#the cake incident looks messier than I imagined

[tracing-lines-in-the-infinite]

Watching the rwrb trailer 100 times on repeat was not enough I need to eat it

[dumbledoresaidcalmly]

The Last Enemy - James x Lily Fanfiction

Can be found at https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12637484/1/The-Last-Enemy 

Chapter 1 It was September 1st and sunlight streamed through the windows lining the ceiling of Platform 9 ¾. Lily Evans peered at her watch for the millionth time that minute. Knowing the following was inevitable, she gave another pleading look to her sister. Petunia Evans was glaring daggers at the people around her until she shifted her eyes to land on her sister’s. Knowing it was her final chance to patch things up, Lily spoke.

“Tuney,” she began with her childhood nickname, “I’m sorry. So unbelievably sorry! It was just an accident, I’m sure, and I would never let anything like that happen to you if I had known! I–”

Petunia scoffed. “It’s not about that! You stand there, thinking you’re so special going to school to learn and have magic while being around other people just like you!”

Lily paused at her sister’s words. She thought this was about the incident with Snape. But maybe it was something else, she couldn’t tell.

“…I’m sorry, Tuney, I’m sorry! Listen–” Lily grabbed Petunia’s inching away hand to better make a connection with her. “Maybe, once I’m there, I’ll be able to go to Professor Dumbledore and persuade him to change his mind!”

Petunia struggled to wrench her hand out of Lily’s grip. “I don’t–want–to–go!” she exclaimed. “You think I want to go to some stupid castle and learn to be a–a–you think I want to be a–a freak?” she finally spit out.

Lily felt her heart breaking; if she wasn’t close to tears before, she certainly was now. Petunia finally tugged her hand free. Lily was finally alone. “I’m not a freak. That’s a horrible thing to say,” she muttered.

“That’s where you’re going,” Petunia continued with relish, “A special school for freaks. You and that Snape boy… weirdos, that’s what the two of you are. It’s good you’re being separated from normal people. It’s for our safety.”

As Lily’s heart stung more with the cruel words, she looked for her parents. They were both standing a ways away, blissfully unaware of the two of them while they drank in the sights of the exciting wizarding community. She turned back to Petunia, gaining a new strength to defend herself and not be denounced by her sister.

“You didn’t think it was such a freak’s school when you wrote to the Headmaster and begged him to take you.” Lily retorted. Petunia’s face reddened.

“Beg? I didn’t beg!” she sputtered.

“I saw his reply. It was very kind.”

“You shouldn’t have read–That was was my private–how could you–?”

A memory flashed in Lily’s mind. She and Snape going into her room one day and finding a Hogwarts letter on her nightstand. They read it as an investigation. Knowing Snape was a few feet away, Lily glanced at her shared secret keeper as a force of habit. Petunia gasped.

“That boy found it! You and that boy have been sneaking in my room!”

“No, not sneaking! Severus saw that envelope, and he couldn’t believe a Muggle could have contacted Hogwarts, that’s all! He says there must be wizards working undercover in the postal service who take care of–”

“Apparently wizards poke their noses in everywhere!” Petunia exclaimed, her red face replaced to one of pale terror, “Freak!” she finally spat before fleeing to the familiarity of her parents. Lily stood for a moment, trying to gain control of her tears. ‘Put on a brave face’, she thought, ‘Just get on the train.’

Lily said goodbye to her parents as they sent her off with words of love and absolute pride for her. Petunia stayed away. The wizard conductor gave the final call for boarding and Lily wasted no time stepping onto the train, desperately needing a compartment to herself for a while.

Locating an empty car near the end of the train, she hastily entered and shut the door. Taking the seat nearest to the window, Lily rested her forehead against the cool glass overlooking the packed platform littered with wizard parents, and screeching owls. This is when she finally let her tears fall freely. Why didn’t Petunia love her anymore? She probably was a freak. Maybe she was making up her magic ability. It probably wasn’t real.

Outside the compartment, a group of first year boys blocked the door, shouting and talking excitedly about magic. Lily hated them for no reason. There was a sudden lurch as the train sprung to life. Lily brushed her tears away as the car door opened and someone from the cluster in the corridor poked his head in. A boy with a mess of dark black hair on his head and grey eyes met Lily’s green ones.

“Hey, mind if we join you?” he asked. Before Lily could respond, the door was opened further, letting three more first years join the boy in taking their seats. Lily found this kind of rude but brushed those thoughts aside, as she would have said yes to him anyway.

The grey eyed boy stuck his hand out for Lily to shake. “I’m Sirius by the way,” he said confidently. Lily took Sirius’ hand.

“I’m Lily. Pleased to meet you.” By now, the other boys had their attention on Lily.

The boy with a slimmer face and brown hair stuck his hand up in an awkward wave. “I’m Remus,” he greeted.

The boy with a messier head of hair than Sirius flamboyantly stretched across the compartment, extending his hand for Lily to shake. “James Potter,” he exclaimed.

Shaking James’ hand Lily looked to the last boy to introduce himself, who had mousy brown hair and was the shortest of the four.

“I’m Peter. Hello,” he mumbled sheepishly.

James took his hand away abruptly and started ruffling in his school trunk for something. The air was then draped in an unpleasant silence and Lily turned her head to again be leaning against the window. Remus, Peter and Sirius started discussing Quidditch teams which Lily listened halfheartedly, having heard of this briefly from Snape in one of their hang outs.

Sirius watched as James rummaged from his trunk. He gasped suddenly at something tucked just out of sight. “What are these?!” he gasped as he lunged for the stack of cards. James looked up to see what had been discovered. He smiled superiorly. “That’s only my collection of Chocolate Frog cards. I’ve gathered them for years and that’s not going to stop now that I’ve got school,” Sirius leafed through them excitedly. “There’s rare ones in there so don’t mess any of them up,” James warned. The onlooking Peter choked on air as he studied the deck.

“Morgana Le Fey and Herpo the Foul?! How’d you get these?” Peter asked.

“I got talent,” James bragged.

“Stole them off some bloke, more like it,” Sirius stared in disbelief.

“And, look,” James grabbed a second deck from in his trunk. “Mint condition Merlin.” James had become a god… In the vaguest of senses. Remus had disappeared some time ago behind a copy of ‘How Not To Blow Off Your Fingers On The First Day’ by Julius Gummidge.

The compartment door opened and a cheerful old woman peered in with a welcome, “Anything from the trolley, dears?”

“One chocolate cauldron, please,” Peter asked politely, handing over the sickles to pay.

Sirius fished out a few sickles and knuts and handed them to the lady. “Licorice wand and pumpkin pasties please,” he ordered curtly.

Remus and James both paid for Chocolate Frogs and Bertie Bott’s Every Flavored Beans. When the trolley lady looked to Lily if she wanted anything, she politely refused with a shake of her head. After the compartment door was closed again, comfortable silence started as the boys ate their sweets. These were only fueling the sugar high that soon took over all of them. Sirius and James ended up in a wrestling match, one which Sirius was winning but James wasn’t having any of that. Remus disappeared back into his book and Peter chowed down on his cauldron cake and watched James and Sirius be entertaining. Lily stayed with her face towards the window, keeping out of unwanted attention for the moment.

Watching the sunny countryside pass, Petunia crept back into focus in Lily’s mind. Her sister hated her. There was nothing she could do to change that, no matter what. It was hopeless. Lily faintly heard footsteps stop suddenly outside the compartment. The door swept open and closed and Severus Snape took his seat directly across from her. Glancing at him, she could only imagine what the obvious tear streaks on her face looked like to him.

“I don’t want to talk to you,” Lily said in a constricted tone.

“Why not?” was all he could ask.

Speaking to Severus made Lily delve back to her problems she wanted to ignore above all others. She took a shuddery breath, “Tuney h–hates me. Because we saw that letter from Dumbledore.”

“So what?” Severus asked in such genuine nonchalant that made Lily angry. She glared at him.

“So she’s my sister!” she snapped at him. Lily wiped her cheeks with the back of her hand, careful to not give telltale signs of crying from the other people in the carriage with them. Severus said something else, but Lily didn’t want to hear any defense from him.

“But we’re going!” Severus pointed out to her. “This is it! We’re off to Hogwarts!” his excitement was impossible to ignore and it got an optimistic look from Lily despite her awful mood. Severus saw that slight change and relaxed, glad to be free of the tension between them. “You’d better be in Slytherin,” he added with a new confidence in him.

When that comment reached the ears of the others in the compartment, the James boy swiveled around to give it full attention. “Who wants to be in Slytherin? I think I’d leave, wouldn’t you?” he asked the question to Sirius across from him.

“My whole family have been in Slytherin,” Sirius replied with no smile reaching his face.

“Blimey, and I thought you seemed all right!”

“Maybe I’ll break the tradition,” Sirius smiled at the idea. “Where are you heading, if you’ve got the choice?”

James answered by raising an invisible sword heroically in victory. “‘Gryffindor, where dwell the brave at heart!’ Like my dad.”

Severus scoffed slightly which made James turn on him. “Got a problem with that?” he demanded.

“No,” he answered with a noticeable sneer that said otherwise, “If you’d rather be brawny than brainy-”

“Where’re you hoping to go, seeing as you’re neither?” Sirius slyly asked.

James let out a howl of laughter which was the cue for Lily to leave the compartment with Severus. She stood up and glared at James and Sirius who were laughing with the other two of their entourage. “Come on, Severus, let’s find another compartment.” she said hotly.

“Oooooooooo…” James and Sirius drawled in high voices, imitating Lily. James stuck out his leg to trip Severus on his way out. Before the compartment could close, Peter suddenly called out, “See ya, Snivellus!” with an air of confidence.

Lily slammed the doors shut on the boys and laughter erupted from inside.

“So. Where’s your seat?” she asked Severus.

“Just follow me.”

The two ended up in a carriage with a couple of Ravenclaws. After idle small talk, Lily and Severus sat comfortably in each other’s company. The train ride from that point was pleasant as the thought of the terrible group of boys was pushed away as the excitement of the new year flooded the mind.

When Lily changed into her school robes, it was dark outside and Hogwarts could be seen faintly in the distance. The Hogwarts Express was rushing over grassy fields freshly dewed from mid-day showers so it sparkled extravagantly in the moonlight, replacing Lily’s nervousness with pure astonishment. The train came to a stop and Severus and Lily stepped onto the stoney path ahead of them hand in hand as they looked at the massive figure calling out, “Firs’ years! Firs’ years follow me!” holding a large lantern the size of a large owl cage.

The giant man led all the new students down a narrow downhill path that led to the edge of an enormous lake. From there, the Hogwarts castle was in full view and everyone marveled at it. Perched on a mountain on the opposite side of the lake, the glinting lights from within shining like stars, the castle seemed like a dream.

“Only four in a boat!” instructed the towering man.

Lily and Severus got in one of the boats followed by two other girls. The train group Lily met before all filed loudly in a boat thankfully a ways away from theirs. Once everyone was filed into boats, they pushed off from the shore onto the mirror still water. No one spoke except for the obvious few.

“Excuse me, sir! But, what do people call you? And why are we following you blindly?” James asked bluntly.

The giant man looked mildly surprised at this question, as if no first year ever had the courage to ask someone so intimidating anything. His eyes twinkled with the opportunity to meet someone truly interested. “The name’s Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts. Yeh can all call me Hagrid. An’ I’m in charge of gettn’ all yeh firs’ years to the castle fer sortin’!” he introduced. There was silence once more.

“So, if you’re the groundskeeper, you tend to the lake as well?” James asked again.

“Tha’s right.”

“Is it true there’s a giant squid living down there?”

“Ah… yes.”

“When was the last time it ate a student?”

“Never, I don’ think”

“Perfect. A new feat,” James beamed optimistically. With a jolt, he faked lunged at Peter, causing him to panic and lurch the boat to be dangerously close to capsizing. Neighboring boats burst out laughing, making the tension melt away as the students passed under a huge cliff, through a curtain of ivy, and through a dark tunnel that led to an underground harbor right underneath the castle.

Everyone clamoured up a pebbled path that led to huge oak doors. They were finally here. Lily squeaked with excitement. When Hagrid went up to the castle doors and knocked three times, they opened immediately to reveal a tall, slender, dark haired witch deemed in robes of a dull scarlet that matched her pointed hat. The few murmuring students fell silent since this witch was hardly one to be messed with.

“Hagrid,” the witch addressed. “I commend you for your punctuality, but there is no need to arrive so close to the wire.”

“Terribly sorry, Professor McGonagall, it won’ happen again.”

“Thank you very much. I’ll take them from here.”

With a sweeping hand, Professor McGonagall ushered everyone into a high ceilinged entrance hall that was a spectacle all in itself. There was faint chattering coming from a tall doorway on the right of the hall and another surge of excitement and anxiousness flew up and down Lily’s spine; the feeling continued while entering a small, cramped room. The Professor appeared at the head of the crowd.

“Welcome to Hogwarts. The start of term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your houses. The Sorting is-” Lily internally sighed at the introduction, having heard the gist of the speech from Severus over the summer when asking the countless questions about the wizarding world. Still, she kept steady eye contact, fearing that any actions committed might ruin her chances of entering the school.

“-the Sorting Ceremony will take place in front of the school in a few minutes. I suggest you all compose yourselves beforehand,” McGonagall made her way towards the door. “I shall come back when we’re ready for you. Please wait quietly.” And she left.

Lily rocked back and forth, looking up at the ceiling, smoothed out her robes, trying to steel herself for the ceremony.

“Are you nervous?” Severus whispered beside her.

“A bit, yeah,” she swallowed. Her heart was beating with anticipation. “It’s just a hat, right?”

“Yeah, just a hat,” Severus reassured.

Others around them were marveling at the few portraits on the wall, shrieked with surprise when they spoke to them and were too shy to speak back. One particular student, Lily saw, was staring fixedly at the ground, willing himself not to be sick. She figured she’d be the same if she never had met Sev.

“Yeah, whatever the test is, I’m gonna be ready for it,” James could be heard in the corner of the room. “I’ve watched my dad do all kinds of spells before. But if it’s some pop quiz or something, I’m sure I can get out of it.”

Before any retort could be made back to James, the doors opened to reveal Professor McGonagall again.

“The Sorting Ceremony is about to begin,” she announced. “Form yourselves in a line and follow me.”

Eager students filed in a single line as the Professor lead them to a set of heavy double doors. With Lily in tow behind Severus, peered up to the elevated platform where all the teachers seemed to be sitting. And on a rickety stool, the center of attention was on a brown, patched, pointed hat. Students jumped as the hat sprung to life, opening a rip above the brim like a yawning mouth. To the first year’s bewilderment, the hat started to sing:

“Here I sit with all attention

pointed right on me

and soon I’ll tell with much delight,

of what I can foresee.

I am the Sorting Hat of Hogwarts.

Why? That’s shown quite clearly

Step yourself up to this stool And your mind will work just plainly.

For in your mind, there is a secret

Of what? I can’t be sure.

But I can find them

And I can tell you what you have in store.

Is your heart filled to burst with kindness

and you think you’ve had enough?

Then I would think the perfect House

is dear, great Hufflepuff.

Or maybe you are cunning

and your drive is more than most.

Then I will welcome hither in

for you belong in Slytherin.

But if your mind is strong

And you’re unafraid to speak your flaws

then you value the gift of learning

and you’re true House is the one of Ravenclaw

Or you are brave and mighty

with courage to settle any score

You certainly show chivalry

Then you’re destined to be in Gryffindor

Please try not to be alarmed

And also try not to get upset

For I am the Sorting Hat and you will see

that I’ll leave you with no regret.

Come sit upon my chair

I can assure there’ll be no mishap

Let me welcome you to Hogwarts

For I’m their Thinking Cap!”

The hall erupted in applause and cheers and the hat gave hefty bows to each student table before appearing motionless again. Lily’s cheeks hurt from smiling. She couldn’t have thought of anything more enjoyable than that performance. But a knot formed prominently in her throat when she saw McGonagall standing next to the Sorting Hat with a large scroll that she knew her name was on.

“When I call your name, come sit on the stool to be sorted,” McGonagall stated to the waiting crowd. “Armando, William.”

A young boy with full baby cheeks stepped up to the hat and sat prominently into attention. The hat was lowered onto his head, getting caught by his large ears. There was a pause from the hat.

“RAVENCLAW!” the hat shouted.

The table to the immediate right of the center of the hall cheered loudly. The young William scurried to his new classmates.

“Black, Sirius.” McGonagall called.

Lily saw in her peripheral vision Sirius tense up. James and Remus clapped him encouragingly on the back. Peter gave an optimistic smile. Sirius sat on the stool and the hat sat on his head.

“GRYFFINDOR!” the hat immediately bellowed.

It took a moment, but a shell-shocked Sirius Black stumbled off the stool, flashed a grin to the other first years, and sat grateful at the Gryffindor table.

Realizing that she would soon be called, a terrifying thought crossed Lily’s mind. What was she supposed to think about when she had the hat on the head. That wasn’t stated clearly in the beginning introductions. Or it was and she just missed it. Panic flooded through Lily once more as she searched her mind for something to think about for the Sorting Hat. She looked to Severus and used him as her anchor for her nerves. Lily also peered around her at the different tables, looking at the different students. The older ones seemed nice. She really didn’t have to be intimidated at all. This school seemed forgiving and welcoming to all. There was even a boy in green robes with long, platinum blond hair. She thought he looked ridiculous and so Lily looked away quickly to avoid letting out a snicker.

“Evans, Lily.”

Jostled back to present, Lily managed a small grin as she stepped to the stool despite her shaking legs. When the hat came down on her head she thought a simple “Hello.”

The hat barely sat there a second before bellowing, “GRYFFINDOR!”

The table that had welcomed Sirius burst in applause and Lily made her way to her House. Looking back to Severus, he gave her fleeting smile which she returned; he seemed disappointed with Lily not being in Slytherin. She wanted to make it up to him somehow.

The Sorting continued and Lily had a ways to wait for the “S” last names so she could cheer on Severus. Name after name was called on Professor McGonagall’s list. After the name “Longbottom” went to Hufflepuff, Remus Lupin from the train was called. Sitting on the stool, the Sorting Hat crisply shouted “GRYFFINDOR!” and he made it to the table to meet Sirius’ high five. There was a “McDonald” and a “McKinnon” both to Gryffindor, “Nelson” to Ravenclaw, “Nobson” to Slytherin, and all the rest of the Sortings went quickly and efficiently. Until Peter Pettigrew.

The hat sat on his head silently, an internal pleading and struggle was plain on Peter’s face. After a few minutes, the hat bellowed “GRYFFINDOR!” and Peter collapsed at his new House table. Remus and Sirius gave him pats of congratulations. There was murmuring around the other tables. Lily heard the word “hatstall” being passed around.

The next sorting worth mentioning was the frivolous James Potter. He strode up to the hat with the utmost confidence and determination, seemingly charged on adrenaline alone. The hat spoke out “GRYFFINDOR!” before even grazing his head. James left the stool and gave a fist to the air in triumph. Sirius, Remus, and Peter cheered deafeningly as James sat at the table. Lily couldn’t help but smile at the cheeriness of the group.

Skipping a few, and McGonagall finally called “Snape, Severus.” Lily leaned forward and hoped that whatever happened, her friend would be happy in whatever House he was Sorted in. Thankfully, as soon as the hat met Sev’s head, it bellowed “SLYTHERIN!” and he quickly sat at his table. Lily and Severus met eyes and smiled from across the room but there was a bitter sweetness between them. The Sorting quickly ended and there was a gentle murmuring of voices across the hall. Most of the first years were discussing being starved. Lily overheard a few of her new housemates talking.

“I’m so hungry, I could eat a horse.”

“Don’t you mean a unicorn?”

“Don’t be stupid, James.”

“You’re right, I can do better.”

The crowd fell silent as a man at the head of the elevated table with a long white beard and half moon glasses. He spoke confidently.

“Welcome,” he began. “to a brand new year at Hogwarts! This year will, in no doubt, be better than the last! Let us all enjoy our feast!” And with a wave of his hand, the golden plates set in front of students in the hall were stacked to tipping point with food of the greatest variety. All the first years gaped and soon began loading their dishes to their heart’s content. Hurriedly, Lily stacked some mashed potatoes and roasted turkey onto her plate and began pushing away from the table when a voice interrupted her.

“My dear lady, where are you headed off to?”

Turning, Lily jumped at the sight of an actual ghost in a ruffled collar speaking to her. “-I was just going to-” Lily could only point in the general direction of Severus at the Slytherin table.

The ghost gave her a regretful look. “I’m sorry to say, you’re only permitted to eat at your House table with all of your comrades.” Lily nodded briefly and the ghost gave her a curt nod before passing right through her. Lily shivered as the feeling of cold water being poured over her head passed. She absent mindedly sat back at her spot and stared blankly at her food, deciding on what just happened.

“Honestly, you couldn’t tell at all. Everyone’s sure to look nervous when they step up.”

“Yeah, but my knees shook the chair,” The girl across the table fretted. “My large, door knob knees.”

“Alice, you’re worrying too much. At least you were sorted!” The battling voice assured Alice.

“Yeah, I guess. I mean, I’m in Gryffindor. Can you imagine? Me, all tall and honorable? I only thought Gryffindor were full of themselves, at least that’s what my mum always said, being from Ravenclaw and all that.”

“Some of that’s still true,” a third voice added in. She nodded her head over to a couple Gryffindor boys sticking hands and utensils through unsuspecting headless horsemen ghosts. Lily joined in with the other girls’ giggling.

“They’re supposed to be older than us, aren’t they?” Lily casually jibed.

“Quite right. But, at least there’s proof we won’t die of boredom at this school,” The first girl agreed. She turned to Lily. “Hi, I’m Marlene.”

“I’m Lily,” she smiled.

Alice had started running her hands through the blond hair draped over her shoulder. “I’m Alice.”

“I’m Mary,” said the voice from down the table.

“Happy first day,” Lily greeted.

“‘Tis a fine evening to be sure,” The ghost was back. “Especially with an excellent grouping of new Gryffindors like yourselves.”

“I bet you say that every year, Sir Nicholas,” Marlene said.

“That’s because it’s true every year.” Sir Nicholas decided as he glided away. As he was leaving, Alice leaned after him.

“It was nice to meet you!” she called.

Afterwards, there was a comfortable silence between the little group that resulted in Lily’s ears drifting farther up the table.

“I can’t believe it,” Peter gasped. “I bet I looked like a right git sitting there. In front of Dumbledore too! The Albus Dumbledore!”

“Aw, Pete. It’s not that bad. I’m just glad that we get to keep you around,” Sirius tried to console.

“But he’s a legend! I’d give anything to know what he thinks of me.”

“I wouldn’t worry about it. He’s been at this school for so long, every student probably looks the same to him,” James reassured cooly, popping an apple wedge in his mouth.

“And if he doesn’t take to you, I’ll bet he’ll get you like he did Grindelwald,” Sirius snickered.

“Bet that’d be a laugh, wouldn’ it?”

“It’d really be something to see them close this school. But that’d probably wouldn’t  happen even then.” Remus exclaimed.

“Good to know I mean that much,” Peter grumbled feebly.

“Come now, Pete. You’re our pal now! You’re already part of our new team,” James said cheerily.

“What do we need a team for?” Remus asked.

“Rames, we have the opportunity of a lifetime here! Imagine it, all four of us ruling the school by 7th year. We’ve got to start early to make our mark as soon as possible. And you lucky lads have been chosen by me to help on my conquest,” James exclaimed.

“Whatever you want, mate.” Sirius conceded.

“No take backs,” James stated as Remus and Peter nodded in agreement with Sirius.

Lily picked up her glass and wondered about that group. James seemed to be full of himself. But, with one taste of her drink, he was pushed from her mind.

The feast ended with the rich desserts being cleared from each golden plate and the Hall was still fresh with new friendships being made. Dumbledore stood up once again.

“Before you all depart to your respected Houses, I have a few start-of-term notices to announce,” the entire hall was silent. “First years, you shall note that the forest on Hogwarts grounds is forbidden to enter. And if you’re an older student of Hogwarts, let this be your reminder.

“Secondly, I’ve been reminded by our caretaker, Mr. Apollyon Pringle, that there will be no wandering the corridors after hours and no magic is to be used between classes in the corridors.”

“And finally, Quidditch trials will be held in the second week of the term. Anyone who’s interested in trying out and playing for their house teams should contact Madame Hooch.

“Now, all of you, off to bed!” Dumbledore declared with a wide sweep of his hands and a wide grin on his face. The hall erupted with cheers.

The Head Girl and Boy of Gryffindor started leading the first years away towards their bed chambers. Lily purposely strayed to the back of the line and scanned the crowd of students for Severus.

“Hey Lily, are you coming?” Mary asked.

“I’ll catch up with you later!” Lily yelled back.

Lily finally saw Severus walking with the other Slytherins. They made eye contact and ducked together in the passing crowds.

“Hi,” Lily started awkwardly.

“Hey,” Severus said uneasily.

“Listen, I’m sorry that I’m not in the same House as you. There’s really no control over it.”

Severus held up his hands abruptly. “It’s okay. We can still hang out all the time… Slytherin and Gryffindor have a few classes together so we can still see each other.”

Lily sighed in relief at the reassurance. “I’m glad. I thought you’d think differently of me.”

“I’d never think badly about you, Lily.” Severus stated sincerely.

“Aw, Sev you’re the best.” Lily concluded. “I gotta go catch up with the others. I’ll see you later!” And Lily ran off, leaving Severus with a smile so big that hurt.

Lily followed the remaining crowd of Gryffindors down a hallway that led deeper into the castle. She was in the midst of upperclassman so she nimbly skirted back to the first years and landed right next to Mary.

“There you are! I was afraid you’d miss the password handouts.”

The mass of students made it to an open stairwell with giant, looming, stone steps leading to different landings. One of the leading voices instructed the students from ahead.

“Keep an eye on the moving staircases. They have that name for a reason. Please know where you’re going. Don’t get lost.” the Head Girl directed.

Better said than done, of course. Lily thought.

The first years were led to a portrait that touched the ceiling and floor. In the portrait was a woman in a pink, lace dress placed in front of an exotic background. Like the portraits from the waiting room, she came to life.

“Password?” she asked.

“Nether Wart,” The Head boy answered and the portrait swung forward to reveal the Gryffindor common room, a cozy, round tower room warmly lit with crackling firelight from the fireplaces; light bouncing off the overstuffed couches and chairs in the room.

“Hello all first years! My name is Claire Switch, your Gryffindor Head Girl for this year.”

“And I’m Head Boy, Michael Mcconville. If any of you have questions at all this year about schedules or where your classes are, come to us.”

“Now, we were fortunate to not run into him, but I advise you all to steer clear of Peeves the Poltergeist. But if Peeves does run into you, and you’ll know it because he’ll be throwing things at you, just ignore him.”

“Just letting you know about that. Now, girls dormitories are to your right and boys to your left. You’ll get your schedules first thing tomorrow morning. We’ll wake you up tomorrow in time for breakfast.”

“Sleep well!” Claire said before leaving, being trailed by Michael.

“Hey Marlene, can I bunk next to you?” Lily asked once everyone filed into their bedroom tower.

“Sure, of course.” Marlene yawned before sprawling on her poster bed.

Lily claimed her bed and pulled her curtains shut after poking her head out to bid a quick goodnight to her Gryffindor friends. She dug in her trunk from the side of her bed and pulled out one of her new quills, a parchment, and an ink bottle and started a letter to her parents.

Dear Mum and Dad,

I’m writing like I promised I would! Hogwarts is absolutely spectacular and I can tell that school’s going to be a blast. The train ride was lovely and I’m very safe and comfortable, so there’s no need to worry. I got sorted into Gryffindor house and I think I’ve made new friends already. Severus sends his love. I’ll write to you as often as I can. Tell Petunia I miss her.

Lots of Love, Lily

Lily knew that her parents would like a longer update on the last few hours but it was the best she could manage against her worsening fatigue. She tucked the letter on top of the heap currently in her trunk and got under the covers to finally conclude her first night at Hogwarts.

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Two-factor authentication is a mess

For years, two-factor authentication has been the most important advice in personal cybersecurity — one that consumer tech companies were surprisingly slow to recognize. The movement seemed to coalesce in 2012, after journalist Mat Honan saw hackers compromise his Twitter, Amazon, and iCloud accounts, an incident he later detailed in Wired. At the time, few companies offered easy forms of two-factor, leaving limited options for users worried about a Honan-style hack. The result was a massive public campaign that demanded companies to adopt the feature, presenting two-factor as a simple, effective way to block account takeovers.

Five years later, the advice is starting to wear thin. Nearly all major web services now provide some form of two-factor authentication, but they vary greatly in how well they protect accounts. Dedicated hackers have little problem bypassing through the weaker implementations, either by intercepting codes or exploiting account-recovery systems. We talk about two-factor like aspirin — a uniform, all-purpose fix that’s straightforward to apply — but the reality is far more complex. The general framework still offers meaningful protection, but it’s time to be honest about its limits. In 2017, just having two-factor is no longer enough.

For much of the last five years, the center of the campaign for two-factor has been twofactorauth.org, a site run by Carl Rosengren that’s dedicated to naming and shaming any product that doesn’t offer two-factor. At a glance, it can tell you which sites offer more than just a password login, and offers you an easy way to tweet at companies that don’t. Today, the site sends out hundreds of thousands of shaming tweets a day.

The campaign seems to have worked; nearly every company now offers some form of two-factor. Netflix is the biggest holdout — “I feel like I should buy a cake or something when that happens,” Rosengren says. Late adopters like Amazon and BitBucket have caved to demands, and every single VPN or cryptocurrency product listed by the site offers two-factor. The only email services without it are obscure players like Migadu and Mail.com. There are still a few problem sectors like airlines and banks, but most services have gotten the message: consumers want two-factor. If you don’t offer it, they’ll find a service that does.

But victory has been messier than anyone expected. There are dozens of different varieties of two-factor now, expanding far beyond the site’s ability to catalog them. Some send verification codes over SMS text, while others use email or more hardened verification apps like Duo and Google Auth. For $18, you can get a special USB drive to serve as your second factor, supported by most major services. It’s one of the most secure options available, as long as you don’t lose it. Beyond hardware, services can deposit long strings of code that provide an effectively invisible second factor — provided no one intercepts it in transit. Some of these methods are easier to hack than others, but even sophisticated users often can’t tell you which is better. For a while, TwoFactorAuth tried to keep up with which services were better or worse. Eventually, there were just too many.

“If it’s hard for us to evaluate the hundreds of two-factor services,” Rosengren says, “I can’t begin to imagine how hard it would be for a consumer.”

The promise of two-factor began to unravel early on. By 2014, criminals targeting Bitcoin services were finding ways around the extra security, either by intercepting software tokens or more elaborate account-recovery schemes. In some cases, attackers went after phone carrier accounts directly, setting up last-minute call-forwarding arrangements to intercept codes in transit. Drawn by the possibility of thousand-dollar payouts, criminals were willing to go further than the average hacker. The attacks continue to be a real issue for Bitcoin users: just last month, entrepreneur Cody Brown lost $8,000 through a Verizon customer support hack.

Outside of Bitcoin, it’s become clear that most two-factor systems don’t stand up against sophisticated users. Documents published this month by The Intercept show Russian groups targeting US election officials had a ready-made plan for accounts with two-factor, harvesting confirmation codes using the same methods they used to grab passwords. In another case reported by Symbolic Software founder Nadim Kobeissi, a maliciously registered device let attackers break through a target’s two-factor protection even after the system had been reset.

In most cases, the problem isn’t two-factor itself, but everything around it. If you can break through anything next to that two-factor login — whether it’s the account-recovery process, trusted devices, or the underlying carrier account — then you’re home free.

Two-factor’s trickiest weak point? Wireless carriers. If you can compromise the AT&T, Verizon, or T-Mobile account that supports a person’s phone number, you can usually hijack any call or text that’s sent to them. For mobile apps like Signal, which are tied entirely to a given phone number, it can be enough to hijack the entire account. At the same time, carriers have been among the slowest to adopt two-factor, with most preferring easily bypassed PINs or even flimsier security questions. With two networks controlling the bulk of the market, there’s been little incentive to compete on security.

At the same time, it’s proven difficult to kill off particular types of two-factor even after they’re shown to be insecure. The National Institute of Standards and Technology quietly withdrew support for SMS-based two-factor in August, pointing to the risk of interception or spoofing, but tech companies have been slow to respond. If anything, services are relying more on SMS as Twitter and PayPal look to tie accounts more closely to phone numbers. It’s less secure, but easier to use. As long as it’s two-factor, few account holders know the difference.

“We’ve seen a check-box approach,” says Marc Boroditsky, who builds two-factor systems for third-party companies at Twilio, “saying ‘now we have two-factor authentication so we’re okay. Move on.’”

The rush to check that box has led to usability problems as well as security problems. Boroditsky points to Apple’s iCloud system, which came under fire after easily guessed account-recovery questions enabled the mass theft of nude photos in 2014. Meanwhile, under a recent Apple policy, losing your Recovery Key and forgetting your password was enough to permanently lock a user out of their AppleID account, something that caused real problems for some users.

In some ways, the two problems feed into each other, with publicized hacks inspiring tighter and harder-to-use policies that drive more users back to standard logins, thus inspiring more hacks. “Look at how complicated and messy it is for, say, Apple,” Boroditsky says. “If they don’t take a much more comprehensive approach, they end up becoming responsible for downstream consequences.” (Apple did not respond to a request for comment.)

Google is one of the few services that lets you actively disallow weaker tokens like SMS, although it’s only available for G Suite enterprise customers. Under that system, an admin can set the two-factor policy for their whole organization, banning insecure tokens or forcing all the users on a given domain to use a specific login method. But that only works when there’s an administrator to set policies and talk users through any resulting problems. It’s not clear how you make a policy like that work for the billion people using standard Gmail — and so far, Google hasn’t been eager to try it out.

“One of the truths we’ve found is that people won’t accept more security than they think they need,” says Mark Risher, who manages Google’s identity systems, including two-factor products. “As a large-scale consumer internet provider, we want to find that right balance.”

None of this means two-factor is pointless, but it isn’t the silver bullet that it seemed to be in 2012. Adding an authentication code hardens the login page, but smart attackers will just find another angle of approach, whether it’s a carrier account, a preregistered device, or just a customer service department that’s a little too eager to reset the password. Those weak points are the real measure of how secure an account is, but they’re impossible to spot from the outside. The result is that, if you’re looking for the chat app that’s hardest to hijack, it’s hard for even sophisticated users to know what to look for.

As the industry moves beyond two-factor, security is only getting harder to size up. The new focus is on threat detection, drawing on dozens of ambient signals like device fingerprinting and on-page behavior to determine whether a given login warrants extra scrutiny. A suspicious enough string of logins might trigger an account freeze or require a phone call to customer service before the subject can proceed. “The problem is that one-size-fits-all doesn’t work,” says Boroditsky. “So going to a detection-vs.-prevention model is more likely to succeed in the long run.” It’s a good way to catch criminals, particularly for companies like Facebook and Google with world-class machine learning divisions and oceans of data for training algorithms, but it’s nearly impossible to judge from the outside.

The result pushes users back to an old status quo, before the iPhone or even the internet: enterprise admins are outgunning consumer offerings again, and security is something to be entrusted to experts in a lab somewhere. It’s not bad news, necessarily: threat detection makes accounts safer, just like two-factor. But unlike two-factor, there’s no way for users to tell if the system is working or if there’s a stronger system to push for.

That shift leaves users in a difficult place. “Get two-factor” is still good advice, but it’s not enough. Worse, it’s not clear how to fill the gap. What do you tell someone who’s worried about seeing the contents of their inbox published on WikiLeaks? There’s no simple fix for such a threat, no one step that will keep you protected. The surprising thing is that, for a few years, it seemed like there was.

Ref:https://www.theverge.com/2017/7/10/15946642/two-factor-authentication-online-security-mess