A./N.—Hey, guys. Please be lenient, considering this is my first story. I know, I hate this "first story" thing, too, but bear with me. And, now, the disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters in it.
Lily's POV
As she strolled along the flat terraces of Hogwarts, she sucked in the cold, frosty air that seemed to leave a hole in her chest. She shook her straightened, long, red hair, and a brief smile spread across her face.
This was her favorite type of morning. It was perfect for anything that she planned, not that she had, of course.
Out here in the early morning with a thick layer of snow covering everything, she was happy. She flicked out her wand and the folding chair that had been suspended in midair floated gently to the ground.
Lily Evans sat down, gazing at the frozen lake. It was Christmas Break, and no one would bother to look for her. Out here, she could properly analyze what had been going on for the past few months.
This year was the first year at Hogwarts she hadn't spent at Alice's place—a manor, Lily remembered. And, recently, she thought with a pang, her parents had been murdered. What was even more frightening was that they had been killed by He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.
It made Lily uneasy, seeing that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named knew her, or at least, one of his followers knew her.
It was also the reason why she couldn't go home.
Petunia had blamed the whole incident on Lily. She couldn't decide which was worse: her sister blaming the murder on her, or the fact was that it actually was her fault.
It was heart-wrenching to lose her sister for the third time.
Lily Evans had lost her sister for a bloody three times.
The first time was when she had gotten her letter showing acceptance into Hogwarts.
The second time was last summer.
And then, now.
Last summer had almost fixed things for them. Lily allowed herself to be lost in those good memories…
There was a quiet knock on the door. Assuming it was her mum, she called out quite cheerfully, "Come in!"
The door creaked softly and the smell of French vanilla wafted through. Lily looked up and saw her sister, as slender and pretty as ever.
Her pretty brown hair and green eyes did not match the voice that came out.
"Lily?" she asked timidly.
"Tuney?" Lily said, confused.
The old nickname seemed to make Petunia relax a little. She attempted a small smile before asking, "Can I come in?"
Although Lily was baffled by it all, she opened the door wide and spread her arms. "Of course, but it's a little messy…"
"Lily," Petunia whispered, "I'm tired of us being separate. We were best friends! I'm so sorry."
Still not understanding, Lily cupped Petunia's face in her hands. "Hey, Petunia, are you alright? You're being awfully nice, and that's not you. Who are you, and what have you done to my sister?"
Earning a glare from her, although the edges of Petunia's mouth were lifting, Lily relaxed a little. So her sister had not gone completely crazy.
The words tumbled out of Petunia's mouth.
"Can we just be the Evans sisters this summer? The way we were before?"
"Oh, Tuney," Lily said, flinging her arms around her sister. "Yes, yes, yes! I missed you so much…"
They had a great summer.
And then Snape had to ruin it all.
Snape, Lily thought bitterly. I don't know him now. He isn't the boy who had been her best friend when she was little. He was an evil man who was going to serve He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. And he RUINED me and Tuney!
"Lily?" a tenor voice asked, jolting her out of her thoughts. "May I join you?"
She whipped around to see who it was, and her emerald eyes found an extremely sexy face.
Potter.
Lily felt the edges of her mouth pull up involuntarily.
"Sure," she invited, spreading her arms. "Why not?"
He sat down with his chair, and took out two thermoses out of his "satchel", as he called it. As Lily called it just to tease him, it was his "man-purse".
"Hot chocolate?" he offered, holding a thermos. "Prepared by the house-elves of Hogwarts. Delicious!"
He dramatized it by taking a sip and pretended to die of contentment.
"Shut up. I'm trying to think," she said rather sharply. But Lily ruined the effect by taking the chocolate and taking a sip. Delicious, just as he said.
Potter. Another of her problems. She was sure that he was nothing but a toe-rag last year, but now she wasn't so sure. He had grown up considerably over the summer, but was still popular among everybody. He was Head Boy along with her, which was why she knew him better now. She wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not.
She sighed inwardly.
She was actually jealous of him, not that she was ever going to tell him. Not to mention that he was dead sexy now…and he had stopped asking her out this year, which left her rather disappointed, though she didn't know why. She didn't hate him now, but she sure as hell didn't like him either.
Still staring at the lake, she took another sip of the hot chocolate.
Enjoying the taste, her eyes fluttered shut for the brief warmth in the cold weather.
She exhaled loudly. She was fine now.
"Lily?" Potter asked, breaking the companiable silence. "You want to talk about anything?"
"No," she repeated, her tone slightly softer. "Nothing at all."
Undaunted, he smirked. For an odd reason, she felt relief when she saw it. She was glad all of the real Potter hadn't gone.
He leaned closer and his smell drifted over. Involuntarily, she licked her lips and leaned closer.
His smirk became more pronounced.
"How about a kiss, lovely?"
Suddenly, Lily Evans was feeling very warm.
Shaking herself out of it, she stood up. "We should probably go back to the castle," she said, reverting back to herself, but it came out a little meaner than she had intended. "Would you like to walk back with me?" she added, trying to soften the previous statement.
A flicker of disappointment showed in his eyes, but, as soon as it got there, it was gone.
"No," he said absentmindedly, not looking at her. "I'll stay out for a few more moments."
"Alright," Lily said, squirming in the awkwardness between them. "I'll be off."
She stood up, her boots sinking through the snow, and flicked her wand at her chair. It flew up to a reasonable height and trailed behind her. As the lake passed from her view, she couldn't shake the feeling she was being watched. Lily whipped around, and there, by the tree was Avery and Mulciber, who were both glaring at her.
"Well, well," Avery drawled, "what have we got here?"
Snape, who she hadn't seen before came into view.
"If it isn't Head Mudblood," he sneered, getting short laughs from the other two. "Mulciber, get over here! We've got a Mudblood for you to test those new curses on…"
Lily, reacting the first was any muggle-born would do, started with physical violence. She grabbed the floating chair from behind her and hit Avery, giving him a nasty lump on his head.
She debated whether she should run, but decided that she was absolutely tired of running away from everyone. She was going to fight her battles.
"Mudblood, you are going to pay for that," he snarled, shooting a nasty curse at her, which she narrowly ducked.
Feeling like an idiot for not getting her wand earlier, she whipped out her wand and muttered, "Incareous!"
Immediately, he was bound in ropes, tripping to the floor.
Smiling in satisfaction, with Avery down, she went on to get Snape. But he was already one step ahead of her. He had her by the hair and snarled, "Lily, why didn't you just run? You had to come and meddle, and now you're just going to pay, Evans."
The use of her surname hurt her more than it should, especially coming from Sev—no, Snape. She had always thought there might be a little connection between them, but it was obviously gone. However, if she had managed to turn around, she would have seen the small glimmer of hurt in his eyes and know that all between them had not been lost.
