A/N :Hey, Guys! Sorry for taking SOOOOO LONG to upload a new chapter! Life's been really hecitc, i've been struggling a bit with family problems and school has not been helping at all! Again, i am extremely sorry and i hope you guys will forgive my rusty writing! I will try and upload another chapter this coming weekend!


After the night James had helped her take out all that pain of her chest, Lily hadn't had a nightmare again and slowly but steadily with the help of her friends and James her health was regaining and soon her cheeks were again round and rosy. It felt like Lily had gotten out of her nest after a long winter to face the first sunbeams of the summer sun. Lily was grateful for her friends who even after all that she had made them go through were so happy to have her back. As for James, Lily had come to face a big surprise when James had started to talk to her, smile at her and even flirt with her. But there was something different about him. The way he talked to her was not the way he used to back in fifth year. James had lost that arrogant and cocky manner of his; he no longer behaved like the great jerk he used to be. He seemed more serious, more determined and more matured. Lily had come to know him better after long walks and amusing discussions. The girl had grown to be quite fond of him and she was no longer questioning why everyone was looking up to James. He had the air of the leader and the person who you could easily trust and follow his words. Lily would never imagine that she would be so happy to be in James' company.

The rest of his friends, Remus, Sirius and Peter had come to accept her, too. Remus had always been nice with Lily, so he was no problem. Peter would just follow the crowd. The only one who didn't seem to be very fond of her, was Sirius. Lily had gotten the impression that Sirius was not very satisfied when James would invite her to sit with them in the Great Hall every once in a while. It was weird, though, Lily had the impression that Sirius was James' best friend. It was like the two boys were joined in the hip and even if they weren't brothers, they acted like ones. Lily, of course didn't want to bring this out to James, it would surely sound as rude. Besides, James was just a friend; she had no right to get involved in his personal business. Besides, it was not like Lily would hang out with the rest of the boys much. She was still shy around them, especially when Sirius was not very encouraging. The only boy that could make her feel comfortable was James.

Head duties had come to be so much fun with the change of hers and James' relationship. Lily's laughter could be heard in the corridors when James would say a joke while they were patrolling the floors. Even when they had to guard the corridors late at night and they were supposed to do it in silence (something that wasn't hard a few weeks ago) their lively chatter could be heard penetrating the silence of the night.

Two days before the Quidditch match in which Gryffindor would play against Slytherin, James and Lily had another night patrol in which apparently the main subject was about quidditch and countless quidditch techniques James himself had invented. Even though Lily was not very knowledgeable around Quidditch subjects, she was doing her best to keep up with the conversation.

"So, that trick move you described? The one in which the chaser throws the Quaffle over one shoulder to a team member in order to trick the opposing chaser? It sounds pretty difficult. How is it called?" asked Lily, their footsteps echoing in the empty dark corridors as they were approaching the third floor.

"Oh, it's called the 'Reverse Pass'. It's a classic move, though very difficult to accomplish. You see, it's very easy not to aim right and not pass it to your team member and if you look over your shoulder to make sure you'll aim right then the opposing chaser will figure it out and it will no longer be a trick move" James answered , pushing his glasses closer to his hazel eyes. One thing Lily had also noticed was how James' eyes reflected his emotions if the boy would let them show. If he wasn't close to himself, his eyes reflected his feelings, when he was angry they were getting darker; when he was laughing his eyes were lighting like two stars. Lily was stunned at how she would notice every single detail on James' body. But usually, the girl would just snap herself out of it. They were just friends; their relationship was just a step over bearing with each other, besides they still fought a lot.

"Sounds interesting" Lily couldn't help her hollow tone of voice that betrayed that her interest over the subject had faded away.

"Oh, really?" asked James mockingly, raising a questioning eyebrow. "I can see how interested you are, Evans. You are probably dying to tell me to shut up" the tone of James' voice was playful and light, a tone that recently he was using a lot when he was with her. A tone that Lily liked, it wasn't the mocking and sarcastic tone that gave Lily bad memories, but a light tone that only James' possessed.

"You are right, Potter" said Lily, fighting back a chuckle. "Shut up" The two Heads laughed as they kept marching on, supposedly 'patrolling' the third floor. Who would have thought that patrolling in the middle of the night would be so much fun?

The couple of them was about to continue their patrol in the fourth corridor and then they would finally go to their beds. Even if James' company was rather fun and amusing, Lily's legs were eager to relax on her soft bed. The girl accelerated her pace, her mind travelling in her dorm when she suddenly noticed that James was not next to her. Lily frowned and turned around to see James standing outside the library with his back turned on her.

Confused, Lily walked back to him. "Usually I would be highly amused, but don't you think it's a bit late for you to read?" the girl joked, but the boy didn't laugh, in fact he kept staring at a certain spot near the library's restricted section that was covered in shadows. "James?"

"Someone's there" muttered James, his light tone turning dark and serious. "I've seen someone getting out of the restricted section, carrying something with him. A book, maybe". Lily's green eyes followed James' to the spot he was staring at, to see nothing but complete stillness. Narrowing her eyes, the girl still couldn't make something out.

"James, it's a bit a late, maybe you are seeing things" Lily said tiredly.

"I know what I saw" James' answer was straight and firm, the one that took no arguing and Lily sighed in frustration.

"Come on, who would possibly get out in the middle of the night just to take a bloody book?" argued Lily, trying to get James back to his senses.

"I don't know. But I am about to find out" With his eyes still fixed on the depth of the library, James took out his wand and after whispering the illumination spell, he proceeded into the library with a blue white light coming from the tip of his wand.

Lily sighed in frustration at James' stubbornness. She just wanted to go to her bed and enjoy as much sleep as she could. She stood there, gazing as James was walking deeper into the library and was soon swallowed into the shadows. Shaking her head, Lily finally took out her wand.

"Lumos" she muttered the spell defeated and walked into the darkness of the library.

Even though Lily's spell was rather strong, it certainly wasn't enough to keep her from banging on one of the library's tables. Lily cursed under her breath. She loathed darkness more than anything. The feeling that she could not see anything was panicking and in the worst of times Lily felt like she was being drowned in a sea of darkness. In her eyes, the darkness was a sly enemy that no matter how much you fought it, it would never leave.

Stumbling her way through book shelves and tables, Lily finally made out James's lit wand and approached. James was standing at the entrance of the restricted section. The bronze, cell-like door was locked and there was no sign that someone had entered nor exited.

"There's no one here" said Lily impatiently, starting to feel really uncomfortable, the darkness here was thicker. "Come on, let's go" Lily lightly touched James' arm, but the boy didn't move. "Come on, James! Besides if there was indeed someone, don't you think we would have stumbled over him?"

In Lily's satisfaction James' sighed in defeat. "I am just so sure that I've seen someone" Endlessly, James shook his head and followed Lily out of the library.

Meanwhile, in the depths of the library, behind a shelf of large astronomy books, a figure was hidden behind the shadows, standing completely still, hardly even daring to breathe. The figure was holding a book, a very large book that was hard to hold. After the Heads left the library, the thief stepped out of the shadows and slowly followed the route back with the stolen book.

The next morning the incident during the night patrol was completely forgotten. Lily and James hadn't even thought of mentioning it in their morning report to professor Mcgonagal. It was after all, a fine Saturday morning, the last one before the Christmas Holidays and surprisingly snow this year had come early, so why bothering anyone with unnecessary information?

Three girls were sitting at the Great Hall, eagerly chatting with each other about the day's plans.

"I say we should just play all day long with the snow! We can make a snowman, a snow angel…" started Alice in an over excited tone of voice, her brown eyes were gleaming with excitement, her fingers playing with a long strand of blonde hair (a habit she had when she was either excited or nervous)

"Maybe we can relax in the common room with a nice cup of hot chocolate and a good story book like we did in first year" Sophia suggested, a smile spreading over her pale face.

"…we can do snow fight, we can snow-slide…" Alice carried on with enthusiasm, ignoring Sophia's words.

Lily looked at her friends in amusement. "I don't know, guys. Maybe you should start without me. I have a few essays that need to be done."

"Oh, you can't be serious!" Alice snapped at her, as if Lily had said the most offensive thing in the word. "It's snowing and you are going to bloody do your homework?"

"Don't be like that" said Lily still smiling "I'll meet you in the common room in less than thirty minutes and then we will have the whole day ahead!"

"Maybe we can also visit Hogsmeade, the village will look wonderful today, and shops have already put on their Christmas decorations. I have to buy a gift for my younger brother, he's been bugging me to buy him something from Zonko's shop for the whole year" said Sophia frowning. "But oh well, his enthusiasm will fade away, we are going to my aunt in Italy this Christmas!"

"Sounds wonderful!" Alice said. "My folks and I are going to my grandma's; she cooks the best turkey in the whole world".

Lily suddenly felt her stomach twisting and her heart aching at the memory of Christmas holidays. This would be the first holidays that she would spend without her family and even though she had managed to distract herself from her parents' death, it still hurt. It would always hurt, it would hurt every Christmas, every summer and every time she would stare at a family. Her friends must have noticed the sudden change in Lily's mood and realized what was going on in their friend's mind.

"You know, Lils. Mom told me to ask you to come with us this Christmas, she will be very happy if you would accept our invitation to spend Christmas' holidays with us" Alice smiled at Lily and Lily smiled back, glad that her friend was soothing the pain.

"And Italy is said to have great shops, you two will surely receive two very impressive gifts from me" Sophia added in a comforting tone of voice.

"As long as it's not a book I'll take it" Alice replied and the three girls laughed. Lily was glad that she had the best friends in the world. Smiling, she stood up.

"All those sound wonderful. I'll see you guys in thirty minutes!"

The redhead left the Great Hall with a smile on her face. At her exit she noticed that James was not with his friends, Remus, Sirius and Peter were sitting alone with faces close to one another as if they were planning something. James would possibly be training his team in the pitch; they had a match in a few days.

After a quick stop in her dorm to pick up her books, Lily headed straight to the library and as she had expected it was entirely empty from other students. But what had surprised her was the sight of professor McGonagall and madam Pinns talking in loud tones and with thoughtful looks on their faces. Without wanting it, Lily heard a few words of their conversation; a few words that made the girl stand still like a statue and her books to slip a few inches from her fingers.

"The book could not have been stolen! Albus himself has put protective charms on the cover to make it look like a simple defense against dark arts book. It was even hidden in a spot that only teachers have access to. It is not possible that a book of such highly importance has been stolen!" McGonagall said, her voice rising with each word, her usual cam and stern face turning red.

"But it has been stolen Minerva and I suspect that it was stolen last night. When I left the library it was there and today it's gone"