CHAPTER ONE

LONDON, ENGLAND

It seemed like everything had changed from the smallest things which may not even matter in the slightest at the first glance, to the biggest things like the number of people which would look at her oddly because they knew of her queerness, nobody was really bothering to hide away their children like they did with her back home, but there was one thing that had remained unchanged her relationship with her sister remained as pathetically horrible as it had always been since that fateful day when she met one of the few people she could honestly call her friend, cruel words fired back and forth until Lily no longer felt like staying back home.

Today was not any different.

Petunia was once again upset by something neither of them really remembered, having argued for about twenty minutes now, her sister's blue eyes glaring at her accusingly, almost as if in a true hatred, and despite herself Lily found herself remembering a time when their days had not been spent in such a tiring way, arguing back and forth about things which did not really matter at all, when they'd truly been sisters, close as they could have ever been, but that had been before she'd met Severus Snape that fateful day not long ago.

If she was being entirely honest with herself, though she marvished actually knowing the reason behind the strange happenings whenever she was either very, very upset or feeling way too excited than she really should have been, if she had been given a choice, she would have preferred to have known nothing at all and be given the chance to stay like they had always been before that day with her older sister, but that hadn't been the choice she had been given and everything she had once held dear to her heart was in the ruins now.

"You are always like this ― everything has to be about what poor, little Lily wants ―," Her sister shouted from the back of Lily's bedroom, and Lily resisted the urge to jump out of the window that very moment, feeling that would be much more bearable pain than the one she was forcing herself to go through right now, accusation after another.

"You really shouldn't speak of such things when you are worse than I am, Petunia! Have you any idea how truly sick I am having to hear you complain and complain day after the day? I am really tired of having to hear your voice, nagging and nagging at our parents for something or another, and they try their hardest to please you just because they are too afraid you will go and complain to them again ―,"

"You think you are better than the rest of us, don't you, Lily? You walk around, thinking highly of yourself and that creep you call your best friend, looking down on us just because you can do some magic trick, but guess what, dear sister, you are not special. You are just yet another freak in the world, doomed to never fit in with the rest of us, never to fit in with anyone, and now do tell me how that makes you feel? Fucking wonderful, I'd bet." Petunia's face twisted almost as if in a deep regret before they shifted to the mean, cruel smile she put on whenever either she or her group of friends tried to make fun of her, of everything she was and everything she would be one day. After all, Petunia was correct when she informed her she could never quite fit in with people who had no magic in their blood (muggles, Severus had called them) even if she did try, and Lily had tried so hard even before she discovered the truth about herself, about whom she could never hope to become, which was, an ordinary little girl with ordinary dreams, someone who never had to hide who they really were just because she was way too afraid if people knew, they would start to hate on her, or worse, fear her.

Lily was abnormal, an abomination, and it made her feel quite like she was the monstrous creature she used to read about in the books when she was a little bit younger.

It made her feel foreign, like a strange creature whom others were destined to hunt down and destroy.

Lily's face twisted in a fury, angry at her sister for being unable to accept her as she truly was, instead trying to make her feel even worse about herself than she already did, making her feel like a monster. "Sometimes, I wish I never had a sister, wish I had a dog instead. After all, you can say whatever you wish about dogs, but unlike you, Petunia, at least they have hearts." And then before Petunia could even open her mouth to snap back at her, Lily had run out of the room down the stairs, her parents' warning falling on deaf ears as she ran out of the house, her heart throbbing painfully and anxiously in her chest. She had run and run because anywhere was better than having to go back to that place right now, did not think she would be able to bear having to see their faces so soon, having to endure all of their sympathies and accusations. She had been so lost in her hurry to get away that she didn't notice she had almost ran into the road until a hand pulled her away from the road, the sound of an umbrella falling heard from nearby distance.

Lily almost fell against him in her surprise of the whole situation, only having been saved from that particular situation because of the boy's quick reflexes he had used to steady them to their feet, and she found herself suddenly staring at a pair of very curious looking, dark gray eyes.

"Are you alright?" He asked, and he sounded surprisingly mature for someone his age.

She didn't quite know how she was feeling right now, if she was being entirely honest, her near death experience paired with the overwhelmness of her argument with her sister, it all felt way too much at the moment. "I don't know." She merely said with a shaky voice, tears suddenly starting to fill her eyes, the tears she had been holding up until that moment for the fear she would have Petunia win the argument they had going on, but there was no such thing limiting her now, and the boy's presence somehow felt comfortable for her to ease in, to not worry about a thing.

"Would you like me to accompany me to your house?" He asked, though probably only of politeness.

Lily smiled. "Thank you for the offer, but I really wouldn't like to go back there right now. I just had a huge argument with my sister, you understand."

The boy nodded his head like he actually understood, and it was during that moment when she remembered seeing another one who looked almost identical like him sometimes when she found herself looking at the people next door, a boy who looked as if he never ran out of an energy, contrary to this boy beside her who looked as if his ideal day was to spend the day reading a book while laying on a couch. "I do." He said, but he didn't smile. Instead a thoughtful look formed on his face, as if he was considering something he may come to regret later on. "Would you like to stop by my house until you feel ready to head back home?"

Lily looked at him, blinking her eyes in the disbelief. "Are you sure?" She asked.

He shrugged. "I don't know, but my brother is always saying I should start being more reckless, and what is more reckless than this?" He did smile then, and she thought he looked simply beautiful, like a painting which would belong in the most fancy museum in the world, to be seen but not to be owned.

Lily bit into her lips hard in order to refrain from smiling, looking at him from the corner of her eyes. "Alright, thank you." She told him. "That's the first kind thing anyone had ever done for me since I moved into this house."

"Well, what do you know? Humanity still has a hope for a little bit of kindness in these dire times."

Lily blinked at him confusedly, but he was already moving away, expecting her to follow him. Starting on her feet, Lily ran after him until they were walking side by the side, reaching the door to his house which wasn't really that far away since they were neighbors, and he opened the door slowly, walking into the house when somebody started to run down the stairs. Lily shut the door behind her, lifting her head to see who was coming, and then finding herself meeting an eye of the boy's brother, who looked as if he had come straight from a historical romance novel with pirates, only he was much smaller in a size than those pirates which appeared in her mother's favorite books.

The boy stopped to give his brother a look. "What in the world are you wearing, Sirius?" He asked, frowning disapprovingly at his older brother.

"Well, as you know that my mother and father had taken a business trip in France and probably wouldn't be back for another week or so, I've decided it was the time to fulfill my dreams of becoming a pirate and having many adventures filled with a scandal and drama." The boy looked at his brother as if he considered him insane. "Not that you would understand, Regulus, being as dull you are." It was only then he noticed her, his eyebrows arching somewhat amusedly, a smirk filling his face. "Oh, would you look at what a cat had dragged in? A little princess had lost her way in the woods, it seems, which makes one wonder how my dignified and proper brother who would never even consider doing such a scandalous thing usually had come to invite her to our noble and most ancient house," He seemed to pause for a second as if considering something very serious, and then a smile lifted up his face and once again he was the boy who looked as if he was never out of energy, ready to cause a trouble. "Though I suppose it doesn't matter now, seeing as by bringing you here, he had only provided me one another person which I could play pretend with, one hopefully who won't resist playing along like my little brother does, but fear not, I always get him to concede."

Lily considered her choices. It was true she had not played a pretend with anyone for a very long time, but it was also very true it might be exactly what she needed to get the argument with her sister away from her mind. Besides, it sounded fun. So, even if it didn't succeed in making her forget, what did she have to lose anyway? "What role am I playing?"

Sirius merely grinned wickedly at her, looking quite like he had created the most wicked plot ever for her. "You are the missing princess who had been kidnapped on her way to the market by the wicked pirate." Lily nodded her head, mentally preparing herself to scream awfully a lot. "And you shall be the noble, but very annoying duke tasked to retrieve her."

Regulus glared at his brother, looking very unimpressed with him. "Why would a king even ask a duke to retrieve his daughter ― that doesn't make any sense, why not ask the captain of his guardsmen instead, he surely has plenty of experienced, well-knowledgeable fighters who can fight off a pirate than a duke who probably doesn't even know how to get there without a help?"

"Will you please stop applying a logic into a game?" Sirius barked at his brother, looking as if he was ready to throttle him right now and right here. "It doesn't have to be logical. It is a game, brother."

"Shall we start, then?" Lily asked, actually feeling excited.

Sirius nodded his head. "Get to your places." And then the game had begun, and it shall be continued for another five or so hours.

"Thank you for accompanying me home." Lily smiled up at them, feeling something close to a happiness the first time since she had arrived here in this house.

Regulus merely shrugged. "It wouldn't have been polite if we had left you to head home on your own."

His brother agreed, but he had a somewhat sheepish smile on his face, which probably meant he was up to nothing good. "Say, are you free tomorrow evening, Lily?" He asked. "I have something planned, just turn up at our house before four o'clock tomorrow."

"And you are not going to tell me what it is, Sirius?"

Sirius shook his head. "Then it wouldn't be a surprise, would it?"

"Fair point." Lily nodded her head. "Goodnight, you two."

"Goodnight." And then she shut the door behind herself, sighing quite happily and then started on her feet to head for her bedroom, to lay to the rest finally. Hopefully, tomorrow will come sooner rather than later.