Author's note: Happy Halloween guys! I know it's not until tomorrow, but I wanted to post this in case I don't get chance... It might be absolutely awful, but I'm giving it a shot anyways.
There are a couple of OC's in this from another story which, I remembered halfway through writing this, I haven't actually published yet. But it shouldn't be so hard to pick up, and I made sure I stated all the relationships that mattered to this chapter. If there's anything I've missed or that you didn't understand, review and I'll stick it in the next chapter.
FIRST YEAR- Lily's feeling touchy, and James isn't at all in the mood for revelry either...
"So." Mia looped her arm through Lily's. "What are you dressing up as tonight?"
"You know, I'm not sure." Lily feigned an air of great concentration. "But I think I might go as- hmm, shall we say a witch?"
Eliza appeared out of no where, eyes already mid roll. "You're already a witch, you absolute dolt."
"Exactly!" Exclaimed Lily, throwing her hands up in the air. "What's the point of dressing up as some kind of ghost or ghoul when I'm already something from a freak show, at least so far as muggles are concerned?"
"Ah." Said Eliza, groaning in understanding. "I assume Petunia got in touch?"
"Come on, Lily!" Mia said bracingly, nudging her friend. "Get into the Halloween spirit a little bit! When's the next time you'll get to dress up like an idiot without anyone saying anything?"
"Next Halloween, I should assume." Lily said dryly, her voice dripping with sarcasm.
"We barely ever get to dress up for Halloween in the wizarding world." Alice added, appearing out of nowhere at Mia's side. "We usually just have a feast or something."
"Yeah, stop ruining it for us stuck up purebloods, spoil sport!" Laughed Eliza. Was it just Lily, or was there something somewhat forced in the sound? She didn't look very happy... The minute they turned away from her, her face seemed to fall into lines of misery.
"There has to be something you want to dress up as." Alice wheedled.
"Why not dress up as Snape?" Eliza said in a would-be-innocent tone, but for the angry undertone. "He always seems to look like something from one of those muggle horror movies, don't you think?"
"Eliza!" Exclaimed Mia, but the damage was done. Wrenching her hand from Mia's, Lily turned on her friends, eyes blazing.
"You know what, you can all go and enjoy your party without me! I don't want to hang around with anyone who makes fun of my friend just because he's not a Gryffindor."
"Lily!" Exclaimed Alice.
"You know that's not true! It's nothing to do with the fact he's not a Gryffindor!" Mia looked wounded at the very thought.
"No, it's because he's a harsh prat who likes cursing people, and a death eater wanna be." Eliza added. Mia punched her, flashing her a warning look.
"Eliza, I think you'd better-"
"Fine!" Lily exclaimed, turning on her heel and marching away. "That's how you feel. See you all later."
"You never know, she might pull through." Remus put a hand on his shoulder. He wasn't looking so good himself, having just got back from visiting his sick mother, and James felt selfish for clamming up like this. But Remus had, from what he said, had years to prepare himself for his mothers worsening condition. For James, the news had been completely unexpected. And it was no accident, no natural illness. It made it hard not to completely break down, knowing exactly what- or rather who- had caused this.
"Yeah, the letter said she's alive, right?" Sirius pointed out. "She's not dead- well, not yet."
Remus punched him.
"What?"
"You, my idiotic friend, are completely and utterly tactless. Even Peter would know better than to say something like that!" Remus replied, before looking at the Peter in question, who was eating a lolly. "Um, no offence."
Peter just shrugged and continued to eat from the pile of sweets in his lap, mumbling something through a mouthful of sherbert lemon that might have been 'none taken.'
"Where's Eliza?" James asked, his tone hollow. "I need to- she needs to- she should know what's happened."
"She was going to the library, last I saw of her." Remus sighed. Predictably, James jumped to his feet and raced out of the door before anyone could so much as hand him a tissue to dry the tears still shining on his cheek.
James was hardly the quietest of people at the best of times, but as he burst into the library, he made more noise than a herd of rampaging Hippogriths. The librarian looked up to reprimand him, before seeing who it was and putting her head back down. Evidently, new travelled fast at Hogwarts. James felt his heart sink.
He allocated his cousin sat at a library table, her head bowed as she read the book open on the table, as if concentrating with all her might on the book could disguise the heavy flow of tears pouring down her face.
"Lizzie." James whispered, slipping into the seat beside her. For once, Eliza didn't punch him for the use of her detested childhood nickname. That was how James knew she had already been told...
"I- I know, Jamie." As if James would ordinarily let anyone call him Jamie. Final proof, as if he needed it, that it really had happened. The worst thing possible, or at least close. Eliza's head fell forward onto the book, shoulders shaking with the force of her sobs.
"She's strong." James whispered. "She'll pull through, I promise."
"I know that too." Eliza whispered, pushing away from the table and looking him in the eye. "It's just- With Bea with the death eaters now, I just feel- I feel like it's my fault. She was better than a mother to me, too. Yet my own mother might have been the one to kill her."
James flinched at the thought. His aunt (well, his uncle's wife) and cousin had joined the death eaters recently. At eleven years old, he and Eliza had been left to watch as the family fell apart before their eyes, split between the death eaters and the order...
"That is not your fault, Lizzie! My mum- she's one of the strongest women I know, alright? She'll pull through. I know she will. And when we're older, we're going to kick some serious death eater butt for this, I promise."
Eliza nodded bravely, offering him a small, watery smile. "Yeah. We'll join the order, become aurors, the works." She took a deep breath. "For now, however- I owe someone an apology. Come with me?"
James nodded, and put a protective arm around her shoulder. With no sibling of his own, Eliza was better than a sister to him. And with a sister in the death eaters and another in the order who refused to have anything to do with her, Eliza knew how to appreciate her surrogate brother better than anyone...
"Lily." Eliza said.
Evans, as James thought of her, was sat with Prewett and Wood, her eyes heavy with tears like Eliza's. The minute she saw them, she sprang to her feet and hugged her friend tight.
"I'm sorry, Eliza, I didn't know. I'm really sorry! I didn't-"
"It's okay. I was angry because- because of the whole death eater thing, and I shouldn't have taken that out on you, or Sna- Severus. I know you're close to him, and that just because he's in Slytherin doesn't make him a death eater in training, but I was mad. So, sorry." The apology was stinted and forced, and Eliza kept stopping, grappling for words or letting out small sobs. But it was something.
Lily blinked, before hugging her again. "If it makes you happy, I'll go to this stupid party. I'll dress up in a stupid costume and overdose on sugar." She said thickly.
James laughed. "Blimey, Evans, never heard you say sorry before. Or you, Lizzie. The apocalypse must be coming if you're handing out apologies."
Eliza punched him,, though she was laughing. "Don't get used to it. And don't you dare call me Lizzie, you miserable toad!"
"That's more like it!" James laughed. "I can stay, if you-"
"Go write home, James." Eliza whispered. "And- and make sure you tell her that if she doesn't get well soon, I'm going to hit her with the curse of the blood sucking bugs. Trust me when I say, it would not be pretty."
"Very fitting, though, considering the holiday. Happy Halloween, Eliza." With a nod to Lily and the others, he ran off to write his letter.
Twenty minutes later, Lily was still staring at the spot from which he had disappeared.
Severus might hate him, and he might be an arrogant idiot with a head too big to fit through the door, but that was a side to James Potter she had never, ever seen before... It left her thinking.
Maybe he wasn't so bad after all.