This last part of the post was sooo much fun to write…I've been getting rather sick of Serena, and she sorta deserved this.  Anyway, thanks so much to everyone that reviewed this (can't believe that I have thirty-one chapters up and only 14 reviews…lol; j/k)!!

***************************************

They had all been carrying an assortment of packages, as were everyone's parents. And when they had set them underneath the tree, grabbed a few of the cookies lying around the house, and settled around the cushion of straw Lily was to sit on, they were all in a more or less holiday mood, infected by the tradition that had seeped its way into the very walls of the house.
Placing the lit candles on either side of her, Lily pulled the old, leather-bound Bible onto her lap, flipping open the cover with the gilded letters on it, carefully, almost caressing the cover. Petunia, her father, and the other parents settled themselves into the chairs dragged into the living room as Lily began to read.
Everyone was expecting her to read an English part, all except her won family. The Bible Lily's mother had brought with her from Germany was in German, and, though usually said to be a crude, ugly language, it flowed out of the young reader's mouth and enveloped the listeners in a kind of cloud that made them understand what she was saying. A magical quality surrounding the room almost transported them back to the old town in Israel, two thousand years ago, and when Lily gently shut the book, everyone seemed to wake out of a dream. It had been exactly that way when her mother was in her place, settled on the straw with the blue robes flowing around her, reading to her family, and Lily caught her father wiping a tear from his eye.
She laughed, a laugh tinkling with the merriness of small bells, and the company awoke out of their thoughts, and Eva started to applaud. Soon, everyone joined in, and, amongst the passing around of hot cocoa with cinnamon sprinkled on top and the round Lebkuchen, Lily flitted about the room, handing out presents, and when she returned to her seat, several people had piled it with packages.
Lily laughed again, kneeling next to her presents. She took the one on top, a rather small one, carefully tore the silver packaging off, and disclosed a small velvet box. Opening it, she recognized a pair of earrings her mother used to wear; they were a deep lavender with a hanging silver sort of tiny tassel. Looking up to her father, she caught the sadness and the smile on his face, and she jumped up to throw her arms around his neck.
"Dad, I love you!"
He hugged her tightly. "Doll, you look just like your mother!"
Lily knew that was the greatest compliment he could give her, and she hugged him even more tightly.
Lucius was tapping her on the shoulder, and she whirled around. "Hum?"
He held a package wrapped in a honey-colored paper. "Open mine?"
Lily smiled. Peeling the wrapper away, she disclosed a small teddy bear, black, with a frighteningly large grin on his face, crossed eyes, and an even scarier large pink satin bow around every limb. Lily stared incredulously at Lucius, who burst out laughing.
"Why?–"
He controlled himself for the moment. "Just so I could see that look on your face! Oh, God; you looked like a deer caught in headlights!"
Lily rolled her eyes and set the bear aside, who lightly nipped her finger. "Lucius, you have the weirdest sense of humor!"
"I know! And proud of it!"
"You pick the strangest things to be proud of. I suppose I should say 'thanks'?"
"Don't have to. That look on your face was enough!"
Lily looked up into Severus' face, uncomfortable at his nervous excitement.
"Severus?"
"Yes?"
She sighed and opened the door to her room, going inside and flopping down onto the bed. "Severus, I just don't know. Well–that is, I do, but–"
"But what?" His half-smile sort of slid.
"I don't know how to say it."
He pinched his lips together, dropped his head, but then snapped back up. "Lily, I don't want you to decide in a hurry–if you want to wait till we go back to school, that's fine–"
Lily stopped him with a sharp movement of her hand. "Severus, it's not that!"
He frowned. "What is it, then? James? Sirius?"
She sat back up, scowling. "You deserve to be hit for that. I can't stand that Potter kid. No–it's not that–Severus, I just don't know if–if–if–"
He bit his lip nervously. "If what?"
At that moment, Lily abandoned her half-prepared speech. He deserved a bit better than that–as a person, he deserved to be spoken to openly.
"Severus, I'm not ready for it. Really–I may be in fourth year, granted, but plus I have my grades to keep up, my father to take care of, our home to run–and I think I'm still in a bit of shock. I keep waking up thinking my dad is dead all over again. I just can't handle this."
He slowly nodded. "I see. But–if you were a normal teen, without any of this mess going on–would you have said yes?"
Lily inwardly slapped herself. She should have seen that coming.
"Severus, I don't know. I really don't."
He nodded, a bit downcast, shoulders slumped. Then he straightened.
"Lily?"
"Hum?"
"Would you discourage me from asking you this again sometime in the future?"
Lily shrugged. "You can always try–I can't guarantee what I'll say."
He nodded. "That's all I ask–do you mind if we forget this?"
"Why?"
"I don't think we'd be as good friends if we didn't."
Slowly, hesitating, Lily nodded. "You're right. All right–on this point I'm trusting you. And–Severus!" she called as he was turning to leave her room.
He whipped around. "Yes?"

She slipped off of the bed. "Severus, I want you to know that this has nothing to do with you personally. It really–I mean, I just couldn't handle it. It has nothing to do with you."
He smiled. "That means quite a lot, and you should get a hug for that, but your sister's standing in the hallway. Come on down–I need to give you your present." He vanished down the hall, seemingly carefree, but something had happened in those few minutes–something he wanted to ignore, for he knew that if he didn't ignore it and told anyone, he'd be ridiculed beyond the point of ridiculous.
They returned to school sooner than Lily could have wished, for she had enjoyed her stay at home with her sister and father. There was a good side to everything that had happened–she and Petunia were finally getting along like real sisters, and she had dropped her annoying way of making Lily seem like an idiot. And, the morning of Lily's departure, there were more than a few tears and more than just two hugs. Her father was to drive them to the train station, and Petunia was coming, too. Lily was thankful for that, for her trunk was heavier than usual, as Petunia had insisted that Lily come shopping with her. The black trunk with gold fastenings came close to falling off of the trolley at some turns, and Lily had had to practically throw herself underneath it to keep it from hitting the ground. When they reached the barrier, Lily turned to her family for one last hug. "Bye, Dad. I love you. I'm coming home for Easter, so don't die before that!"
He smoothed her rumpled hair. "You do the same."
Petunia hugged her sister tightly. "You'll be sending me lots of owls. Plus you said you'd look up that one recipe for coffee cake."
Lily grinned. "Of course. And remember not to leave the potatoes in the oven for two hours."
"It's not my fault they burned black!"
Lily laughed. "Well, maybe it is. But see you at Easter. And don't kill yourself!"
"Why, I didn't think you cared! But see you–" Lily wheeled her trolley around–"later." With a running start, she pushed the trolley through the barrier and soon stood in front of the steam-puffing, scarlet Hogwarts Express.
Looking around for her friends, Lily spotted Eva, who was hugging her mother goodbye. She felt a small wrench in her chest as she saw Mrs. Doylen and her daughter, but she wiped it out of her mind as she saw her blond friend hurtle towards her. "Lily! You're here–oh, good! Come on–train's leaving in fifteen minutes and we'd better get into a compartment before they fill up. Come on!" Playfully, she grabbed her friend by her hand and dragged her and the heavy trunk to the last compartment on the train–the only empty one. Within minutes, they were joined by Vanessa and Amanda, Miranda and Nigel. Almost to quickly to see, a pack of Exploding Snap cards were on the floor of the compartment, and they were jumping back every time the cards threatened to explode. The train pulled slowly out of the station, and as it speeded up and they were rocketing through snowy countrysides, Lily was getting pretty good at avoiding scorched bangs, though Miranda's usually silky black sheet was turning frizzled and a bit more gray than usual.
Nothing eventful happened that trip, and, even though they discussed it for a good three and a half hours, no one knew who could have forged the note. Several thousand suggestions were offered, among them Serena, Sheila, Severus, Lucius, James, Eva, Vanessa, Miranda, Amanda, or Lily. The suggestion that Petunia had sent it was laughed away, for no one in their right mind would try to forge their own handwriting, and the handwriting on the note was a forged version of Petunia's. All in all, they spent a fun and fruitless journey back to school.
It was snowing heavily as they got off of the train and headed for the horseless carriages at the Hogsmeade train station. Trying their best to keep the almost golf-ball-sized snowflakes out of their eyes and owl cages, the students piled into the carriages and flopped down onto the seats. The ride to Hogwarts seemed to take almost no time. Over the holidays, Lily had written Professor Dumbledore, informing him that her father was still alive and that an orphanage was a bit unnecessary. Dumbledore had asked to speak to her as soon as she arrived at school, so instead of going to dinner, she followed Professor McGonagall up to the headmaster's office. When they stepped inside, Lily noted that he had a new acquisition: a red and gold pheonix flaunting his magnificent plumage in a corner on a perch. As they entered, he threw his head back and let out one beautiful, warming note. As if the pheonix served as a doorbell, Dumbledore opened a door to the right of the visitors and sat down at his desk, waving Professor McGonagall out of the room. Knotting his fingers into a twisted sort of knot, he took in Lily at a glance, noting that, over the holidays, the weight she'd lost in shock had come back, and her ribs weren't showing through her robes. "You are doing well, then, I take it?" Lily smiled. "Yes, sir. Everything's been going wonderfully."
"And you've started eating again. Madam Pomfrey was worried she would lose your job if you starved to death." His eyes twinkled merrily behind the half-moon shaped glasses.
"Have you any idea who could have written that letter?"
Lily shook her head. "No, sir. We–well, we discussed it on the train, but–but, well, it didn't get very far."
Dumbledore nodded. "I see. Well, I don't think I need to tell you that if we do find that person, he or she will be expelled. And, in the meantime, I want to tell you that every teacher at this school is very proud of the success of your education." His smile made Lily blush with pleased embarrassedness.
"Sir?"
"You are one of only twenty-three students that have skipped a grade since this school has been founded and still remained at the top of his or her classes, besides showing potential to skip another. We don't need to tell you how proud we are to be able to teach you."
Lily turned even redder and dropped her head. "Sir–I–well, thank you."
Dumbledore stood up, his dark blue robes with silver stars scattered over them swaying as he moved from behind his desk and began sorting books in a bookshelf near a window. "I should suggest that you go downstairs to dinner. It might be over otherwise."
Lily nodded her head in assent. "Yes, sir. Thank you, sir." Closing the door behind her and returning to Gryffindor Tower, since she wasn't hungry, she undressed quickly and slipped into bed, falling asleep almost as soon as her head hit the pillow.
She woke up the next morning full of energy and life. It surprised even herself as to where that came from, but she supposed she was simply glad to be back here. She showered and dressed in a hurry, pulling her hair back in a plait that she flung over her shoulder. Slipping into the school robes, Lily grabbed her bag and headed for breakfast, for once she hadn't awakened at six or roundabouts.
Eva met her near the Great Hall doors and led her to her seat. It was right smack in the middle of the Gryffindor table, and Lily had to stifle several blushes as she noted the stares.

"Eva?"
"Oh. See, they were expecting you to be going to an orphanage and not come back and stuff, so they're naturally a bit surprised."
"Oh. But didn't you or anyone else that knew tell them?"
Eva smiled. "It's none of their business, is it? That is," she amended, shrugging, as she propelled Lily to her chair, "that is, we figured you had a right to tell them, before we butted in."
Lily helped herself to the milk jug. "Thanks. But you'd better do it–I don't think it's any of their business, either."
Eva took the pitcher from Lily's hand. "That means that no one's going to find out, unless Dumbledore decides to become a blabbermouth. Which I highly doubt."
"Dumbledore a blabbermouth about what?" Sirius had leaned over.
Eva hit his knuckles a sharp rap; they had been inching towards the last bit of stollen on the table. He withdrew his hand, and Eva helped herself.
"You little git. No, really, what's he a blabbermouth about?"
Lily set her mouth in a straight line. "Sirius, nose out if you like having one."
He drew back. "Well, sorry if I've offended your Majesty. I didn't know that simply questioning would provoke such an attack."
"You should have known better. Eva, don't tell him anything."
Sirius looked really hurt. "Why not?"
Lily simply stared at him. "Why do you think?"
Dumbfounded, he gesticulated so wildly he almost knocked his plate and glass off of the table. "What do I think? What do I think? Lily, I've been there for you practically for the last two years. I've never spread anything around the school that you told me. Ever. And I–"
Lily placed a small hand over his mouth, and he fell silent. "But you have a very talkative best friend that insists that other's secrets simply slip out. And I don't want him knowing anything, for if I do, then–"
"Hola, everybody–what's for breakfast?"
Lily drew back and started talking to Eva, fixedly ignoring the person who had just plopped down in the seat of the other side of her.
James turned to Sirius. "What'd I do?"
Sirius busied himself with his bacon, accidentally puncturing the egg yolk on his plate. The rest of his food was quickly soaked, and he pushed his plate away in disgust.
"I'm not sure what you did, but I have a feeling it has to do with your not being able to keep secrets. That's what she said, at least."
James frowned. He lightly put a hand on Lily's shoulder and turned her around. His first sight of her since she got back startled him greatly.
When she had received the news about her father, she kept losing weight and the circles around her eyes became more pronounced with each passing day. Now, however, she had gained back all she had lost, she wasn't the brittle and frail icicle she had been, the rings around her eyes were almost completely gone, and her eyes had a spark in them, a sort of light that he hadn't seen there for quite some time. The red curls that had unwoven themselves from the waist-length plait framed her glowing countenance, and, wondering what could have caused that change in her, he simply stared till she lifted his hand off of her shoulder with an expression of disgust.
"Excuse you?"
He pulled himself together. "Lil, what happened?"
"How happened? You put your hand on my shoulder. What do you mean, what happened?"
He waved that away. "No. Over Christmas. You look–" he searched for a word–"well, so much nicer than you did."
"Am I supposed to take that as a compliment or an insult?"
"Is anything wrong? Or was something wrong and it's right now?"
With the icy dignity of a heartless queen sentencing a mass of people to death, she looked down on him.
"And what makes you think I'd honor you with my confidence?"
He started to speak, then seemed to notice the full Great Hall for the first time. "Oh. Tell me later?"
Her glare became piercing. "And what makes you think I'd tell you anything?"
When he didn't answer, she stood up, pulling Eva with her. "Eve, let's go. There's no point staying here and talking to simpletons. I've got Study of Ancient Runes next and you're going to help me find my alphabet of the dwarf-runes. I left it somewhere in my trunk, and now…" They left the Great Hall, chattering like a pack of mice, and Sirius had to hit James hard on the back before he turned around and paid attention to the pretty blonde girl that had just slipped into a seat next to him. Now, however, she was a bit pink with rage.
Lily, persuaded by Eva, told Sirius everything in Study of Ancient Runes. It was a relief to tell him; he listened and didn't interrupt at all; simply looked at her, absorbing everything with an air of–of–well, of something Lily couldn't quite put her finger on, but it comforted her. She didn't need to tell him not to tell James–she knew he wouldn't. That was one of the things about Sirius–you could tell him anything and trust him with it.
By the time lunch rolled around, Lily was getting rather sick of teachers patting her on the back and nodding to her in the hallways, so she begged Eva to bring a bit of lunch up to the common room. Eva appeared, empty-handed, but with a following of a dark-haired dog-like person carrying something looking disturbingly like a picnic basket with him. "House-elves," was the only explanation he gave, and, almost on cue, Minky came toddling in with two jugs of pumpkin juice in her hands, set them down, bowed very low, and retreated, almost knocking her head against her knees.
The food stayed hot all through the lunch hour, and Lily told both her friends exactly what happened, this time including the details. There was one detail she kept to herself, however–her conversation with Severus. She had an eerie feeling that, however good Sirius might be at keeping secrets, he was terrible at it if it involved a possible blackmail situation and Severus Snape in the same sentence.
But, that evening, when Lily and Eva were sitting in the windowseat, the darkest corner of the common room, she told Eva about Christmas Eve. Eva was both impressed and disgusted, but she kept that last feeling to herself. No matter how much she disliked Snape, he was Lily's friend, and therefore she had no right to say anything mean about him.
"He asked you out?"

Lily nodded. "I told you, I said no."
"But why? You'd have James begging for forgiveness!"
Lily frowned. "I don't follow your thought processes."
Sighing, Eva gripped Lily by the shoulders. "I don't care how many bottles of butterbeer he shares with his Cissa git, he still likes you. And if you did that, he'd either be begging you for forgiveness or–"
Smoothly, Lily cut in. "Or he'd never speak to me again."
"Oh." Eva sat back. "I didn't think of it that way. By the way–" she straightened up–"can I see the note?"
Lily had expected this, and she pulled it out of her jeans pocket. "Read and keep to self."
Eva rolled her eyes. "All right, all right. What on earth–" she was staring at the bot of parchment–"If you aren't too busy this year, do you mind if we officially–" She was snorting with laughter. "That is the weirdest way I've ever heard of of asking anyone out."
Lily ripped the note out of her hands cleanly, tucking it back into her pocked. "I figured you'd say that. It could be worse, though."
"But not by much."
Lily and Eva both jumped, then glared. Looking over Lily's shoulder was a familiar tousle-headed, raven-haired someone that Lily wasn't too friendly with at the moment.
"Excuse you?"
"Bathroom's down that hall. What's this about Snape?" His eyes twinkled mischievously.
Eva was holding onto the back of Lily's robes to keep her from attacking James. "Will you leave? This was none of your business!"
"Exactly. Was. It is now. So–what's this about Snape?"
Lily wrenched herself free from Eva's grasp. "Go away. I haven't told you this for a reason."
"And that reason would be?"
"Look at the way you're acting now! Not to mention that you spilled what I told you to Sirius!"
He shrugged. "You would have told him anyway."
"THAT DOESN'T MATTER! I TRUSTED YOU!"
"All right, all right! Calm down!" He saw with relief that Lily obeyed him and sank back down onto the window seat. "Lil, I promise, I didn't tell him anything except what you heard me say. Now what's going on? You can trust me."
Eva sat in her corner, smirking as she saw the angry face of Serena peeping our from behind an armchair, barely visible between the two in front of her, inches apart. The only drawback to that, Eva noted, was that Lily was glaring daggers at James.
"Can I?"
"Yes. Truly. I promise you, I won't tell anyone."
"Why do you want to know?"
He shrugged. "Well, it's pretty important to you. And I'd like to know what it is, so if anything else like it happens, I can be there for you?" His voice raised in a question at the end.
Lily's angry glare faded, and she almost gave in. But then she caught sight of his eyes. They were just as concerned and understanding and pleading as they had been the night she had told him about her father, and she drew back, out of his reach.
"You mean, so you can spread it all around the school. No thanks." With that final statement, she whirled around, headed for her dormitory, and vanished from sight, leaving James to a disappointed but amused Eva and an enraged, possessive girlfriend.
Eva drew back even more into the curtains, effectively hiding herself but able to see and hear all. It was lucky that she knew how to contain her laughter, otherwise she would have interrupted the extremely interesting discussion that went on only three feet in front of her. Serena was foaming at the mouth.
"Excuse you? What were you doing there?"
James raised his eyebrows. "Talking."
"Yes, talking! Talking to the one girl who's made my life here miserable! Two inches away from her face! That kind of talking!"
"She's just had her father die! What do think I was doing? You've never had anyone close to you die–she's lost both her parents in six months!"
Serena shook her head. "No, she didn't."
He was dumbfounded. "What do you mean, no she didn't?"
"She didn't tell you? That note was a fake. Her dad's still there to abuse her if he wants to."
"A fake? How do you know?"
"I know."
"And where'd you get the idea that her dad abuses her? You've got no right to think that!"
"Well, excuse me! I'm simply repeating what you said! You mean it's against the law now to agree with you?"
"And when did you hear me say that?"
"On the lawn. It was a Sunday."
"So you were eavesdropping, too?"
Serena folded her arms. "Well, I have the funny feeling that I have a right to know what my boyfriend's doing outside on the lawn with my greatest enemy, who just happens to be a girl."
"So you have a right to know everything that goes on in my life?"
"Well–yeah!"
"Well–no!"
"I'm your girlfriend, James Potter, and I have more of a right to you than anyone else here. Remember that."
"No."
"What do you mean, no?" She wasn't remotely pretty anymore. Practically spitting with rage, her features were convulsed and the usual innocent sweetheart look was wiped off.
"I meant what I said! No! To the first bit of that last sentence, that is."
"That I have more of a right to you than anyone else?"
"No, that you're my girlfriend."
Her jaw dropped. "WHAT?"
"Jesus!" He covered his ears. "Don't scream like that!"