A/N I am really worried I went totally out of character for Lily in this one, so read, and tell me if you think I did, please!
Lily sighed and put her head on her arms. They were in the Three Broomsticks, and as usual, everyone was listening to Angelica tell a simply amazing story. Which was fine with Lily- sort of. She'd loved to be able to talk like that, keep a group of boys entranced by her words. But she couldn't, of course. She got up from the table, and walked over to the counter of the bar, carrying her empty mug. The bartender, Madame Rosmerta, walked over to her and smiled warmly.
"Hello! I haven't seen you in here before with James and Sirius. Are you friends of theirs?"
Lily smiled back , and shook her head.
"I am not. Angelica is, I guess. Really, we're supposed to be discussing a Potion, but my best friend, Gel, is telling one of her amazing stories. Can I have a refill?"
"Certainly" Madame Rosmerta poured more butterbeer into Lily's mug, and leaned across the counter "Why don't you start a story then? You could join in, dear."
Lily blushed
"I am afraid I am too shy to say anything." She ducked her head when she admitted this, because she was embarassed by her inability to talk to people. But Madame Rosmerta smiled.
"What is your name, dear?"
"Lily Evans"
"Well, Lily, I was a lot like you when I was younger. I couldn't talk to boys, or even very many strangers. I was very shy and quiet. And now, I own this bar, and I talk to everyone who comes in!"
Lily had been expecting something like this. It happened every time she tried to explain how shy she was. But she smiled politely, and took the butterbeer, smiled goodbye, and started to get up.
"Lily!" said Madame Rosmerta "Don't forget, your still as pretty as Angelica, even if you don't know it yet!" Lily turned red, and went back to the table, grabbing a copy of the Daily Prophet as she went. She sat down where she had been sitting since they had arrived, and opened the paper. The glass she had been holding dropped and smashed on the floor as Lily scanned the article on the first page. In huge black letters were the words "Dark Lord Strikes Again; Two Muggles Killed" and the picture of a house. Lily's house. Lily let out a strangled sort of sob, and dropped the paper as well. She jumped up, ran through the glass, ignoring it, and out the door, back towards Hogwarts. Angelica, looking very worried, raced after her, yelling goodbye to her new friends.
Sirius picked up the newspaper, and read the article.
"Two Muggles were killed in East Britain today. Reportedly a neighbor (who has now had her memory cleared) saw a man who can only be identified as the Dark Lord, He-who-must-not-be-named, enter the house. Then she heard screams and shouting, and saw a clap of green light. The man didn't come out again, and the house errupted into flames. Fortunately, there is one survivor of the tragedy, Petunia Evans, who was out at the time. For more information, see section A3."
James looked at where the two girls had disappeared.
"Poor Lily!" exclaimed Sirius, gazing at the door mournfully.
"Lily, come on, it's time to get up."
"Breakfast will be half over at this rate."
Lily pretended she didn't hear Angelica or Ruby, another girl with who shared they're room, and buried her face under the pillow. It wasn't real. She pulled one arm out of the tangle of blankets, and pinched herself hard again and again. But she didn't wake up. It wasn't a dream
Oh God, mom, dad. Why did he have to choose you guys? Why couldn't he choose someone, anyone else. Petunia will never forgive me now!
"Lily" Angelica pulled the drapes apart, and the sun fell on a small form huddled under the blankets.
"You've got to get up, Lil'. Dumbledore's going to wonder where you are."
"We've got that big potions assignement to do, and we need your help, Lily. Do you want to fail potions? We start the first step today, and he said we all had to be there!"
Lily poked her head out from under the pillow, and her friends tried not to wince. Lily's eyes were puffy and red, her face had tear streaks down it, and her lips were cracked and had dried blood on them. When Lily was upset, she bit her lip a lot.
"Lily, come on!" Angelica picked up Lily's sweaty warm hand, and started to tug on it.
"NO! LEAVE ME ALONE! DON'T MAKE ME GET UP!" Lily sounded positively hysterical, and her eyes had taken on a glazed look.
"Lily" Angelica was worried, and Ruby had rushed off to get Madame Pomfrey, the school nurse.
"Lily, you need to calm down." Angelica held firmly to Lily's hand, and hugged her friend, who began sobbing dryly in Angelica's shoulder. "Crying won't bring them back, honey. And it won't do you any good. None of this will. You've gotta live your life for them now. Remember how proud they were of you? They loved you so much, it hurt them. That's how it is with you. You're my best friend, and I love you as my sister. You still have us, we're not going anywhere."
Lily had gotten quieter, and Ruby burst through the door just then, followed by Madame Pomfrey and Professor McGonagall.
"What is wrong here?" demanded Professor McGonagall, her normally harsh voice softer as she realized Lily was crying.
"Lily's parents" Angelica said, handing her a letter from the Ministry that had arrived the night before. McGonagall read it, and walked over to Lily, putting a hand on the top of her head.
"Lily, my mother died when I was 14 years old, I know part of the loss your feeling. But you must get up. If what Miss.Ward has told me is correct, you have to pass potions, and to do so, you must complete the potion you were assigned to with your team. So come on get up. You have Double Potions first thing, then you can go back to bed if you wish."
Lily raise a tear stained face, and looked up at her teacher, then, to everyone's surprise, she jumped up and hugged Professor McGonagall around the waist.
"Thank you Professor." She said, and pulled away.
"Your Welcome Miss. Evans. Now, get dressed, and hurry downstairs.Come on Poppy" she said, marching out the door so Lily could get dressed.
After a breakfast which Angelica and Ruby would remember as one of the most tension filled meals of their life, the three friends proceeded to their potions class. Ruby made a face at her group (most of them were Slytherins) and said goodbye to her friends. Lily and Angelica made they're way to the table which held the rest of their group. James was sitting across the table from Sirius and Remus. Lily shrank back slightly, feeling embarrassed about her actions the day before, but Angelica pushed her into a seat beside James, and sat herself beside Sirius.
James glanced sideways at Lily, and saw that she wasn't red in the face today, she looked almost normal. Except her eyes were shut tight, as if she was trying to pretend she was somewhere else. He reached out, and tapped her on the arm, and she flinched.
"Evans, open up your Potions book" he hissed, and saw her eyebrows go up. She looked very funny, her eyebrows way up on her forehead, and her eyes closed. He began to laugh. Lily, not realizing she was the source, raised one eyebrow higher and opened her eyes to see what he was laughing at. When she realized she was the source of they're mirth she promptly opened up her book, and brought it very close to her face, to hide the deep crimson shade it had become.
"I didn't know we had to read the potion upside down!" James exclaimed.
Lily turned the book right side up, and, on an impulse completely unlike her normal self, whacked him on the head with it. Angelica looked at her friend in surprise, and saw what could only be defined as anger on her face. She grinned. Trust Lily to get mad when someone made fun of her. James rubbed his head, and looked at Sirius and Remus, who were snorting with laughter.
"No need for that, Evans. Temper, temper" James grinned. Lily, however, had lost her courage, and turned red again.
("Alright, now my dear GET BACKTO THE STORY SIOBHÁN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ß See what I have to work with? That's my little sister, who's been reading over my shoulder. She wrote that)
Angelica grinned, perhaps this James Potter would bring out the nasty streak she knew was hidden deep within her best friend.
"Alright, Lil', James, Sirius, Remus and Snape." Angelica looked at each of them in turn. "This is your mission, should you choose to accept it" her and Lily giggled, the rest did not. They were obviously not muggle born. "Is to read this Potion and complete it so you all pass Potions and aren't stuck doing this again next year!" she giggled, and looked at the potion herself.
"My my my, this is complicated." Angelica sighed, and looked at Snape. "I don't suppose your any more willing than Missy Evans to donate any information?"
Snape snarled, but began to speak "This potion contains crowfoot, a highly potent ingredient. If used wrong, you will grow warts and your hair will turn blue, I-"
"No." the soft voice of Lily Evans floated across the table
"Pardon?" Snape snarled at her.
"Well, I was just saying…..Crowsfoot, it doesn't make your hair turns blue….it reverses the process, so your hair grows in, and gets caught up in your brain, and eventually-"
"Lily, dear, spare us the morbid details. Are you going to help us, then?"
Lily nodded "If all you have is this incompetent fool helping you, then yes, I will. You'll need me, won't you?" Snape had been rather cruel to Lily in her first year, resulting in a grudge that Lily had carried since. And while Lily wasn't quick at comebacks, when they came out, they were good.
Ignoring the beet color her face was becoming, Lily pushed back her hair, and bent over the book, whispering things to Angelica, which she grudgingly relayed to the rest of the group.
Before they knew it, class was over, and Lily left her fellow Gryffindors, and went up to her room, where she flopped down on her bed, and buried her face in the pillow. The tears came almost instantly, even though she willed herself not to cry.
Alex Gryffindorgal6@cs.com: Yeah, I actually imagined her loud too. And, when I started writing a fic about James and Lily, she was loud, and they hated each other. But I've read a lot of fics about Lily being loud. A lot of fics I LOVE. So I decided to try it differently. Her problems are semi based on a real persons.
Sdfg: Ummm, yeah, I'd concider Lily in this story pretty. She's just…really shy.