A/N: Hey peeps! I'm soooooooooooo happy about how many peeps reviewed! I didn't expect a quarter of what I got! Thanx so much all of you reviewers!!!!! You'll each get your moment of honor after chapter 2! So, onto chapter two! By the way, sorry I couldn't get it up sooner, I'll usually get chapters up every other day, but I was visiting my grandparents this weekend. So, finally, onto the fic!
Chapter Two:
Shocking Occurences
Petunia and Lily sat silently in the back seat of the car. Lily didn't dare ask where they were going or why, so Petunia did. "Hannah, why in the world should I have to stop watching my favorite soap opera just so that we can all go somewhere in the car? Isn't there anyway this can wait till Frank tells Judy that Fransisca is his sister?" Lily rolled her eyes. Then the car came to a halt at the hospital. Lily became worried. Of all the places she'd expected to go, of all the things she'd expected to happen, the thought of something happening to her mother never popped into her head. It wasn't the first time her mother had been to the hospital. Actually she went quite often. They had even offered to keep her there, but none of us, not even Petunia, wanted that. It'd be like giving in to the fact that their mother wasn't gonna live for much longer. For Lily having her mother at the hospital would mean shortening that little time Lily had left with her mother into a few measly visiting hours a week. That was the very thing that had been troubling Lily all summer: the horrible thought that she might go back to Hogwarts and never see her mother again. Sure, she'd known that her mother wasn't gonna live much longer, she'd known for years, but, now the years she had to live had been shortened to months, Lily knew there was a possibility that when she came back home for Christmas vacation her mother would no longer be there. Her mother and Hannah were all Lily had left. Her father had died in a car accident when she was four. Her beloved twin sister, Violet had died when Lily was twelve and Petunia, Petunia had drifted away from Lily slowly. She wasn't the same Petty she played with as a little girl. When Petunia turned eleven she started her I'm too old to play your little fairy tale games' phase. But, that was to be expected of any eleven-year-old muggle. Lily and Petunia (as well as Violet) were still very close, but when Violet (also known as Vi) died in a curious accident two years later, Petunia changed, she rarely was nice to Lily and hardly ever played with her. Once they found out that their mother was deadly sick Petunia hardly spent any time with Lily, aside from teasing, insulting, and tormenting her. But, Lily still loved her. Lily always made up excuses for Petunia whenever Petunia did or said something mean to her. She always told herself that the only reason Petunia did those things was because of what she'd been through. But, the little voice inside Lily's head kept saying But, haven't I been through just as much as Petunia?' Lily tried to ignore it, but, in times like these, the vice grew louder and it became harder to ignore.
A few minutes later Hannah came and sat in between Lily and Petunia. "Petunia, Lily? Your mother- she- there's no easy way to say this, but, she- she died."
Lily gasped and Petunia burst into tears. Lily couldn't bring herself to cry. She just sat there silently, not understanding what was going on. But, she told herself one thing, Don't cry. Whatever you do Lily, don't cry.'
"It's best we go home now, loves." Whispered Hannah.
The car ride home was silent, aside from Petunia's sobs. When they got home, Petunia ran to her room, Hannah went to prepare lunch, although she knew no one would be hungry, and Lily went outside to the backyard. Poor Hannah', thought Lily, she'd known mother since she was in diapers. Hannah had worked for mother's family when mother was a child, then when Petunia was born; she had come to work for mother. At least I still have Hannah. If she's still with me, all's not lost.' Lily said to herself. Lily sat down on the old red swing, remembering when she was little, and her father would push her on it. That was one of the only memories she had of her father. Aside from the stories her mother used to tell her, that is. Lily couldn't stand it. She was gone. Her mother was dead, and she couldn't bring herself to cry. If she cried it'd be like admitting to herself that there couldn't have possibly been some mistake, like saying she would never see her mother again. Had she cried when Vi died? She didn't remember. Everything around Vi's death was a blur. Come to think of it, everything was a blur, right now. A huge mess of confusion. But, something inside of her told her she had to keep the sadness inside, she couldn't cry. She just couldn't.
Suddenly a golden winged ball flew over Lily's head and gracefully Lily caught it. A few seconds later James Potter flew over on his Shooting Star. "James Potter, how many times have I told you, keep your snitches out of my yard! You're not even supposed to use real snitches!" Yelled Lily, with a slight grin, at least he'd treat her like nothing happened.
"Sorry, Lil'. Won't happen again, I promise." James responded with mock innocence and a cocky grin. "By the way, Happy Birthday."
"And a very happy one it is." muttered Lily sarcastically.
"Why? What's wrong?" Asked James, slightly concerned.
"Whatever gave you the idea something was wrong?" Said Lily innocently.
"Well, for one thing, your dear sister can be heard wailing from all the way down the street, and I'm taking a guess it isn't her dumb muggle soap opera, that is making her cry." Said James.
"Well, if you must know, mother died." She said coldly.
"Oh, er- sorry." Said James.
"Yeah, well, so am I." Said Lily, slightly annoyed, though she didn't know exactly why.
"Er- do you want to talk about it?" Asked James, surprised at what he said, the last time Lily and James talked without insulting each other
"Not with you, I don't." Lily snapped.
"Fine then." James picked up his snitch and started to walk away.
"Wait! James, OK, I do want to talk about it." Lily said.
"Er- Ok."
"Oh, James, it's just, I'm so confused. You'd think I should understand death, what with Vi and allbut I don't, and lately I've been thinking about her a lot. It feels likewell, I guess it sounds crazy, but like she's trying to tell me something. Something about Voldemort something about her deathbut, I don't know what." Lily said, frustrated.
"Lily, Vi's dead. She's been dead for four years." James said.
"I know that, I'm not stupid, you know." Lily snapped. "It's justwell, you wouldn't understand, you just don't know how close me and Vi were."
"I guess I don't. Hey, I've gotta go play quiddich with Sirius, want to come?"
"No thanks. I'm not really in the mood."
"Kay, then." James said and left.
Lily sighed. She needed someone to talk to badly.
A few hours later an owl arrived from Grace:
Oh my god, Lil! I can't believe it, my mom just told me. I'm so sorrydo you wanna talk about it?
-Grace
Lily laughed. Grace always seemed to know everything, and just how to make things better.
Grace,
How'd ya find out, Gracey? Sure, I wanna talk about it, but, oh I dunno, there's so much going on in my mind I'm not sure I can explain it all.
-Lily
Sending off the letter, Lily tried to straiten her thoughts.
Lils,
Well, as much as I try to keep it a secret. You and I both know, I'm related to that oaf James Potter and my mother was having tea with his mother, Auntie Bella and apparently James had gone over to your house to catch one of his rampaging quiddich balls and found out. So, mum came home and told me, since she knew we were friends. Oh, Lils, I feel so horrible, and on your birthday, too. But, luckily, there are much worse ways to die. Like being murdered by You-Know-Who, for example. I was reading the Daily Prophet and there were more muggle and auror killings. They're starting to send neighborhoods into secret spots protected by secret-keepers. I sure hope they don't send Godric's Hollow there. I would just about die thinking about my house possibly being destroyed while we were away. Well, Lils, try to explain what your feeling, if it turns out just to be gobbledy-gook, well, at least you got it on paper. Sometimes writing down your feeling helps, and Lil, you've gotta cry. You've just gotta.
-Grace
Lily grinned at the first part of the letter. It was just like Grace to ramble on and on. Then she frowned thinking about how much she missed her. She had just came home to Godric's Hollow today after visiting her father somewhere in Surray. Then she read the last bit. There were times when Lily didn't know how Grace did it. How in the world could Grace have known what was bothering Lily the most? Was Grace really right? Should she be crying, instead of feeling sorry for herself.
A/N: I know, corny ending to a chapter, but, oh well.
Next chapter there will be
~Letters to Grace.
~We'll meet a new character! (Erica: if ur reading this, u know who the new character is, hint, hint, hehe)
~The gang meets in Diagon Alley.
~Voldemort will come into the story (well, it had to happen sometime, didn't it?)
Now, onto thank-you's, a million and one thanx my wonderfull reviewers
~Miranda Clearwater (humph, Miri, ur the only 1 from the MB who reviewed itso, thanx a million!)
~ Lady Minako
~Lissa May
~IceAngel
~phoenix
~no angel
~Avalon
~Kella
~piperfairy4867@aol.com
~Lioness Alanna (LoL! Well, I put the next chapter upso don't flame me, lol! But, I could also say the same 4 u! Hurry up and update The War Of Hogwarts! PLEASE! LoL, I'v been checking 2 c if it's updated every day! It's on my faves! Good luck on the siggy!)
~Devonny Stratton
~angel467
~Whatever1
~Beccs
~Unshed Tears
~And anyone else I forgot, if I forgot you, I'm sooooooo sry!!!!
So, now for my three final words: Review, review, review!