "I believe Miss Evans has a question."

Aragon looked, again, at Lily, then back to James. "She has lost her right to ask questions today, by insulting my notion."

Lily felt a lump form in her throat, both by anger and shame, as she dropped her hand back to her side, unthinkingly clenching it into a fist.

It wasn't too soon when the bell rang signaling the time for Lunch. Lily was the first one out of the room, fury rising in her chest.

"I can't believe Dumbledore would hire someone like him." She fumed as she stomped away from the classroom, the rest of the Gryffindors in her wake. "He's infuriating."

"He's insane." Agreed James, shaking his head.

"I can't believe he see's muggles as a threat." Lily continued. "A threat!" She repeated.

"He's rather handsome though, isn't he?" Mused Marlene, catching strides with Lily. She quickly backed down when Lily glared daringly at her.

"At least he didn't give us homework." Peter shrugged.

As the lunch period began, the N.E.W.T. students weren't the only ones talking about the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. It seemed the Slytherin and Hufflepuff 5th years had had Aragon during 1st period, and we're busy speading thoughts of the teacher to as many people that would listen. The Slytherins were speaking of praise, and the Hufflepuff's of disgust. It seemed the only thing the student body could agree on, was that Dumbledrore most have been getting old to overlook such an obvious personality flaw in their new Professor.

Thank you all so so much for the reviews on the last chapter, as well as everyone who added the story to their alerts/favorites! I was blown away by the feedback, you guys are awesome!

I know this chapter was a bit slow, but it was necessary. I tried to add in more, but nothing really fit. Next chapter will heat up again, promise. :) Keep the reviews coming! You all are amazing.

-Jen Riddle