"I really cannot believe that you managed to achieve that Lils," Zabrina said buttering herself some toast. "How did you get Dumbledore to agree?" Lily laughed and threw back her hair, a girl with a date is much happier than an alone one.
"It's called batting one's eyelashes Z," Lily purred, "And she has amazing marks." Zabrina nodded and spilled orange juice. "Z! WHAT THE BLOODY HE-" Zabrina slapped Lily's arm and pointed to the girl standing at the entrance to the Great Hall, Lily smiled satisfied and motioned for her cousin Angela to join us.
"Hey, hey!" Angela sparkled sweetly; she was a light brunette with snow white skin and enormous purple eyes. "So this is Zabrina?" Zabrina nodded incoherent.
Lily elbowed her, "Yeah, and this is my cousin Angela from America," Angela laughed again and twisted one of her gorgeous pin curls around her fingers.
"Damn Lily, now I see where you get it from! AND PSSSSST!" the ginger looked at Zabrina questioningly who smiled secretively and pointed to Sam, "Oh and remember a certain someone was going out for like two weeks? Well guess what! THEY BROKE UP!" Zabrina glowed; she always had a crush on James since the very first day.
Angela regarded the Hall and seemed oblivious to all of the dumbstruck boys gathered around the Gryffindor table, all except for James Potter who hurried to sit beside Zabrina.
"Hey Sabrina," he said throatily knocking back some orange juice. Zabrina almost fainted and Angela had to kick her under the table to stop her from hyperventilating.
"Um, hi James!" Lily rolled her eyes at Angela who watched curiously. "Is there something you wanted?" she tried the eye batting thing that made Lily want to disappear, this was plain disgusting.
"Yeah, do you know a girl named Katie Leung?" he asked nonchalantly, not even noticing Angela. "She's really beautiful, Asian, with long black hair, Scottish?" Zabrina looked as if she wanted cut her own heart out.
"No, no I do not!" she burst out pissed off like a cat after a bath. "AND IF I DID I WOULD CALL HER A TWO-TIMING BITCH!" James looked at her as if he was seeing her for the first time.
"What do you mean?" he asked confusedly. Angela gave a barely audible, "uh oh" and Lily started twisting her napkin in two wanting to die or something, disappear from the scene.
"SHE TWO-TIMED ON MY COUSIN!" Zabrina cried out, insane. Angela looked at me for help and I shrugged and passed her some more eggs and kippers. Angela tipped her head to the side and began to giggle unstoppably.
"Lily, do you guys call sausages kippers? As in like flipper without the F and L but with a K?" I nodded. She burst out laughing, "Do you guys call men blokes? Do you eat fish 'n chips? GOD I LOVE ENGLAND!" I laughed; Angela could always make me smile.
"I'm glad and no that is not what a kipper is," we were determinedly ignoring the catfight ensured by Zabrina and James.
"SHE BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH!" Zabrina roared and her voice became too shrill to understand so James just gave up.
"Ok well thanks for the info, me and her are going to go out during Christmas holiday," he said easing away from the trembling Zabrina and sat safely beside some Quidditch players. Zabrina buried her face in her hands and wheezed several sobs, which bounced and echoed off the ceilings and walls.
"How long can she go on like this?" Angela asked Lily trying to shrink behind the pumpkin juice decanter. "This is kind of odd for my first day Lily," Lily shrugged and wrapped an arm around Zabrina's shoulders and began to speech used by all best friends.
"He just wants a good time right now Z, soon he will realize that a good person is worth so much more than a pretty face," Lily cooed but this comforting seemed to have the opposite effect on the weeping Zabrina.
"O SO NO I DON'T HAVE A PRETTY FACE, EH?! IS THAT IT LILY?! WELL I GUESS SAM WAS RIGHT ABOUT YOU ALL ALONG! YOU…YOU….BITCH!" Zabrina ran from the Hall blubbering and Lily frozen with shock and Angela with her mouth still bitten in a slice of toast.
"Hormonal group aren't you?" Angela remarked attempting on making light. Lily just stopped eating and sat with her shoulders hunched and her chin on the table. "Wadup Lily Marie, nothing should keep you amazing gingers down." Lily snorted a bit at that but still looked grief-stricken.
"Oh Lily," Angela said compassionately. "No one knows what you have gone through and that is something no one should ever go through but we remain strong. You are Lily Marie Evans; you are stronger than anyone in the world! Remember, ILY?" Lily smiled at her old nickname. "Oh by the by, how is Petunia?" Lily looked depressed again.
"She doesn't want me home for Christmas, or summer." Angela's eyes flared and she began to spear pieces of tater tots with her wand. "I do not know what I will do Ang, I have lost two of my best friends in two days and you live in America. What will I do?" Angela thought.
"I would do anything to sneak you into Customs Lils; I really would, but Mom and Dad…" Lily agreed glumly. "You know how they are about your dad; they don't want 'his spawn' in the house." Angela had tears spurt out; she hurried out before anyone could tell. Lily wiped up the blood with a napkin and sat like a loner by herself.
XXX
Angela halted in the third floor bathroom and peered into the mirror watching the blood stream from her eyes, the blasted curse. Moaning Myrtle the ghost floated distractedly but started when she saw the girl crying tears of blood onto her bathroom floor.
"Oh no! What is wrong? Did someone make fun of your glasses? Did someone steal your boyfriend, what?!" Myrtle wailed anxiously. Angela did not look up and felt something press on the back of her, NO, NO, NO! She collapsed but her mouth kept moving while Myrtle started screaming at the top of her transparent lungs until Dumbledore came with a stretcher and Angela repeating her prophecies.
The entire faculty watched as the beautiful girl with her rapidly moving, prophetic mouth and her dreadfully red tears passed on a stretcher. Dumbledore stood impassive and then motioned for the caretaker to come to him, "Send in Lily Evans."
XXX
James felt very antsy after a morning of being the victim of an insane woman, screaming her head off about his latest conquest. Well, that was not the right word.
He liked Katie but he was sure in which way, she was nothing compared to Lily and Lily would never love him. Hell, he doubted he could ever forgive Lily for her deeds to him. He felt his heart give a little thrill, and then it shriveled up and he wondered what the feeling was…Love. Would he ever be able to love? Surely he loved the Marauders but…true love, was he capable of such a thing? The thought was so strange he thought he ought to skimp on classes and purge such un-Marauder-ish emotions in the Black Lake.
Abandoning the path to Charms, James hurried outside, stripped until he was only in his boxers, and dove in. He relished the feeling of water swooping and examining all over his body for injuries like the mother he wished were still there. Soon he began to flounder, I JUST REMEMBERED, I CANNOT SWIM!
XXX
Remus wondered where Sirius, James, Lily, Zabrina, and Sam were but was curious at this brand new meat…Anita or something. She was as gorgeous as Lily but in a different, darker way, less bold. He pondered asking her to study with him but forgot the thought when he noticed scarlet stains beneath the girl's purple eyes.
XXX
Sirius felt like walking, living, hell-ridden shit. He felt as if a thousand horses had run him over, one by one. Zabrina liked James. It was against the Bro Code, no one could ever go out with someone who had a crush on the best friend, it was just wrong!
Sirius began pummeling the wall behind the large mirror entrance; he forgot which passage this was as the map seemed to have disappeared without a trace. "Accio Marauder's Map!" He waited for some time and then an odd zooming sound made its entrance and the map landed, dank and dirty at his feet.
"O shit," Sirius muttered turning the map over. "Snape," he said distastefully. Shoving the map into his robes, Sirius galloped to find James in the most ungainly that was most un-Sirius –like but could not find him.
"O shit," Sirius roared after finally seeing his best friend dive into the Black Lake and not resurface. "SHIT! He can't swim!" Sirius hollered. And galloped once more.
XXX
Remus caught Peter by the arm and darted to the Black Lake after Sirius, and after James.
XXX
"So Ms. Evans, what is this with your supposed "cousin"?" Dumbledore inquired sternly. Lily looked at her shoes, noticing that they were the ugly Mary-Jane's that Petunia had given her that birthday.
"She's a seer," Lily confessed. "And not my cousin, but my friend and that she cries real blood and that is when you know she is prophesying." Dumbledore surveyed his student with the ice blue eyes of a world-weary man.
"How did you meet her," Lily sighed and played with the lock of amber hair.
"Her mother was an auror who came to protect us after several attacks appeared nearby our house, but dad went insane. He just could not help it, professor! And he…he, set the car on fire." Lily said plainly. "Mr. Hope does not want Angela associating with me because his wife was almost in the car and he blames my father, rightly so but he has a disease professor! Or had." Lily started to sniffle. Dumbledore kindly handed her a tissue, sighed in a drained manner, and began to breathe deeply.
"Was her mother killed?" Lily nodded sadly staring at her hands.
"She was not the best at putting things back together again so when she tried the car backfired and the small explosion hit her in the chest." Lily refused to look up. "Mr. Hope wanted Ang to come here and that is the only reason why me and Angela can even communicate."
"I see, it appears blood occurs quite often in the Hope family," Dumbledore observed. "How long have these prophecies and tears been occurring?" Lily shrugged.
"Before her mother's death but other than that, I really do not know." Dumbledore regarded the window and sighed.
"Lily, will you do me a favor?" Lily looked startled and agreed immediately.
"Madame Pomfrey is with Hagrid in his hut healing some creature of some sort but I do believe she should look over Miss Hope again." Lily nodded and hurried to the bottom of the stairs to the grounds.
XXX
Sam and Zabrina sat behind the tree with Lucius' hand on each other their shoulders watching the scene with impassive eyes and waited.
"Not much longer now," Malfoy recounted to the Death Eaters behind the two girls. "Potter will come by much sooner now," Sam smiled showing all of her teeth; her glasses glinted in the sun making a blinding beacon of where the band was at.
Zabrina was struggling with the feelings of guilt and regret and felt it quicken, quicken it's pulse and move. She switched feet and fidgeted until everyone was glaring at her and she stopped and bore the comfort with fortitude.
"Not much longer, the girl said at 11:11 a.m." Sam reminded them all, "We will wait to strike, Dumlbedore will have lost four powerful assets today, and one will join us." Rosier behind a mask stepped forward earnestly.
"Is that what the Seer sad, exactly?" Sam blushed a flaming scarlet resembling Lily's hair.
"She said 'A leader will rise and lead anew with brand new eyes, using weapons and terrible spies, thrice of the battles and a fourth will make the difference, but 7 is more important for those with voices will cry and be answered'. I don't understand it but the Dark Lord seemed to," Sam shrugged.
"You two were very good actresses," someone compliment them. Sam smiled with her teeth glinting like her glasses but Zabrina did not hear, or pretended not to. She was not a good actress, hell she had not the need to act; everything had unfolded for her favor. And James Potter will be mine, she promised herself.
XXX
Lily hurried to the Lake and heard footsteps clomping behind her, "LILY!" she heard Sirius call, and she looked up and saw him point. The lake's smooth surface was being interrupted by hastily disappearing bubbles and she saw the look of panic and Potter's clothes. Running towards the water, she stripped down to her undies and plummeted after him.
The waters were lovely greenish black with fish and strange yellow eyes appearing from behind clumps of seaweed and shells had fins. Not bothering to care Lily continued to explore and felt her heart sink when she saw the generous tentacle of the Giant Squid.
Lily separated through the water like a knife through butter, searching for the familiar black mop. As soon as she spotted him and grabbed him, she bobbed upwards and slammed him against the pebbly shore. The Squid did not seem to notice at all.
"C'mon Potter breathe," Lily panted slapping his face. The handsome boy did not move. Lily lifted up his eyelids but the eyes just rolled back into his head and she knew, however distasteful, the task that was needed.
"Enjoy this while you can!" she wrenched open his mouth and breathed in for him, her body brushing against his and her mouth molding around his.
Suddenly a deep shuddering breath in a spasm throughout his entire body shook him alive but he wrapped his arms around Lily's waist. "Why hello there," Lily opened her eyes from her task and notice that her lips were no longer on his. Deep chocolate eyes stared back amused and warm with affection, deep affection that she could not perceive.
"Um, hi." She said awkwardly aware that she was in her favorite black pantie and bra set from Victoria's Secret and blushed.
"Here," he magicked the rocks gathered at his feet into what appeared to be a gorgeous green gown. "Oh, sorry, force of habit!" he blushed as well and the gown turned into Lily's robes.
Her eyes brimmed with thanks and she slipped into them quickly and watched as the Marauders skidded to them through the snow and mud.