I walked around the halls of Hogwarts for a few weeks, exploring all the places I had wanted to go when I had once been living there and finding new passage ways and tunnels.

Eventually though I became restless and bored of my new life. Although I was happy to be alive, I missed my old life and friends.

Every day I watched witches and wizards passing me by, laughing and chatting to each other. I remembered when I had once done that and sighed to myself as I thought back to when life had been so carefree and easy. It was even harder seeing my brother, Sirius there, when I knew I would never be able to talk to him again…

One day when I was just sitting and thinking back to my old life I saw a witch and wizard coming towards me. As they came closer I recognised them as Lily Evans and James Potter. They had just started their 7th year at Hogwarts.

Lily seemed like a very sweet, kind girl who was very bright. She always fed me food when she had any with her and I heard she came top in her classes all the time. She had also been picked as Head Girl, which had been no surprise to most people. She had started to date James just recently. He was Head Boy and liked to show off and always hung around with Sirius. Although he played pranks on people and joked around a lot he had a good heart and was a loyal friend to Sirius and his other friends which made him likeable.

They walked over to me which surprised me. Most people ignored me or just glanced at me.

'See James, isn't he just the cutest cat ever!' said Lily to James as she kneeled down next to me and began petting me.

'Well, I, er suppose' said James shifting on the spot looking a bit awkward.

'I've always wanted a cat' said Lily randomly after a few minutes 'But I wasn't allowed one because my dad said he was allergic to them. I think he was just lying though'

James didn't say anything but looked thoughtfully at me.

After a few minutes it began to start drizzling. Soon enough it began to rain heavily.

'Come on Lily. We'll be late for our next class and we'll get wet standing out here' he said to her.

'Aww…' she muttered as she reluctantly got up.

After that James and Lily came to visit me nearly every week. At first it seemed like James was only there because he wanted to be with Lily but after a while he started to warm up to me.

A few months later I heard Lily and her friend, whose name I couldn't remember talking.

'So are you doing anything for your birthday? It's this Friday, isn't it?' her friend asked.

'Yeah. I'm not really going to do anything for it. Most people don't even know it's my birthday' she said. She looked like it didn't bother her but as her friend looked the other way, I saw sadness creep into her eyes.

As they walked away I briefly wondered what James would get her before seeing a mouse and running after it.

Later that day as I sat outside Hagrid's hut feeling annoyed - I hadn't caught the mouse in the end - I saw James and Hagrid talking to each other.

I didn't have time to think about this before James came and carried me away to the Gyriffindor common room. When we went in there was banners everywhere reading "Happy Birthday Lily!" and balloons and streamers coming off every piece of furniture in sight.

Before I even had enough time to take in my surroundings, somebody screamed that Lily was coming and we all had to hide. I never really got the point of surprise parties. I mean, with the amount of noise everyone's making trying to hide, you kind of know something's going on.

After she had come in and we had shouted surprise and she had thanked everyone, James came and gave me to her.

'This is for you. I know you like him and you always wanted a cat, so I talked to Hagrid about it and he said I could give him to you' explained James.

I didn't pay attention to the rest of their conversation. I had just one thing on my mind: I would no longer be living in this place where memories of my past life had been! I could leave it all behind!

'I'm going to call him Shadow' said Lily to James later that night.

The few months left of the school year went by quickly. I lived in the Gyriffindor common room and every night I would curl up beside Lily while she did her homework.

Graduation day came and went quickly. The final bags had been packed and we were finally boarding the train.

Lily got on holding me and went and sat in a carriage to wait for James. She put me down and then looked at me and sighed happily.

'I can't believe I'm finished here. I'm never going to see this place again. I'm happy to leave but a bit sad too. And then in a few months I'm getting married! It's all so exciting but I'm nervous too…' she said to me. She tended to do that a lot; she talked to me all the time. At first it was weird but I got used to it.

James had proposed a few days ago to her and she had obviously said yes. He had also asked Sirius to be their best man, which he had been delighted about - but he was as usual trying to act cool so didn't show it.

James suddenly came in and sat next to Lily and held her hand. The train started up and began it's journey. I began to think of my life ahead and how great it was going to be.

Back then I thought that we would all live happily ever after. Like in all those movies. Sadly life isn't like movies.

Emma (Username: Dazzle-Me-Forever)