Note: I don't own 'Harry Potter' just my own characters. I picked bits from the movies and the books so please don't harp on me. This is the chapter where the proverbial shit hits the fan. Be warned that in future chapters there will be plenty of swearing and other things. And because of it, I'll be changing the rating.

Throughout the summer, Arianna watched her daughter grow into a young woman. While she still weighted the same, Lily was now 3 inches taller (making her the same height as her mother) and her body filled out. Lily was scared going bra shopping for the first time. She liked the sports bras that she had been able to wear but her mother said that she now needed proper support. A tear fell down her cheek when she was told of her size because if she was that big now at almost 13, she couldn't imagine how much bigger she was going to get as she got older.

Arianna saw how her daughter was becoming more beautiful and beginning to look more like her father everyday. Her hair sometimes reminded Arianna of the way her father's hair looked like that night and her eyes betrayed her like her father's had many years ago. She knew Lily had a right to know about her father but thought she was still too young to understand it properly.

Lily hated the changes that were happening to her body. She wasn't looking forward to whatever else would be happening. She just wanted to remain a little girl forever. She told all this to Hermione, who understood what she was going through.

Her 13th birthday was the first time that either Ron or Harry had seen the new Lily. They were a bit shaken at her rapid transformation. She did look older than her age and Ron's brothers, Fred and George, noticed this. They commented on how Lily could probably pass for a 5th year. They were trying to flirt with her and her Muggle friends but they were still too young to understand what they were doing.

Another life changing event happened to Lily that summer. Her mother and her had gone shopping and were heading home when two men pulled them into an alley. One of the men had dark hair poking out from underneath a hat and the other had lighter hair and was completely dressed in denim. Arianna and Lily's mouths were covered and their arms pinned at their sides. Lily really wished she had her wand but since she couldn't do magic outside of school, she had left it in her trunk all summer.

"What pretty things you are," the guy in denim, who was holding onto Arianna, said.

Arianna's eyes went wide for she had an idea of what they were planning on doing to them. Lily tried to bite the hand clamped over her mouth as she squirmed in the guy's grip.

"Stop it, bitch."

The denim guy pulled a knife and showed it to them. Lily saw it and squirmed more. Arianna went white as the knife was pressed to her throat. The hand covering her mouth moved to her chest, fondling a breast. A quick intake of breath on Arianna's part caused the guy to chuckle.

"Your daughter, isn't she? I wonder what she looks like. Hell, what she feels like," he whispered into her ear.

"You're gonna be quiet or else. Got it?" the denim guy demanded.

Arianna nodded and tried to silently plead with Lily to listen to them. She knew her daughter hated being ordered around. The hat guy released Lily's mouth and words that shouldn't be coming from a 13 year old's mouth flowed. At first everyone was shocked and Arianna tried to get to Lily but the denim guy was faster. He punched Lily in the face, splitting her lip, but she continued to curse them out.

"Lily, stop it," her mother pleaded.

"Yeah, Lily. Stop it or I'll hurt you in ways that you can't imagine."

Anger flamed in Lily's eyes. She had hoped that her swearing would have brought someone to them already but it hadn't so she took it up another notch. She started to yell bloody murder.

"You touch me and you'll be the one hurting. A big man like yourself gets off hurting 13 year old girls? Can't find someone your own age or can't get stiff unless it's with a prepubescent girl?" she seethed, twisting out of the grasp of the guy who held her.

He still had her arm and she twisted more, trying to get away from him. Her arm didn't know which way to go so it went in both directions. Arianna had watched as her daughter cursed out these guys and as her shoulder dislocated.

Lily screamed and as Arianna rushed towards her daughter, the denim guy turned to tell her to stay. The blade of the knife went deep into Arianna's chest. Through tear filled eyes, Lily watched what happened to her mother and when her body collided with the pavement. She started to scream louder and tried to lunge at the guy with the hat. He pushed her away and into the other guy. The blade caught her in the side before he flung her at the brick wall. Lily's head collided and as her eyes started to close, the two guys took off.

The morning after next, Hermione was sitting in her kitchen eating breakfast as her father ready the paper. Normally she wasn't one to read the newspaper but something on the front page caught her attention. Hastily she reached over and grabbed the paper from her father's hands.

"Hermione, what is it?"

What caught her attention was the picture of Lily and her mother and the subsequent article about their attack and Arianna's murder. She quickly called Harry and told him. He sent a quick note with Hedwig to Ron and the Weasleys. He wanted to go with them to the hospital but his Aunt Marge was coming that night and had to be there.

Hermione and her mother met the Weasleys inside the hospital. Having never been in a Muggle hospital before, they were weary of what to do or how to act.

"We're looking for Lily Westbrook's room."

"And you are?"

"Her best friends, that's who," Ron said, quite rudely.

The nurse gave them the room number and they headed upstairs. Lily was awake but didn't want to see anyone. She only wanted to see one person but now she was gone. The nurse who was leaving her room tried to stop the horde of people but there were more of them than her. They stopped short at the end of the bed, looking down at Lily.

Lily was very pale and the bruises on her face really stood out. Her arm was in a brace strapped to her chest. Although they couldn't see it, the gash in her side required nearly a dozen stitches to close it up.

"Oh, my dear, how are you?" Mrs. Weasley asked.

"Are you in pain? If you were at St. Mungo's, they'd fix you up in a second," George said.

"Are you still coming back to Hogwarts?" Hermione asked.

Lily stared at the wall beside her bed, ignoring her friends.

"Do you need anything, my dear? I've never known you to be this quiet."

"I'm the reason my mum was killed! How do you bloody think I'm doing? If I had just kept my bloody mouth shut or had my wand, she wouldn't be lying on a cold metal table about to be cremated," Lily screamed, before starting in on a tirade of swears.

A nurse rushed in and gave Lily an injection of medicine to help her sleep. She quickly stopped screaming and fell asleep. Her friends were asked to leave.

"Do you know when she'll be released?" Ginny asked.

"That's up to the doctors. Wouldn't wish what she'd seen on my worst enemy. Hope the inspectors can find her father before they release her though."

"Why? What if they don't?" Ron asked.

"She'll most likely be sent to an orphanage."

After Lily's third night in the hospital, she was fed up. She had heard the doctors talking to the inspectors and knew that nothing new was coming out of the investigation. She hated the way people doted on her. She only allowed one person to do that and now, because of her, the only family Lily had was dead.

Lily removed the IV and wrapped a blanket around herself as best as she could with one arm. She snuck out of the hospital and walked the numerous blocks to her house. She let herself in and went up to her room. Midnight was happy to see her and purred loudly. Lily continued on to her mother's room and looked at the photos sitting on the shelves.

"I will make sure that those responsible for your death meet with proper justice," Lily said to the empty room. Myself included, she thought.

At the hospital, a nurse noticed that Lily was missing and called the inspectors looking after her case. They immediately headed over to her house. They found her inside sitting on a trunk at the bottom of the stairs. Beside her were two suitcases and a cage.

"Take me wherever except back to that hospital. If you do, I promise to leave again."

They took her to an orphanage where the headmistress showed her to a room. The girl took a seat in a chair next to a window and never moved except to use the bathroom. When her mother's lawyer came back, she sat at the window ignoring him.

"In your mother's will, she left everything to you. Unfortunately the friend that she entrusted you to died a few years ago of cancer and she didn't amend the will regarding your guardianship. You are a ward of the court and when not in school, you will live here at the orphanage.

"Speaking of schooling, your headmaster has been in contact with me and will be sending someone to pick you up in a week. I will see to the packing and selling of your house, unless you would like to keep it."

The lawyer was hoping for some acknowledgement from Lily but he didn't get it.

"Along with her will, she left a letter in my possession. It's addressed to you. I don't think she expected you to receive it at such a young age and that its contents are of a nature that she would have liked to tell you herself."

Lily continued to ignore him and the letter, which he left on her bedside table. She stared out the window, oblivious of anything. Even when Snape came to pick her up a week later.

"She hasn't moved from that chair in days. She only gets up to use the washroom. Her foods brought up to her but it remains largely untouched. Her shoulder must hurt her something fierce but she hasn't asked for anything to dull the pain," the headmistress told Snape as he looked in on his student.

"There will be someone at the school who she can talk to about her mother's death, right?"

"Yes. Ms. Westbrook is one of the smartest students and all the teachers adore her," Snape said, knowing exactly what the woman wanted to hear.

"Most of the kids here at the orphanage attend the school down the road. Only one other student, although that was many years ago, went to a boarding school. I had just started here and thought it strange but Mrs. Cole…Never mind. You probably want to take Lily and head off."

Snape swept into the room and glared down at the girl. He was taken back by how she's changed and not from the attack. She didn't look like the little girl who bravely stood up to him in her first year or the girl who lied right to his face a year previous. Lily looked up at him and he didn't see anything in those dark eyes. No sadness, no pain, nothing.

"Come on, girl. The train leaves in an hour," Snape said harshly.

He saw something flicker in her eye but then it was gone. Lily stood and wobbled a bit. Her teacher reached out for her and she pushed his arm away. A small smirk graced his lips. Of course, the most hated teacher at Hogwarts would get a reaction out of her. She was heading out the door, carrying her cat's cage when Snape saw something lying on the bedside table. He picked up the letter and tucked it into his pocket. Her trunk and suitcases were already piled into a taxi. Snape told the driver where to go and watched his student stare out the window.