Chapter 1- Too Pale

Beads of sweat rolled down her face and bare back as the shower was still steaming hot. Lily was constantly cold, and taking an extremely hot shower at six in the morning, when the showers weren't preoccupied by half awake students, when the sun was barely peeking over the land, and when Lily was able to have peace and quiet to think, was the only reason she was prepared to do this for the year.

If she got any sleep at all, she'd still wake up in the early mornings and boil herself in the shower, humming melancholy tunes and washing her hair with vanilla scented shampoo twice. If there was any pet peeves Lily had, it was dirty hair. Ironic that her ex-best friend had probably never heard of soap in his life, right? She shivered-not because she was cold- just thinking about it. Mudblood, Lily, that's all you are to him now.

It is never fun crying on the shower floor.

Finally deciding to get out and begin her day, she wrapped the white towel around her torso and stared at the reflection in the mirror. For a redhead, she didn't have as many freckles as Arthur Weasley did, but she had enough to make her look youthful, but she had the bone structure to make her look mature. And that's what she was. Mature. Lily had always been rather skinny, but in fifth year her proportions balanced out, and now she looked model material.

Exceptionally beautiful.

Another fifteen minutes, her hair was dry, and she let it flow naturally. Parted to the side, wavy, and down to her waist. Leaning over, she splashed her face with cold water and applied makeup to hide the darkness of her eyes, and make her eyelashes longer.

Lily had never really worn much makeup, for she hadn't the need to. All she needed was her smile, which she had been lacking even that lately.

At 6:57, the world seemed to play into motion.

"It's my turn to shower, Price, you take forever!" came the voice of Donna Shacklebolt, and the lavatory dorm opened, revealing the tall, sleepy, dark skinned witch. "Oh, hey, ginger," her voice had dropped into a little more than a whisper, and Lily could practically taste the sympathy in her voice. "Done with the shower?"

"Yeah, I'm done," answered Lily, her voice quiet, and accompanied by a nod of her head. She smiled, although her eyes didn't crinkle when she did so. Not completely sincere, but not fake either. She was glad she had Donna. The taller of the two smiled best she could in return. "Morning, doll, go get some breakfast." And with that, Lily left the lavatory and joined the all very hungover sixth year Gryffindor girls in their dorm room.

"Morning, Lily!" Marlene greeted enthusiastically, giggling and brushing her blonde hair out of its tangles. "How long have you been up?" Lily smiled at her best mate's early morning enthusiasm- it seemed Marlene and Lily alike were the only ones who enjoyed being up to greet the sun when it came around. "Five forty-five. Wanted to get an early start for the first day. And I want to pick up my prefects pages before breakfast so I wouldn't miss," she explained to her friend, who nodded in understanding. "Well, do you want me to walk you down there?" Mary asked, "I took my shower last night."

Mary was shorter but had long legs, tan skin, and a slender body. Her lips were shaped perfectly and her eyes were like bright blue orbs, complemented well by her long, dark brown hair. She was already dressed in her uniform like Lily, except her tie was still undone, to which Lily had always had to tie herself for her friend, for Mary never quite got the hang of it.

The redhead smiled. "No, that's alright. You head down to breakfast," to which the brunette agreed. At 7:13, Lily walked out of the Gryffindor and into the heart of Hogwarts.

This summer had been the worst Lily had ever had in her life.

Sure, her father was dead, her family was struggling financially, Petunia had eloped and moved out and wouldn't speak to her, and she hadn't a best friend to talk to at that matter, but it wasn't just any of that that made her summer particularly dreadful- it was the longing.

Lily longed for something she didn't even know, a feeling in the pit of her stomach that she couldn't put a name to. Thinking back, she didn't remember the waltzes around the coffee table on her father's toes, the butterfly kisses in the morning, the bedtime stories at night, and her father's consoling words in times of discomfort until it had been taken away so suddenly.

She hadn't known her father was sick.

Hadn't known.

William Evans died on May 17, 1975 at 8:35 a.m...

Lily hadn't known there were angry tears washing her cheeks until she hastily pushed them away. She prayed she hadn't passed anybody without realising and they noticed her vulnerability.

If ever there was a good morning to go running, it was today. James was grinning stupidly at the rush he always felt after an hour long run in the morning, and the cold showers he took to cool off afterward. At 7:04, he stood fully clad in his Hogwarts uniform, and cried cheerfully, "Get up, lazy bums, or you'll miss breakfast!" (This was directed to Sirius, Peter and Adam McKinnon-their fifth dorm mate-, for Remus was already up and about, who, much like Lily, enjoyed an early start and decided to get his prefect rounds before breakfast had even been put out.

Sirius groaned loudly into his pillow, sitting up. It took him a moment to register that the sun was shining directly into his face-Sirius was known to get incredibly drunk- and he yelped and stood, clad only in his plaid boxers and black socks.

"You might want to wear clothes if you're going down so early," remarked Peter, as Sirius had opened the dorm door instead of the lavatory and was almost ready to make his way downstairs and out into the world.

"Don't spoil the fun, mate, Padfoot can go streaking if he fancies," James joked. Sirius shut the door and then proceeded to make his way into the right door. At 7:25, both Sirius and Peter had showered and dressed, and were ready to start their school year with a plate of eggs, bacon and toast. They met Remus at the table and sat down with him. "Daily Prophet, front cover," Remus started, simply skimming through the topics that would interest his mates most, as they had always done in their school years. "The Chudley Cannons gained a new member, pureblood Vincent Hammerson, youngest member in nearly fifty years..." he read in a bored tone more Quidditch reports for the Gryffindor captains sake, then turned to look at the missing witch and wizard reports.

"Muggleborn Alexis Harding, Muggleborn Jack Abbott, Muggleborn Rose Screwings..." and he proceeded with a list of more than ten muggleborns who had disappeared in the past week. James shook his head. If anything angered him more about this war, was the fact that hardly any of the witches and wizards went missing ever showed up again. Most of the ones confirmed dead were never actually released to the public, leaving already devastated families without any closure.

Alexander Potter worked for the Ministry in finding missing witches and wizards.

James grunted and pushed his plate away when he was finished- the thought of his father sickened him sometimes, but the words the came back in the soft voice of his mother always softened him up a bit. "Now James, he's your father, and he works very hard at what he does...All you can do is console the families who are grieving, protect those in danger, and love those who are discriminated."

At that thought, he looked around the crowded Great Hall for the flash of red hair. He had heard the news, knew the danger the girl and her family face, and wanted to take his mother's advice in consoling the girl, protecting her in these times of trouble- and his main goal in life- to love her, and get her to love him back.

James' heart sunk when he found she wasn't at breakfast either, and excused himself from the Marauders in an attempt to search for her. He took long strides and eventually found her entering the uninhabited library, and his heart sunk-if possible- even more.

"Evans," he said, silently making his way behind the girl, who jumped in response and stood again, turning to face the chaser. "Potter... you scared me," she said, short of breath at the sudden rush of fear.

James nodded, frowning. "I'm sorry-" Lily nodded. "Why weren't you at breakfast?"

Lily looked at him, eyes flickering for an excuse. "I wanted to study my prefect rounds and class schedule for a moment, so I know what books to carry before lunch."

James again nodded. "Look, Evans, I heard about what happened..." Hell, who didn't? she thought to herself. More pitiful looks, and from James bloody Potter as well? "I know you and I aren't... exactly friends...but know that I am sorry, and you have me and a lot of people on your side."

Lily nodded, not really listening. Her heart was pounding dangerously, she had gone two shades paler in the last thirty seconds, and hot tears were again biting at the insides of her eyes. "Thank you," came her answer in a small, quiet voice in the most polite manner she had possibly ever used on James Potter.

"You should eat, you look..." he stopped himself before saying 'too thin', for he had learned from his mother to never say a girl was 'too thick' or 'too thin', and he settled for, "pale. You look pale."

Lily gave a half hearted smile and nodded. "I will."

Too pale.