-Disclaimer: Anything you recognize as J.K.Rowlings is hers, the plot if there is one is mine along with any characters or anything you don't recognize is mine. Enjoy!

-Summary: Lily is abused lonely, friendless, quiet, solitude. She lives in a world not quite reality and she is slowly drowning to the point where she will never be able to return.

-Title: Black Roses Red!


James ended up carrying Lily to her room quietly and made sure she was covered up before he slipped back and went to sleep in his own room. They had talked a little more before they had put Lily to sleep and agreed that they wouldn't tell Lily that they had looked at her pictures. The trust they had finally received from her was important and they didn't want to jeopardize it so they kept their mouths shut. The next few weeks passed in a blur and they found that Lily was like a calm within a raging storm, they found that she was always there when they needed to vent their feeling and she always had something to say that would soothe their nerves. Finally one day when the wind was fairly whipping outside they once again found themselves at the spot near the lake that they had come to a lot lately. Lily once again sat on that rock and took out her art pad and began to trace something lightly. They hadn't questioned her about it but Sirius couldn't help but open his mouth once more.

"So Lily when are you going to show us your art pad?" He said his eyebrows rising and his eyes going all puppy dog like as if it would help.

"But Sirius, you and I both know that you guys have already seen them?"

All three of them chocked and cringed at the same time trying not to throw furtive glances at the other or look guilty though they were already caught due to the cringe. It was James who spoke up this time.

"What do you mean Lily?"

Her smiled broadened slightly and she beckoned them up to her rock and flipped towards the beginning and then pointed at something that they couldn't quite make out. They leaned forward a little until they realized that it was a large fingerprint and they couldn't help but gulp.

"I believe that this one is a little too big to be mine!" She said laughing at their expressions.

"So how long have you known?" Remus asked leaning back not sure whether to be relieved or annoyed.

"The very next day after the karaoke party. I noticed that when you thought I wasn't looking you would throw a furtive look at me. I checked my art book figuring that was what happened and found that fingerprint, and several others."

"Why didn't you tell us?" Sirius asked as if it had been a great strain on him to keep it a secret this long.

"I wanted to see how long it took you to ask me about it, or tell me what you had done. And to tell you the truth I was surprised it took you this long to take a peek at it." This made them roll their eyes at her in exasperation and made her smile without the glazed look in her eyes. She slowly got up and set down her art pad.

"Where are you going?" Remus asked since she walked past them.

She smiled and there was something they would consider a spark, not one unlike the one that showed up in Sirius's eyes, in her own eye. "Well unless you would prefer me to do it out here, I sort of need to use the restroom." She said laughing at their reactions.

"You know Lily sometimes I wonder which one I liked more, when you didn't talk, or when you make comments like that one." Sirius said in a joking voice.

"Well I learned from the best Sirius." This made Remus laugh hard and even James found it hard to smother his laugh.

Lily walked inside the castle a smile on her face though when she came out of the bathroom and was close to the doors that led to the ground she found that there was someone leaning casually against the wall and it looked as if they were waiting for someone. Amy looked up at the sound of footsteps and when she saw Lily she smiled what would have looked like a warm smile to anyone else but her eyes were cold, hard and like targets.

"Lily darling, we need to talk." Before long Lily found that her back was against the wall and Amy was standing right in front of her, her arms crossed examining Lily through her scrutinizing eyes. "I don't care what everyone else thinks Lily, I don't care about the fact that it looks like what you're doing is innocent. The only thing I care about is you staying away from James, Remus and Sirius. You see because you're hogging them, and I want a piece of them. I can't because you're in the way, seducing them, and you're going to stop." She was still smiling that smile that looked nice and warm but her eyes now held a fire. Lily said nothing and Amy stepped closer to where there was almost no space between the two. She gripped Lily's cheek with her abnormally long nails and drew them down leaving four long marks across her cheek. "Understand?" Her voice was almost as quiet as Lily's usually was.

"You're welcome to them, for your information I am a lesbian." She said just as quietly, and since her face remained neutral and she didn't flinch Amy looked at her in disgust and walked away.

As soon as she was out of sight Lily brought her hands up to her cheek and gingerly touched the cuts across her cheek. She couldn't exactly not show up there, but she couldn't show up looking like this. Though others would have seen the third option of healing the cuts, the thought did not even enter Lily's head because she never did such a thing. Finally she combed her hair in front of her face concealing he cuts and made her way towards the rock. She walked up and grabbed the art pad as if hoping it would be enough to keep them from asking questions.

They looked up when she arrived and smiled which she returned. Remus looked at her slowly. "Are you okay?"

"Fine." she said quietly and she realized that she shouldn't have said it that quietly, because she hadn't spoken like that since when she was being hit or right afterward. She knew they realized this too because they looked at each other and looked at her more closely.

"Lily what's that on your face?" James asked quietly.

"Nothing." Though she knew that it wouldn't work, they knew something was there.

Sirius who was closest gingerly grabbed her face and brushed away the hair and grimaced at the cuts running along her cheek. "Who did this to you?"

"Nobody, it was an accident."

"Bull Lily, an accident that has nails." He snapped back but let go of her face.

"Come on let's get you to the hospital wing and get that patched up." Remus brought this up since he could tell that Sirius was getting mad.

"No!" It was Sirius that said this and everyone looked at him. "Lily this is your choice, you're faced with a decision right now at this moment. At this point in life Lily you are in the darkest hole there is, and there are two choices! You can stay down there, in the darkness or you can Pull, haul, crawl yourself out of that death trap. I'm not saying it's going to be easy either, it might take a long time and a lot of pain but you're going to have to realize that there's light at the end of that hole. Now the first step of doing that is telling us who did this, now the choice is yours!" Sirius looked at Lily the mischievous glint that was always in his eyes were no longer there, they instead seemed to be drilling a hole into Lily.

She looked away as if she wanted to say something but she kept her mouth shut, she just couldn't get her mouth to work, she couldn't form that single name. Could it really be that simple, it seemed impossible to her. Could she really start that journey with something as simple as telling a name?

Sirius gave her a minute or two and when she remained silent he shook his head and stood up and shook his head again. "Lily we've done all we can for you." He looked as if he wanted to say something else but instead he walked away, James after looking at both of them slowly stood up and walked with Sirius. This left Remus who looked torn in two almost, finally he got up and walked after the two but when he looked back it was to see that Lily was sitting there with something like shock written on her face.

They were soon out of sight and Lily got up as if in a daze and made her way in the opposite direction wondering why this bothered her so much. She didn't get attached to people, unless it was Morgan, that way she wouldn't have to deal with this kind of stuff. She thought that this would one day come up but she hadn't realized how much she had come to depend on those boys, she didn't realize it was going to hurt this much, and for the first time since the first year she began to get beaten she felt like crying. She found herself in the Quidditch field still wandering in a daze, the words of Sirius echoing in her head when she heard footsteps behind her. She turned in time to see the flash of green and silver robes.

Meanwhile the marauders had made their way to the common room, James and Remus sitting on the couch watching as Sirius paced back in forth in frustration. However there seemed to be something else going on, some other struggle. They didn't now how long they sat there, at least an hour, as they watched him go back and forth before he seemed to decide something inside himself. Sirius walked over to James and looked at him.

"Do you have the Marauders map on you right?"

"Yeah, why?"

He looked slightly embarrassed. "I'm just going to check on her."

Remus smiled at him. "I think what you did was good though, I could tell as we were walking back that she was seriously considering what you had said. It might take her a while to get to her senses though."

"Well I hope I did the right thing too." Sirius said and then whispered to the map and began to search for Lily. He choked slightly in surprise and looked up at the other two. "This is bad!" He said and threw them the map at the others then took off running before they could even begin to understand. Though when they looked down they understood Lily was surrounded by four different Slytherins. They tore after Sirius, it was one thing to leave her on her own, another to leave her with Slytherins.

They took a few shortcuts along the way and when they finally reached the Quidditch field they were all out of breath, and all surprised. Lily was at the far end huddled in as small a ball as possible for a human but instead of being hit by several Slytherins there were instead four unconscious Slytherins. Sirius walked quickly over to Lily and crouched next to her though careful not to touch her.

"Lily, are you okay?" He said quietly he held out his hand and stopped halfway not sure that she would want to be touched or not. He was surprised however when her hands reached up and clasped his in a bone crushing grasp. She looked up and they were amazed to see that she was crying. They had never seen her crying. She had another black eye and a few more cuts but it was nothing compared to the first time they had seen her. Her voice when she spoke was slightly hoarse, not used to talking after crying.

"Sirius, I don't want the pain." It was almost impossible to make out her voice. "Please don't let them hurt me?" She began to cry harder if possible and he stepped closer and wrapped his arms around her then looked up at the two slightly bewildered as to what to do next since nothing like this had ever happened to him before. Sometime in between this, she had gone from saying "Don't let them hurt me!" To "Don't let him hurt me!" and they were sure that it was her father that beat her.

After a while the sobs that shook her whole body quieted though she continued to tremble and they couldn't help but wonder when the last time she had cried was. Sirius looked down at her and said quietly.

"Lily we need to go to Dumbledore's office. We need to tell him what happened!"

Lily looked up at Sirius and he saw something he was sure was terror in her eyes but she slowly nodded. He helped her stand up, but she still wouldn't let go of his hand, it reminded him sadly of a little child, and Lily though she wouldn't say this out loud felt exactly that way. The shock of the realization that she no longer wanted pain seemed to have thrown her off, after all it had been her way of life for the longest of times. Sirius wrapped his arm tight over her shoulder and she leaned into him as he began to walk the way towards Dumbledore's office. People who happened to glance at them while they walked back quickly averted their gaze and walked on not wanting to be drawn into something. James said the password, which he usually always knew since he was up there a lot due to detentions and they stepped up making their way to the office.

Remus knocked quietly and waited until they heard Dumbledore's voice call out to them. When they entered he was smiling, and there seemed to be a twinkle to his eyes since it was James and Remus in first he naturally assumed that they were in trouble. However when his eyes fell onto Lily who was still trembling in Sirius's arms the twinkle disappeared and his face became solemn with a look of sadness. Sirius set Lily down in a chair and pulled up one close to it, because he still couldn't manage to shake that death grip on his hand, and from the terror in Lily's eyes he had no intention of letting go either.

"What can I do for you?" Professor Dumbledore asked quietly.

The boys looked to Lily who opened her mouth to reply closed it and swallowed a few times before continuing on. "I would like to report two attacks Professor." She said her voice barely audible but they knew Dumbledore had heard her. His voice still held the sadness but there was also happiness that Lily was taking the first step that Sirius had spoken of.

"Very well Ms. Evans, please continue."

"I was attacked by four Slytherins."

"And do you know of their names?" Lily shook her head. "Would you recognize their faces then?"

"Their unconscious in the Quidditch field."

This comment seemed to surprise Dumbledore but he slowly nodded. "And the second attack?" Lily swallowed again.

"By Amy…Amy Whitehouse."

"I see, I will have words with these people, you are not to worry about it at all." He paused then looked at her, his eyes filled with a kindness that seemed to be the professor's specialty. "Is there anything else you would like to add to this?" He was sure that she wouldn't add anything but it would be best to at least ask in the off chance.

Lily paused then shook her head. "No professor." Both Dumbledore and Lily could tell that the other three were slightly disappointed by this, but Dumbledore knew it would take more time. "Very well Ms. Evans, I now suggest that you make your way up to the hospital wing and get those cuts and bruises taken care of."

Lily nodded and then the four of them made their way slowly to the hospital wing. When the nurse heard that Lily wanted her bruises and cuts taken care of it looked for a moment as if she was going to begin to cry. Thank fully she did not, instead in an affectionate voice she told Lily to sit on one of the beds and she'd get to work healing those cuts. Lily was looking as good as new all the bruises having faded and the cuts gone, though she was looking slightly tense and stressed. The nurse smiled patted the top of her head lightly before walking away not bothering to ask if she wanted the other scars removed.

They made their way to the common room, Lily breathing slightly more easier had finally let go of her death grip on Sirius's hand, though she still managed to stay close without actually touching. They found a secluded corner once they reached the common room and settled down. Remus presented Lily with her art pad which she had not even thought about in the Quidditch pitch and she smiled a weak smile at him.

"Lily, I know you might not want to answer this, but how come you didn't tell Dumbledore anything else, only the things that happened today?"

"I can't……" She paused but continued talking before Sirius could interrupt. "……at least not yet. I might be able to in the future, but it took almost everything I had in me to do what I did today." She paused again the looked over at Sirius smiling her weary smile again. "After all you yourself said it might take a long time, and a lot of pain. I promise I will tell you one day, just not today."

Sirius patted her cheek after a moment of silence and smiled largely, the mischievous glint back in his eyes and she smiled. From that day forward Lily's eyes no longer seemed quite as glazed as they usually did!


A/N- Hey guys, I know I was supposed to update some of my other stories before this one but I was struck with inspiration and had to update this one! And I'm sorry it took me so long, I had planned on releasing it earlier like last week but Harry Potter came out, among a few other things so I found myself distracted Anyways thanx to all of my reviewers I hoped you liked this chapter!

-zaria z-
-tora.of.the.sand-
-grannyHPfan-
-Roki-
-goodie2shoes19-
-4ever4given-
-Blackheart09-
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MiXeDuPmEsSeDbOoKs- (and no I was never invisible, I like Lily like that because she sees things and gets to do things simply because the fact she is invisible)
-JustCallMeDollFace-
-Blondie 24-7-
-Paige Hanson-

Again thanx so much, you guys rock!
Maddie