Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter
When she wandered through the door and sat in the Gryffindor section between Bella and Molly, they once again looked at her strangely before she told them "ran away again. I know it's going to get me into trouble, but I'm sick and tired of being looked after. I am the same age as them, I know how to protect myself sometimes. She sat and ate with the rest of the Gryffindor's and waited with them for the three marauders to walk into the great hall. Sure enough fifteen minutes later, a furious looking Sirius and James walked in through the doors, James's hair looked even more dishevelled than usual and when he saw Lily sitting between her girl friends, he laughed mockingly before continuing onto their usual spot, vowing for revenge.
Dumbledore stood up half way through breakfast that day, announcing for those who were away on the fifteenth (Lily and James) that Voldemort had been captured outside a Gryffindor dormitory and was sent straight to Azkaban, where he apparated off the island and is still at large. That Peter Pettigrew was also in Azkaban for attempting to kill two students. Lily seemed completely oblivious to this. She had been asleep through most of the problems for the past couple of weeks. Bella whispered into her ear something and Lily's mouth dropped open and she turned toward James and whispered "Thankyou James, thankyou so much." James turned toward her and whispered "You'll get your thanks later you. No one pretends to be asleep in front of me. You'll get yours, don't you worry." Lily smiled before turning to her other friends and laughing at something one of them said.
Two days later was the night of the Christmas dance. James, Sirius and Remus had given her a bit of free roam since last time and seeing that she had slept through the last time, they were even a bit lenient on who was going to take her. Lily eventually agreed to go to the dance with a fourth year Ravenclaw seeker by the name of Keelie Jones.
Girls seemed to swoon over him everywhere, herself included and when he asked her to the dance, she nearly fainted. She agreed of course and they agreed to meet at the bottom of the moving staircases. James and Sirius had been asked by nearly every girl in the school and Sirius ended up going with Bella Figg and James with Geraldine Brown. The night quickly came and when Lily walked out of the boys dormitory with her makeup, dress robe and everything, the boys looked almost let down, but they knew that the girls all got dressed together. The evening went without a hitch. Everyone looked beautiful and everyone danced with everyone else.
Then the day after the four marauders decided on where they were going to go for Christmas. Lily wished to go home and spend some quality time with her parents and sister (Sirius, Remus and James all gagged at this part), and the fact that she hadn't seen them before school started. James agreed that she should spend the holiday's with her parents, but he also suggested that they all spend the holidays together. Lily opened her mouth to protest, but knew that it was fruitless to argue with the three boys.
That Christmas they gathered together all of their belongings and headed for the Hogwarts Express. They had already organised the boys staying with her parents who gleefully agreed and when they reached King's Cross Station, all four marauders headed for Lily's parents. The three boys smiled nervously before being herded into the Evan's car. Then when they reached the house in Kensington, Lily nearly bolted into the front door. The four kids approached the door together and were shocked to find Petunia snogging with a fat balding boy who was sweating in his long pants and short sleeved collared shirt.
James, Sirius and Remus automatically sneered at the hated woman and her fat and disgusting looking partner, while Lily just looked in shock at the house she used to call home that she hadn't seen in a year and a half. And even then it was only during times when she wasn't reliving nightmares during her waking hours. The couple managed to move out of the doorway before Petunia's boyfriend left the house. James and Sirius silently rejoiced in that small win, knowing that the huge amounts of fillbuster's fireworks and mounds of dungbombs will go to good use for the Christmas holidays.
The next two days were spent perusing muggle malls with Lily's mum and Petuina. It turned out to be an exciting experience for the three pure blood wizard's and they all were astonished at the use of electricity for the mass amount of lighting. Everything was very bright and well lit. Then as they wondered through various malls, stalls and stores the boys borrowed money from Lily who owned several hundred pounds to her name.
Sirius and James, not having ever heard of the expression of currency that was used in the muggle world, took several minutes to explain the amounts used in knuts, sickles and galleons. But Lily didn't seem to have any problems explaining to her best friends how much a sickle was worth compared to a pence. They eventually roused several laughs out of the money and kept their minds of what had usually occurred to them during their holidays. Then after Pet and Lily's mum had left the four teens alone for a couple of hours, they had gone wandering into what Lily called a 'surf shop'. Where popular and brand name clothing was sold. Lily explained that muggles wear them to look 'cool'.
Sirius smiled and after borrowing money from Lily and swearing to pay her back after they went to diagon alley, he bought a pair of Billabong Jeans. They actually fit him rather well and when he went to model them for his friends, several girls who were in the shop, turned to look and then whispered to their friends. James and Sirius had known that they were cute their first day of first year, but not long after ward, they just became oblivious to it. Lily was much more important. Then eventually James convinced his best friend to buy the jeans and when the four approached the counter a girl with pale blue eyes and sandy blonde hair came up to James.
She was wearing a really slutty short skirt and James's eyes bulged out of their sockets before turning to Lily and she heard inside her head "Help me Lily, please." Lily nodded before watching the slut come up to her best friend and say "Well, hello, I've never seen you here before." She perused her eyes up and down James's body and Lily was seeing red. She pulled James behind her before turning to the slut and grating out in undisguised anger "excuse me, but what do you think you're doing?" The slut seemed to turn to her as seeing her for the first time "Oh, and you must be the girlfriend. I knew that someone like him would never be alone for long. Shame, if you're here for long, I'll have to take care of that. I always get what I want."
Then before Lily could rush the trashily dressed girl, James wrapped his arms around her mid section and whispered in her ear "Potter, hold your tongue. She isn't worth the trouble." Then before she could retaliate James whispered sarcastically "You know you're the only one for me."
Lily turned around ready to inflame, knowing that he had called her Potter, but knowing now that the name stuck. She was known as a Potter through this group. It even seemed to suit her. James still had his arms wrapped tightly around her mid section when a dark haired boy walked past Lily and James looked up noticing that the boy was staring appreciatively at her arse. He wolf whistled and James's face went red in anger. He pulled the boy back to his arms reach and then ground out "You see she's standing here in my arms and you still have the nerve to stare at her openly in front of me and then whistle. You are daring aren't you?" The boy didn't look put off in the least.
"You don't understand my dear man, you can't do anything about it. She may be yours for now, but don't intend on keeping it that way. I may not have seen you or your friends at school but if you're here all holidays then I know that there's something that I can do"
Lily had turned around by now and was glaring disgustingly at the boy that had whistled at her. Then before she knew what was happening, James had grabbed her around the waist and yelled for Sirius and Remus to follow and they left the 'surf shop'.
Once out, James let out a shuddering breath and looked at Lily right in the eyes. "Lily, promise me you will never date someone like that. Actually, promise me you'll never date a muggle." Lily nodded mutely knowing that James was really angry. The four left to find Mrs Evans and Sirius noticed that James kept a steady hand on Lily. It was normal for the two to usually hold hands or have arms slung around each other like they were best buddies but this seemed different. James seemed possessive of her. The way that he stared angrily at every muggle that seemed to stare at her.
Then when she excused herself to go to the toilet, James turned to his friends and gestured angrily. "I have decided that I hate muggles. The squib kind anyway. I don't mind Lily's ma and pa, but the teenagers are nothing but prats. Can you believe what that boy said right to her face. Like she was a piece of meat up for sale. I can't believe someone would say that to someone else. It was like being called a mudblood constantly over and over again.
James started to shudder he was so angry and then Sirius knew what was coming. His magid magic was coming into play. Sure enough the windows began to shudder but before Sirius or Remus could do anything, they all burst through a fifty metre radius. The two teens that had approached them the past hour were all showered with glass along with their snooty friends. They began to scream like girls and James, Sirius and Remus watched along laughing softly. The boy turned to him angrily before yelling out "Where did the red head go, finally decide that she didn't need you anymore boy."
Not knowing that he was angering the person responsible for the glass breakage, Sirius tried to shut him up, yelling for him to keep moving but it was too late. James began to shudder again but this time, Lily walked out behind him and placed her hands on his shoulders and automatically all of his anger flowed into her. He turned around and buried his face in her fiery red hair. Both the boy and girl looked on in disgust before Sirius and Remus shooed them away. Then both boys were joined in on the circle and then they walked off intent on finding Lily's mother.
But what they found was not Lily's mum. They heard a voice that Lily called an intercom asking for Pamela Evans to come to the front desk. Lily asked for anyone for directions to the front desk. Then when they finally reached the front desk, there was a standoff. Three death eaters were standing at the front desk with one of the receptionists already stuptefied and the other was affrightedly repeating the message over the shopping centre.
All three wizards pulled out their wands and whispered to the three death eaters "Voldemort's people. What are you doing in a shopping centre." James didn't know what to do. Sirius's dad wasn't here this time to stop him from doing something stupid and he had a fair idea that they wished to kill Lily's mum. Then suddenly Lily's mum came walking up to the counter completely oblivious to the three robed men standing right beside her. Then when she asked for a message for Pamela Evans, James knew that he had to act now or never.
But it was too late. Lily ran with a burst of speed toward her mum and watched as one of the death eaters pulled out his wand to administer the Avada Kedavra but was shocked seeing Lily running across the centre court. James meanwhile knew that he wouldn't be able to live without Lily made one of the most important decisions of his life. He lifted his fingers, not his wand and yelled out "Accio Lily Potter." Automatically Lily rose though she was still trying to reach her mother and she was rushed into James's tight embrace and through her trying advances to reach her mother, she witnessed as she was given the Avada Kedavra. Then punching her fists into James's hard and willing chest, she cried for the mother that she had lost.
The only parents that she had known and the fact that James seemed to need her because he had used his last name to bring her to him. Then James looked up over his tears to see the Death eaters conversing with each other and then they began to advance on the four teens.
James made an oath there and then that he would do anything to keep Lily and his friends from harm. He produced a force field around himself and Lily, Remus and Sirius and watched as the Death eaters prowled around it looking for some sort of weakness. Something inside James told himself to shake the weeping Lily and whisper to her to try and appparate. He told the rest of his small family and each and everyone of them including Lily, apparated to Hogwarts. When they arrived inside the grounds, James was shocked. Sure enough, Dumbledore, McGonagall, Sutton and several other professors were running toward them. James pulled Lily into his embrace and pulled down the force field before collapsing with Lily on top of him. She fell onto his chest not long after, her breath hitched every minute with tears dripping down her cheeks.
A/N Thanks Red Dragon's order for your positive reviews. They keep this story going.