A/N: Hey... please don't kill me... I know it took me forever and a day to update, but I had really bad writer's block for the next chapter, and completely forgot I hadn't put chapter 4 up at all - and then fanfiction decided it hated me. It wouldn't let me upload the chapter :s

But it's better now :D So read and please please please review... oh, and thanks to for doing so :)

When Lily awoke the next morning, it took her a moment to work out where she was. Red hangings? Uhh… My room's got a blue ceiling… She lay in utter bewilderment for a moment, before finally working it out.

"I'M AT HOGWARTS!" Lily screamed, sitting up with her fists in the air, as if in triumph.

"WAAAAH!"

"WASSAMATTER!"

"BUGGER OFF!"

Three shouts came back to Lily from across the dormitory. Phoebe had screamed and fallen out of bed, her long blonde hair all over her round face as she lay on the floor in her lilac pyjamas, tangled in the covers of her bed. She was gazing at the hangings curiously, as Lily had done, also not quite sure where she was. Zara had sat up just as quickly as Lily had, and her chocolate brown bob was very messy, as she had moved around a lot in her sleep. She, having realised nothing was the matter, was glaring at Lily darkly, clearly angry at having been woken up, before she lay back down on her bed. Jazz, on the other hand, had yelled at Lily, then shoved her head under her pillows, trying to return to sleep.

"Uhh," was Lily's witty and intelligent reply. She looked at the clock on her bedside table, which showed… 4:50am? WHAT? Lily thought to herself angrily, yelling "DAMMIT!"

Jazz pulled her head out from under her pillows, and gave Lily the nastiest look possible.

Woah, thought Lily. If looks could kill…

"Will you stop SCREAMING!" Jazz screamed, before shoving her head back under the pillow, her black hair in disarray.

"Someone's not a morning person…" groaned Lily. She had not wanted to wake so early, but had decided that it was not early enough for her to return to sleep. She slowly stood up on her bed, and laughed at the comprehension slowly appearing on Phoebe's face. She walked into the adjoining bathroom with her toothbrush and facecloth, and brushed her teeth before placing both items in the cupboard under the sink. She felt incredibly awake – on any other school-less day, Lily would not have woken until at least 9:30. She was not a morning person either.

Quickly changing into a pair of black jeans and a t-shirt bearing the statement 'CONFORMITY – the slowest form of suicide', Lily flopped back down on her bed, noticing as she did so that all of the others were back in their beds.

After five minutes of just lying there, Lily had already grown bored of watching the clouds. It was no fun from inside.

"Curse you Lily Potter." A black-haired lump grumbled from the bed to Lily's left. "Curse you into oblivion."

"Gah-di-wah?" Lily mumbled, distracted as she tried to think of something to do.

"You woke me up. Now I'm stuck awake," Jazz grumbled as she dragged herself out of bed. Phoebe and Zara had, however, already retuned to sleep. Jazz pulled on a grey skirt and white t-shirt – it was a quite warm day, even though it was only 5:00am.

Half an hour passed, with Jazz reading on her bed, and Lily staring at the sky outside her window, the state of boredom she was in slowly deepening.

"Oh my God. Mornings are dull," Lily moaned. Suddenly struck by inspiration, Lily shot off to her trunk, and pulled out her Firebolt, shoving a pair of electric blue converse as she went. She opened the window as far as it would go, and before Jazz had quite worked out what was happening, Lily had jumped straight out of the window. From seven floors up.

"OH MY GOD, LILY!" Jazz yelled out of the window, as she looked out to see Lily hovering a few metres below it on her broomstick.

"What?" Lily asked, a cheeky smile plastered across her face. "I'm just flying for a bit…" With that, she turned her broom away from Gryffindor Tower, and flew off across the lake, almost faster than Jazz could see.

Lily relished flying. As she soared through the crisp morning air over Hogwarts, she felt so utterly free, so sublimely happy with the world. It was as if nothing could possibly spoil the feeling of joy that rose up inside her. She loved the feeling of soaring through the air, rising above the ground and the weight of responsibility and pain, above the sorry feeling of opression that crushed bodies underneath it. Though she was too young to fully understand the meaning of pain and sorrow, regret and anguish, she felt as if flying freed her from it's grip. Flying was what she lived for.

She spent hours in the sky. It was at least half past eight when she finally felt the need to return to solid ground. She landed outside the main doors that led into the entrance hall. Hearing animated chatter coming from an open doorway a short way ahead of her, she entered through it with her Firebolt over her shoulder. Recognising it as the Great Hall, she made her way down to the Gryffindor table, where she saw that everyone else was wearing their own clothes as well. Lily noticed James sitting on the side of the table facing away from the door, but none of the other girls from her dorm were there yet. Instead, Lily walked round the table to the far side, still carrying her broom. James gave her a dark look as she passed him. She carried on walking, and sat down next to Leo Qualls and opposite Finn Lancaster, the only other first years at the table.

"Oh my God, Leo, Puddlemere United are not the best team!" Finn was saying as Lily sat down.

"Yes they are, there's no possible proof they're not!" Leo countered, his dark blonde fringe flopping into his grey eyes, which were bright and animated.

"Yes there is," Lily interrupted. "James over there supports them. So clearly, that makes them bad," she continued, earning an irritated look from Leo at the degradation she applied to his favourite Quidditch team.

"Hey, you're Lily Potter, aren't you?" asked Leo. "You swam the lake."

Lily shifted uncomfortably. "Yes… But I don't want to become known for that. I want to be known for who I am, not 'that famous guy's kid who did something that I didn't'," she said.

"Aww, little Lilyflower is being all sentimental," cooed Finn jokingly. Lily's expression became stony and she froze in the process of piling scrambled eggs on to her plate.

"Call me that again and I will punch you so hard your face will break," she said shortly. Finn raised his eyebrow disbelievingly at Lily, but didn't press the matter.

"Hey, I thought first years weren't allowed brooms," said Leo, suddenly noticing the Firebolt Lily had placed under the bench when he accidentally touched it with his feet.

"Read the shirt."

"'Conformity – the slowest form-' oh."

"Wait, you have a Firebolt?" asked Finn, his dark brown eyes wide. "They still haven't made a faster broom yet, have they?"

"Um, no, they haven't made a faster broom, and no, I don't own a Firebolt, this one just belongs to my cat, who has somehow gained the ability to fly one with premiership ability and skill," Lily said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Hey, I was just asking," said Finn, holding his hands up in defense, before turning back to the mountain of bacon and sausage on his plate.

"OK, I've only just met you guys and I'm probably going to have to spend the next seven years of my life with you as either people I hate to the ends of the Earth or people I get on with," Lily said, after gradually working her way halfway through her food, before she had placed down her knife and fork and started watching the two boys intently. "Seeing as there are already, um, four people here I hate to the ends of the Earth, I'm going to say that you two do not want to be added to that category, because I beat up enemies. More than I beat up friends. So start making your way up the friend-o-meter."

Finn and Leo just sat staring at her in mild confusion, before both of them said, at exactly the same time, "do you like Quidditch?"

Lily laughed out loud at the two boys' sincerity, and nodded her head.

"Do you play Quidditch?" Again another simultaneously spoken sentence.

"Of course I play Quidditch! I'm not made of rock." Unfortunately for Lily, Rose, the only Weasley cousin who did not play Quidditch, was passing by at that moment, so Lily gained a sharp cuff around the ear.

"Lily! I am not made of rock because I don't play Quidditch!" said Rose.

"I never said you were!"

"It was implied."

"Fine. The rest of our family needs the Quidditch skills because you got more brains than every other Weasley combined. Ergo, you do not have the Quidditch skills because your head is too full up with everything else to have enough room for Quidditch skills." Rose seemed happy with this conclusion, and started walking off. "But before you go-" Lily shouted, and Rose turned, pushing a strand of her slightly bushy red hair out of her face. "-you had better stop hitting me. I'm in a good mood, so I'll let that one slide, but you only have one chance!" Rose just rolled her eyes and sat down with Aimee and Sadie, twins, who were Fred's two younger sisters, and also in third year.

Lily turned back to see that Henry Strint and Ivan Rosiov had joined the other two boys. Leo had started up a conversation with them concerning the importance of Puddlemere United, and Finn had returned to his food.

"Hey, Finn, do you play Quidditch?" aked Lily. He stared at her incredulously.

"Of course I play Quidditch! Like you said, I'm not made of rock!" Lily smiled at his use of her words.

"What position?"

"Well, I'm really not that good at beating, my aim just falls apart. But I think keeper, because I prefer defense," Finn said. "What about you?"

"Beater, definitely. If not though, I would probably choose chaser," Lily replied quickly. "Hang on a second – your last name is Lancaster, isn't it?" Finn nodded. "Is your mum Janet Lancaster?" Again he nodded. "Aha!"

"What?"

"She plays for the Harpies with my mum! Keeper, right?"

"Oh, yeah," Finn said.

"I think I met her once… Must've been when Dad took us to one of her games. What was I, nine? Something like that. We were by the changing rooms, and I was so mad that they'd lost that I think I accidentally set something on fire…"

Finn laughed loudly at that. "Yeah, I remember Mum saying that there was this little girl who burnt up part of the locker rooms," he said.

"Yeah, Mum was mad at me. She's not very nice when she's mad," said Lily thoughtfully. "She got really mad when I knocked James out by accident," Lily said, and heard chuckling from next to her. Lily looked up to see Albus taking a seat beside her.

"That she did," he said. "Didn't she yell for a bit before deciding that you were way too angry for a seven-year-old, and send you to a boxing class to, what was it, 'channel the excess hate into a punchbag instead of your brother'. I think she didn't realise that all she did was give you an extra weapon of terror to hang over James' head. The same happened with the archery, didn't it?"

Lily laughed at the memory. "Oh yeah, that was because I knocked Scorp out, wasn't it?" she asked.

"Yes," Albus said. "I did warn him to stay away from you with that pie… Ah, speak of the devil," he said, as a third year Slytherin with white-blonde hair and grey eyes in his pointed face walked through the door. Albus stood to go and talk to his best friend. "Have a nice pre-class day, Lily," he said, and walked over to Scorpius, who had seated himself on the Slytherin table.

"Drop a pie on his head for me, will you!" Lily shouted after her brother. He just smiled and waved.

"Uhh… Lily…" said Finn, watching her suspiciously. "What did who do with a pie?"

Lily laughed again as Jazz walked through the door.

"Hey Lily!" the Japanese girl called, making her way over to the red-headed girl. She looked at the brunette boy to whom Lily was speaking. "Hi person I don't know."

"The same to you," said Finn. "What happened with the pie?" he asked Lily again.

"Finn, Jazz; Jazz, Finn," Lily said quickly, as Jazz sat beside her.

"What is this pie incident of which you speak?" asked Jazz.

"Ah, the infamous pie incident!" said Jasper, who had been walking past the first years. "Boy, did that make my Christmas…"

"What happened?" asked Finn impatiently.

"Well, Scorpius Malfoy is basically Al's best friend, and has been ever since the first train ride to school," Lily started to say.

"Yeah, I never got why that kid wasn't as bad as his Dad- sorry, carry on," said Jasper, receiving a sharp glare from Lily.

"As I was saying, in Al's first year, Scorp was invited over for part of the Christmas holidays," Lily continued. "Basically, he was there for just a couple of days before Christmas Day, and Bill and Fleur, his parents-" Lily pointed at Jasper "-were coming over the day before Scorp left. Mum went a bit crazy, and for some reason, started baking masses of apple pies for us all. She was asking James, Scorp and Al to carry them all through from the kitchen to the dining room, and I, being me, smelt food, and ran straight down the stairs and into Scorp, who was knocked over, and dropped the pie all over my head."

"Ahh, it was so funny, you smelt of apples all day," said Jasper, a look of happy reminiscence on his face. "Sorry, sorry!"

"Anyway, I was really peeved about the fact that I was suddenly covered in apple pie, so I basically beat up Scorp. I don't think his parents were happy when he was sent home the next day, with a fascinating tale of how he was knocked out by a nine-year-old girl after dropping a pie on his head. Mum and Dad weren't on the best of terms with the Malfoys anyway, and because of the 'pie incident', they really don't like each other. I think Scorp is a bit scared of me now," concluded Lily thoughtfully.

Finn and Jazz were both heartily laughing at Lily's story, and as Lily looked over to the Slytherin table and caught Scorpius' eye, she could've sworn she saw him blanch slightly.

"Alright guys, I just came over here to tell you that us Weasleys are having a mini Quidditch tournament in about half an hour, and you, James and Al are gonna join us, seeing as you're technically Weasleys as well," said Jasper, and Lily noticed that most of the other Weasleys had broomsticks under the benches. "Because there's eighteen of us, not including Rose, 'cos everyone knows she can't play for shit, we're gonna have three teams, each with one beater instead of two. We haven't sorted out teams yet, but we're probably going to have you, Al and James on the same team, 'cos you and James need to learn to work together in at least one thing in your life."

Lily sighed heavily. "I guess."

Jasper blinked in surprise. "What? No resistance? No tantrum? Not even the tiniest complaint? You've turned over a new leaf, Lily, and it's scaring me."

Lily grinned at him. "Nope, no new leaf. It's just, I'm saving all my screaming and yelling for the game," she reasoned.

"And that's the Lily we know and love! I'll drag you there in about a half hour."

"POTTER! YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO HIT BLUDGERS AT YOUR OWN TEAM!"

Lily laughed lightly at Madam Disper's criticisms flew across the pitch. She was there to supervise the game while the Weasleys played. She was finding it rather funny watching James having to dodge well-aimed bludgers at the last minute, which Lily fired at him every time he let the Quaffle past.

"But Miss!" Lily shouted back. "I was just making sure his reflexes were up to scratch. I didn't mean to hit him, honest!" Her voice was filled with such sincerity that Madam Disper believed her, even though it was clear to everyone else that she was lying. Unfortunately for him, James was in no position to protest, having been knocked out by a bludger to the head from Lily, resulting in a time-out being called. She had sent a particularly fierce blow in his direction after he had missed three goals in quick succession.

Lily chose to ignore the fact that it was partly because he was too busy looking out for her bludgers.

However, the team Lily was playing on, which consisted of James as Keeper, Sadie, Aimee and Fred as Chasers, Al as Seeker, and Lily herself as Beater, was still winning overall, with two games won out of three, but Lily was determined to win this one as it would put them first overall in the Weasley Quidditch Tournament.

James had been revived, but was still a little off while playing, so as the game ensued for another 45 minutes, he let in goal after goal, and Lily had to restrain herself from sending more bludgers towards him, instead shooting them at astounding speeds towards the opposing chasers. Finally, Al clinched a win for the Potters' team, ending the game with a score of 230-210. Lily cheered loudly with the rest of her team, and celebrated by flying as fast as she could up to Jasper, before jumping off her broom straight into him, knocking him off his own. Luckily, they were only a few feet above the ground at the time, and Lily quickly stood up, and tapped Jasper gently on the forehead with her beater's bat whilst uttering a smug "ha!" of triumph.

"Ugh," Jasper groaned. "What is it this year about family crushing me?"

"Oi oi! Lilyflower isn't so bad!" Lily could hear Finn shouting as he ran with Jazz and Leo from the stands where they had been watching the Tournament. Lily rapidly turned, and thrust her fist forwards as hard as possible into Finn's nose. A satisfying crunch followed quickly by a cry of pain and a lot of blood came from the boy's face, which was now contorted in pain.

"What was that for?" he bellowed, bent double and clutching his face in his hands.

"I did warn you about calling me Lilyflower." Finn looked incredulous as he looked up at Lily, her fist smeared with red.

"I thought you were bluffing!" he cried.

"I don't bluff," Lily said shortly, before turning to retrieve her broom. She walked with the rest of her team into the castle, who were carrying James on their shoulders, cheering as they went; they would've carried Albus, but he had refused on the grounds that he would've been embarrassed, and James was barely standing as it was.

Jasper got up slowly, and walked over to Finn, who still had blood streaming down his face.

"Episkey," he muttered, pointing his wand at Finn's nose, which returned to it's normal size and shape immediately. Noticing the three first years still looking shocked at Lily's sudden aggression, he decided to explain. "Seriously, she doesn't bluff. And I believe she said that you're face would break? That's one promise kept. She's got me with the same trick dozens of times," he said. "Well, at least you aren't infertile. I don't know whether she's succeeded yet, but she's definitely got James bloody close."