It was a typical, lazy summer morning in Cokeworth. A gentle breeze blew through the trees in the park, and the sun shone on lines of identical terraced houses. One would expect peace and calm on such a morning.

"MUM! WHERE THE HELL IS MY HERBOLOGY BOOK? AND HAS ANYONE SEEN MY GREEN SPOTTED SOCKS?" A loud yell ripped through the air as Lily Evans rushed down the stairs, her long red hair blowing wildly round her face. She rushed into the kitchen, still in her pyjamas. Her mother looked at her warily over her mug of steaming hot coffee.

"Your Herbology book is in your trunk, where you put it last night, and I have no idea where your socks might be. It's probably best if you have breakfast and get dressed, darling. It's half past nine, and-"

"What?" Lily exclaimed in shock "I thought I had ages! We've got to be at the station at eleven sharp, Mum!" She ran over to the toaster and put some bread in, then ran upstairs to get dressed. Her room was unnaturally tidy, with most of her possessions packed away in a big trunk. This was now sitting in a corner, still open. Inside, everything she was going to need this year was neatly stacked. She sighed, decided to give up on ever finding those green spotted socks, and strapped the trunk shut. She then pulled on some jeans and a thin jumper, and ran back downstairs to collect her toast.

Rebeca Evans looked at her youngest daughter while she wandered round the kitchen, munching on her half-burnt toast. She had changed a lot over the past few years, grown taller and more graceful. Her hair was longer, too, way past her shoulder. But the changes weren't just physical: she was more mature now than when she first received that strange letter. She was a good listener, sensitive, understanding. She was more calm, except for moments like this when she just got stressed out, and had more patience than her elder sister.

Petunia had grown up a lot too, but had also got colder. Where it concerned her sister, Petunia was distant and stand-offish. The two of them had grown apart, gone their separate ways. They had led different lives during their teenage years, and it would be hard for them to make up for that lost time.

Mrs. Evans was jolted out of her thoughts by Lily's voice "Sorry, Lily, I didn't quite catch that..."

"I asked if Dad and Petunia were coming to the station, or just you?" Lily tried to be understanding about the awkwardness between her sister and her, but it was hard to live with someone who just stared at you and ignored you most of the time.

"Just me. Your Dad's at work, and Petunia..." the sentence was left unfinished.

Yeah, Petunia kind of hates me Lily thought to herself as she finished her toast.

"Anyway, darling, have you packed yet?" Mrs. Evans inquired, trying to fill in the slightly uncomfortable silence.

"Um, yeah, I just finished..." Her mind was still vaguely pondering about her sister, and how she hated everything about magic, and how she hated Severus... At the name, Lily felt a pang of pain.

It had been a whole summer of not speaking to him at all, the boy who used to be her best friend. They had shared everything: from fears to dreams to Pumpkin Pasties. They had been so close, like siblings. She'd told Sev stuff that she'd never told her sister. And he, in turn, had opened up to her. She knew all the details of his life, what he thought of when he was half asleep, where he hid when his parents argued... All of it.

But then, when they got to Hogwarts, he changed. Or maybe she changed. Or maybe both of them did? It was hard to tell, but the fact was, he was a Slytherin and she was a Gryffindor, and there was nothing they could do to change that.

In 3rd year, he'd started hanging out with a bunch of idiots, or as Lily thought of them "soon-to-be Death Eaters". Their main hobby was hanging around corridors and jinxing people for the fun of it. Mind you, the so-called Marauders did that a fair bit... But at least they didn't call people Mudbloods...

She could still remember the pain, the disappointment she'd felt when she heard that insult come from her best friend. But that was a long time ago, and some things were best left alone. "Let sleeping dogs lie" as her Dad always said.

At that very same moment, her ex-best friend, with greasy black hair and a hooked nose, was sitting on the edge of his bed. He was thinking about Lily.

Her green eyes.

That time in the park when he almost kissed her. Almost.

All the moments in Potions when they paired up together.

Her bright red hair.

The hours of studying together, that didn't seem like hours but like seconds if he was with her.

That other time he almost kissed her. Almost.

God, he missed her. So much. Too much. It was unbearable, he thought about her all the time. And it only got worse, as he saw her walking in a corridor, laughing with her friends, studying in the Library...

He would give anything, anything, to have her back. And so he made up his mind: this year, he was going to tell her how he felt.

He was going to tell her he loved her.