"How is he?" Lily Evans asked James Potter on the Hogwarts Express to their seventh year. "I know he's got to be taking it really hard."  

"Of course he's taking it hard," James replied, "We're all still sort of shocked. I mean, who would've thought that she was under the Imperius Curse? And by you-know-who, nonetheless!"  

"I know," she agreed, "I didn't see it coming. She just seemed so happy..."  

"Yeah, she seemed happy when she was herself," he said, fiddling with the handle on the cabin's door.  

"You didn't answer my question, James," Lily noted.  

"Last I saw him he had long hair and was in a distinctively crappy mood," he responded grouchily.  

"When was that?" she questioned.  

"Yesterday."  

"Oh."  

"Yeah."  

Suddenly, the door slid open and Remus Lupin stepped in, looking particularly exhausted. "Hello," he greeted gloomily, "Either of you seen Sirius around?"  

"No," they both responded simultaneously.  

Remus grimaced. "I was rather afraid of that. I figured you would, though, considering he lives with you-"  

"Lived," James interrupted, "Past tense, as in not now, no longer, ancient history."  

"Oh," Remus muttered, "So, where does he live now?"  

"Bought a house with some gold from his uncle, Alphard," James replied, "Got disowned for it, too."

"His uncle?" Lily asked, shocked.  

"Yeah," James said, "Something about how he helped a runaway blood traitor or something, which would make him a blood traitor, so he was disowned."  

"Poor Alphard..." Lily sighed.  

"Poor Padfoot," James countered, "His family's seriously messed up."  

Remus sat down across from Lily, who was sitting beside James, and he eyed their hands closely...were they touching? It was a simple gentle brush of the fingertips, but neither of them pulled away. They didn't even seem to notice.  

Suddenly, the door slid open again, and they all turned their gazes towards the tall boy standing there with short black hair and sad grey eyes.  

Lily stood up quickly and greeted, "Sirius."  

Sirius grimaced at them and said, "Good morning. Don't you all look...well, quite frankly like zombies."  

"You cut your hair," James noted.  

Sirius shrugged. "It was too long."  

He sat down next to Remus and Lily sat back down.  

"I hope you don't mind my asking," she said, "But how did you get in here? It's the Prefects' cabin. Not just anyone can walk in here."  

"I sneaked in past the conductor who was busy talking to some weirdo parents concerned about the cabins' luggage capacity or something," he explained, "Nobody noticed me, so..."  

"What about Wormtail?" James asked.  

Sirius looked around. "He was right behind me!" he chuckled, "Guess he couldn't get by the conductor. Oh, well."  

James, Lily, and Remus all stared at each other for a moment. Sirius noticed and asked, "Did I miss something here?"  

After a quick look at the other two, James replied, "No. Nothing at all."  

"Great," Sirius said, "Because I have a couple of ideas that you might be interested in, involving the map... I think I know how we can do it."  

James and Remus smiled at each other. "How?" they asked in unison.  

"A map?" Lily questioned confusedly.  

"It's really advanced stuff," Sirius continued, "But I think we can handle it."  

"Oh, we can handle it," James agreed, smirking.  

"What map?" Lily asked again.  

"We're going to need a lot of parchment for testing, and a hell of a lot of ink," Sirius explained, "It's just to be safe, so we're going to have to go to Hogsmeade really soon and get some."  

"What map?" Lily demanded.  

"A magical map that me, Prongs, Moony, and Wormtail have been planning since the beginning of last year. It's highly advanced and will only work for people who know the password. Oh, and it will do absolutely no good to society and probably do more harm than anything," Sirius informed, "For God's sake, Lily, keep up!"  

And, against her will and better judgment, she smiled.

"You may think me ugly,  

But I don't really care,  

I know something that you don't,  

I can feel it in the air.  

Every day it grows much closer,  

It's just a feeling from within,  

But I'd know that feeling anywhere,  

A feeling so akin,  

There's a storm coming soon,  

And it won't be the last,  

Something big and dangerous,  

And it is coming fast.  

There's nothing you can do to stop it,  

It will come no matter what,  

So my advice to you,  

Is to not keep your doors all shut.  

You must stand together,  

Find the strength that lies within,  

For when this nasty storm comes,  

A war shall soon begin."

"What a strange song for the Sorting Hat to sing," Lily said to Remus on their nightly patrol, "Don't you agree?"  

"Definitely mindboggling," Remus agreed, "How does he-she-it come up with this stuff?"  

"That's beside the point!" she snapped, "Don't you get it? The Hat knows what's coming. He-she-it tried to warn us and nobody understands that it isn't a joke!"  

"Does that really matter?" Remus asked, "I mean, the Hat has predicted stuff like this before and there's never been anything really that bad. We shouldn't get too worked up about this."  

"I just think that the Hat actually meant something this time," she muttered, "Mark my words, there will be some sort of-"  

"What?" Remus demanded, "Some sort of what?"  

"I don't know," she retorted, "But something bad is going to happen, I just know it. I have this feeling like all those Muggles, and the Muggle-borns like me, and all the people who have suddenly just disappeared or died-"  

"Like Rowan?" he asked.  

She stopped. "Yes, exactly like Rowan."  

"What about them?"  

"I have this feeling like they were just the beginning," she explained dreamily, "There will be some sort of bigger thing and it will make its mark on history. A big, black mark in the wizarding world, and we won't be able to do anything about it."  

"You're just a constant downer, aren't you?"  

"It's just a feeling," she said, "That's all it is, Remus. A feeling."  

"A pretty disturbing feeling, if you ask me," he muttered, "We'd better get back to the common room."

"Yeah," she agreed.  

They walked towards the Grand Staircase, deep in thought of a war that they didn't even know for sure would ever actually come.  

All they had was a strange but confident and undeniable feeling.