January 5th, 1972

"Lily! Lily Evans!"

I turn around at the train station. Marlene McKinnon from our dorm is waving at me, shaking her curly blonde hair out of her blue eyes.

"Hi, Marlee," I greet her, giving her a hug. "Have a nice holiday?"

She nods enthusiastically. "Oh, yes! It was so exciting to finally be able to talk about Hogwarts myself, instead of listening to Christopher rattle on about it. And you?"

"Well, it was wonderful, until my sister found my homework."

"Oh, no."

I laugh. "She got quite angry when she saw that I had licorice - rats' tails, really - hidden in my bedroom and wasn't sharing with her. She insisted that I give it all to her as an apology for being so greedy."

Marlee's eyes widen. "Lily, you didn't!"

"What choice did I have? She snatched them out of my pocket before I could say a word and was vomiting about twenty seconds later - after shoving all of them in her mouth."

Marlee doubles over with laughter. "Lily Evans, that is just about the best story I've ever heard. You didn't get in trouble, did you?"

"Just a bit. She told Mummy what happened and I was punished until the end of the holiday."

"But it wasn't your fault!"

I shrug. "It wasn't so bad. Seeing her reaction to the realization that she had ten rats' tails in her mouth was well worth it."

"Hey, Lily! Marlee!" Alice catches up to us.

"Hey, Al! How was your holiday?"

Marlee and Alice begin conversing about what they received for Christmas, and I smile to myself. This is wonderful, having true friends.

"Lily, look, it's snowing!"

I stop in my footsteps and follow Remus back to the window. He's right: it is snowing.

"Oh, how beautiful!"

The sparkling white flakes fall to the ground and completely cover it, disguising Hogwarts' beautiful greenery.

"What are you looking at?"

I don't have to turn around to identify whose voice that is. Severus joins us at the window and gazes out at the snow. A smile, a real, true, smile appears on his lips. Then he looks closely at Remus.

"Are you all right? You look awfully tired."

Remus shakes himself out of the daydreamy state with which he was watching the snow fall. "What? Oh, I'm fine. I just- y'know- I didn't get enough sleep over the holiday."

"Too much partying, eh, Remus?" a male voice asks. James claps Remus on the shoulder.

Remus nods quickly. "Yeah."

The bell chimes for the second time. I pick up my books off of the windowsill. "Come on, we'll be late for Transfiguration."

We make it into the classroom just as the bell chimes for the third time.

Alice and I walk into the Great Hall for lunch. The ceiling inside matches the sky outside - white and gray, and magical snowflakes fall from the clouds.

A black and gray owl flies into the Great Hall.

"That's odd," Alice says, "Mail comes at breakfast."

"I wonder what the letter is."

The owl circles above the Gryffindor table before dropping the letter - to me.

"Ooh, what is it, Lily?" Marlee asks.

"I don't have any idea," I tell her, then open the envelope. I start to laugh. "You're right, Alice, this is odd. It's from Petunia!"

Dear Lily,

I'd say that I hope this letter finds you well, but I don't really care that much.

I'm letting you know that I'm moving your junk to the storage closet beneath the staircase. It's taking up space in our room, and, as you're not here all the time anymore, there's really no point in having it here.

Mummy is insisting that I help take care of your kitten while you're away. I hope you appreciate that.

Are there attractive boys at Hogwarts?

~Petunia

I am unable to stop laughing, and Alice looks at me questioningly. I wordlessly hand the letter to her, and watch as she begins to laugh, too.

"So she sends you a letter to complain about the legacy you've left upon the house, but then finishes by asking whether there are attractive boys here?" Alice passes the letter to Marlee.

"Dang, Lily, you should be proud of those rat tails."

The next morning, Remus is nowhere to be found. Usually we would walk to breakfast together before Transfiguration, but this morning he isn't waiting for me in the common room. Thinking that perhaps he overslept, I decide to wait for him by the exit. James spots me and walks over.

Oh, joy, I think.

"Hey, Evans," he greets me as he usually does. "What're you doing?"

For some reason, I decide to tell him the truth. "I'm waiting for Remus. Have you seen him?"

His eyes cloud. "As a matter of fact, I haven't. He wasn't in the dorm this morning. Hey, Sirius," he calls. Sirius joins us by the exit. "Have you seen Remus? He appears to be missing."

Sirius shakes his head. "No." He grins slyly at me. "But maybe he and Evans were canoodling last night, eh, Evans?"

I roll my eyes. "Really, Black? I would've thought that that was your thing."

His face turns red. James, however, laughs. Assuming that he's poking fun at me, I leave the common room.

Don't get all embarrassed, Lily, I tell myself, It's just Potter. He's just trying to make you feel like an idiot. Like usual. Perhaps you can write to Petunia about him and tell her that he's one of those attractive boys. And then Petunia and James will end up married and you can stay with Mummy and Daddy and-

"Lily! Wait!"

I spin around. It's James.

He catches up to me, all out of breath. "Where are you going?"

"Breakfast. Alone. I don't need to have you laughing at me."

"Laughing at you? Oh." We stop walking. "I was laughing at what you said to Sirius! Not at you."

"Oh."

Was this almost an apology?

He looks me in the eyes. "You know," he says shyly, "That was a really good comeback. Could I use it sometime?"

I smile.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I worked a little harder on it.

Review!

~cphfairies