Chapter 1 James's Birthday

It was a normal end-of school for Lily Evans and her friends. They had loaded their trunk onto the platform, and it was stowed away into a luggage compartment. The last thing to do was find a compartment, which they seemed to be having trouble doing.

"I guess we can get into this compartment," said the red-headed Lily, looking inside the car. It looked empty to her eyes.

Laura McLand, her best friend, just shrugged, pushing past Lily with her other friend, Meagan King, following brown-haired Laura. She gave Lily a small smile before she went in.

Sighing, Lily hoisted her bag further back onto her shoulder. She took a deep breath before entering the compartment.

But, upon entering, she noticed that four boys occupied the compartment, and were in the process of making room for the three girls.

Groaning, Lily stood there, unable to decide if she should bolt out the door or sit down on the floor so as to not to have to share a bench with one of the Marauders.

James Potter looked up at the red hair with his hazel eyes, and Lily saw a sparkle behind his glasses. "Evans! It's so nice that you can join us!" he said.

"There was no more room in any compartments," explained Laura, whose long brown hair trailed after her as she rushed to sit down to Remus Lupin.

Remus was a shy and quiet boy, who had been a Prefect with Lily since the year before. They were friends, but only spoke during rounds or during class if they were paired up together. Usually, a nod or smile would pass between them in the hallway s.

Lily had never quite understood why Remus hung around with the Marauders. He was studious and rarely got into trouble, unlike his fellow friends.

Lily, rolling her green eyes, took a deep breath. She sat on a seat by the door, making sure that no Marauders were in close proximity to her.

"Hey, sweet lips. Come sit next to me," said the black-hair Sirius Black, referring to Meagan. She rolled her deep blue eyes, but went to sit next to him. Her short black hair was spiked. "I love your hair like that," he added, obviously flirting with the witch.

"Really?" asked Meagan, gazing up at him adoring eyes.

Sirius nodded, stretching his arm so that it was behind her, resting on the seat. "Yes, you look really cool."

Meagan rolled her eyes yet again in our direction.

She was a female Sirius Black. All the boys drooled over her, just as the girls drooled over Sirius and James.

Meagan smiled and closed her eyes. Her hair changed to a bright pink. "Hey, you're a Metamorphmagus!" said Sirius, startled.

"Duh, why do you think I never had a bad hair day?"

Sirius laughed. "My cousin Nymphadora is one too. Scared the hell out of her mother, my cousin Andromeda, a few times."

Meagan just nodded, uninterested in his life stories.

"So, what did you lot think of our sixth year?" asked Peter Pettigrew, his voice so low, it was almost unheard.

He was the odd one of the group, with brown mousy hair and dark blue eyes that looked almost black, which made Lily think of a rat. Not only was he unattractive (Lily doubted he ever had a girlfriend), he wasn't clever either. He did very poorly actually, and needed constant help from his three friends.

"Sixth year was fine, except for the constant being turned down by the three ladies in here," said Sirius.

Peter shot him a glance. "Um... Sirius? I was asking the girls," he said quietly.

Sirius laughed. "R-ii-ght," he said, expanding the word so that it seemed to have quite a few more I's than normal.

-----

"Hey," said James, coming up behind Lily.

She quickly turned around. "What do you want?"

"I wanted to talk to you," he replied.

"Um, how about no? We've never had a decent conversation, because you always end up asking me out."

"Evans, please just listen." Lily was about to walk away when James grabbed her wrist. "Wait! Please!"

How dare he touch me! she though. "James Potter, take your hand off of me this instant or I will slap you," Lily spat angrily.

"No. I want to talk to you," he said softly, his hazel eyes pleading. Lily lifted her arm, prepared to strike him if she had to.

"Take your hand off me."

James shook his head. "Please, Lily, listen to me..." he started, but Lily cut his phrase short by slapping him. It wasn't very hard, since she wasn't able to get enough momentum for one that hurt, but it obviously proved its point; No man held Lily Evans captive. Plus, she knew he wouldn't hit he back... boys just weren't allowed.

He instantly let go, looking really hurt. Lily began walking away. "Lily... you don't get it, do you?" said James, in a very serious voice, calling after the red-head. She heard him saying, probably to himself, "No idea..."

"What the hell was that all about?" asked Meagan, as Lily walked over to her friend.

Lily blinked a few times, puzzled and shrugged. "I have no..." she started to say, but then stopped as she remembered what she had promised. "Oh no."

"What?" asked Meagan.

Flashback

"Lily!" said Remus, running to catch up with Lily, who had just stalked off from the classroom because James had asked her out for the 600th time that year.

"What?" she snapped, turning around. Her face softened when she saw Remus standing there. "Oh, Remus. I'm sorry. I thought you were James," she said.

Remus chuckled. "Good thing I'm not."

Lily smiled. "What's up?"

"Um... Lily, I know this may sound like a weird request, but I would like you to be nice to James on the last day of school. See, it's his birthday, and he said that this year, all he wants is for you to be nice to him, a smile or something," said Remus.

Lily stared at Remus as if he was crazy. "Me, be nice to Potter?" she asked, snorting.

Remus sighed. "Yes, that is his only birthday wish."

"Isn't it kind of pathetic?" asked Lily.

"You do know that James is head over heels in love with you, right?" he asked, trying to convince the red-head.

Lily shifted uncomfortably. "Well, he keeps saying he loves me, but I don't really believe him."

Remus chuckled. "You should hear what he has to say about you. He talks about you non-stop. Sirius even took a peak at his diary. Well, let's just say, his life seems to revolve around you."

Lily started at him once again, her brows furrowed in concentration. Finally, she sighed. "I don't believe you, Remus. I know you would do anything for your friends, but to lie for them to me? That's just low."

She turned on her heel and walked away.

"Lily, I'm not lying! Ask James for yourself! Go steal his damn diary!" he yelled after her, obviously frustrated.

End Flashback

"Oh, god. Remus was right," said Lily.

"Right about what?" asked Laura.

"Lily! Come on! We have to go home!" said her father, walking up to his daughter.

"I'll write to you lot, okay?" said Lily, giving her friends hugs, then walked towards her father.

She turned around to get one last look at the train and saw James. He was looking very depressed, even if he had a smile on his face.

The smile was obviously fake.

He turned and saw Lily. He frowned and turned back to his parents.

A wave of guilt washed over Lily as she watched the sad James Potter, with a fake smile plastered to his handsome face, lug his trunk behind his mother. Sirius Black was at his side, saying something Lily couldn't hear.

---

"Mate, leave the girl alone. It's clear that she doesn't want to be with you," said Sirius.

"But, Sirius, I love her. I can't leave her alone. I need to be with her," said James, his eyes shining with tears.

"Look, even Remus tried and it was no use. Here, I'll get you some blonde bimbo that you can snog," Sirius said.

"No," said James, forcefully. "I am not going to snog just anyone in my 7th year at Hogwarts. I'm going to change for Lily. She'll see that I'm not just a pig headed prat."

He looked over at the entrance, having felt a pair of eyes, and notice that Lily was staring at him. He sighed. "The only person I want to snog is Lily Evans."

Sirius sighed. "Mate, your fighting a lost cause."

"Well then I'll die trying."

---

"Lily!" said Marie Evans, rushing towards her daughter. They were the exact same height, 5"5', and both had red hair. Lily had inherited her green eyes from her father.

"Mum! It's so nice to see you! I missed you," said Lily.

"Oh Lily! This is your last summer at home! Henry, we better make this summer extra special," said Mrs. Evans.

Mr. Evans grunted and went into the kitchen.

"Mmpf, the freak is home," said Petunia, Lily's older sister, standing on the last steps of the stairs as if she couldn't be bothered taking the last step to greet her sister.

Petunia had never acceptedthe fact that Lily was a witch. The two sisters couldn't be any more opposite.

Petunia, brown haired and eyed, was tall and skinny. Lily was red-haired and green eyed, shorter and was curvy. Lily also found that Petunia had a rather long neck, which was useful to find out what the neighbors were up too.

"Well, hello to you too sister dear. So nice of you to great me home with such a warm welcome," spat Lily, sarcastically.

Petunia grunted and retreated back into her room. "She's going to be spending some time with Vernon next week, so you only have to endure her for a short time," said her mother, who did not like the fact that her daughters bickered constantly.

"A week is too much, but I rather a week then 2 whole months," she said.

Her mother laughed nervously. "Don't let your father hear you speaking this way," she said.

Lily nodded knowingly.

---

"James, please don't so anything stupid," begged Remus.

"What stupid thing would I do?" asked James, as he took another sip of firewhiskey. The strength of the alcohol made him grimace, but he continued to drink.

"Maybe something like drink yourself to death?" said Sirius, who took the bottle from his friend's hand and took a sip, making the same face James had.

"Give that back," James growled.

"Man, you're too high strung," said Sirius, who took another sip. Another grimace followed.

James flung himself towards Sirius, knocking Sirius to the floor. The bottle of firewhiskey flew into the fireplace, making a small explosion. Remus was fast enough to put a spell upon the fire to make sure it did not damage anything.

James and Sirius had not noticed for they were wrestling on the ground.

James kept trying to hit Sirius in the face, but was unsuccessful. After a well placed hit, Sirius had knocked his friend unconscious.

As he and Remus placed James onto the sofa, Sirius said, "Man, I hate doing that!"

---

"Bye Mother! Bye Father! Freak," she said, giving her parents hugs then stopped at Lily. "I'm glad that after this year, you shall no longer be coming home." Petunia gave her sister a fake and twisted smile.

"Yes, well I'm glad that I won't have to see your horse-face anymore," said Lily, in a sickening sweet voice.

Petunia glared at her sister for a few moments then heard the door bell. "Well, good-bye," she said, before dragging her luggage to the door. She opened it and a very fat man, whom looked a little more like a whale than a man, stood there.

"Ready, dear?" he asked, his voice deep. Petunia nodded. He took her bags and walked away, without saying hello to anyone.

---

As they watched their friend on the sofa, looking peaceful as he slept, Sirius sighed. "How many mornings now has it been that James was passed out on the sofa?"

Remus returned his sighed. "One too many." After a pause, he added, "James is going to have a nasty hangover. He wasn't completely over yesterday's one when he started drinking again."

Sirius nodded. "We need to hide all the alcohol."

Remus smiled. "Yes, and use lots and lots of coffee."

---

It was a quiet evening in the Evans' household. Only Lily and her father were home, and they were in separate rooms.

"Lily, come here!" said Mr. Evans, calling up the stairs from his perch in the living room.

"Yes Dad?" asked Lily, slowly making her way down the stairs.

"Get me another glass of ale."

Lily sighed. "Dad, you've drunk about 7 of them already," she said, trying to hint that it he had had enough.

"Lily Marie Evans! I am your father and you need to listen to me! Get me another ale!" he yelled.

Lily noticed that his speech was becoming slurred. "Fine," she said, shrugging indifference.

She went into the kitchen and took some water. She added a bit of food flavoring and some food coloring. Hopefully, her father was too drunk to notice that she was not giving him beer.

Almost as soon as she was close enough, he snatched it from her hands and drank about half.

He spit it out right away. "Lily, this is not beer!" he said.

He stood up, throwing the bottle against the wall. Lily backed away, knowing what was coming next.

Her father had abused her and her mother a fair few times when he had been drunk. She was sure he was going to hurt her.

She searched her pockets for her wand when she remembered that it was in her room downstairs in her other trousers that she had worn to church that morning. "Get back here," he yelled at her.

Lily was now officially scared. Her mother had gone grocery shopping, leaving her daughter with her drunken husband.

"No," said Lily, mustering up some courage that wasn't in her.

Her father lunged at her.

Lily yelped and tried to get out of the way, but her father caught her by the arm.

"I told you I wanted ale," he said, his eyes red and narrowing.

Lily could smell the 7 bottles of alcohol in his breath.

"Please, Dad, you're hurting me," she said, tears in her eyes.

"You didn't listen to me, I'm not listening to you," he said, using a childish logic.

Lily struggled to get loose and back up. She pulled on her arm, and her father let go. Lily felt herself tumbling backwards, until she hit the stairs. Her father grunted and walked away from his daughter

The wind was knocked out of her and her sides ached badly. Slowly, she pushed herself up and limped up the stairs into her room. She cried as she packed up her belongings. She forgot that she could heal herself with her wand. She just wanted to desperately to get out, get away from her father. He had caused her so much pain and suffering.

Lily touched her sides and winced. She lifted her shirt and saw a big bruise forming and a few scrapes. Her scars from previous beatings were glowing red.

Lily sighed. She finished her luggage and looked around to make sure she did not forget anything. Taking a piece of paper, she wrote to her mum about what had happened, and that she could no longer take it.

She signed the paper and a tear blotched the "y". Lily grasped the handle of her trunk and Apparated.

Author's note: I know it's a bit depressing, but the story will get better (well actually, it will get a little bit worse before it gets better). I hope you liked it. Please review!