Sorry it took me so long, June tends to be rather chaotic when it comes to school.

As for the length, I broke it up the way I did because I was worried that it'd just drag on if I kept going, so I moved it into the next chapter –which, coincidentally, I've already started writing. However, I won't be able to dedicate as much time as usual towards it until my exams are over, so it might be awhile before it's up.

It was really hard to write Vernon Dursley, and so feedback would be greatly appreciated; what worked, what didn't, was it realistic, etc., -of course, any kind of feedback is always greatly appreciated!

Disclaimer: Not my characters, just my characterization; not my world, mostly of my plot line; not my story, just my take; not my property, just my heart.

Without further ado;

Chapter 21

As October faded away, November became a blur of school, quidditch and stress. As the group of Gryffindor sixth years tried to stay optimistic while drowning in the onslaught of homework, all they could do was to keep their heads down in their books, and count the days until Christmas break –some more optimistically than others.

Peter was looking forward to spending the first week with his mother, who hadn't been feeling well recently, before joining the rest of the Marauders on Boxing Day for the rest of break.

Remus would be going over after his own Christmas Day lunch with his parents, trying not to impose on his family as much as he had over the summer holidays –while they never said anything, Remus always got the feeling that they didn't know what to make of his condition; especially his father, as he could barely look at his son through his guilt.

Sirius was, of course, staying with the Potters for the duration of the break, and planned on whamming James in the face with a snowball every morning as a wake up call.

James would be going home, with his best friend, and not to a empty house –his parents would still work up until Christmas Eve, and so he usually spent time with the house elves and just cooked. This year, though, Sirius would be going straight there, and James could wake him up every morning by dumping a pile of snow on him.

Marlene would be staying home with her family, dreading going to the parties that they had planned, and could only hope to be able to sneak away to write to Lily and the others.

Alice, Dorcas and Frank all planned on spending the entirety of Christmas break with their families, though they all promised to write so much that everyone would be sick of them, regardless of the fact that they were miles away.

Lily, however, dreaded her plans; she was going home, and would have to face the sister that had caused her so much pain, in a civil and dignified manner –at least until all their relatives left. Then, and only then, would she tell her sister exactly what she thought of being treated like she was unworthy, or a freak. Of course, she had to actually force herself to get on the Hogwarts Express when it departed, but she hoped that the train ride would give her time to gather her courage.

'C'mon Lils, the train's leaving.'

'Okay, okay, I'm coming. Keep your knickers on.' She answered Marlene, hurrying off of the Hogsmeade platform and onto the train. It had been through unspoken agreement that the group would all converge into the Marauders' infamous compartment; the boys sure as hell weren't spending the train ride anywhere else.

As she sat down in her seat beside James, across from Marlene, –who was sitting beside Sirius –Lily glanced out the window with a small, almost inaudible, sigh. Gathering her conflicting emotions, she locked them away deep down, determined to enjoy the ride before facing her family. Turning back towards the group, she smiled as she listened to the Marauder's planning their return from break prank.

'Peeves has suggested that we use water balloons, but I'm not sure if it'd have the same effect. Plus, he could just be trying to win.' Remus stated as he leaned forward with his hands on his knees, a slight frown distorting the pale scars marring his face. Lily noticed that there hadn't been any new ones since the summer and commended Remus for his apparent control of Moony –while doing research in third year, Lily discovered that when in werewolf form, if there wasn't another animal –werewolf or otherwise –nearby, the person would turn to self mutilation, completely disregarding the humane side of the brain.

'Why not just jinx the whole batch before-hand? Peter asked.

'Because we won't have access; if we want to do it during the feast, it can't be something that we'd need access to pull off. We could delay it till the morning, but that breaks tradition.' James put in, cracking his neck as he leaned back. 'What about enlisting the House Elves to help?'

'As if Misa would let you four anywhere near the food before the feast. Plus, it's not like you can summon an elf, so how would they even know what to do?' Lily asked, a contemplative frown turning down the corners of her mouth. 'Are you sure that you want to do this prank first? It might be better to save it for the end of the week; go out with a bang and all that.'

'Maybe, and it's not like we can get Peeves to help, with the prank war going on.' Ever since their first year, the Marauders and Peeves have had a prank war the first week back from Christmas Break –something has to come from the two weeks time off, and what better way to spend the break than planning? –and would then spend the next month in detention. The teachers don't even bother assigning the detentions until after the week is over; they know a lost cause when they see them, and the pranks would still happen, even if all four boys were in a detention all night long the night before. The Marauders protest the fact that Peeves pranked just as much as they did and that he didn't get any detentions until fourth year, when McGonagall pointed out that Peeves wasn't alive, much less in her House and under her watch. The Marauders never made that argument again, as they all swore they could still feel the verbal whiplash from her scolding –it didn't stop them from doing the prank war again the next year though, nor the years afterwards.

'We still have two weeks to figure out this prank, maybe we'll just include it in the war later on in the week like Lils said, and do something else for the first night back; we'll have access and we won't have to worry about it.' Sirius said, grumbling; none of them liked to admit defeat, especially when it comes to pranks and the impossible.

While they continued coming up with plans for the entire week, Lily relaxed and let her mind roam; for the first time in nearly a month, she didn't think of her family. Instead, she thought about her friends, and how lucky she was to have them –especially when you throw in her emotional state the past few months, and the fact that she really had been a train wreck.

As she continued pitching her own ideas, she chuckled at the appreciative glances that were thrown her way.

'How the hell were you made into a Prefect?' Peter asked reverently, scrutinizing Lily as if wondering how she managed to fool Dumbledore –and everyone else –into thinking she was such a good girl.

'Wormtail, I think Lils has been underestimated by everyone there –I mean, what sane person gives a redhead a position of power? With that temper?! I'm dumbfounded that she's managed to behave herself so far.' Chuckled Remus.

'Lily is unofficially the best Marauder, because of one thing; she never got caught.' Laughed Sirius, just as James wrapped his arm around her shoulders loosely, ruffling her hair in pride at the same time.

As she whacked James on the side of his head, she smirked. 'That reminds me… It seems as if a certain Quidditch Captain managed to be a certifiable dick towards an extremely volatile redheaded Beater, and think he could get away with it.' As her green eyes twinkled, James swallowed nervously. He missed Lily's arm movements as she grasped her wand and uttered a non-verbal spell, only realizing that something had happened when he heard the others snorting in amusement; it seemed as if she had vanished all of his clothes, leaving him in only his knickers.

'EVANS!' He gasped, scandalized over everyone's peals of laughter.

'Next time you're in a pissy mood, think twice before taking it out on me!' She smirked, charming his entire body pink with another flick of her wand. I was in a pissy mood because of you! He thought, guiltily remembering that he shouldn't have been, just because Lily went on a date. He slouched into the seat with his arms crossed and pouted, cursing himself for stowing his wand in his trunk.

Sirius refused to help out, knowing that the retribution was deserved; he also remembered the reasoning behind his friend's temper. He caught Marlene's eye and they both smiled as they watched Lily casting sly, appreciative glances out of the corner of her eye towards the undressed boy, her face reddening –from laughter, of course, rather than anything else.

'Well, Pete, I think this just proves that Lily really is the best Marauder of them all; after waiting more than a month for revenge, she won't even loose house points over it, because its during the holidays. Plus, she can still cast magic, because there isn't any way the Ministry can trace it.' Marlene said, as Remus took pity on his friend and conjured his clothes back –he seemed to forget the charm to reverse the color though. Marlene noted the semi-relieved, semi-disappointed expression on her best friend's face and looked pointedly at Sirius once again, both of them muffling their smiles afterwards.

Not more than a week later, Sirius was rudely woken at eight in the morning due to a snowball dumped on his face. Grumbling at his best friend's suicidal tendencies, he conjured a pile of snow that covered the entire bed and dumped it on Prong's sleeping form in retaliation.

'Every bloody day. Serves you right for charming yours to go off on an alarm; you tend to leave yourself undefended, dumbass.' He grumbled, laughing as James howled in protest. 'Happy Christmas Eve day, you git. I'll be with the caffeine and the food.' As he made his way towards the kitchen, Sirius chuckled to himself as he heard James' muttered cursing through chattering teeth. We do this every morning; you'd think he'd learn by now.

'Mum wants to make sure that you'll have the food ready for when Vernon gets here for brunch. Get up.'

As Lily rolled over in her bed, she heard her sister retreating down the hallway. She knew perfectly well that their mum had told Petunia to make the food, since it was her fiancé that was coming over, but she also knew that her sister would be just as likely to poison her food instead. As Lily fell out of bed, she threw on sweatpants and a jumper before going downstairs to the kitchen.

'You'll be jumping off the walls if you have any more.'

'It's only my second cup.' Lily said as she continued to stare out the kitchen window, drinking from the large mug clasped in her hands.

'How many more till you get cracking?' While Mr. Evans knew who had been originally asked to prepare brunch, he knew whose cooking he'd rather eat. He also knew who was more inclined to do so, regardless of who'd been originally asked.

'You seem to be mistaking coffee for motivation, Dad. It's okay, I do it often enough.' Lily said with a sleepy smirk, as she nevertheless started to gather her ingredients. While she mixed the pancake batter, Lily monitored the bacon on the stove and buttered the toast that came out of the toaster. As she handed all of the dirty dishes over to her parents to wash and put away, she smiled serenely; it was her kitchen in the mornings, and one either makes themselves useful, or they make themselves scarce (Petunia always chose the latter).

After putting the only remaining dish –scrambled eggs –on the table, she surveyed her work just as the doorbell rang. With a muffled curse, she ran upstairs to get changed before she had to face Vermin once again, hearing the exchanged holiday's greetings as she closed her bedroom door.

Newly dressed in jeans and a comfy sweater, Lily pulled her hair back into a loose knot before seating herself across from Petunia and Vernon, in between her parents.

'This is lovely, Mr. and Mrs. Evans. The bacon is done wonderfully.' Vernon grumbled his thanks, his voice muffled by equal parts the food he was shoveling into his mouth and the mustache that covered his upper lip.

'Actually, Vernon, Lily did all the cooking this morning! Frank and I just did the dishes.' Sarah Evans laughed, smiling appreciatively towards her youngest daughter. While she may have missed the slowing of Vernon Dursley's eating, her husband did not. Nor did he miss the slightly greenish tinge that had appeared on the young man's face.

'Oh?' Vernon questioned, looking confusedly between Petunia and Lily. 'But, I thought you said that shr never did anything around the house, Tunia?' Lily blushed furiously as Petunia tried to shrink into herself, audibly groaning when her father started speaking.

'Nonsense, Vernon. My Lils makes the best breakfast you've ever had, has since she was ten! We used to do it together, before she kicked me out for messing up some of her more brilliant recipes. You should taste her blueberry scones!'

'Those were hers? But you said…' As Vernon turned to stare at Petunia, Frank saw her flush with embarrassment.

It didn't take a genius to piece together why Vernon thought that Lily did nothing around the house, nor was Frank unaware as to the reason for which Vernon seemed so shocked that Lily's cooking was particularly impressive; he figured it had quite a lot to do with the guilty expression Petunia now bore across her face.

'I, uhm, Vernon, I can explain –' Petunia started, looking pleadingly at her fiancé.

'Mr. Dursley, would I be right to assume that Petunia has been laying false claims to certain aspects regarding Lily?' Frank said, ignoring an embarrassed Lily and an indignant Petunia.

'It would seem so, Mr. Evans. I must be going, Mr. and Mrs. Evans, I mustn't be late to visit my sister, Marge. Petunia, a word before I go?' Grumbling slightly as she rose, Petunia walked him to the door. At first, the conversation between the two at the door went unheard, as no other sounds aside from Petunia's frequent hissing could be understood –at least, not until the shouting started.

'You told me she was a freak! That she was worthless and spiteful and a conniving bitch. And then you give me her cooking? Are you trying to kill me?!'

'But, Vernon, you've had her cooking before!' She suddenly gasped in dismay, and the three Evans' knew that Petunia had clasped her hands in front of her mouth, as was a habit that Lily thought she should've been more indulging towards.

'Pardon me? The only cooking I have eaten here has been what you and your parents have made. Just how much of that statement is the truth?' His voice had thundered, and Lily could suddenly picture the vein in his forehead throbbing as his many necks wobbled, his furry mustache working itself around his nose as the yelling started again. 'You lied to me over your freak sister! She isn't even worth the effort of your deceptiveness, Petunia.'

As the front door slammed, Petunia returned to the dinning room. Glaring at her sister, she spat, 'I hope you're happy now, Freak.' With that, she spun on her heels and raced up to her room, slamming her door shut with enough force to cause the silverware in the armoires to rattle in the dinning room.

'Well. That was rather eventful.' Sarah said, her cheeks tinged pink with embarrassment. Frank patted Lily's hand, as the redhead's face soon matched her hair in colour, due to her mortification.

With a whispered excuse me, Lily left the table and made her way up to her room. Frank noted that she did so in a much more dignified –and silent –manner than her older sister.