In Which Lily Meets an Ex-Friend

Lily walked home from a nearby ice cream shop with a smile on her face and an ice cream cone in hand. This summer had, without a doubt, been one of the best she had ever experienced; she and her older sister had talked every day, despite Petunia now being married, and they often paid visits to each other. After six long years of being subjected to Petunia's hatred, the two Evans (or, one Evans, one Dursley, nowadays) girls were finally friends again.

She licked her strawberry ice cream, enjoying its sweet flavor. Sweet; that was what life was for her right now. Sweet. She could get used to it.

There was one thing about going to the nearby ice cream shop that Lily disliked: to get there from her house, she had to pass by Spinner's End. Up until that awful O.W.L. incident, this had been extremely convenient for her. She could pass by Spinner's End, meet up with her then-best-friend, and the two would get ice cream together; her with her strawberry, Snape with his mint chocolate chip. She would always joke that she was getting her Gryffindor colors, and he was getting his Slytherin colors, and they really ought to try each others' flavors, but they never did, and-

She stopped her train of thought abruptly. The memory saddened Lily. Even though it had been over a year since the O.W.L. incident, she still hadn't completely gotten over what Severus Snape had done to her, what he had said to her. They had been best friends; they had known each other since even before Hogwarts, helped each other out with absolutely anything, talked and listened to each other's problems, worked on their homework together, and sometimes just sat and thought, enjoying a companionable silence.

Feeling tears well up in her eyes, Lily pushed the memory back. She didn't want to think about the past; it wasn't as if she could change it, so why bother? No, no, it was better to focus on the future; and her future did not include Severus Snape. Not if she had anything to do with it.

Lily, seeing she had come to Spinner's End, quickened her pace, so she could get past it as fast as possible. She doubted that Snape would be outside- he was not the most outdoorsy type, that was for sure- but, in the off chance that he was, she didn't want to see him. She didn't want to hear his apologies yet again, see the pain in the eyes, because she wouldn't let herself be friends with a Death Eater- yes, she had accepted that that was what her childhood aimed to become- she couldn't, and if he begged for her forgiveness once more, Lily was afraid that she would break.

That day, luck was not on Lily's side. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the unmistakable lanky, black-haired figure of her former best friend, and she walked faster. Keeping an eye on Snape, she saw him notice her, and run to catch up. She would've run, but didn't want it to seem like she had been watching him; and so, she just walked even swifter.

"Lily!" Severus shouted, his voice aching with desperation. "Lily, please, wait!"

Well, I guess there's no harm in running now, Lily thought as she broke into a sprint. She heard Severus running behind her, and mentally cursed; she had forgotten how good a runner he was. That had always been his secret talent: running. He could run faster than anyone she had ever known, and easily outpaced her in every race that had ever had when they were younger.

In almost no time, Snape caught up with Lily and grabbed her hand, forcing her to stop. "Please, Lily, just listen to me," he begged.

Lily sighed, inwardly cursed her kindness, and turned around. "Make it quick," she barked coldly to her former best friend. "I have to get home. Tuney's coming for a visit."

"I thought your sister hated you?"

"We made up."

"That's great, Lily!" Snape exclaimed, seeming genuinely happy. But Lily knew better; he had never liked Petunia. Acting was his other secret talent, after all. She knew that he was just trying to get back on her good side.

"Don't call me 'Lily,'" she ordered, green eyes narrowed. "Only my friends are allowed to call me that, and you're not my friend."

Severus cringed, but accepted it. "Fine then; what should I call you?"

"Evans. I'm Evans to you."

"Okay, then, Evans," Snape said. "Listen, I know you don't want to keep Petunia waiting, but please- will you just listen to me, for a minute or so?"

"I've already heard what you have to say," Lily snapped angrily. "I don't accept your apology, Snape, and I never will. So you might as well save your breath."

"Please, Li- Evans," Snape began. "I didn't mean to call you a Mudblood, honest. It was just a slip of the tongue, I swear!"

"I know that it was a slip of the tongue, Snape," Lily told him. "But the fact that it was a slip of the tongue means that you had called me a Mudblood before that, behind my back; with those dickheads Mulciber and Avery, I'm sure. And if not me, then other people with Muggle parents."

Snape hung his head in shame, finding no flaw in her logic. "I'm so, so sorry, L- Evans," he apologized. "I'll do anything- I miss you, I miss being friends with you, I really do. Please."

Lily though for a moment before stating, "I can't forgive you, Snape. I'm sorry- part of me wants to, but I just… can't. Not while you're so involved with all the wrong causes." Snape nodded mutely, sad and disappointed, and Lily continued, "Listen, please… if you really care for me, Snape, even the tiniest bit… then you'll leave me alone."

"But, Evans-" Snape began to protest.

Lily held up her hand, cutting him off. "I think it's best if we go our separate ways, Snape. I have my own friends who I know for sure would never call me a Mudblood- not once in a million years. Please- leave me alone."

"Bu-"

"You hurt me," Lily admitted, interrupting him. "You were my very best friend, and you betrayed me. I'm sorry, I really am, but… if you care for me at all, then you'll leave me alone, and we'll go our separate ways; me with my friends, you with yours."

Snape nodded mutely and let go of her hand. Lily forced herself not to look back into the Slytherin's sorrowful face as she turned on her heel and ran the rest of the way home, not even noticing that she had dropped her ice cream cone at her former best friend's feet.

Severus Snape wiped away a tear as he saw the girl he loved dash away. He leaned down, about to throw away the ice cream cone, but stopped. If he had to suffer, why couldn't other things, too?

And so he left the litter melting on the ground, glared at it scornfully, and ran back home.

Lily stopped just in front of the front door of her house and frowned. She couldn't explain it, but something felt… different, somehow. Something wasn't right. Her mum had told her that she was going to the local grocery store to run some errands; that was over an hour ago. She should've been back by now. And yet, there were no signs of any sort of life coming from her house. No human life, that is; Lily could hear Puck's hooting loud and clear.

Suddenly, someone screamed from inside of Lily's home. And she knew that something was most definitely not right.

Hurriedly, she stopped just frowning at her front door, fumbled her key out of her pocket, opened the door and rushed inside her house. She could vaguely hear someone brokenly sobbing, "Oh God, oh no," upstairs, so she darted up there as fast as her legs could carry her.

The sobbing was louder, and seemed to come from her parents' room. Lily cautiously opened the door and let loose an anguished scream of her own: Petunia was kneeling, crying, next to the glassy-eyed, unmoving, lifeless bodies of Henry and Rose Evans.

Hearing her younger sister's scream, Petunia looked up into the redhead's distraught face, and something joined the tears in her eyes: anger. "You," she hissed furiously.

Lily ignored this. "Oh, my gosh, Tuney, what happened?" She knelt next to her sister, tears trailing down her face.

"I came here, and couldn't find anyone," Petunia said. "I- I went looking for someone, and found this."

"How- how do you think it happened?" Lily asked quietly, her voice cracking from crying.

"How do you think it happened?" Petunia yelled, startling Lily. "Could a normal person do this? NO!"

Lily gaped at her sister, instantly realizing that she was right: no mere Muggle could've done this. Thinking back to her Defense Against the Dark Arts classes, she knew that someone had used the Killing Curse on her parents. And she knew just who that 'someone' had to be affiliated with. But there was only one way she could be sure.

The redhead dashed to the window, lifted it up, stuck her head out, and gasped. There, green and glowing above her home, was the Dark Mark. She clapped her hand to her mouth in horror, suppressing tears as best she could, as she closed the window and walked back over to sit by Petunia again.

"It was the Death Eaters," she whispered, her voice broken. "Th- they're a group of bad wizards. They're against Mug- people who aren't magical."

"I knew it was one of you freaks!" Petunia shouted. "I knew it! This is all your fault!"

"I didn't do this!" Lily defended herself. "I would never kill my own parents!"

"IF YOU WEREN'T A FREAK, THEN THOSE BLOODY DEATH EATERS WOULDN'T KNOW ABOUT US IN THE FIRST PLACE!" Petunia roared, tears falling freely down her face. "IF YOU WEREN'T A FREAK, THEN MUM AND DAD WOULD STILL BE ALIVE! IF YOU WEREN'T A FREAK, THEN WE WOULDN'T BE ORPHANS!"

That was when the realization really hit Lily: her parents were dead. They were never going to come back. Never greet her with bone-crushing hugs when she got off the Hogwarts Express, never going to make her ham sandwiches again, never going to listen in awe and wonder about the magical world. Lily sank to her knees and bawled her eyes out, gently touching her parents' cold cheeks. "Dear, sweet Merlin. Mum… Dad…" she breathed, her voice higher pitched than usual from trying- and failing- to choke back tears.

"It's your fault," Petunia spat at her. It seemed as if she was done with tears; instead, her every feature radiated anger. Pure, unadulterated anger. "It's your fault, and the other freaks' fault. You're nothing but a bunch of freaks. Go to hell."

Lily gasped through her tears. "Tuney-"

"Don't call me that!" Petunia snapped. "My name is Petunia, not Tuney. I am Petunia Dursley, and you aren't my sister."

"Tu- Petunia, please-"

"Don't 'Petunia, please' me!" Mrs. Dursley ordered. Laughing hollowly, she added, "I wonder what Mum and Dad are thinking right now, knowing that their oh-so-wonderfuldaughter- smart Lily, kind Lily, beautiful Lily, fucking perfect Lily- got them murdered."

"I didn't!"

"Yes, you did," Petunia insisted, glaring fiercely at her younger sister. "You're no longer my sister, so don't bother coming to their funeral. Go. To. Hell."

Lily gasped again, and her tears flowed all the harder at her sister's cruel words. Petunia strode out of the room, slamming the door behind her, not looking back once.

Lily buried her face in her hands, weeping like she had never wept before, murmuring, "Mum… Dad…" over and over again, calling for them, wishing for them to come back. In a rush of realization, she knew how Sasha must have felt when her father had died; it was like the world had come crashing down around her. Nothing mattered except for the fact that she was alone, had lost the two people who had always been there for her throughout her whole life.

She cried her eyes out for twenty minutes, though it seemed like twenty years to her, before her eyes finally ran dry. Wiping her eyes, she ran her hands around her parents' smooth, cold skin once more before standing up, wiping her eyes, and beginning to think.

Petunia had made it clear that she wasn't allowed to attend her own parents' funeral; Lily was so weakened from grief that she felt no need to argue with her older sister. She could mourn on her own.

But where could she go? She couldn't stay here, in her modest little house; not while she knew her parents would never go in and out again. She didn't know how Sasha did it, living all alone- especially when her home was so big- knowing that her father, who Lily knew she had put on a pedestal and adored as if he was God, would never come home.

I can go to Sasha's place! Lily suddenly realized. She said that the girls and I could drop by anytime; there's only about three weeks until school starts up again. Maybe I could stay there for a while. She went to her bedroom and packed up everything she could possibly take with her in her massive Hogwarts trunk, gingerly cushioning a family photo in a pile of clothes and pocketing her wand. She heaved the trunk into the hallway, Puck inside his cage in one hand, and stopped once she was outside of her parents' room. She went in, grabbed a notepad and pencil from off the bedside table, and quickly scribbled a quick note to Petunia:

Dear Petunia,

I've gone to a friend's house- permanently. I don't plan on coming back; I can't live here anymore, not without Mum and Dad. I'm going to mourn them privately; I won't come to the funeral, I don't want to make any of this more painful for you. Petunia, you're still my sister, even if I'm not yours, and I still love you. I always will, and I hope you know that. I hope you have a wonderful, blissful life with Vernon and the beautiful children I'm sure you'll have someday.

If you wouldn't mind making the following speech at the funeral on my behalf, I'd really appreciate it:

'My parents were both wonderful, kind people, and I love them with all my heart. They were the best parents any girl could hope for. They always had a shoulder for me to cry on, an ear for my problems and complaints, and kind words to cheer me up. I know that they're smiling down on all of us now from up in Heaven. I believe no one deserved to go there more.'

I understand if you don't want to give the speech for me, but thanks, just in case you do.

Forever your loving sister,

Lily

The redhead wiped a tear from her eye so it wouldn't fall onto the paper, smudging the ink. She took the blanket off of the bed and gently laid it over her parents' bodies, pushing their eyelids down, so that they could've been sleeping unless you knew better. She placed her note on top of the blanket where Petunia was sure to find it, blew her parents one last kiss and whispered, "I love you," before gripping her trunk handle and Appariting to the Berg Estate.

"Lily!" Sasha exclaimed, opening her front door and seeing one of her best friends standing there with her trunk. "Why are you just standing there? Come in, come in!"

Lily smiled gratefully and walked in, setting down her trunk. "TITA!" Sasha called, and the loyal, violet-eyed House Elf popped in and looked at her Mistress expectantly. "Take Lily's belongings up to her room, please, and then come back down here," Sasha ordered, gesturing to the trunk.

"Yes, Mistress Sasha," Tita bowed, and then turned to Lily. "Hello, Mistress Lily!" she greeted pleasantly before grabbing the redhead's trunk and Appariting away to Lily's allotted room. All of Sasha friends had been given their own rooms at the Berg Estate; there were enough rooms for that to be possible, after all.

"It's so good to see you!" Sasha gushed, grinning at her friend. Her face fell when she noticed the sorrowful look in her eyes. "Lily, what happened?"

"Th- the Death Eaters… they got my parents," Lily admitted quietly. Sasha gasped and threw her arms around her friend.

"Oh, Lily, I'm so sorry!" Sasha spoke, a tear of her own trailing down her cheek in sympathy. "It's absolutely awful, I know. I know exactly how you feel, unfortunately. I take it you need a place to stay?"

"Yes, please," Lily nodded. "I- I just couldn't stay there. Not without them."

"Well, don't worry; my home is your home," Sasha assured her, letting go of her and smiling kindly. "You can stay here as long as you need to."

"Thanks," Lily sighed. "Are you sure you don't mind?"

Sasha laughed. "Hell no! I could use the company! Besides, we have loads to catch up on! How did your sister's wedding go?"

"It went flawlessly," Lily spoke. "Petunia hates me now, though. She thinks that it's my fault that Mum and Dad are d-dead."

"Don't listen to her! She's just upset," Sasha told the redhead. "You know what you need? Cocoa." As if on cue, Tita appeared again. "Tita, would you mind bringing Lily some hot chocolate? We'll be in her room."

"Of course, Mistress Sasha and Mistress Lily!" Tita squeaked. "Tita bring you nice hot cocoa!" She popped down to the kitchen eagerly.

"C'mon, Lily, let's go to your room and get you settled," Sasha suggested kindly. "As I said before, we have lots to talk about."

"Yeah, we do," Lily agreed. "Thanks, Sasha… for everything."

"No big deal," Sasha shrugged. "What are friends for?"

Petunia Dursley went back to her parents, and saw, to her surprise, that someone had closed their eyes and covered them with a blanket. Even more surprising, she found a note on top of them. She picked up the note, read it, and choked back a sob; still, a few stubborn tears fell to the ground. She regretted what she had told her younger sister; but now, she was gone, and she couldn't take back what she had said.

A few days later, at Henry and Rose Evans' funeral, Petunia read her sister's speech word-for-word, and inwardly wished that Lily was there to mourn with her, that she hadn't screwed up the friendship she had worked so hard to restore.

...Not much to say, for once. Thanks for reading and PLEASE review!

-Joelle8