Chapter 12:

Lily sat with Scott in the Great Hall while once all of her friends had left on the train ride home. Lily's parents were going to a friends' and Lily was staying at the castle with Scott for Christmas of her fifth year. She missed the girls and all their obnoxious gossiping, they were probably on the train now spilling secrets that they already knew about one another. She sighed, being with Scott was nice too. The only thing she didn't like was that he kept stealing her away from her thoughts. it was rather annoying as he kept poking her and talking directly to her so that she would talk to him.

"Lil. Stop zoning out." he complained.

Lily sighed, "Sorry, I'm just spacing out."

He frowned. He didn't understand why Lily did this. But the holidays were always time for Lily to reflect on how her year was going so far. Scott had been getting annoyed with Lily's thinking time though.

She smiled at him and gave him a kiss. "What would you like to talk about?"

He began going off about Quidditch and how he was still bitter that Gryffindor had won against Ravenclaw. Lily couldn't help but smile, James and the team had played a great game against Ravenclaw. James had played better than he ever had before. Professor McGonagall said that he had scored the most goals unassisted in a game within the past 50 years at Hogwarts. Lily wasn't shocked. It had been an impressive match.

"Lily?" Scott's voice called, tearing her from her thoughts again. "You've done it again!"

He was angry at her.

"I'm sorry Scott, I didn't mean to!" she apologized.

He was still frowning, "You know what Lily? I can't keep taking all these sorries. It's obvious you don't care about what I have to say. And if that's the case then I think we should break up."

Lily was stunned. "What?"

"Oh come on Lily. You're brighter than this. You'd rather daydream than talk to me. You don't want to be together with me anymore. I can see the look on your face when I was talking about Potter and that damn match. You fancy him don't you? I can see how you two talk in the corridors. How fired up he gets you. And you just let him. I get it, you want him not me. Well, don't worry about it anymore. You can have him. We're done." he said stonily as he stood up.

He walked out of the Great Hall and the doors slammed shut after him. The few students that were still in there looked around. They gave her sympathetic looks but went back to their own business.

Lily sat there all alone. She didn't fancy Potter. How could he say those things? Just because she wasn't listening to him! She felt so alone. Tears began to form in her eyes, slowly they began to slip down her cheeks and onto her lap.

She stood up from the hall and ran up to the Astronomy Tower. Surely no one would find her up here.

She sat and cried. She had really fancied Scott. They had just really started to mature in their relationship. And now it was over.

The tears felt like they were freezing to her face. But she didn't want to go back into the castle. She knew he was in there and she didn't want to run into him.

"Miss Evans?" a voice called out to her.

She sniffed and wiped away her tears. She tried to pull herself together.

"I saw you run from the hall crying. Is everything alright?"

Lily bit her lip as Professor McGonagall came up to her.

She slowly shook her head no.

"Come here." McGonagall told her softly.

Lily found herself in a warm hug from her Professor. at any other time she would have been embarrassed and awkward. But right now all she needed was someone to be there for her.

"I am under the impression you and Mr Williams stayed over the holidays to be together?" she asked softly.

Lily hummed in a sad agreement.
"Well, come on, let's go talk to Professor Dumbledore. we'll see if we can arrange a special trip home for you."
Lily sniffed. "Th-Thank you Professor."
Professor McGonagall smiled down warmly at the young girl. She didn't deserve this kind of treatment. She was so brilliant. And to think a boy made her cry. She was so dedicated, caring, loyal and sweetest girl she had ever met. She wondered if the young boy regretted his decision to let Lily go. If he didn't, he would eventually. Miss Evans here was as brilliant as they come.
Lily followed McGonagall up to a statue of a gargoyle.
"Pumpkin Pasty." she said smiling down at Lily.
The gargoyle sprang to life and shortly after, Lily found herself in the headmaster's office.
"Albus?" she called out. "I have a request regarding Miss Evans here."
Professor Dumbledore stood up from his desk and walked over to where Lily was standing.
The whole ordeal was explained briefly and Dumbledore was shaking his head softly.
"There there Miss Evans. You need not cry over what is gone. But be happy that such a, as you kids would say, prat is gone from your life."
Lily couldn't help but crack a smile.
"There we go! A smile back on that cheery face of yours."
Lily smiled up at him, "Thank you Professor."
"Come now, I believe I can get you home to your sister. I will send her an owl so she can expect our arrival."
At first Lily was a tad worried about what Petunia would do when she saw an owl. But then she remembered that Petunia and her had left on good terms so hopefully she wouldn't mind the owl and she would take a few minutes to actually read the letter.

"Go pack a bag. I'm allowing you to stay for the winter break." Professor Dumbledore said smiling.

"Thank you." Lily said sincerely.

She walked off in the direction of the Gryffindor common room. Her heart ached as she walked past a group of Ravenclaw boys. She heard them whisper about her and Scott's break up. They were saying it was all her fault. Tears began to cloud Lily's vision again as she quickened her pace.

She reached her dorm and quickly threw a bag together, it didn't really matter what she brought, as long as she packed her homework. She grabbed some extra parchment and wrote letters to her best friends. They would surely want to know everything that had happened.

Lily made a quick stop so she could send the letters and then returned to the headmaster's office.

She knocked quietly.

"Ahh Miss Evans! Are you ready?" Professor Dumbledore asked.

She nodded her head.

"Okay well, since you do not yet know how to apparate, I have arranged for you to get a ride from a dear colleague of mine. His name is Charles. He will be accompanying you back to London and making sure you get home safely."

"Okay." Lily said nervously.

She trusted Dumbledore, so she trusted this man, Charles.

Professor McGonagall walked her down to the entrance hall where there was a tall man with jet black hair waiting for her.

When he saw Lily he smiled, Lily smiled weakly back at him. She noticed how his hair had several grey strands in it, which was funny because it had looked so black from far away. Something about the man seemed familiar to her. She shrugged, it was probably nothing.

"Hullo Lily. Are you ready to go? We'll be traveling by the return train. Very lucky it was scheduled to make another trip." Charles said warmly.

Lily smiled, "Alright."

Charles picked up her trunk and stowed it away when they came onto the train. Then she followed him inside to a compartment. This was not the Hogwarts Express. It was a much smaller train that seemed to travel on the same tracks.

"How are you holding up Lily?" Charles asked after several minutes of silence between them as the train traveled.

"I've been better." she told him sadly.

"Care to talk about it?" he asked softly.

Lily nodded, "Scott has been my boyfriend since fourth year. He's always been the sweetest guy ever. He was perfect. And now he broke up with me because he thinks I don't care about him. He was talking about some Quidditch match and got mad because I was smiling at the fact Gryffindor won. He accused me of fancying James Potter! The whole school knows that I can't stand James! He drives me mad! And now I lost Scott because of him."

Charles seemed to be hiding something from the way he was smiling, Lily ignored that though.

"I can't fully blame James though. He's actually somewhat decent when he's not being an arrogant prat. And it's not his fault Scott broke up with me. It's my fault." Lily said sadly.

Her eyes began to tear up again. Charles took that as a sign to give her a hug.

"Don't say that Lily. From what I've heard about you, you're the most brilliant witch in your year. And the prettiest too, according to some sources. Don't think that it's your fault Lil. It's that boy, Scott's fault. He couldn't see how brilliant you are."

Lily smiled up at him. "Thank you."

He smiled, "Why don't you try to catch some sleep? It'll make you feel better and help pass the time."

Lily did as he suggested and soon found herself dozing off into a peaceful sleep.

"Lily? Wake up Lily."

Lily opened her eyes slowly and allowed the light to seep through.

"We're at King's Cross. Your sister is here to pick you up. She's been briefed on everything that had happened. She wants to see you." Charles said kindly.

"Thank you so much. This really means a lot to me, that you escorted me home." Lily said smiling.
"No problem. I hope you feel better." he said smiling at her.

She ran off to find Petunia.

"Lily!" Petunia ran over to Lily and embraced her in a hug. "How are you Lil?"

Lily was frowning again. "I've been better."

"Come on, let's go home. Mum and dad are visiting friends, so it's just you and me for now."

Lily smiled, that was alright with her.

When the girls got home, Petunia made tea and sat Lily down at the kitchen table.

"So talk to me about all of this."

Lily nodded, "Well, Scott and I had been really happy lately. I mean, all was well and we were happy and all couple-y. And then earlier today we were sitting in the hall. He was talking to me and I kept tuning him out. He was ranting about some Quidditch match that he lost against Gryffindor. He's Keeper and James Potter, a chaser, had an amazing game and broke a record with all his goals he scored unassisted. So he was really bitter about that and was getting frustrated that I got lost in my thoughts and was smiling because Gryffindor had won. Then he freaked out on me and got mad and said that I fancied James and that I didn't want to be in our relationship anymore! I have no idea what he was on about. That is all lies!"

Petunia nodded and listened to Lily. "Lily, I think he's just jealous because you think about James in a good light. How you think he's a brilliant Quidditch player? He made Scott look like a fool. He's jealous. And then he was mad and frustrated and he took it all out on you. It's nothing you did wrong. He's an arse. Believe me, he's going to realize what he did was wrong. He's going to want you back Lily. But don't give into him. You're better off without him. He shouldn't have taken his anger out on you."

Lily nodded, her sister's words were true and she knew it. But it was still hard to face the fact that Scott had hurt her so badly.

"Lil, it's getting late." Petunia said glancing at the clock. "You're probably worn out from traveling, you should go to sleep."

Lily smiled at her. She was tired, even after sleeping on the train for so long.

"Alright, goodnight Petunia." Lily said as she got up to go to her room.

She opened her door and flopped down on her bed. All she wanted to do was sleep.

Tap tap tap

Lily's eyes snapped open and darted to the source of the noise. It was an owl. She opened up her window and not one, but three owls came crashing into her room. They all dropped letters on her bed before finding a place to land.

She looked at the three of them, one was clearly Alice's small script. Another, Marlene's. And the third, she wasn't sure who sent that one. It certainly wasn't Hestia, she was on a magic free vacation until the new year.

Lily opened the one from Alice first,

Lily!

Oh my I am so sorry! I couldn't believe what you had told me when I got your owl. He's such an arse! We'll get him back when we go back to school. Mark my words. Glad that you got the chance to come home over the holidays though. Even if it is just you and Petunia. Maybe we can all get together sometime when Hestia gets back. The second maybe? I love you Lil. Don't let that arse get to you.

-Alice

Lily smiled weakly as she read the letter. Then she turned to Marlene's,

Lily,

Where is Scott? Where is that boy? I am going to kill him! How dare he say all of that! I could, I could, I don't know, but kill him works fine by me. Merlin! I can't even describe how mad I am. We are getting him back. Hell, I will consult Sirius and James on ways to get him back. Don't worry Lilykins. He'll feel pain for what he did. I love you Lily. Please don't cry over him. It's not worth it.

-Marlene

Lily smiled at her friend's violent tendencies. But the fact that she was going to consult James and Sirius was funny. She hated them, and to think that she would ask them on how to get revenge, Scott better watch out.

Lily picked up the last letter and opened it,

Evans,

Now don't freak out because I'm writing to you. This isn't some ploy to make you fall in love with me. I'm writing this because I truly care about you. My uncle stopped by today with some crazy story about this girl who was heartbroken because her boyfriend Scott Williams broke up with her because he thought she liked James Potter. The same girl then proceeded to insult James, and then say that he actually wasn't too bad. Well the first thing you should know is that, I'm James Potter. My uncle is Charles Potter. Yes, he was the man who accompanied you home. Lily, I am so sorry that Scott was such a jerk to you. You don't deserve that type of treatment, at all! I know that I'm probably one of the last people you would ever want to talk to, but I'm here if you ever need someone. Have a nice holiday Evans. I'll see you when we get back to school. By the way, early warning, I'm already plotting with the guys on how to take down Williams.

Love,

James Potter

Lily didn't know how to react to James' letter. That was his uncle! That was just Lily's luck! She sighed, it was no use worrying about. James already knew. And he had sent that very sweet letter to make sure she was okay. The thought of him already plotting against Scott made her smile.

She had the best people in the world looking out for her, Petunia, Alice, Marlene, and even someone like James, sometimes.
She wrote quick responses to the letters, a basic, Thanks. I'm okay now. And to Marlene and Alice, we should get together on the second. After sending them off she sank back down on her bed and fell asleep.
The rest of the holidays passed by quickly. Petunia kept Lily's mind away from Scott and the two were having fun together. It was like old times the way they acted. They had exchanged gifts and celebrated the new year together too. They acted like everything was perfectly normal. Petunia pretended that Lily wasn't a witch. She made herself temporarily forget that her sister would be leaving in a matter of days. Lily put thoughts of Hogwarts out of her mind until late at night when she attempted to do her homework. She didn't want to do it out with Petunia around, it would bring back all of her sister's hatred of magic. So she secretly worked on it until the early hours of the morning. Petunia and Lily were happy though. The holidays rekindled their old friendship. At least for now.

It was January 2nd and the girls were all coming Lily's house. They were staying until the fourth, when they would all get driven to King's Cross together.

"LILY!" Alice squealed as she ran up to Lily to give her a hug.

"Alice!" Lily yelled as she hugged her best friend.

Marlene and Hestia were already there, Alice was always late.

They all settled down in Lily's living room, they needed to catch up.

"Lily!" Marlene called.

"Yes?"

"Harrison keeps asking when you're coming next for Christmas again." Marlene said smirking.

Harrison McKinnon had a crush on Lily. He never admitted it, but he was constantly trying to get Lily's attention when they were at Hogwarts. The girls all thought it was cute, but completely unrealistic. Now it had seemed that Harrison had realized, Lily was way out of his league, but he still tried to get her attention just for the fun of it. Plus, the fact that he had fifth year friends, that were girls, made him much more popular. So naturally he did stuff like this all the time.

Lily rolled her eyes. "Oh shut up."

"What is my brother not good enough for you?" Marlene demanded.

"No, he's a second year though. And he does it for popularity." Lily said laughing.
Marlene smiled, it was true and she couldn't deny that.

"Well I think someone should have told James Potter that. Do you guys remember that?" Hestia said before bursting into fits of giggles.

They all started laughing. It was a funny memory.

Harrison had been doing hisflirt with Lily scheme to get people to notice him. James Potter had noticed and in a rash decision that this little boy was a threat to his chances of winning Lily over had stormed over there and yelled at Harrison to back off and that Lily was his. Harrison had identified him as James Potter and proceeded to taunt him that she had trusted him to tell him who she really fancied. James demanded to know who and Harrison teased him with the name, Sirius Black. James was outraged and was going to kill Sirius until he noticed Lily who was laughing so hard she couldn't breathe. Lily said Harrison was just messing with him and that Harrison was a good friend of her's. James apologized and from then on, he and Harrison had actually gotten along.

"Ahh James Potter and his obsession with Lily. It's brought us so many hysterical memories." Alice mused.

Lily laughed and then she remembered the letter that he had sent her. "He sent me a letter you know."

All three girls stopped laughing and looked at her.

"What?" they all echoed.

"Story. Now." Marlene demanded.

"Okay well, Scott and I broke up. I was a mess. Dumbledore sent me home with this guy who was watching over me to make sure I got home safely. His name was Charles and I kind of opened up and told him about the break up and then I ranted about James for a bit until I had nothing else to say so I went to sleep. When I got home I had those letters from you two, and a third from James. Charles was his uncle. He had told his father about me and what I said about James. His letter was really sweet. He was all caring and nice." Lily said smiling.

All three girls burst out laughing.

"That would happen to you!" Alice said in between laughs.

Lily rolled her eyes. "I know right!"

When they all calmed down they continued sharing stories about their holidays. By the time they had all finished talking it was late.

"Hey, uh, have any of you done your homework?" Hestia asked.

'Er – no why?" Marlene asked.

"Neither have I. Can we work on some of it now? I need help." she confessed.

"Sure!" they all declared. They all went to grab their school books, parchment, quills and wands. They weren't allowed to do magic until they were of age but McGonagall had told them that if it was for schoolwork, it would be excused.

They sat in Lily's living room and worked on all of their homework. Lily was helping them all rite their Potions essays.

"I hate this!" Alice said in frustration.

"I know Al, but you only have ten lines left." Hestia said soothingly.

She sighed and began writing again.

Next they had to work on Charms. Again, Lily was the best in Charms so she was helping the others out with the five Charms they had to practice for break.

Marlene and Lily were working on Ancient Runes as Alice and Hestia worked on Arithmancy.

Petunia walked in, she had been out with her friends. She took a look at what the girls were working on. She saw strange letters and symbols and numbers.

"What the bloody hell is going on here?" she exclaimed.

"Oh hi Petunia!" Lily said smiling.

"What are you doing?" she demanded.

"Er – our homework." she said shyly. She had forgotten about Petunia's hatred of magic. She nervously awaited what would happen next.

"Who are they?" she asked glaring at the girls.

"Alice, Marlene and Hestia. My friends." Lily said warily.

"So you brought your freaky magic and schoolwork and friends into our home?" Petunia asked outraged.

Marlene tensed up, Alice frowned and Hestia shied away.

Lily stood up.

"They are not freaks, Petunia. They are witches. Like me. Do not insult them in front of me." she said harshly, her voice cutting through the tense air.

"You're just as freaky as they are! I see your work! What the hell is that? Only freaks would know!" she exclaimed. "You're just lucky my friends didn't come home with me! Imagine if they saw all this! That would be so embarrassing!"

Lily was stunned, she was embarrassing to her sister. "Could you stop insulting me and my friends? It's one thing if it's me. I could care less what you think of me Petunia. But not my friends. These girls are amazing people and you have no right to call them freaks. Got it? You can leave now" Lily said sternly, her voice like steel. Lily turned around to face her friends again.

She was sitting down as Petunia said, "Whatever. I don't want to be around you and your freak friends anyway."

Lily whirled around on the spot and was pointing her wand right at Petunia.

"Leave." she demanded.

"Put that thing away!" Petunia screeched.

"Get out!" Lily yelled at her.

"Don't aim that at me!"

"I am not afraid of using magic on you. Get out of my sight. I don't want to see you again!"

Petunia turned and ran out of the room. She couldn't believe Lily had threatened her like that. How dare she actually point that thing at her! Her sister was as good as dead to her. She grabbed her purse and ran out of the house. She was not staying here any longer. Especially not with those freaks there.

Lily slowly lowered her wand and turned back to her friends. She couldn't believe she had actually pulled her wand on Petunia. Things had been going so well. And now, now hope was lost that they'd ever be friends again.

The girls were staring at Lily. They couldn't believe that actually just happened. Lily was so scary when she was mad. They felt horrible, because of them Lily lost the small relationship with her sister that she had. It was obvious Petunia wasn't going to ever get over this. They looked at Lily who looked livid.

"Lil?" Alice asked gently.

"I am so sorry you had to see that." Lily said biting her lip.

Marlene gave her a hug, "We don't care Lily. We care about you though. Are you okay?"

Lily shrugged her shoulders. "She can insult me, but not you guys. Never you guys."

"Will she ever forgive you?" Hestia asked.

"I don't know. Probably not. I drew my wand on her. She hates me now."

All the girls gave her a hug.

"You still have us." Alice offered weakly.

Lily smiled brightly, "I couldn't ask for anyone better."

A/M: This is my longest chapter yet! YAY! Please review! Oh and also if you could please check out maraudersrealm[dot]foractivo[dot]com We really need more members. I wouldn't promote it if I wasn't a part of it or if i thought it was rubbish. I really enjoy this and I think you all will too! Please join! xx