Disclaimer: Nothing related to Harry Potter belongs to me, and if it did I wouldn't be writing fanfiction. And that goes for all the other chapters too so I don't have to repeat myself.

Confusion

Dear Lily,

How are you? Sorry I haven't written, I've been at my aunt's house all month and Mum reckons we shouldn't be using owls around her, what with her being a muggle and all. I hope your summer's going okay – mine's been hilarious. Found any uses for the remains of your birthday present yet?

Talking of your adorable elder sister, how is she these days? Revolting as usual I suspect. And Juliet – how is she? Romeo's been hooting away all month. I'm sure he misses her, though he won't admit it.

Write back soon – I'm having serious social retardedness issues after not speaking to you guys in so long.

Remus

Lily Evans yawned and stretched, squinting at the letter she had woken up to find lying on her pillow. She gazed around her small, cluttered bedroom, looking for her owl, who only answered to 'Juju' from anyone except Remus Lupin, her best friend at Hogwarts. If she remembered rightly, he had been the one to come up with the ridiculous names for their owls.

They had met in Eeylop's Owl Emporium on Lily's first day in the wizarding world. She had wandered into the shop more out of curiosity than of intention to buy an owl, as she wasn't yet familiar with their usefulness as mail carriers.

Remus had been the only other child in the shop, trying loudly to persuade his mother that he didn't need an owl, he needed a Niffler. Lily half listened to their conversation as she gazed at two young owl chicks, one tawny and one barn owl, who appeared to be sulking at opposite ends of a perch.

"Hey, you! Sorry, I mean –" Lily looked around, startled. "Sorry, I meant to ask – Nifflers are way better pets than owls, don't you think?"

Lily saw Remus' mum roll her eyes behind his back. She, like him, had sandy brown hair, slightly wavy. Her eyes were dark brown, but his were bright blue. Lily noticed pronounced frown lines on her forehead, although there were smile lines too. Evidently this boy was a bit of a handful.

"Well, I like owls --" Remus pulled a face "-- but I don't know what Nifflers are. Sorry."

His scowl changed almost instantly to a grin. "Oh, you're muggle-born?"

Taking a guess at what he meant, Lily had answered, "I'm the only witch in my family. That makes my parents muggles then?" she grinned at the thought of Petunia's face when she found out that 'normal' people were referred to as 'muggles' in the magical world.

"Yeah, I guess you're on your own then?"

"Yes, but I'm doing okay," she didn't want to be seen as vulnerable -- this boy seemed okay, but the barman in the pub had warned her not to broadcast her non-magical parentage as some wizards were prejudiced against it and would use it as an excuse to make life difficult for her.

"Want to come with us?" Remus had grinned again, a mischievous glint in his eye.

His mother had nodded. "Please do, heaven knows I need someone to help me keep Remus here in line," she stretched out her hand, and Lily shook it. "Alexandra Lupin."

"Lily Evans," she smiled, glad that this boy had chosen to befriend her. She looked back at the owls, which were fluttering their feathers crossly, upset at the lack of attention from Lily.

The attendant had come rushing over at the noises from the owls. "Can I help you two?"

"Yes please," Lily had suddenly decided. "We'd each like one of these owls." The attendant smiled and hastily opened the cage, eager to make a sale.

Mrs Lupin tried to hide her chuckle, expecting Remus to object, but he didn't. He looked over at Lily instead, with an expression that clearly said, 'This is war'. She just smiled sweetly at him, much to his mother's amusement. As they made their way out of the shop a few minutes later, cages under each of their arms, she whispered to Lily, "I'd watch out if I were you, dear -- his friends are quite the pranksters."

By the end of the day, Remus and Lily had been well on the way to becoming good friends. Mrs Lupin's advice had been entirely correct, however. James Potter, Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew aided Remus in 'getting Lily back' all through their first four years at Hogwarts, their excuse being that she always retaliated. This was true, as Lily's dorm mates in Gryffindor Tower had turned out to be just as up for a laugh as she was.

As she reminisced, Lily had found her quill and ink amongst the jumble of parchment and books on her desk, and she sat down to reply.

Remus,

Glad to hear you've been having fun. How are the other Marauders? I've heard from James but that's all. I asked about Sirius but he didn't tell me anything. He's alright isn't he? I mean, he never writes over holidays, I get so worried.

Petunia's fine, although I'm afraid she's actually got some kind of mental issue. Her boyfriend seems to have got even bigger since I last saw him, but it's quite fun insulting him in front of her, as she's too terrified I'll turn her into a skunk to do anything about it.

I went to Diagon Alley with Chrissy a few days ago to get robes, but we haven't got any of our books or supplies yet – well I suppose that's because the Hogwarts letters haven't come, so we don't know what we've got to get-

"LILY!" she was interrupted by her mother calling frantically from downstairs, "POST!"

Lily crashed out of the door and thundered down the stairs. It had just hit her -- she was entering fifth year and had a chance of being a prefect! She hurtled into the kitchen where her father greeted her with a solemn expression.

"Is it from Hogwarts? Let me see!" She scanned the kitchen for the sign of an envelope decorated with the Hogwarts crest; lion, eagle, badger and snake.

"I'm sorry Lily," her father said. He had dark brown hair and brown eyes, which currently held a very sombre expression. "You're not a prefect."

Lily slumped into a chair at the kitchen table, trying not to let her eyes well up. After all, being a prefect wasn't that big a deal, it was just that she had tried so hard with all her classes and had even cut out a lot of the pranking so that she could become a prefect and make her parents proud.

She looked at her mother, standing behind her dad. She had dark red hair like Lily, but hers was flecked with grey. Lily wore hers long and tousled, whereas her mother had a short, neat bob. Lily had never mastered the art of looking sleek every day, as her mother seemed to manage. Her mother's brown eyes, so different from Lily's, were twinkling. Lily noticed that she was grinning.

"What's so funny?" Lily asked grumpily.

This time it was her dad who smiled. "You didn't really think I'd read your letter, did you? It's here." He handed it to her. Lily wasn't sure if she should be exasperated or relieved as she gazed at the envelope in her hand. She settled for something between the two.

"Go on, open it!" Lily's mum said, anticipation clear on her face. "And be sure to read it aloud!"

Lily obliged, removing the parchment from the envelope.

"Dear Miss Evans…yadda yadda…welcome to fifth year…blah blah…we regret to inform you –" she glanced at her parents, who were trying not to look too disappointed. She continued, "-- that there will only be two prefects from each house in fifth year, instead of the usual three,"she stuck her tongue out at her parents who soon realised she had been winding them up. "Yadda yadda…CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR NEW STATUS AS GRYFFINDOR PREFECT!"

Both her parents rushed round to hug her, giving congratulations and scoldings in almost equal measure, glad that her daughter had been judged so worthy by her teachers and also amused at Lily for winding them up. But they did deserve it, after winding Lily up a few minutes before. All's fair in love and war, as they say.

Lily dashed upstairs to finish her letter to Remus, crashing into Petunia as she walked out of the bathroom, muttering about 'bloody feathery rats' and 'suckups'. Lily was about to apologise when Petunia's comments registered in her overheated brain, and she settled for a small 'hmph'.

"Aren't you going to apologise, freak?" Petunia screeched at Lily as she raced back upstairs to her attic bedroom.

"Only when you do, horseface," Lily looked back at Petunia, who obviously hadn't realised Lily had heard her comments. Lily was delighted to see that she had turned slightly pink. But then she thought that this was probably more from indignation and exertion than from embarrassment and regret.

Lily breathed deeply, panting slightly from running up two consecutive flights of stairs, and plonked herself firmly back in her desk chair. She looked up and saw, perched on the sill of one of her slanting windows in the roof, Romeo and Juliet. She laughed again at Remus' sense of humour, or lack of it. Romeo and Juliet -- they hadn't even liked each other when she and Remus had bought them on that memorable day. But now, she noted wistfully, they seemed to be getting along just fine.

"Waiting for an answer are you, Ro?" Lily asked, smiling up at the owls. He hooted in reply, ruffling his feathers impatiently. "Alright, alright, I'll get on with it. Won't be a minute."

Scratch that, they have come. I'm a prefect! Prefect prefect prefect! Me, Lily Natasha Evans. A prefect. Wahey! Watch out – I've got the power!

See you soon,

Love Lily

She rolled up the parchment and tied it to Romeo's leg. "Get a reply for me would you?" she smiled and said, "Thanks," as he hooted his ascent.

Juliet fluttered down into her cage which was balanced precariously atop a combination of potions homework and letters from her friends. "Hi, girl," Lily said. Juliet flapped impatiently. "Want to fly off again, do you? I'll give you something to take, then you might get some treats for your flight back." Juliet seemed to like this idea, as she flew onto the surface of the desk and watched interestedly as Lily began another letter.

Dear Sirius,

How are you? I wonder if there's any point in trying to contact you in the holidays, as I've never yet had an answer, but I think it's a bit stupid not to. I hope your summer's going okay. What do you normally do anyway? You really ought to tell me more, especially as we're supposed to be going out now. I mean, I know it was only a couple of weeks before the end of term and we're not exactly proper boyfriend and girlfriend, but I really think we ought to talk more.

My mum and dad managed to find out about you (probably Remus' fault), and they were wondering if you and he would like to come round for dinner some time. After all, being muggles, they don't know many wizards and they're very enthusiastic about meeting all my friends.

Hope to hear from you soon (if at all), but if not I might see you at Diagon Alley on August 29th. James said something about us all getting together then to get our school stuff,

Lily

She tossed her hair out of her face, thinking absent-mindedly that she would have to get it cut, and attached the letter to Juliet's leg. She soared out of the window and Lily sighed. She was alone again, waiting for the first of September to come around. She couldn't talk to Petunia about 'freak school', and, much as they tried, her parents just couldn't understand the mind of a 15 year old girl, magical or not.

She could talk to Remus, but he was a guy and bothering him too much about Sirius and other teenage-girl-things would probably annoy him. Her best girl friend, Chrissy, had just gone on holiday in South Africa, and she didn't want to bother her. Anyway, Chrissy had been bothered about the Lily/Sirius relationship as she had liked Sirius for large periods of second and third year, and Lily suspected there was still a little bit of her that liked Sirius, though she was loath to admit it.

There was James, she supposed, but she really wasn't sure about him. He was a strange one, James Potter, a combination of quiet, thoughtful and sensitive and brash, cocky and loud. She hardly knew him really, apart from being familiar with his pranks. He evidently had a good sense of humour anyway, even if she was often on the receiving end of his jokes.

James was Sirius' best friend and the best person to ask about anything 'Sirius', but aside from asking after Sirius' welfare, she didn't know what else to say. She could hardly go into her worries about their relationship with James. Heck, she wouldn't mention it to any of her girlfriends, aside from Chrissy anyway, so why should she mention it to Potter?

Lily didn't want anyone to know of her worries that Sirius was embarrassed of her. Why he would be embarrassed of her she didn't know, but all she knew was that he never contacted her in the holidays, and wouldn't let her meet his family or some of his friends. Sirius wasn't bothered about her being muggle-born, but she couldn't think what else it could possibly be.

Lily looked up from her thoughtful stupor to see Romeo returning to her window. One advantage of being friends with Remus was that he only lived 10 miles or so away, and the swift-flying owls could make the journey in almost no time. Of course, for the purebloods it was easier: they could just Floo to their friends' houses whenever they felt the urge, but as Lily's parents were muggles, they were not connected to the Floo network.

The letter read:

Lily,

Don't be so worried about Sirius. He'll reply when he's got something to say – you know what he's like. And no there's nothing wrong with him. Well, aside from the obvious mental problems. Petunia's got them too? I'll ask Sirius to pay her a visit and suggest they start a club or something.

You're a prefect? Well done Lils! And I'm positively quaking in my metaphorical boots at the thought of you having power. There's one slight issue though – hate to burst your bubble, but you're not the only one with the power. They picked me too!

Mum wants to know if you and James want to come and stay with us for the end of the holidays – 25th August okay with you? Come round in the afternoon some time. Let me know if that's an issue,

Remus

I've edited this chapter and made it longer, and I'm hoping it'll encourage people to REVIEW. Oh, and I'll only be writing notes at the end of chapters from now on.

Becca