"James, stop throwing things at me!" Lily yelled at her older brother. They were home with their brother Albus for the Christmas holidays at the moment, and James had been throwing chocolate wrappers at his sister all day.
"I'm not throwing things at you!" James lied, throwing another wrapper at his sister.
"Yes, you are!" Lily said back.
"Will you two please be quiet?" Ginny, their mother called from the other room.
"Sorry mum," Lily called.
"Yeah mum," James laughed. "Sorry."
The two of them sat down at opposite ends of the long couch in the living room at 12 Grimmauld Place, not wanting to sit next to each other.
"Where's Al?" Lily asked.
"Probably up in his room," James said. "Don't know what he could be doing up there. He's been up there all week! There can only be so many holiday essays."
"He might not be writing essays," Lily reminded him.
"What else could he be doing up there?" James asked. "It's not like he has any friends he can write to. Or a girlfriend."
"You never know," Lily said, smiling. James had never been any good at picking up Lily's subtle hints, so she wasn't surprised when he didn't understand what she was implying.
After the two of them sat there in silence for a few minutes, Lily heard a meowing from behind her, and her cat Smudge jumped up onto her lap.
"Oh, why do you have to keep that infernal thing?" James asked, getting up and moving over to the other side of the room.
"It's not my fault you're allergic," Lily said, petting her cat.
"Shouldn't you be studying for your O.W.L.'s?" James asked, trying to change the subject.
"Shouldn't you be studying for your N.E.W.T.'s?" Lily retorted, remembering that James had failed them the year before, and had had to repeat a year of school.
"Oh shut up Silly!" James said, using his old nickname for her, and throwing another chocolate wrapper at her.
"Avus," Lily said, waving her hand over the wrapper, and it turned into a paper bird.
"How do you do that?" James asked, marvelling at Lily's ability to do magic with her hands.
"I dunno," she said. "It just comes to me."
"Like your stupid comebacks?" James asked.
"Like your stupid hair?" Lily asked. James touched his hair nervously, and then put his hand back down. His jet black hair had always been messy, just like his father's, and apparently his grandfather's, but he'd never known him.
"See what I was saying about the comebacks?" James asked.
Lily didn't answer him, but went out into the back yard. She looked up into the air and saw some pigeons flying around in the air. She lay down on the grass and tried to remember what herbs were where in the garden. She knew that there was some dittany in the corner nearest the house. That had been put there because of her Aunt Hermione bugging her father to put it in there. According to Hermione, you could never be too prepared, and dittany was a good herb to have around the house.
Lily saw the pigeons suddenly move out of the way for a huge, ancient bird. She got up and positioned her arms under the owl to catch it.
"Errol, are you still alive?" Lily asked. She unattached the letter tied to Errol's leg, and carried them both inside. "Mum! Grandma wrote," she called to her mother.
"Is Errol still alive?" Ginny asked. "Give him to me, and go open the letter with your brothers."
"But it's addressed to you," Lily said.
"Alright then, you go sort Errol out, and I'll read the letter."
Lily gave her mother the letter and carried the ancient bird to the home menagerie, which was originally the drawing room of the house. She put Errol in his cage and refreshed the water in his bowl. Then she left the room and went up to see her other brother Albus.
"What do you want?" Albus asked without turning around.
"Um, is it a crime for a girl to want to talk to her older brother?" Lily asked him. "Or should I just leave?"
"No, Lily, stay," Albus said, turning around. "I thought you were James."
"You know, he almost found out about you going out with Opia," Lily said.
"You didn't say anything did you?" Albus asked.
"No," Lily said. "He was just wondering what you were doing in your room the whole time, and he said something like 'it's not like he's got a girlfriend or anything'."
"What did you say?"
"'You never know,'" Lily answered. "You know how bad he is at knowing what I'm kind of saying. He didn't even suspect it for a minute."
"Fine, I'll believe you," Albus said. "Ugh, Slughorn is making me take part in the International Potions Competition this year. Why can't he get a seventh year to do it?"
"Because you're the best potions student in the whole school," Lily said. "And, you're in his house, so he kind of favours you."
"Don't remind me," Albus said. He was still remembering the talk he'd had with his father on his first day of school about getting into Slytherin house. He'd gotten to school that night, and asked to be in Gryffindor, but the hat had still put him in Slytherin, and Albus hadn't been happy for months.
"Hey," Lily said. "There's nothing bad about being in Slytherin. Just because most of the people that have ever been in that house are evil, it does not mean that all of them are. Look at Mr Malfoy."
"I thought he used to be a Death Eater," Albus said.
"He did," Lily admitted. "But in the end, he fought on dad's side. And his mother helped dad defeat Voldemort."
"You know, people still don't say his name," Albus said.
"Really?" Lily said. "Everyone in Ravenclaw does."
"Well, nobody in Slytherin does," Albus said. "Maybe it's just a taboo thing."
"That's probably it," Lily said. "Anyway, I was going to go see Rose and Hugo and we were going to play some Quidditch. Are you coming?"
"No," Albus said. "I think I'll pass. Is James going?"
"Like I'm going to invite James to a Quidditch match," Lily laughed. "No, but I think Fred or Roxy were going to go."
"Oh well," Albus said. "Have fun. Say hi to everybody for me."
"Will do," Lily said as she got up and left the room. "See you later Al."
Lily walked down the stairs to her room to grab her broomstick. For her last birthday, Lily's dad had gotten her a Firebolt 800, the fastest broomstick in the world. She also got into some warmer clothes, and her Ravenclaw scarf. After she'd finished, she went downstairs and told her mother that she was going over to Aunt Hermione's.
So Lily went back out into the backyard and mounted her broom. After making sure that she wouldn't be seen by the neighbours as she took off, she kicked off from the ground and flew into the sky.