Lily Evans sat in her usual corner of the library, flipping blindly through her stack of Charms notes. She had an essay to write, and she had been in the library for over an hour, yet so far all she had managed to accomplish was chewing a dent in her quill and the pitiful opening sentence, "The Auguamenti charm is vitally important in day to day life,". This was pointless. She couldn't think strait, couldn't concentrate on anything, anything other than the muted whispers that were continuing to buzz around her. She had chosen the library as her refuge with the hope that Madame Pince's stern glare would end the roar of gossip surrounding her, but instead it had only managed to dull it slightly.

"Trouble concentrating?" Daphne said, pulling Lily out of her reverie of thoughts.

"What gave me away?" Lily answered with a smile. She looked at Daphne, unsure of exactly what to say, how to explain. "Daphne, I'm really sorry! I should have told you I stayed at James' house over the holidays; you shouldn't have had to find out this way."

"Oh, I didn't just find out," Daphne waved her hand dismissively, summoned a chair and sat down across the table from Lily. "James told me everything awhile ago, I just hate that you have to deal with all this alone. I mean at least James and I have each other. It's just so awful that Aidan is trying to hurt you like this." Lily was unsure how to respond to this so she said nothing.

"Lily I just wanted to make sure you knew that I wasn't mad at you about everything, and while I wouldn't blame you for being furious at James and Sirius, I hope that there are no hard feelings between the two of us."

"Um, I… I'm sorry Daphne, but I think I'm missing something. I have no idea what you are talking about."

"Its okay, Lily, you don't have to be embarrassed. I know how persuasive James can be, especially when he wants something."

"I…um…what?"

"I was so angry when he told me. I was horrified you would think I was in on their idiotic bet," Daphne said with a dramatic role of her eyes.

"Bet?" Lily said clearly confused.

"The bet, aren't you paying attention? The bet James made with Sirius before the holidays, that he could get you to kiss him. Personally, I think that the whole charming the mistletoe idea was a little overkill, but I guess James wanted to have a backup plan in case he couldn't get you to kiss him before. Lily are you okay you seem a little out of it?"

"What…um yeah I'm fine."

"Oh, Lily, you knew right? You did know it was a bet. Oh gosh Lily if you didn't know…if that's why you broke up with Aidan…oh Lily I'm so sorry I didn't mean to be the one to tell you. I feel like such an idiot just gabbing away like that."

"Don't be stupid, Daphne." Lily answered her voice slightly higher, and chirpier than usual. "Of course I knew. I knew from the beginning, Alice had overheard them talking about it. I knew I was going to break up with Aidan but I didn't know how, this just gave me an easy out. Obviously I would never just let Potter kiss me; I mean I think I've made my feelings for him known over the years."

"Great! So, no hard feelings?"

"Absolutely not."

**

The man watched as the woman inside the house prepared dinner as her husband sang one of their old favorites to her. If he had been capable of love he would have found the scene touching, but he was not and he did not. Instead he saw only two murders he wanted to commit but could not; Dumbledore had cast his spells of protection well. He could see the place, but he could not enter its grounds. However, Lord Voldemort was nothing, if not crafty and resourceful. He may not be able to harm these particular members of that blasted Order of the Phoenix, yet, but he could torment their lives, make them know they are next. He cast his spell, sending the perimeter of Dumbledore's protective charms ablaze, and then apparated back to his haven amongst his followers. He had a job for them, if he could not physically harm these two faithful friends of Dumbledore, he would inflict emotional damage beyond belief. They believed their son to be safe inside the walls of Hogwarts, protected by that crooked nosed old fool, but they were mistaken; For Lord Voldemort had faithful servants inside the walls of Hogwarts too, and vengeance would be his.

**

Jillian Potter let out a shriek as the fiendfyre erupted around the perimeter of her home. Richard rose and attempted to make his way outside to defuse the flames.

"Are you crazy?" Jillian shouted grabbing her husband's arm. "You know as well as I do that it was him! We don't know if our protective charms will hold up against fiendfyre, you could get yourself killed!"

"Jill, breath, look outside the flames are staying on the other side of the barrier. Our protective charms are doing their jobs."

"Exactly, which means you will have to go outside of the grounds to put out the flames! He could still be out there; it could be a trap to lure you out!"

"That's too easy for him and you know it. He likes to play with his food before he eats it. He would want to torment us much longer than this before he goes for the kill."

"Don't you see he has been tormenting us? He sent us Benjy Fenwick's head in box! I doubt that was meant to be a gift of happy tidings for a new year!"

"Jilly, I don't have a choice. We might be protected from those flames but the people outside our barrier are not. Would you have me sentence those people to a fiery death, some of them are muggles! They have no chance of defending themselves. I love you now I have to go, it's my job!"

**

"Oh come on Lily, you can't honestly tell me you believe that horrid cow!" Alice exclaimed as she and Lily sat huddled together for warmth by the lake. Lily had wanted to talk in private and as their dorm ran the risk of Daphne or Mary, and the rest of the school risked prying eyes and ears some just wanting the next tidbit of gossip, others craving anything that could allow them a good witty intro into a conversation with the marauders, the only safe place to talk was in the freezing cold, snowy grounds of Hogwarts. They both knew they should at least be walking but the wind had howled so much they could not hear the other. Even the warming charm that had cast did little to help warm them against the icy January winds.

"Of course I believe her! What motive could she have for lying?"

"Oh, gee, I don't know maybe that fact that her boyfriend is in love with you!"

"He's not in love with me. Maybe he was a long time ago, but he's with Daphne now. It's obvious that he's not interested in me."

"Don't make me laugh, Lily. James Potter has been in love with you since the moment you met and he's still in love with you now. Daphne knows that, she's obviously desperate to hold on to him, that's the only thing that makes sense."

"No it isn't. It makes perfect sense that James was being an ass, like usual, and bet Sirius that he could kiss me. He knew I had feelings for him and he took complete advantage of that!"

"How in the world would James know how you felt about him when you don't even know how you feel about him from minute to minute?"

"I know perfectly well how I feel about him now," Lily said angrily. "I feel like an idiot, Alice. There I was going on about how we couldn't let ourselves get carried away, that I couldn't do that to Daphne, and he was just pretending the entire time. I bet him and Black laughed themselves silly over that.

"I don't think that's true. There was nothing pretend about the way he looked at you at his New Years' Eve Party."

"Alice, please don't." Lily said her voice finally breaking with the weight of her heartbreak. "I can't keep doing this. I can't keep letting myself get sucked into his stupid games, because each time it just hurts worse. I know you think Potter likes me but please, it's not helping me get over him. I just need to move on for my own sanity regardless of how Potter may or may not feel."

"Okay," Alice said, nodding her head fervently. "I love you Lily, but can we please go inside now? I think my ass is about to fall off and become its own little tushy shaped ice cube." Lily burst out laughing, which had after all been Alice's intent.

"Of course, I wouldn't want my best friend to be assless."

"Especially when it is such an attractive butt," Alice added with a laugh.