It was a hot and sunny day the gentle breeze was the only relief as the sun scorched everything that wasn't smart enough to get in the shade. As she sat down by the lake the sound of footsteps filled her ears 'no, who could that be, I only wanted a few minutes alone' she thinks as the footsteps get louder.
Lily had always gone out of her way to help people, but this time she wanted a little alone time, between tutoring 1st years, her head duties, the stress that came with NEWTS and just being a teenage girl in general it was beginning to take its toll on her, just yesterday she thought that she had seen a gray hair! How Dumbledore did it she would never know, though to be fair, he wasn't a girl, which let's face it was the biggest problem of all sometimes.
"Evans? Evans? Are you there?"
Brilliant he had found her hiding spot; she looked up just as he peaked behind the birch tree she was sitting under. 'well there goes another good hiding spot' though to be honest she wasn't really hiding, just praying to all the magical gods, if there were any, that no one would find her.
"Are you hiding from me?"
"I just wanted some time alone, but it seems everywhere I go people find me, they want to talk or they want help, and I just want to be left alone!" as she finished her rant she realized just how right she was.
"It may sound strange, but I know how you feel."
"You're Mr. popular, you love the attention, the girls falling at your feet, the teachers are hardly giving you a few days detention, hell even your friends would rather die than see you get a paper cut!" By the look on his face she had said too much, his eyes had hardened and lost the warmth they normally held, the skin around his mouth and eyes had tightened leaving the normally handsome face looking, well if she was being honest terrifying.
"Evans I may enjoy the attention of the ladies, the teachers may sometimes figure that giving me more detention will only bring harm to more school property and I may have the best of best friends in the world, but I also have to look at paper every morning and wonder how many murders my brother has committed between the evening and morning paper, I have to live with the fact that my parents and family would rather kill innocent people then look me in the face, and I also have to deal with the fact that I have a best friend who is crazy in love with you but for some strange reason you don't think he deserves the time of day. No you don't have problems; you have small non-drama self-inflicted issues."
All she could do was stare, no one had ever spoken to her like that the rage and emotion it was so rare, she could see the pain in his eyes not just from reliving his deepest thoughts and torments but from having to tell her, who had become his friend someone who he would protect at all costs.
"I'm sorry." her voice broke on the last syllable messing her words slightly, but in no way did it impair her meaning.
His reaction was almost instantaneous, his eyes softened, this mouth which had been set in a straight line fell away into a small smile, and as he pulled her into a hug, she realized just how wrong she was, the work she was doing, helping with 1st years homework, tutoring the younger students, her head duties, even her family problems, they were nothing, compared to what was waiting for her at the other end, the world outside of the protective gates of Hogwarts, they were the real problems, all she was facing now would one day, sooner than she was prepared for, be a thing of the past, something that she could look back on and treasure, but this, her friends, and even as she said it in her own mind she knew that it was true, her friends were what was important, because without them what was she? She was bait, she was the next kill of some death eater that wanted to prove themselves to their boss, she was nothing without them, and they were nothing without her.
Three hours later, she is sitting in the great hall and it clicks, they may be fighting for their freedom, they may be fighting for the good of mankind, to save those who would otherwise die, to fight for those that are too weak, or ignorant to fight for themselves, but what they are fighting for, without doubt, is each other.
And as she looks from her hand sitting safely in James's over to Sirius, she knows he sees it too, they are fighting for family.