p class="p1"Lily opened the window to let in the owl who had been tapping at it for the past five minutes. She untied the bundle of letters from it's leg and sat down on the couch to read them. The first one was from the Ministry. "Miss Evans: We are most sorry to inform you about the death of your parents. Their house was broken into today at 8:30 PM." She let out a choked sob and buried her face in her hands. Her parents were gone. In shock, she opened the next letter, from Petunia. "Lily, Vernon and I are moving into the house. You and your freak friends are not invited to the funeral." She laughed coldly. Their death still hadn't warmed Petunia./p
p class="p1"The wall of emotion hit her hard, and the tears flooded her eyes. Lily curled into a ball on the couch and cried. An hour later, she started to feel a little better, and picked up a book. Lily started to read, and was comforted by the familiar script of Pride and Prejudice. She heard James coming down the stairs and felt him stop at the back of the couch. "Lily?" he asked. "What's wrong?" She pointed at the opened letters sitting next to her and felt the couch sink and James sat next to her. "Oh, Lily. I'm so sorry." he said, wiping her eyes. "Is there anything I can do?" She shook her head, happy that her long hair created a barrier between them. He didn't know how she felt. /p
p class="p1""I know exactly how that feels." She snorted, "Do you? Are your parents dead too?" She spit out sarcastically. "My parents were murdered last year, actually." James said coldly. "Oh," she said, regretting her sharp choice of words. He went to pick her up, and she curled even further into a ball. He finally scooped her up and carried her up the stairs. He laid her down on his bed and pulled the sheets over them. "Just sleep," he whispered. /p
p class="p1"-/p
p class="p1"Lily blinked the sleep away from her eyes as she sat up in bed. She shivered as the cold air hit her arms, and grabbed a sweatshirt off of the floor. James was still asleep, snoring lightly, mouth open in a small circle. She pushed his hair off of his forehead, and smiled to herself as he didn't budge. She pulled the curtains around the bed, and heard a noise from James as the grey November light filtered in. /p
p class="p1"James groaned and rubbed his eyes, lazily opening them. "Hey," he rasped. "Hi," Lily whispered. James reached out for his glasses on his side table and shoved them on. "Do we have class today?" he asked. "It's Saturday," Lily responded. "Quidditch practice starts at 11," he said as he rolled out of bed and stretched. Lily followed suit and tumbled after him. "Is that my jumper?" he asked. Lily looked at the floor, embarrassed. "Yes."/p
p class="p1"James sighed and looked at the alarm clock on his nightstand. "If we hurry up, we can get to the Great Hall for breakfast." Lily barged into the bathroom, and splashed cold water on her face before inspecting the dark purple circles under her eyes. She opened the door to her room and found an old sweater and skinny jeans. She put them on, and added some concealer to her face before heading down the stairs into the Head's common room./p
p class="p1"James was waiting by the fire in a Gryffindor Quidditch jumper and jeans, and opened the door to the hallway as she came down the stairs. Lily followed him out the door and down the staircase to the entrance hallway, and through the open doors into the Great Hall. They found Remus and Mary at the Gryffindor table and sat down with them "What happened?" Mary mouthed to Lily. "Got a letter from the Ministry last night," she responded. "Oh, Lily," Mary comforted. "I'm so sorry." Lily forced a weak smile. "Thanks. I was expecting it soon, with the number of other muggleborns that are getting them." Mary frowned. "What they're doing… It's not right."/p
p class="p1"Lily choked down the rest of her breakfast. The sympathy only made it worse, because in a day or two, someone else's parents would be murdered, and she would be forgotten. She walked down the hallway to Charms, and took a seat in the back of the classroom. Charms was a fairly easy class, all she had to do was a few simple spells, and look like she was listening. She looked out the window at the bare trees, and daydreamed for most of the class. She ended up thinking about Potter, which was odd, because she emdefinitely/em didn't like him. In the hallway after Charms, James cornered her. "Dumbledore says he needs to talk to you. You can skip the apparition lessons."/p
p class="p2"Lily pushed her way around James and headed towards the headmaster's office. "Fizzing Whizbees," she mumbled to the gargoyle. The wall opened and she climbed onto the spiral staircase. Dumbledore peered over his gold spectacles. "Miss Evans. My condolences." Lily frowned, "Thanks. Is there anything in particular you needed me here for?" Dumbledore sighed. "Ah, yes. Kindly give this parcel to Mr. Lupin for me. He knows what it is." Lily nodded, and left, staircase grinding as it slid down. She made it into the Great Hall just as the apparition lessons started./p
p class="p1"Wordlessly, she handed the package to Remus, who thanked her under his breath. Lily walked into place between Mary and Marlene, as McGonagall gave the first instructions. She thought about the other side of the room, and apparated easily, while McGonagall congratulated her. James did it next, then Marlene. Peter splinched his arm, and Sirius made it and then fell onto Marlene. Peter whimpered and left for the hospital wing. Marlene laughed, "Get off of me, Black!" Marlene smirked devilishly as Sirius gave her puppy eyes. She pulled out her wand and wordlessly charmed his hair bright green./p
p class="p2"James and Lily were doubled over in hysterics after a horrified gasp left Sirius's mouth. He stood up and Marlene changed his hair back. Remus was the first one to speak. "Well, Padfoot, we sure would be able to find you at the next Quidditch match!" Sirius rolled his eyes and glared playfully at Marlene. "If you had left my hair like that, I might have had to venture into the library for a reverse charm." Her friends would help her through this./p