It was just barely after midnight and Lily Evans had yet to go to sleep. She was working on her summer homework. She also had just turned twelve years old. Lily rubbed her eyes and looked at the clock. "My goodness!" she exclaimed. "No wonder I'm so dreadfully tired. It's after midnight." Lily was no ordinary twelve-year-old though. She was home for the summer from her school: Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Lily couldn't wait to hang out with her best friends from Hogwarts: Serena (Rini) Avalon, James Potter, Sirius Black, and Remus Lupin. Thinking that she should get to sleep so she would wake up early, Lily finally went to bed.

Lily woke up to a tapping on her window at 7:30 in the morning. She looked and saw an official looking owl. Lily opened the window and saw not only the official looking owl, but also her own owl, Emrys. Emrys flew over to her cage and ate the mouse in her beak. The official owl was waiting patiently for Lily to relieve it of its letter. She took the letter and the owl left.

The letter was from Hogwarts. Inside it had a list of school supplies and her train ticket. Lily smiled, knowing that in a few weeks, she would be going back. Then she got up, got dressed, and went downstairs.

Lily could smell her mother's cooking. What a smell it was! She was making Lily's favorite breakfast: eggs, bacon, toast, pancakes, and tea. Lily sat down and her mother kissed her forehead good morning. "Morning Mum!" Lily said cheerily.

"Morning Sweetheart. Sleep well?"

"Mm hmm. I got my letter as well. Do you think it would be okay if I spent the afternoon with my friends?"

Mrs. Evans looked at Lily surprised. "But we always spend birthdays as a family."

"I know Mum, but there are a lot more friends who want to see me this year. Usually it's just Rini and Tina. Now it's Rini, James, Sirius, Remus, and probably Damien. Plus, I'll be spending the morning with you and it would make Petunia happier."

"We'll ask your father when he comes down."

Lily smiled, knowing that she could get her father agree to almost anything if she played her cards right. Petunia came down around eight o'clock, putting on some sort of make up. Lily laughed at this sight.

Petunia looked skeptically at her. "What's so funny?"

Lily laughed even harder. "You are, Petunia! You're actually putting make up on!"

"Yes, I have plans with Vernon today." Petunia looked at what her mother was cooking. "Wait a minute. Eggs, bacon, pancakes, toast. Oh, don't tell me it's the little brat's birthday!"

"Yes, Petunia, it is. And don't insult your sister!" Mrs. Evens scolded.

"Mum, I'm going out with Vernon and I refuse to change my plans for her. She was gone most of the year, and ever since she came back, you've been treating her like the queen of England!"

"Petunia calm down," Lily said. "You might not have to go anywhere with me and my friends." Petunia brightened.

Mr. Evans came down a few minutes later and kissed the top of Lily's head. "Happy birthday, Princess."

"Thank you, Daddy." Mrs. Evans served breakfast.

About half way through, Lily asked, "Daddy, is it okay if my friends and I spent the afternoon together without the family?"

Mr. Evans looked at his daughter. "I don't see any harm in it."

"But Kevin—" Mrs. Evans started.

"Come on, Evy. Where's the harm?"

"Kevin, most of her friends are boys!"

"Evilan, I really don't think Lily would do something with any of the boys considering there are a few of them going to be there plus Rini." Mr. Evans had called Lily's mother by her full name, so she knew she would be able to go on her own this year. They finished their breakfast in peace. Then Lily opened her gifts.

Around eleven the doorbell rang. Petunia ran to get to the door first. Petunia called to her parents, "I'll be back later, Mum!" so they knew Vernon was at the door. After Petunia left, Lily ran upstairs, put on a blue skirt, a white T-shirt with the word 'Angel' written across the front, and her blue platform heels. Lily ran back downstairs, kissed her parents good-bye, and went to Rini's.

Lily rang Rini's doorbell. A bubbly Rini answered it. "Hi Lily! Happy birthday!" Lily found herself being pulled inside by Hurricane Rini. When Lily finally was able to see things besides a blur, she saw she was in the Avalon kitchen. In the kitchen were Damien Gem, James, Peter, Remus, and Sirius.

"Happy birthday!" they all shouted.

Remus immediately had her in a hug and swung her around. "Thank you, Remus, for that amusing ride," Lily said looking a little pale. "I'd kiss your cheek but I might vomit on it."

"Sorry, Lily. Didn't mean to make you feel queasy."

"I'm feeling a bit better now, thanks. Anyone else up for a none moving hug?"

Sirius came over and hugged Lily. "Happy birthday, little angel." Lily kissed his cheek hello.

James came over and hugged her next. "Happy birthday, Sleeping Beauty." Though the group had been seeing each other all summer, James still felt as if he hadn't seen her since the last time they had hugged. Lily looked at him weird when he called her 'Sleeping Beauty.' James laughed. "Remus, isn't Lily our Sleeping Beauty?"

Remus laughed as he remembered last year. "Yes, but ours didn't wake up!"

"Too true, too true."

Lily just shook her head, still not knowing what they were talking about. She hugged James again and kissed his cheek. He returned the kiss but his was just to the side of her lips.

James backed away a bit nervously. "Ah, you haven't said hello to Damien or Peter yet."

"Happy birthday, Lily!" Peter said with excitement.

Lily cringed with disgust at the sight of him, but only James noticed it. "Thank you, Peter. Damien, I'll leave Rini to give you my hellos and how-do-you-dos."

Everyone laughed as Damien turned red. "With pleasure!" Rini said, which made him blush even harder.

"Well, shall we go to the movies? There's one playing that I've been dying to see!" Lily said.

Rini called her mother downstairs to take them to the theater. Mrs. Avalon gave them extra money, just in case.

At the theater, they bought the tickets and refreshments. Then they got their seats. Damien sat farthest down, with Rini to his right. On the other side of Rini sat Lily, then James, Remus, Sirius, and lastly Peter.

The movie was a horror. James kept hoping Lily would get scared. Lily and Rini were scared by a half-hour through the movie. Rini's head has buried in Damien's shoulder while Lily's was buried in James's. They would look up every once in a while to see what was going on. The guys were fully enjoying the movie. Lily just happened to look up once when a puppy was getting killed. She quickly buried her head in James's shoulder again. James was only too happy to hold her tight to comfort her.

James felt his shoulder were a bit wet and figured Lily was crying from the puppy getting killed. "Lily," he said gently, "do you want to leave? You don't have to see this if you don't want to." Lily nodded so they got up and left.

Once they got into the lobby, Lily exclaimed, "How could they kill that poor little puppy! That poor innocent puppy!" Lily continued to cry on James shoulder for the next few minutes. She looked up at James and smiled. "Thanks, James. Why don't you go back in and watch the rest the rest of the movie, okay?"

James shook his head. "No, not unless you want to. It's just a movie. Plus, I wouldn't want to leave you out here alone."

"Thanks, James. You really are a great friend." Lily hugged James once more. "You know, the movie won't be over for about another hour."

"I know that. It there anything else we can do while we wait for them?"

Lily thought for a while. "There's the arcade."

"Okay, let's go there." Lily jumped up and started dragging James to the arcade.

James was in awe of the different games. "How can there be so many. I've heard of a few of these, but I didn't realize there were so many." Lily laughed at the remark and pulled him over to a game called Pac-Man.

They were in the arcade for longer than they meant to be. The movie had ended a few minutes ago and they hadn't left the arcade. They were having too much fun.

Lily was beating James in a fighting game when someone tapped her on the shoulder. "Jesus Christ!" she shouted. She had lost her concentration so James was able to defeat her.

"Finally!" James said with triumph. He looked at Lily who was clutching her heart trying to regain her breath. "What happened to you?" Lily pointed to who had tapped her on the shoulder. There stood Sirius, Rini, Damien, Remus, and Peter. "Thanks guys. You threw Lily's concentration off and I was able to defeat her finally."

"That was not fair!" Lily started. "They shouldn't have tapped my shoulder. I want a rematch. I demand a rematch!"

James shook his head. "You've defeated five times in that game. You're better than me in it and I bow down to your ability to conquer anyone in it." This made Lily happy.

Suddenly, Sirius asked, "Hey guys, why did you leave the movie? Was it just to boring for you?"
James laughed. "Quite the contrary, actually. I found it a fairly good horror movie. It was to much for Lily."

"They killed an innocent little puppy!" Lily started to defend herself.

"Oh my goodness, Lily!" Rini exclaimed. "I forgot all about your animal thing." Seeing the others confused faces, she explained. "You see, Lily has this really soft side for animals. She only eats meat because she knows that the entire animal will be used for something. The hides of pigs and cows, the feathers of chickens, the fleece of sheep, and their meat are being used. Never take her to an animal shelter because she'll burst in tears seeing all those abandoned and stray animals. Seeing an innocent puppy being killed is like the worst thing she could have seen." Lily was crying just thinking about that puppy being killed.

Suddenly, Remus had a question for Lily that he had to ask her privately. "Um, Lily? You want to play a game with me?"

"Sure. You want to see if you can defeat me in a game that James can only win by default?" Lily put another quarter in the machine and she and Remus started to play.

"Lily, is that why you were so understanding when I told you I was a werewolf?" A werewolf had bitten Remus when he was little. The only person that knew besides the professors and Hogwarts and his family was Lily.

"What do you mean, Remus?"

"Your love of animals. Is that why you weren't mean to me? Because I'm part animal?"

Lily glanced at Remus. "Yes, it's part of the reason. As I said last year though, I know werewolves are only dangerous in there wolf forms. As long as you're in your human form, I know I'm safe." They fell silent as they continued to play. The others were watching with interests. They were surprised when Lily cried, "No!" Remus had obviously won the game.

They left the arcade. Lily looked at her watch and exclaimed, "Oh no! I need to be home in twenty minutes! I need to call home." Lily ran to a pay phone and called her parents to tell them she'd be late. Then Rini called her mother and told her they were ready to be picked up.

They were picked up fifteen minutes later by Mrs. Avalon. Rini and Lily sat in the front while the boys sat in the back. The boys were discussing the movie and telling James what he missed. Rini looked at Lily and asked, "So has James asked you out yet?"

"No, Rini, and he probably won't ask me out."

"Why not, Lils?"

"Because I he promised to wait for me. If he likes me as much as he says he does, he'll wait till I ask him."

"That was risky. What if he asks someone else while he waits for you?"

"Then he didn't like me as much as he thought." The rest of the ride home was mainly talk of the movie.

Lily got home twenty minutes late.