Lighting the Way

Lily was standing in her kitchen making the final batch of the Wolfsbane for Remus, this had actually been the second time she had tried it, she had messed up the first time because her mind had been wondering. It was a stupid mistake really, she stirred it clockwise instead of counterclockwise, so this time she wouldn't let her mind wonder, she couldn't, whenever it did it went to a very dark place. She watched her hand as she stirred her potion one last time before finally letting it simmer. Only three hours and she would go to Remus to give it to them. She hadn't seen any of them since the night of the fire, she was a bit nervous about seeming them, no one had ever seen her lose control of herself like that and she was hoping they wouldn't have seen her vulnerable but they did.

But they had and there was nothing she could do about it now. Lily wasn't sure what she would have done if James hadn't been with her through all of it, she felt bad, constantly having to lean on his shoulder for support but for now she didn't care. She would be back on her feet in no time, she just needed some time to steady herself. Dumbledore hadn't asked her to go on any missions yet, but she was sure he would be soon, and she was hoping so, she needed something to keep her mind occupied and she could only make so much Poly Juice potion and Essence of Dittany. After her parents death she offered to make some since she knew the Order was running low in supply of they potions they needed the most.

Lily walked into her bedroom and sat in front of her desk, and ran her hands over it. She remembered all those times she had sat in her room writing at this desk, just wishing she could leave her room and get back to Hogwarts or go to one of her friends houses. Now she wished she was back in her old room with her parents alive and well. She slowly opened in and took out some of her old letters that she had received while she had been at Hogwarts. She flipped through them only stopping to read the ones from her parents. She only realized now how worried and frantic the letters they sent her at the beginning of her first year sounded. But why shouldn't they be. Slowly she made it through all of her letters from her first years, she also noticed how they kept pushing her to hang out with other students other than Snape, even her parents had a bad feeling about them. She continued to flip through her parents letters when she came to one they had sent her very early during her second year, it brought a smile to Lily's face because it was the first time James had been mentioned. She had ranted and companied about how much she hated him over the summer but this was the first time he had come up in writing. She laughed as she read the part where her parents asked if that 'James boy' was still bothering her. Lily had a feeling her parents knew they were going to end up together.

"Get that thing out of here!" Petunia shouted as an Owl flew into their dining room where the family was currently having breakfast. Lily laughed as Petunia almost fell out of her chair.

"Lily." He father scolded as she continued to laugh.

"What?" She said still smiling. "Oh come on, its not going to hurt her." She said looking back and forth between her parents. "Well looks like I'm alone in this." She said as she stood up and walked over to where the owl was perched. She didn't recognize the owl but she immediately recognized the handwriting on the letter it was carrying. "Potter." She groaned as she took the letter from the bird's leg.

"What is it dear?" He mother said.

"A letter from—OW!" The bird had bitten her. "What do you want!" She said as she tried to shoo the bird away but it only sat there looking at her. "Oh you've got to be kidding me." Lily said as she quickly opened the letter.

"What is it?" He father asked.

"The owl won't leave until I write a reply." She said as she sat back down at the table.

"Owls couldn't possible that smart." Petunia said in mater-of-fact voice. Lily just sat there pretending not to have heard her.

Dearest Lily,

As you can see I am not using my owl because I knew you wouldn't even let it into your own home, so I stole Remus owl so you must reply and you know he will be in such distress until he is returned to him. I am sure you are having a wonderful and busy summer, much to busy to send a reply to any of my letters, which you must know pains me deeply, I can't tell—

"Oh my god I cannot do this!" Lily said tossing the letter in front of her

"Do what dear." Her mother said in a startled voice.

"This letter I get so many rubbish letters from him every summer full of his sweet talking and romantic writing, I'm just so sick and tired of it! I can't stand that git!"

"Lily!" Her father said looking up from the paper.

"Sorry, dad." She said with irritation still in her voice.

"So Lily this is the boy that's had that crush on you since your first year right?" Her mother asked in her fake innocent voice.

"He doesn't have a crush on me, he's just in it for the case nothing more. I mean if I agreed to go out with him, he would lose interest in like a week." She said as she skimmed back over the letter. She didn't want to reply but then she remembered Remus's bird. She let out a sigh as he stood up from the table.

"Where are you going Lily?" Her mother asked. "You haven't even finished your breakfast."

"Yah but unless you want this owl hanging around much longer I need to write a reply." She said.

"Oh Lily don't be so upset. This boy fancies you, you should be flattered."

"Flattered!" Lily exclaimed. "We are talking about the same boy here right mum?" She said taking a few steps back towards the table. "Arrogant, obnoxious, hot-headed James Potter. Why would I be flattered that he might fancy me? He would fancy a door knob if it gave him the time of day." Lily watched as her mother let out a small smile and rolled her eyes. "What? You don't believe me?" She said.

"Well its obvious the fancying isn't just a one way street." Petunia said with a smirk.

"Shut it." Lily scowled.

"What, I mean am I the only one that sees it?" Petunia said looking at both of her parents.

"What is she talking about? What's obvious?" Lily said crossing her arms

"Well dear, you do talk about this boy a lot, and I do remember meeting him once, he seemed like such a nice boy, I—"

"Okay, so you think I have a thing for Potter? James Potter? Am I getting this right?" She looking at her parents.

"Yes!" Petunia said. "Now I'm going over to Annie's for the day mum." Petunia said as she glared at Lily.

"Alright dear, go on." Her mother said sadly, Lily felt bad for her parents, as much as she dreaded Petunia's presents her parents hardly even saw her now, and for some reason that upset them.

"So you really think I fancy Potter?" Lily said in a shocked voice.

"Well, I don't know dear, all I'm saying is that maybe he's much nicer than you make him out to be, give the boy a chance.

"Your joking right? Oh my god, well I'm going to my room since apparently this entire family has gone crazy, and I thought Petunia was the only one."

"Lily!"

"What?" She said as she slowly began to back out of the dinning room. "Oh right, sorry, now if you'll excuse me I have to go and write a letter." She said as she held up the one on her hand.

"Don't be to mean to him dear." Her mother called after her.

"Really, mum? Really?"

"Lily." He mother said tiredly.

"Lily?" Lily opened her eyes and looked around the room, she must have dozed off in her sleep. She sat up and rubbed her neck, which was now feeling very stiff. She looked behind her and saw James was standing behind her.

"Hey." She said horsely.

"You must have fallen asleep, I didn't want to wake you but I think your potions done."

"Oh." She said as she quickly stood u and walked out into their kitchen. She looked at her timer and saw she had a minute or so left. "Once this is done I'll run it over to Remus'."

"You want me to come with you?" James said as he took both of her hands and gripped them tightly.

"I'll be fine." She said giving him a weak smile, slowly she stood up and let James take her into his arms. They had been doing that a lot, she standing around their flat holding each other like they were the last two people on the planet. She stood there with her eyes closed, taking deep soothing breaths. After a few moments Lily slowly pulled away glaze up at James like they were the only ones alive. Lily looked up and slowly pressed her lips against James', she felt him pull her closer towards him.

Suddenly Lily jumped as her timer finally went off showing the potion was finally done. Lily awkwardly smiled up at him before she quickly walked over to the potion and pulled out her wand. After she muttered the spell to complete it, after she finished she quickly grabbed the flask and used her wand to lift the cauldron and pour it into the flask, with her luck she would spill it all over the floor.

"Well I'm going to go, I'll be back within the hour." She said as she began to pack up her bag.

"You sure you don't want me to go with you, its no problem." James said as he looked at Lily nervously.

"I'll be fine, I haven't seen them in about two weeks anyway." She said as she walked over to James and smiled up at him.

"Alright." He said before quickly kissing Lily. "Oh, I almost forgot." He said as he quickly walked over to their coat rack. He went and pulled out a small piece of paper. "Your sister had called and left a message yesterday while you were asleep, she needed you to come over and talk about insurance or something." He said looking at the piece of paper confusingly.

"Oh god." Lily groaned as she swung her bag over her shoulder. "We should get rid of the bloody phone, we don't have any use for it now." She said sharply under her breath. She used to really only use it to talk to her parents and now, well, there was no reason to have a home phone anymore.

"Happy to." James said. "I hate this people that call us and try and sell us useless Muggle things." Lily let out a small laugh as she quickly walked over and kissed James once more.

"I'll be back as soon as I can." She said as she made her way towards the door.

"How long?"

"What?"

"How long before I should start to worry?"

"Oh right, ummm I'll say one hour, if I get caught up I'll let you know."

"Alright, hurry back." Lily began to walk out of the door but stopped before she made it out to the hall.

"Oh sod it." She said under her breath as she quickly shut the door and quickly disapperated to Remus' and Sirius' flat. Lily looked around the living room at she had just arrived, she was a little disappointed to find that the flat was empty so she set the flask on their coffee table and then conjured a paper and pen and wrote a quick note.

Remus

Here's your medicine, sorry I missed you guys, you should stop by sometime soon. Oh and I talked to the man who developed the potion and he told me that sugar will render it ineffective so DON'T put sugar in it. No matter how terrible this stuff taste, I don't care.

All my Love

Lily

Lily slowly set the letter under the flask and was about to dissaparte when she heard two loud cracks come from the kitchen.

"Hello?" Lily called out.

"Whose there?" Lily watched as Remus and Sirius both walked out with their wands raised, Lily held up her hands and looked at them.

"Lily Potter. Marred to James Potter, I've been making Remus' Wolfsbane potion for the past two months, ummm, lets see, how about you ask me a question its so much easier than me naming off the things on a list." She said looking back and forth between them.

"Umm, do you remember the first time me met?" Remus said with a smile. Lily thought for a moment and then felt her face turn bright red.

"Oh god not, please not that?"

"You have to answer it." Remus said.

"It was in DADA, out third week of school and, well, I didn't get a good look at you and I though you were James and well, I threw my books at you." Lily said as she squinted her eyes shut from the memory.

Remus and Sirius both looked at each other and let out a small laugh before lowering their wands. Sirius was the first to quickly go over and hug Lily, she felt his grip her tighter and tighter.

"Its go to see you Lil." Sirius said into her ear, Lily felt his grip loosen as he stepped back and smiled down at her. Lily weakly smiled back at him and then looked over to Remus who also gave her a quickly comforting hug. He slowly stepped back and stood next to Sirius.

"We've missed you, we saw James just the other day." Remus said.

"Oh yah, he told me." She said looking down at her hands.

"I would ask how you're doing but, we know." Sirius said sadly.

"Yah, I am doing a bit better, the days are getting easier." She said looking at both of them.

"You can stay if you like, Peter is coming over later, he's worried about you too." Remus said.

"No, no, I have to stop by my sister's." Lily said as she rolled her eyes. "I'll come by soon okay, I promise." Lily said with a quickly smile.

"You better, else we'll be forced to give you a surprise visit." Sirius said with a wicked grin.

"Oh and read my letter I left, it accually has useful information in it." She said quickly before she disapparated. Lily looked around at her new surroundings, she had dissaperated right onto her sister's doorstep, before she had the chance to even knock on the door Petunia quickly opened the door and pushed her in.

"To much of a freak to—"

"Please don't Petunia, I don't want to deal with this today." Lily said as she motioned towards her sister. Petunia gave her a pinched looked and crossed her arms.

"Fine." She said sharply. She quickly walked into her living room and grabbed a piece of paper and handed it to her sister.

"What is this?" Lily said as she began to flip through the paper work.

"Just insurance forms, says that you agree to split the money and that you accept the things that mum and dad left you." Lily skeptically looked up at her sister and began to read through the paper work. "What are you doing?" Petunia said.

"Reading, what do you just blindly sigh contracts?" Lily said.

"Fine, just be quick about it." Petunia said as she walked into the kitchen. "Do you—ummm—do you want some tea?" Petunia said hardly. Lily gave her sister a odd look and the two of them stared at each other for a few moments.

"Umm yes that would be lovely." Lily said as she looked back down at the paper work. Lily suddenly felt the room get colder so she pulled a jacket out of her bag and quickly put it on. A few minutes later Petunia brought her a cup of tea and set it on the table next to her. "Thank you." Lily said glancing up at her sister.

"It is so cold in here." Petunia said to herself.

"Its fine." Lily said not looking up from the papers. Lily reached for the tea and quickly took a sip but nothing came out, Lily looked into the cup and saw the top layer had froze. Lily set her cup down quickly and pulled out her wand.

"What are you doing!" Petunia shirked. "Put that…that thing away!" She cried out.

"Petunia you need to be quiet and calm right now." Lily said.

"I don't think so, I can't control what you do with your freak friends but this nonsense will not be brought into my—my—" Lily turned to see what it was her sister was seeing and felt her stomach drop. A dementor was hovering just outside the glass door of her house. Lily raised her wand and took a few steps back.

"Get behind me." Lily said as her sister ran over towards her. "Wait, you can see that?" Lily said.

"Yes of course I can." Petunia said in an offended tone.

"Sorry its just, Mu—people like you, usually can't see them." Lily watched as the dementor slowly opened the glass door and made its way inside.

"Expecto patronum." Lily said, she watched as a bright silver doe leaped from her wand and ran at the dementor, which quickly retreated. Lily ran out side to see where it had gone but to her horror saw ten more flying towards the house. Lily quickly ran back inside and grabbed her sister.

"Vernon has a gun upstairs, I can—"

"Guns are going to be completely useless her. Listen, just get into your car and drive, get as far away from here as you can."

"What? No! I will not leave this house alone—" Just then the glass broke and the dementors slowly rushed inside. Lily raised her wand and pointed it at them.

"Expecto patronum." But this time only a small wave of silver light came out of her wand.

"Why isn't it working?" Petunia cried.

"Not explaining that now. Expecto patronum." Put now things came out of her wand. Lily felt a wave of depression wash over her and completely consume her as the dementor made their way towards Lily and Petunia. Lily tried to run but she felt like her legs were made of lead, she felt rooted to the spot and she couldn't move. Lily fell to her knees as one of the dementors towered over her. She heard her sister scream so she knew what was happening, she slowly felt the life of her being drained out very slowly. "Run Tunie, run." She said breathlessly. "Run." But when she turned to face her sister she saw the denentor beginning to surround her, Petunia tried to turn away from them but it wasn't helping. Lily tried to raise her wand again but she couldn't she felt her arms go limp and she watched her sister fall to the floor. "Stop!" Lily cried. "Let her go!"

She felt herself slowly fall to the floor and hit her head on the wooden floor; everything seemed to be happening in slow motion at this point. She tried to raise her wand one last time but she couldn't move, she felt paralyzed beneath all this weight holding her down. She tried to stand up but more of the dementors contained to tower over her until everything became darker and darker, the last thing she saw before it went black was a small but bright sliver light rushing into the room.

Wow, lots of stuff going down right? Well remember to review, reviews make me happy and make me want to update quickly so for the few of you that are enjoying this go review!