"You think it's funny, do you" I know that you do, Peter. All the Death Eaters do. How would you like it if your son defeated the Dark Lord and nobody knew you were alive" My boy is thirteen, now. I am a fallen princess of Gryffindor, Peter. You supposedly destroyed me. Now I am a wreck. It wasn't enough for you to kill me once, was it Peter? It wasn't enough to kill my husband, to take away my child, destroy anything that could be memories of us?"
  The wretched woman, she could not have been more than thirty-five, was talking to a balding blonde man. Her hair showed signs of being a lustrous red, had now faded to a limp pale orange. Her eyes looked like they had once shone like emeralds, and now they seemed like they were the sea after ships had turned their oils over.
  The man closed his eyes and pointed at the woman, who sat tied to a chair that was about to give way.
  "I'm so sorry, James, but I have to do this." The man muttered.
  "You're apologizing to James? It's a little late now!" The woman shouted.  
  "Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned.." The man continued.
  "Furthermore, I am the one you are killing!" She shrieked.
  "Wormtail, shut her up!" Someone hissed, quite literally.
  Wormtail muttered something and there was a flash of green light.

  Lily woke up in a tumble of sheets and she was sweating, even though it was Christmas Eve. It was a horrible, horrible dream. And she was sure that the woman was her.
  Christmas morning was not easy to go through. If Lily had been a smoker, now would have been the most excellent time for someone to open a cigarette stand in front of her house. Her trunk was normal, for once, and honestly, she looked like an average pretty face attending Hogwarts. The gift sat on her night-stand unopened and the wrapping paper (she suspected that it had been Charmed) was a dull, cloudy gray, that still had a certain sheen to it. It reminded her about how she felt at that particular moment.
  "The Mademoiselle is reminded that the car is ready." François called up the stairs.
  "Coming." She whispered softly.
  The gift would have to stay there. She couldn't bear coming back to her dormitory every evening to find it sitting there, ridiculing her. She picked up a leather briefcase that had been sitting by the door and she proceeded to leave her room and go down the stairs. She was going home.

  There was quite a stir among the students who had stayed at Hogwarts. The controversial, the grand, the epitome of perfection, the Lily Evans was returning.
  The Hufflepuffs and the Slytherins were still scratching their heads about where she might have gone. The Gryffindors and the Ravenclaws were still scratching their heads about why she might have come back.
  Her closest friends, the Ravenclaw girls and of course, two of the Marauders, were still going to be by her side. But Lily Evans knew that even before she "returned" the first time, that because they were close friends with James, things would be uneasy. So she'd have to go to the ways she had learned as a first and second year. Except for the fact that she was the star ornament on the Hogwarts" Christmas tree of a social chart. As a result, Sirius was only one who awaited her arrival at the platform.

  Lily twisted her wand in both of her hands over and over. She had to face it. She was nervous. And she knew that only one person would be waiting for her.
  "Missed you much." Sirius whispered into her hair. They were in tight embrace and suddenly, a gush of wind hit them.
  "That would be the spirit of my mother." Lily said breathily, wiping a tear away. "Get your hands of my little girl!"
  Sirius and Lily laughed bitterly, both of their smiles not reaching their eyes.  
  "It's going to be a tough year, eh?" He asked her, taking her trunk.
  "Yes. It will be." Lily whispered, trotting to catch up with him.
  "I meant academically." He added.
  "That too."

  "Well, you're all unpacked." Sirius said finally. "Time for Christmas dinner."
  "Oh, well, I suppose it is." Lily whispered.
  "You're acting like a bird of the wild, kept in a cage, or a rose kept under a glass case. No offense, but its just James." Sirius told her, holding her by her forearms and trying to talk some sense into her. She refused to meet his worried gaze.
  "I suppose you're right." Lily muttered.
  "Something's in the back of your mind, Lils. If you don't want to tell me right now, I understand. But I am your best friend. You have to tell me eventually." Sirius looked at her worriedly.
  "You're all I have left of Jackie. I can't lose you, too."
  Lily looked up, her eyes full of tears. "You think I'm like Jackie?"
  Sirius nodded. Lily hugged him with a full force, tears streaming down her face. "Only we will know the loss of that year."
  "Shh, shh. I know." He whispered into her hair again. "We will survive. But in order to do that, we must eat."
  Lily laughed softly, her smile again not reaching her eyes. "We can go."
  "You sure?" Sirius asked worriedly.
  "Yeah."

  James looked up and kind of smiled. There she was, pretending to be brave. She looked considerably happy, but she had red eyes. Sirius must have talked to her. She seemed smaller than usual. Perhaps paler. This he noticed as she slipped into a chair next to Sirius.
  He would have been sure that if she hadn't sworn she would never love Sirius beyond a brother, that the two of them probably had been making out.
  She looked at her plate sadly and just sat there for a couple of minutes in silence, much like the rest of the table. Except the rest of the table was eating.
  "Eat, Lils. It's Christmas." Sirius hissed. She halfheartedly picked up her fork and began to eat.

She sighed. "I can't go on with this charade much longer, Sirius."
  "I realize that, but if you don't eat--."
  "You are not my father, Sirius!"
  "You need someone right now!"
  By now, the entire hall was silent and staring at Sirius and Lily argue, and they seemed totally oblivious to it.
  "I'm leaving!" Lily stood up, threw her napkin onto her half-empty plate. She rushed out of the hall crying.
  "Running again, Princess?" James knew he shouldn't have said it, especially when she whirled around. He had never been so afraid in his life.
  She just sort of glared at him with pure hate in her eyes. She took a deep breath and walked out of the hall again.
  Sirius glared at him, standing up and throwing his napkin at him. "You just can't shut up, can you?"
  And he went running after Lily.
  "Don't even try, Sirius." Coco said, as she rushed to his side. She put a delicate hand on his shoulder. "You'll only make it worse."
  Sirius sighed and took Coco's hand in one of his, letting both of their arms fall limply to their sides. "I suppose you're right."

  James got his punishment, however. That evening, his Aunt Godrica sent him something.
Dearest Nephew,
  Someone has finally found the locket. I hate to tell you, but here it is. It can only be seen by the (At this point, there were tear drops on the page.) Here you are.
Love,
Aunt Godrica

  In his hand, he clutched the locket that he had thought Lily had no idea about. And James had to run and find a place to do something he hadn't done since his own father's death years ago. As soon as he got to the locker room of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, he found a bench that he and Lily had actually been sitting at just two years ago. He bent over it and he cried.

B/N: Why isn't anyone reading my prequel? -Belle (Le Chat Qui Garde La Lune)