Author's Note: A massive thank-you to Shlane for helping me out of a tight corner with the story behind Dean's amulet (not the first tight corner she's helped me out of, I have to admit). You're absolutely awesome and I love you to bits!

This chapter's for you! :) xxx

Chapter 13

Lily was feeling stiff and tired as she staggered off the broomstick and back onto firm ground. It seemed to her as though she and James Potter had been seated on the uncomfortable length of wood all day, though she could see that the sky was still light, so that obviously wasn't true. Evidently, hanging around with Potter, especially in mid-air, could make anything seem like an eternity. She really didn't feel too happy about being suspended thousands of feet in the air (well, it was really more like only a hundred feet at the very most) with nothing between her and a nasty fall apart from a thin and rather fragile-looking stick of wood. Especially when Madam Hooch wasn't there and the only person she could count on was James Potter, who she absolutely disliked. The boy just made her cringe every time she came near him, which wasn't very helpful when she was almost dependent on him for survival.

Still, she couldn't quite manage to deny that James's bragging about his ability to fly hadn't been all talk. He was more than capable of handling a broomstick and he was definitely confident in the air – moreso than he sometimes seemed to be on the ground, which was saying something – and Lily had to admit that did something to help her confidence. He did also go out of his way to make sure that she was as safe as she could be when she was riding, which she really did appreciate and which made it a little easier for her to be at least polite towards him. He had teased her a little at first and been rather astonished that anyone could not like to fly (and then wasted twenty minutes gushing about how there was no better feeling in the world), but he had then done everything he could to make sure that she felt safe. She had to thank him for that, she supposed, but it still didn't mean that she had to like him. When all was said and done, after all, James was still an arrogant bully most of the time who had far too high an opinion of himself. Of course, if that was less true, Lily might have been more inclined to admire his intelligence and his talented flying, but she didn't think that his head needed to be inflated any more than it already was.

"You heading back?" she asked in as casual a voice as she could when James stored the broomstick kit back in the shed. "It's getting cold and dark now."

"Nah, I was actually going to stay out for a little while longer," said James with a nonchalant shrug as he re-mounted his broomstick. "I want to practice on my flying in darker conditions so that I can be perfect for the Quidditch trials next year. Then they'll have to pick me!"

"Right," said Lily vaguely. "Well...don't stay out for too long. I wouldn't want you to catch a cold – or a detention," she added quietly.

"Lily, I didn't know you cared!" cried James, grinning broadly even as he lost control of his broomstick and, with a shriek, he crashed into the bushes beside the broomshed. "Ow," he muttered, spitting out leaves and pulling twigs out of his messy hair. He glanced up at Lily. "You didn't see that."

Normally, Lily would never have even considered holding an embarrassing moment like that over someone, simply because she couldn't stand the thought of humiliating people who didn't deserve it. But James Potter was a different matter altogether. He seemed to actively and openly enjoy being the cause of other people's misery, including more than one of her friends. It was time, she thought, that he was given a taste of his own medicine for a change.

"Well, you know what they say, Potter," she replied, giving him a bright smile. "Don't dish it out if you can't take it."

She briefly allowed herself to smirk when she saw the horrified look on James's face, but then decided to leave quickly before she actually ended up laughing right in his face. In truth she wasn't sure whether she would have told anyone what had happened. She knew it had the potential to make James into a laughing stock amongst several of the students, but at the same time, part of her thought he deserved a little payback for some of the things he had done.

"I'll wait until after Christmas," she eventually decided. "He might have decided to slow down before then." Of course this was unlikely, but Lily still felt that everyone deserved a second chance to redeem themselves and change their ways, even James Potter, although, really, this would probably be more like his fiftieth chance.

Nodding to herself, she started to make her way back to the castle, drawing her cloak and scarf closer to her against the cold, when she caught sight of what appeared to be two figures sat together beside the lake. Not wanting to interrupt what looked like something private, even intimate, but equally thinking that they should be going inside before it got too cold and dark, Lily moved quietly over to them, hoping that she could get their attention without startling them. They were, after all, sat rather close to the freezing water and she didn't want to cause any accidents.

"Evans? What are you doing out here?"

The voice startled her a little and she blinked a few times before she recognised Sirius Black's face framed by his long black hair, his grey eyes seeming to stare at her intently. She stifled a small groan; she didn't think Sirius was quite as bad as James was and she had to admit to feeling a little sorry for him sometimes, having heard some of the stories about his family, but he still wasn't in her top ten list of people to be around. "I could ask you the same thing, Black," she said. "It's getting cold." She tilted her head. "You're not waiting for James, are you, because he might be a while."

"No." A quiet voice beside Sirius spoke up and Lily looked down into Dean's green eyes. "He came out with me. We both needed a little space."

There was something in Dean's voice that made Lily worry. "Are you all right?" she asked, still looking at her friend, but including Sirius in the question as well.

Dean shrugged and picked up a flat pebble, tossing it towards the lake and skimming it six times. As he did so, Lily caught sight of his knuckles which were beginning to bruise – as, she noticed, were Sirius's. This time, she did let out a loud groan. "You've been fighting!" she cried. "I'd have expected that from you, Black, but did you –"

"They deserved it," said Sirius coldly. "You weren't there; you don't know what happened."

"Well, what did happen?" asked Lily.

Dean scowled and skimmed another pebble. "Doesn't matter."

"Dean," said Sirius with a sigh. "Of course it matters. They had no right to say that to you."

"What did who say?" asked Lily. The detatched tone of Dean's voice was scaring her a little and she started to wonder if she'd misjudged the situation. She glanced at Sirius. "What happened?"

"Third year Slytherins happened," said Sirius with a snort. "The next generation of Lucius Malfoys. Dean, Remus and I overheard them talking about the slimy git and I said," he stopped and winced, "I may have called them his bitches or something," he mumbled.

Dean snorted. "Nope, I think those were pretty much the words you used," he said.

"They didn't take it well," said Sirius. "Called me a blood-traitor and everything."

"And you punched them for that?" asked Lily. "It's not a very nice thing to say, but it's not the first time anyone's said that to you."

"No, I didn't punch them for that," said Sirius grimly. "I punched them for –"

"For calling me the son of," Dean made air-quotes, "a 'filthy maggot-infested Muggle who wouldn't know true magic if it came and bit him in the butt'." He scowled and threw another pebble. "I told them no one talks about my dad like that. And then," his voice broke a little and he looked down, "they said something else..."

"What?" asked Lily, frowning back at Dean's bruised knuckles. "How bad was it?"

"Oh, I don't know," said Sirius dryly. "How bad would you consider saying 'Oh, sorry, we forgot about the demon's whore you called a mother' to be?"

Dean scowled. "Thanks, Sirius."

"They actually said that?" spluttered Lily, her eyes going wide.

"Yeah," muttered Dean. "So, I punched them. 'Course, that was the only bit Filch saw and so we got detention. Even Remus and he didn't do anything!" He threw another pebble into the lake, not even bothering to try and skim it that time. "Sirius, I'm sorry..."

"It's not your fault!" exclaimed Sirius. "You tried to get us out of it and if you hadn't punched them –"

"You wouldn't have done it again, Black," interrupted Lily. "At least, not if I'd been there, because I would have gone in and done it myself before you could have moved!"

"You?" spluttered Sirius. "Don't take this the wrong way, but I thought you were all about making friends with those jerks."

"Not when they go and say things like that, I'm not," answered Lily. "Because in this case, Black –"

"I think we've known each other long enough to move past surnames, Lily," interrupted Sirius.

"Fine, Sirius. In this case," Lily sighed, "you're right. They were jerks and they had no right to say that."

"Exactly," said Sirius.

"They're not all –" began Dean, but he stopped, frowned and shook his head.

Sirius let out a sigh. "Okay, whatever," he said, dragging himself to his feet. "I'm going inside, it's getting nippy out here. You coming?" When Dean shook his head, he shrugged and walked off, muttering something under his breath that certainly didn't sound very pleasant.

Lily picked at a few blades of grass and tossed them towards the water. "Are you –"

"You don't have to stay out here just because I'm here," said Dean in a tired voice. "I'm okay, really; just pissed at myself for letting them get to me."

"But that's silly," said Lily. "You had every right to be angry with them and you didn't do anything that they didn't deserve. And I bet your mum would have said the same thing."

"Would she?" Dean frowned. "How can you know that? How can you be so sure that she would have done that when I don't even know if she would?" He slammed the last stone angrily into the lake and dropped his head down, wrapping his arms tightly around himself.

Lily untied her cloak and wrapped it around Dean's shoulders. "Because she's your mum," she said simply. "And whatever happens or wherever she is, she loves you and she always will. She's so proud of you, Dean – you and your brother – and she knows how much you love her."

A tiny smile flittered across Dean's face as he almost instinctively leaned into Lily's side. Glancing around, he reached underneath the collar of his robes and drew out a thin silver chain with a small silver disc on it. Leaning over, Lily could see that it was engraved all over with symbols, some of which she recognised, but others she didn't.

"Protection charms," explained Dean. "Uncle Bobby gave it to me on my eighth birthday, just before we came to England. He gave one to Dad and Sammy too. Said he wanted to make sure we stayed safe, even though we weren't in the hunting game any more. It's probably a good idea too, considering how many things Dad's pissed off over the years," he added with a wry grin. "It used to be Mom's."

"Really?" Lily's interest peaked. "Did she leave it to her brother when she died?"

Dean shook his head. "Uncle Bobby's not her brother. He's a friend, but we've always seen him as an uncle. But he knew Mom for a while before Dad did and when she died, he got all her stuff and sorted it out himself, because Dad wouldn't know how to organise a wedding in Las Vegas."

"And then he gave it to you," said Lily. "That's so lovely."

"Yeah. After old Yellow-Eyes bit it, some other demon was trying to go after Dad, but Bobby got there first and ganked it himself. He found this," he motioned to the amulet, "at his house afterwards and gave it to me, just like Mom's dad gave it to her. Just, you know, to be safe."

"That's an amazing legacy to have," said Lily, smiling. "You must love having something that belonged to your mother."

"I," Dean bit his lip nervously, "actually, I nearly gave it to Sam. I just thought he should have a part of her, because he never got to know her."

"You didn't have much of a chance either," said Lily quietly.

"I had more of one than he did," insisted Dean. "I just felt like I got more than enough from her and that he deserved that same chance."

Lily was about to ask what her friend meant, but then she spotted a picture he was holding in his hand and recognised the beautiful young blonde woman. She also remembered Sirius commenting how much Dean did look like his mother and opened her mouth to say just how true it was. But before she could get a word out, she caught a look of unbearable sadness in her friend's face and stopped herself. Apparently, Dean was more than a little sensitive about his resemblance to the woman.

"Hey," she said gently and moved closer to wrap her arm around his shoulders. "It's not a bad thing, you know."

"Everyone says that," whispered Dean. "Everyone always says that she lives on in me, and, yeah, it's great to think that there's always a part of her here. But I hate how much it also hurts Dad." He put the picture away and stared out across the lake. "I don't want him to be sad."

Lily didn't know what to say to that, but her heart broke a little at the trembling in his voice. She sighed and hugged him tighter, letting him rest his head on her shoulder. It was strange, she thought to herself, how so many people looked at Dean and either just saw him as a one-time hunter – a hero or a villain, depending on who you asked – or as a troublemaker, like James and Sirius. But it was so clear that there was so much more to him than that; he might have been a hunter and he might have a flair for mischief, but underneath that, he was a good friend with a kind heart. For him to have even considered passing up the chance to keep something like that amulet so his brother could feel closer to their dead mother was enough to tell Lily that.

But it also made her think a little about some of her other classmates, such as a certain boy with hazel eyes and messy black hair. She frowned to herself, thinking about how quick she'd been to dislike him and dismiss him, just as she had seen a lot of students do, not just to Dean, but also to others, herself included.

Suddenly, Dean sat up and brushed his hair off his face. "Let's go inside," he said. "I'm getting cold." He stood up and held out a hand for her, a cheeky smile suddenly spreading over his face. "May I?"

"You may," chuckled Lily, deciding to play along. She linked her arm through Dean's and they walked back to the castle, just as the first flakes of snow began to fall, a few of them landing on Dean's long eyelashes. "Hey," she whispered. "Look."

Dean's face lit up. "Snowball fight tomorrow!" he cried out, grabbing Lily's hands and spinning her around in fast circles until they both stumbled and fell flat on their backs, laughing breathlessly. "Ow, shit...that's cold."

"Well, it is winter now," laughed Lily. "It's not going to be getting any warmer for a while." She lay back and allowed her breathing to return to normal before she spoke again. "Dean, do you think I judge people too quickly?"

"What do you mean?" asked Dean, his brow furrowed in confusion.

"Nothing." Slowly, Lily sat up and shrugged. "I was just thinking about James and –"

"James?" Now, Dean sat up as well. "Come on, Lily, don't be stupid! Would you want to be friends with me if you were that quick to judge people?" He shook his head. "Look. I know James is one of my friends – well, sort of – and he's a good flier and most of that crap he comes out with is true. But he's also such a jerk sometimes. Most of the time." He dropped his voice a little. "I think even Sirius thinks so and he's the guy's best friend. So, no, I don't think you're judgemental."

A weight that Lily hadn't even realised was there lifted at her friend's words. Deep down, she had been a little worried that she was being unfair to James; even though she hated the way he often treated others, he did have a good sense of humour when he wasn't being a bully. Smiling, she pulled Dean upright and brushed the snow off their clothes. "Come on," she said, "let's go inside before the snow gets worse and they have to send out a search party."

Dean nodded. "Okay. Come –" but he stopped when he spotted something coming towards them. He tilted his head and groaned. "Oh, balls."

"What?" asked Lily, more than a little nervous at the harsh exclamation, even though Dean didn't seem to be getting ready for a fight or anything like that.

"That search party we wanted to try and avoid?" Dean let out a soft laugh. "Think it's a bit late for that. Look."

Lily squinted in the direction Dean was pointing in and laughed when she recognised three familiar figures. "It does seem to be," she admitted. "Still, it could have been worse."

"Yeah." Dean nodded as Hagrid came closer, Remus and Severus running to keep up with him. "We could have been caught by McGonagall."

"Yeh could well still be!" retorted Hagrid, who did not look impressed. "Yer both ruddy lucky I was the firs' one Remus here found! Yeh've been out here for hours; it's startin' ter get cold, yeh idiots!"

"We noticed," said Dean dryly but when Hagrid glared at him, he shrugged. "Hey, isn't James still out here? Lily said he was doing some broomstick stuff with her – oh, crap!" His eyes suddenly went wide and he looked over at Severus. "I was coming to meet you, then those assholes turned up and...I completely forgot!"

"It's okay," said Severus, but Lily thought he looked a little upset. "I understand." Slowly, he rested one hand on Dean's arm. "You're going home for Christmas in two days, right?" Dean nodded. "Well, we can do what we were going to do today tomorrow before you go."

Dean looked uneasy. "I don't know," he murmured, stumbling over a snow-covered mound. "Couldn't it wait until after Christmas?"

"Nope," said Severus with a grin. "I know you've been trying to put it off and I know you're scared. But if I let you wait then you'll never do it. Do it tomorrow and get it over with."

"Fine," huffed Dean, but Lily could see a hint of a smile forming on his lips. "Now can we just get inside before we turn into walking ice sculptures?"

"Surely if we were sculptures, we wouldn't be walking?" chuckled Remus.

"Fine, living ice sculptures," amended Dean. "Happy now?"

"I'll be happier when yer all back in yer common rooms and getting' ready fer bed!" snapped Hagrid, but Lily thought she caught a hint of a grin underneath his beard. "Now, come on!"

"I keep half expecting him to call us all 'idjits'," whispered Dean as they traipsed back to the castle. "He reminds me of my uncle Bobby," he explained when Lily frowned at him.

"Is," Severus seemed a little hesitant, "is...is he..."

"A hunter?" Dean sighed. "You know, you can ask. I don't want to run around shouting about it, but I'm not going to lie, either. So, yes, he is. And he's awesome."

"Doesn't this all mess with your head?" blurted Lily, finally voicing the question she'd been wanting to ask ever since she'd found out about her friend's past. "I mean, from what I've heard about hunters, they're not exactly..."

"Friendly towards witches?" Dean laughed. "You could say that. Dad hated them almost as much as he hated the demon. Although, to be fair, witches back home aren't exactly friendly towards hunters. Mind you, not a lot of people are," he added quietly, catching a couple of snowflakes in his palm.

"Well, you seem to be very well-adjusted," said Remus, blinking when the taller boy burst into laughter. "What? What did I say?"

"Remus, I have been called a lot of things," spluttered Dean. "But well-adjusted was never one of them."