Here is Chappie 7! I want to thank everyone for reviewing, the reviews have been much appreciated! As always read&review!

Disclaimer: I don't own HP--all Rowlings!


The three of them looked up and down Main Street, contemplating on where to visit first. Remus wanted to buy a new quill, Sirius wanted to get a butterbeer, and Lily wanted to check out new Quidditch gear. She needed new gloves considering the fact that her old ones were being worn thin and were losing their grip.

Sirius decided for everyone when he saw Lori Clearwater walk into the Three Broomsticks. Lori was a sixth-year in Hufflepuff. She was what could be considered a 'dumb blonde.' Her hair was in fact blonde and her eyes were an unnerving violet color. She wasn't very smart--actually, she was quite dumb. Lily didn't understand how she could advance from fifth year because she barley knew up from down.

Sirius made a beeline for the pub and went inside just after Lori had. Remus and Lily exchanged glances but followed him in nevertheless.

Once they walked inside, the chilly air was replaced with a warm, almost stifling, temperature. The stained wood walls were dark but somehow, that made them look warm and inviting. There were booths, tables with chairs, and tables with stools scattered around the interior of the pub on uneven, sanded wooden floors.

"Lori, you are looking smashing today!" Sirius exclaimed, following her into a booth that was clearly made just for two people. Lori seemed delighted by the fact that Sirius Black had followed her into a booth, for an automatic hook up was inevitable to follow.

"Go find your own seats," Sirius hissed over his shoulder when Lily and Remus went to follow him.

Lily's jaw dropped open at the rudeness at which Sirius had just ditched them. She rolled her eyes though because she should have expected that no matter what the circumstances were.

"Come on Remus, let's sit somewhere else," Lily said.

Remus nodded and the two made their way through the usually crowed bar. It seemed that most of the students from Hogwarts had decided to all come to the Three Broomsticks at the same time, for Lily kept seeing familiar faces. On top of all the students being there, most of the regulars were there as well. Hadgrid's profile was most easily seen making conversation with a very calm and listening Madam Rosmerta. Lily marveled at how she could fill two glasses with butterbeer at the same time while talking to Hagrid and taking someone elses order.

"Here, why don't you find a seat and I will get us some butterbeers," Lily offered once they had found a clearing in the sea of people.

"That might be best," Remus answered.

They split up and Lily made her way through the crowd to the bar, stumbling more than once over the uneven floor boards.

"What is it dear?" Madam Rosmerta asked when she finally got around to taking Lily's order.

"Two butterbeers please."

Lily watched as Madam Rosmerta bustled around the bar getting her drinks while talking to the people sitting at the counter. She was a pretty woman, Lily decided. Her dark hair and eyes accented her rosy cheeks and warm personality. The apron that she wore over her robes might have put years on anyone else, but Rosmerta managed to pull it off. She ducked behind the counter and pulled out two clear bottles. With speed and precision, Madam Rosmerta had filled the previously empty bottles with butterbeer. She had gotten Lily what she had asked for and was already busy taking someone else's order.

Being careful so as not to spill the drinks, Lily weaved in and out of the tables with great care.

As could be expected, seeing as the pub was so crowded and the floor so uneven and how Lily's day was not going well, something bad was expected to happen.

Lily had been trying to duck and swerve to avoid hitting people and spilling drinks. Unfortunately, she swerved too late to avoid hitting someone who had suddenly stood up, and managed to hit him.

They both went down, Lily less gracefully than the other. The golden colored butterbeers spilled everywhere, soaking both Lily and the boy she took down with her. As she breathed deeply out of her nose in extreme annoyance, she looked at the person who she had hit.

The crash sent the pub into a quiet stillness and everyone was trying to gauge Lily's reaction when she realized who she had knocked down. What they didn't expect was what had actually happened instead.

James Potter was the mirror image of Lily's frustrated expression, and he looked, if it was possible, even madder than Lily.

"What the hell was that for Evans?" he snarled, his hazel eyes flashing dangerously.

Lily could do nothing more than gaze back at him with wide-eyed, disbelief.

Like it was my fault that you tripped me with your chair?!

Lily was about to say something but James got up without waiting for an answer and said "Come on" to the girl who apparently was his date.

Lily watched as James swept the girl out of the pub. Sopping wet and madder than she could ever remember, Lily stood up but before she could take her wand and mutter a spell that would dry her, someone else did instead.

"Thanks," Lily said to Remus who put his wand back in his pocket.

He helped her clean the spilled butterbeer and set the chair back up that Lily had knocked down. Remus shushed Madam Rosmerta and told her not to worry, that she had more problems to deal with than spilled butterbeer. Eventually, the pub returned to its normal chatter and left Lily and Remus alone.

"Let's get out of here, eh?" Lily asked already guiding Remus to the door.

"I think that's best," Remus answered ruefully. He had been looking forward to a butterbeer. "What about Sirius?"

"Forget him. He's not having any trouble remembering us," Lily pointed out.

Remus looked to where Lily was pointing and frowned in disgust. Sirius and Lori were in full lip-lock and didn't seem to be stopping anytime soon.

I bet they didn't even see what just happened, Lily thought. Yeah good old Sirius. 'I guess it will just have to be the three of us'—yeah, right. So far, not so good.

"Well where do you want to go?" Remus asked as they emerged from the dim light of the Three Broomsticks into the bright light outside.

"I was thinking that maybe we could go to the Quidditch Supply Store. I need new gloves. My old ones are thin and no longer has a grip. Not good when you are flying high up in the air."

Remus laughed, "No, I guess not. Led the way then."

Lily laughed at the little bow and flourish Remus had done and curtsied in return. She walked next to him as the two worked their way to the little shop. Lily refused to talk about what just happened in the pub and Remus didn't prompt. The street was lined with busy shoppers and students peering in the windows trying to decide, just as Lily and Remus had done, where to shop next.

When they reached the supply store, Lily entered first and breathed in. The store was bigger inside than it looked from the outside. This was Lily's favorite store. She could spend hours there just looking at everything in it. The air smelled of polish and freshly cut wood—the perfect combination in Lily's opinion. The store wasn't too crowded. Only several students from the Hogwarts Quidditch teams milled about looking at all of the merchandise.

"Hello, can I help you?" the witch behind the counter asked. Then, recongonizing Lily from previous visits, smiled and said, "Never mind."

Lily smiled back her anger at James already ebbing away. This is what this shop could do to her. She walked around the store, stopping to look at the newest broom model where several students were already admiring it.

"A Cleansweep Seven! You have one of these?" Lily shrieked to the lady at the counter who laughed and nodded.

"What's so special about that?" Remus asked coming to look at the broom himself.

"It looks like any other broom here." He indicated to the brooms lining the back wall behind the counter.

"What's so special about this broom? What's so special? Remus! This is only the best broom on the market! You would need a fortune to pay for one of these! It has the best grip and hand sensitivity; It's twice as fast as any other broom; It has the best aerodynamics out there; And—it's straws are lighter, enabling you to go faster! Oh, I would kill for one of these!"

Remus couldn't help it, he had to laugh. Lily was reeling off facts about this broom like she would reel off facts during a Charms lesson.

"What's so funny?" she barked.

"Nothing, it's just funny how you know all that. You sound like a five-year-old where Christmas comes early."

Remus watched as Lily inspected every inch of the broom. At first it had been funny when she started gushing over the broom. When he saw that it was going to be hours before she would consider leaving it, he pulled her away reluctantly and made her buy her gloves, which took just as long.

"Now, I must get myself a quill," Remus said upon exiting the shop.

"Well, if you must," Lily teased and accompanied him.

Buying a quill was much shorter and less painful than when buying Lily's pair of gloves. As the two exited the shop, Lily remembered that she needed to mail a letter that she had written to her mother.

"Why don't you mail the letter and I'll go see if I can find Sirius? Meet me at Honeydukes in twenty minutes?" Remus asked when Lily told him about the letter.

Lily nodded and set off on her own. It was early afternoon and dark clouds were slowly covering the sky, reflecting Lily's mood now that both boys were gone. She had no more distractions so her thoughts kept returning to the events of this morning and couldn't shake the disgusting feeling that Bellatrix had given her. No matter how much Lily tried to convince herself that Bellatrix was just lying and full of empty threats she kept coming back to her gut feeling that Bellatrix wasn't bluffing.

Lily thought—no knew, deep down in her gut, that Bellatrix was telling the truth with the threat that she had thrown at Lily this morning. Having that thought finally get through to her caused Lily to start to breathe rapidly and start to shudder as wild pictures of what had Bellatrix implied danced through her head.

So wrapped up in her thoughts, Lily hadn't noticed where she was going and tripped over a tree root. She found herself on the ground for the second time in the past hour. The fall managed to shake Lily out of her thoughts and she regained control of herself.

Lily, you are not weak. Don't let her scare you, she's Bellatrix Black, some physco. You are better than her because you know not to take her bait. She won't scare you anymore! You will not let her. She will leave you alone eventually and if not, you have other options. You can go to Dumbledore, Lily thought to herself, but even as she thought it, Lily knew that she wouldn't go to Dumbledore. This was her problem and it would stay her problem, and possibly Remus's and Sirius's problem too.

Lily shook her head and got up. After brushing herself off, she saw that she had wandered far outside Hogsmade. The tree root she had tripped on had made her sprawl on the ground near the fence of the Shrieking Shack.

How could I not notice where I was going?

A winding path ran through the tall trees that covered the small slope that the pathway took you down. Grass didn't grow there, it was only dirt and rocks.

"This is a great omen," she muttered. "Just as I was thinking such pleasant thoughts too. Today is not my day."

Lily turned her gaze to the Shrieking Shack. Totally forgetting about the letter she was supposed to deliver, she climbed to sit on the top of the fence and hugged one of the posts. She let her eyes wander the haunted landscape. After all, it was called the Shrieking Shack for a reason. It was huge, three or four story house with rotted wood and peeling paint. The wrap-around porch was ruined with huge holes in the floor that were noticeable from where Lily was sitting. The roof sagged in all places, porch and otherwise. Ivy and other plants were reclaiming the house slowly and returning it back to the wild. The yard was uprooted and bumpy where the ghost or monster, or whatever it was that haunted the house, had decided that it was time to totally demolish the only salvageable thing left on the property.

I really should be getting back, Lily thought when she realized that she had been sitting there watching the house for a good ten minutes.

She heaved herself up and climbed back down the fence. With a little thump Lily landed on the ground. She started walking on the path not a moment too soon because coming her way were James Potter and his date.

When Lily passed them on the path, James made no indication that he knew Lily, even though Lily stopped and stared right at him

What is with him? Anger flared up in Lily almost instantly. He isn't acting like Potter at all! Since when does he ignore me? Isn't the other way around? He tries to get me to notice him! We can't switch places like this! That's not fair!

Lily looked after James and his date who were side-by-side leaning on the fence. The girl had somewhat of a shape and long fingers that looked nimble and liable to break at any moment. His date was wearing a hood but a wisp of blonde hair blew out from underneath it. The shade of the blonde hair was familiar to Lily but she couldn't quite place why it was so familiar.

She shook off the thought and turned around and started walking. Poor girl, she's just like any other half-wit who takes a chance with Potter.

Seeing that half an hour had easily passed, Lily started running. She found Sirius and Remus outside Honeydukes. Honeydukes looked so crowded with students from school that it was a wonder how anyone could walk.

"Must have been an important letter," Sirius yawned and stretched and pointed to the letter that was still clutched in Lily's hand.

Lily blushed, "Well, I got sidetracked and I kind of forgot to mail it."

"Sidetracked by what?" Remus asked.

"Um…" Lily stalled. She couldn't admit to the two of them that she was still thinking about what Bellatrix had threatened earlier this morning. They would reassure her like they did earlier and again, promise to do something about it. While Lily was thinking about it, she realized that she couldn't get Sirius or Remus or anyone else involved unless something actually happened.

"Oh man! The way to the Post Office passes the Quittdich Supply Store!" Remus slapped his forehead.

"Why is that a problem?" Sirius asked.

"I had to drag Lily out of there because she wouldn't stop looking at the new Cleansweep Three."

"Seven, Remus! Cleansweep Seven!" Lily groaned, but secretly was relieved at the excuse he had so easily provided for her.

Remus shrugged.

"Okay, well I think I'm done for today's trip and I have loads of homework to finish at the castle so I think I'm going to head back," Lily told them.

"Yeah, I think I'm going to head back with you too. Lori is not as good as a kisser as all the guys say. Even Jasmine was better than Lori. But then again, Lori has a great figure…" Sirius trailed off, his eyes getting a far away gleam.

"Okay I don't want to know what you're thinking right now. Remus you want to come back with us?" Lily said.

"I think I will, I don't need any more rubbish anyway, and, like you, I still have a load of homework to do."

"What is it with you guys and homework and studying?" Sirius grumbled.

Remus and Lily exchanged looks and laughed it off. They walked in silence for most of the way back until Lily couldn't contain her question anymore.

"Who was James's date today?" she asked Sirius.

"Er, I'm not really sure. Why?"

"No reason, I just had an encounter with them at the Three Broomsticks and was just... curious."

"Oh," Sirius said blankly. He kept his face impassive and managed to pull off lying to Lily about something that could ruin a friendship, depending on Lily's reaction, which, Sirius gauged, wasn't going to be good even under the best circumstances.