Hey, everyone. Thanks for all the reviews. I'm leaving in a couple of minutes for the city and won't be back home until probably tomorrow night, so I wanted to get this out to you. If there's anything that I did horribly wrong editing-wise, let me know so I can fix it, because I haven't had a chance to do it myself. Like I said, I just wanted to get it to you before I leave.

Just so that we avoid confusion, this is going back to earlier Christmas Night and is following Lily.

Chapter Twenty-Five: The Other Side

"That dinner was amazing."

"Put those dishes down this instant," Paula mock-scolded. "Go spend some time with your father. I'll clean up here."

With a grateful smile, Lily placed the dirty dishes back onto the table. "I think I'll bring him a glass of his wine," she thought aloud, moving toward the cabinets.

Jonathan Evans was seated out on his porch bundled up to fight the cold. Lily, wearing a thick sweater that Paula had made for her, exited the house quietly with two glasses of white zinfandel.

"Wine, Daddy?" She smiled, handing her father the glass as she sipped from her own.

"You know," Jonathan mused, taking the glass, "you're still my little girl…"

"You let me drink wine when I was…what was it, thirteen?" Jonathan chuckled. "That's what I thought!"

"So, my little Lily Flower, pull up your seat and tell me about school life. Letters just aren't the same, you know?"

"It's a lot different this year," Lily said, sitting in her seat. "For starters, Patty and Alice aren't speaking to me anymore."

"And why is that?"

"It's partly…well, mostly my fault."

"It's all your fault," said Jonathan with a knowing smile.

Lily nodded. "Yep," she said. She sighed. "Honestly, though, I don't find myself caring all that much. See, that guy I used to complain about all the time, James Potter, he's Head Boy. We started spending a lot of time together and…well, I became really close friends with him and his friends. I can't really explain it, but it just feels right, you know?"

"I always told you: follow your heart," Jonathan said softly, closing his eyes. Lily took in her father's appearance and her heart broke in two. He was now completely bald and very, very pale. He looked so worn out.

"I'm following my heart, Daddy," she whispered.

"From what Paula tells me, your heart is leading you toward this James character." A tired smirk appeared on Jonathan's face.

"Dad!"

"You wrote about him in almost all of your letters," Jonathan said innocently, his eyes opening to focus on his daughter. "James is so wonderful sometimes! James and I are going to the dance together! I went shopping for Christmas presents and I found this wonderful cloak for James! Ja-"

"Alright!" Lily exclaimed, stopping her father, who laughed lightly.

"Paula said that you and James Potter looked to be quite comfortable in the train station."

"I hugged James and Sirius goodbye," Lily said, sipping her wine.

"You have feelings for this boy, Lily, don't deny it," Jonathan said knowingly.

"No!"

"Paula isn't usually wrong about these things, you know."

"Okay…maybe a little-"

"Lily…"

"Okay! He's a wonderful person!" Lily finally burst. "He makes me laugh, and he takes care of me when I need to cry. It's easy to talk to him…he's intelligent with this stupid immature streak that I find infuriatingly adorable! He's just…he's just James."

With his knowing smirk still firmly in place, Jonathan put a hand on his daughter's. "It's good to know you'll have someone to take care of you…"

"We're not dating," Lily stated.

"I can tell that that won't last long."

"Daddy…"

"Lily," he mimicked. After a few moments, he sighed. "Help a sick old fart up to his bed would you?" he requested. "I'm tired."

Once Lily had helped her father to his room, she tucked him into bed. "Should I tell you one of the old King Swami tales?" she asked, smiling softly.

"It's been a quite some time since those stories," Jonathan said, his eyes already closing to let sleep take him over. "Good night, Lily. I love you."

"I love you too, Dad," Lily said, bending to kiss his cheek. As she switched off the lamp, she wished him a Merry Christmas.

Many hours later, Lily was awoken by Paula. It was two thirty in the morning and Lily was feeling quite disoriented. "Wazamattuh?!"

"Lily," Paula choked out.

At the sound of her stepmother's voice, Lily sat bolt upright…like she already knew…

"He's gone, Lily."

Lily's head snapped toward the window where she could see flashing lights for a moment before they went out. It was just like in the summer, only this time… "He…he…"

"That was the ambulance…they…they couldn't do anything. He's gone, Lily," Paula repeated, tears streaming down her face. "He collapsed on his way back from the bathroom."

"My…"

"I'm so sorry, hunny."

Lily didn't hear anything more. She saw Paula's mouth moving, but she was deafened by her grief. Without warning, Lily just stood, grabbed a small bag and a compass out of her trunk, which stood open near her bedroom door, and left Paula in her room looking perplexed.

The compass was from James.

The bag was Floo Powder.

The destination was The Potter House.

In a whirl of green flames, Lily found herself standing in a very nice sitting room, which she would have noticed had this been a social call. Her ears caught the sound of someone approaching the room that she was in…Sirius.

"Lily!" he said, smiling. "You scared the crap out of me!" He put the knife that he had been holding down on the coffee table.

As he approached, Lily tried her best to hold in the tears. "Lily?" he said. "Are you alright?"

Lily closed the gap between herself and Sirius throwing her body against his bare chest. Sirius instinctively drew her closer. "Lily," he said, "what's wrong?"

"J-J-James," Lily managed to choke out through her sobs.

"You want James?" Sirius asked softly. Lily nodded into his chest. "Sit right here," Sirius said, guiding Lily into one of the chairs. "I'll go get him right now, alright?"

All she could do was nod.

Sirius took to the steps two at a time as he exited the sitting room. He used his hand to wipe Lily's tears from his skin, wondering what exactly was going on.

James was shaken from his slumber by two very cold hands. Flailing about and knowing it was Sirius who was waking him up, James began to swear and yell.

"Shh! Shut up, Prongs!" Sirius exclaimed in a hushed tone. "Lily's downstairs and something's really wrong."

"What? What time is it?"

"Three-ish…maybe…I think."

James rolled out of bed, putting his glasses on and picking a tee shirt up off of the floor. "Did she say anything?"

"Just that she wants you."

"It's probably her dad," James said, leaving the bedroom and an extremely confused Sirius.

James followed the sounds of crying into the sitting room. When his eyes fell upon the redhead, hugging her knees to her chest and rocking back and forth, his heart broke into three million tiny pieces.

James rushed over to Lily. She stood when she heard him moving across the room and this allowed him to scoop her up into a tight hug. She cried into his old tee shirt, soaking it, but he did not care. He knew automatically by the amount of tears that her father had passed on, and he knew better than to say a word to her. He let her cry it out.

"I'm so sorry," Lily said shakily after what seem to both teens like an eternity.

"You're sorry for what, love?" James asked quietly.

"I sh-shouldn't have come here a-and got you o-o-out of bed," Lily sniffed. "I just…I just n-needed to s-s-see you."

"It's not a problem, Lils," James said soothingly, giving her a tight squeeze. "I'm here for you always, remember? I don't care if I have to get out of bed."

"S-still sorry."

Shaking his head, James quietly asked, "When?"

"Ab-about an hour a-ago, I g-guess."

"What about your step mom? Does she know where you are?" Lily shook her head 'no.' "We should get you back to your house, then, Lils," James said, rubbing her back as he pulled back slightly to look at her. "She's got to be worried, not knowing where you went off to and all."

"W-will you stay with me?" Lily asked tentatively, tears still streaming down her face at an alarming rate.

"Of course I will," James whispered. He moved to the fireplace, keeping hold of Lily's hand, to get the Floo Powder.

Moments later, he was standing in Lily's living room. He heard her footsteps down the hall and caught sight of her slipping into the bathroom. Then, from the top of the steps, she heard a frightened gasp.

"James Potter? Why are you in my living room…with no pants on?"

Paula, face tearstained, was heading down the steps.

"Oh…" James had forgotten that he was wearing only his boxers. "Sorry," he said. "Lily Flooed to my house and I told her that you were probably worried, so we came back here because she asked me if I could stay with her for a while."

Nodding, Paula said, "Alright, then."

"I'm so sorry for your loss," James said awkwardly, fidgeting with the edge of his shirt.

"You're a good friend, James Potter," said Paula. "Lily doesn't open up easily…please don't let her bottle this up because it will surely be the death of her if she does." James nodded. "She's comfortable with you, so I'm going to leave her be, alright?" Again, James nodded. "I'll be going to the funeral home when they open at seven…if you can get her to sleep a little, I'd rather not wake her for it…if you could just tell her if you're still here."

"I will," James said. "I'm going to stay until she kicks me out…I don't want to leave her alone."

"You're a good boy, James," said Paula again, dabbing at her eyes with a worn out tissue. "Lily is lucky to have you as a friend…I need to go to my parents' house right now, and I have a feeling Lily will be better off staying here with you than coming with me."

"Alright," James said, not knowing what else he could possibly say.

Paula put a hand on James' shoulder as she passed him. Lily exited the bathroom just as Paula was leaving the house. "Where a-are you going?" she questioned.

"My mom," she said quietly.

Lily nodded. "Can I st-stay with James?"

It was Paula's turn to nod. Without warning Lily ran full force up to Paula and threw herself into her stepmother's arms. The two women cried, James standing awkwardly to the side in naught but his boxers and tee shirt. Paula hugged her stepdaughter tight, letting the girl sob into her shoulder.

Paula led Lily back into the house, away from the door. She sat down on the couch with Lily at her side. "I'm sorry, Lily," she said just as Lily whispered her apologies for the loss to Paula.

"We're going to make it through this, Lily, I promise," Paula said, rocking the younger woman in her arms. "We're going to make it through this."

After quite some time, Lily had finally cried herself to sleep in Paula's arms.

"Will you take her to her bedroom, James?" Paula requested, looking up at the young man from the couch. "It's the last room on the right upstairs."

"Of course," James said, slowly walking over to the pair. He delicately scooped Lily up into his arms.

"Goodbye, James," Paula whispered sadly, moving toward the door to go see her mother, needing comfort of her own.

The lock on the door clicked as James reached the top of the steps. He located the door to Lily's bedroom and carefully pushed it open with his foot. He also used his foot to move her covers out of the way before placing her into the bed and tucking her in to make sure she stayed warm.

Just as he was leaving the room, he heard a soft moan come from the redhead. Turning around, he saw her eyes were slightly open. "Don't go," she whispered. "I need you."

James felt the three million tiny pieces of his heart being shattered even more. He returned to Lily's bedside, kneeling down in front of her. He put a hand on her shoulder and rubbed it softly. "I'm staying, don't worry."

"Promise?" Her eyes closed as one of her hands found one of his.

James climbed up into her bed, laying behind her and maneuvering himself under the covers. "I won't leave you, Lils…not ever."

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Soooo…bam. I hope that was good…