Chapter 16: Lily's Rage.

Lily tossed and turned in her bed, but no matter what, she couldn't sleep. Everyone else in her dorm was slumbering away quite peacefully from what she could see. She envied them right now. She wasn't usually hit with bouts of insomnia. It wasn't too stuffy, and it wasn't too cold, and her bed was very comfortable. All in all, she found it quite strange that she couldn't sleep.

She quietly slipped through the curtains of her four-poster bed and tip-toed to the door. There was no use in doing nothing. She entered the darkened red common room, the fireplace showing a few burning embers, the windows slightly open letting in the night breeze. She looked at the clock and saw the hand pointing to 'You should be in bed!'  Bollocks to that.  She wasn't tired, so she wasn't going to go to bed. And there was no one here telling her to do so. She settled onto a chair by the fireplace and stared at the burning embers, strangely reminiscent to the colour of her hair. It was then she heard it.

Li…ly…

Her head snapped in the direction of the window. She stepped off of her chair and slowly paced to the window, cautiously. This…prank, that was what it was, was growing old. She opened the window and took a look outside. Pass the lake, into the forests beyond.

Lil…leee…

"Stop it." She whispered to the voice.

Lily…

She slammed the windows shut, locking it at every clasp. Locking out the wind that carried the voice to her.

"Lily?" asked a voice behind her. She did a double and turned around, looking very pale.

"James!" She managed to gasp out looking from vulnerably scared, to angry. "Don't do that!"

"Don't do what?" James asked confused.

"You know what I mean James. You and Sirius thinking you'd get a laugh doing that, well it isn't funny anymore. Leave me alone!" She nearly yelled and ran up the stairs to her dorm. James stood in a stunned silence. 'Ok, what was that all about?' James thought. He picked up the invisibility cloak he had dropped at the foot of the doorway and headed to his own room, confused and a little bit angry.

***

Lily was in a foul mood the next morning. Having not slept for most of the night, she was not happy when the morning came. She also felt a bit guilty at snapping at James the night before. She shook off those thoughts as she rushed through the corridors. The school seemed to be a bit of a bur as she walked by. The paintings weren't clear, and the people she passed by were just blobs of colour. She shook this off. 'Maybe I'm coming down with a  fever.' She thought. 'Stupid weaknesses.' She thought angrily as she headed for Transfiguration.

She turned the corner and bashed into none other than Lucius Malfoy himself. Both fell back onto the floor.

"Mudblood! Watch where you're going!" He shouted at her.

"Say that again Malfoy and I swear I'll kill you, you little pansy," She retorted picking up her things. She then yelped in pain as his foot slammed down on her fingers.

"A Mudblood could never kill a wizard so superior to itself. All of your kind are not even worthy to be under my shoe, consider yourself lucky." He sneered, and kicked everything in her bag askew with his other foot, still keeping her hand pinned down. He then laughed a little.

"Honestly Mudblood, this is the way it should be. The scum of the universe begging down to us." He smirked.

Lily seethed with anger, her face going red with rage. She painfully pulled her hand from under his shoe. It was already red and raw with pain. She clenched her hands tightly and glared daggers at Malfoy. Totally forgetting about her wand she swung her hand back and landed a punch right on Malfoy's nose.

"YOU AND YOU'RE BLOODY OBSESSION WITH PUREBLOOD SUPERIORITY!" She yelled after he fell backwards once again on the floor now, clutching a bloodied nose.

"I CAN DO JUST AS MUCH MAGIC AS YOU! IF YOU SAY ONE MORE THING ABOUT MY INFERIORITY SO HELP ME I'LL MAKE SURE YOU DIE A SLOW AND PAINFUL DEATH!" She exploded, she looked on fire. Malfoy smirked at her.

"Believe me, if anyone will die a slow and painful death, it will be you. And you know why? Because you're a Mudblood. The revolution has already begun, and I'm going to make sure you're one of the first to die." He said coldly

Lily felt herself burn up, all this rage, anger and hatred just powered over her,  flowed through the very blood in her veins. This raw magic emanated through her being, and she literally was on fire. But it didn't burn her skin, Malfoy didn't even think she noticed the fire surrounding her. The fire escaped her and shot directly at Malfoy, his eyes widened in horror as he tried to escape it. The stream of fire passed right over the top of him. His platinum blonde hair now singed and burned, as was the carpet around him.

"MISS EVANS!" boomed a voice from behind her. Lily spun around to face a very livid looking Professor McGonagall.

"What in Merlin's name do you think you are doing?!" She shouted. Lily stood silently angry, and glared at her teacher.

"I'm dealing with the bullshit I have to put up with from him!" She shouted back, pointing at Malfoy.

"Mind your tongue Miss Evans. By the looks of it, Mr Malfoy seems to have put up with a lot more! 40 Points off Gryffindor, for your serious lack of attention for school rules, and detention. Mr Malfoy, please head up to Hospital Wing. Miss Evans, to class." She said. Lily quickly picked up her school equipment sprawled on the floor and headed for class, sulking slightly at her misfortune. Malfoy got up and dusted himself off, picking up his school bag.

"A beating by a girl better be worth this task," he growled under his breath.

***

The news of the fight between Lily and Lucius had spread around the school like wildfire. But what no one had known about it was that Lily had done wandless magic. Lily didn't talk much about the fight and glared at anyone who had asked her about it.  She was in no mood to talk to anyone about it and why it had happened. 

She was surprised that McGonagall hadn't noticed that it had been raw magic, with the use of no wand. But her wand and other school equipment had been sprawled all over the floor thanks to Malfoy, so she probably thought she had used her wand. Lily was surprised at herself. At that moment the fire burned around her, she had intended to hurt Malfoy really badly, perhaps even kill him. 'Don't be stupid, Malfoy's a prick, but you don't want to kill the bastard of Slytherin.' The thought scared her a little. She wasn't a murderous homicidal maniac. She shoved the thoughts to the back of her head, just as she shoved her sprouts to the back of her plate at dinnertime. She had been silent all throughout dinnertime. Gladys took the hint to not talk to her right now, but nevertheless, she sat opposite her.

"Was I out of line?" Lily thought aloud.

"Many of us would pay to hit Malfoy in the face, even if it did cost 40 points. It was a gift in the offing for you to hit him," Gladys said as she munched on a carrot. Lily smiled a little as she shoved about her mashed potato.

"If you're not hungry, you could give the food to Sirius, he's attempting to break the record of eating the most food before dessert." Gladys pointed to the other end of the table. Lily looked up, and sure enough, there was a crowd around him, as he guzzled down as much food as possible.

"I don't think Sirius would trust me if I gave him my food. But Gladys, have you seen James? I need to talk to him."

"I think he's in the library. Odd place for him to be isn't it!" Gladys smiled. Lily nodded and stood up.

"I'll see you in the common room." Lily said and headed out of the hall, knowing that the whole Slytherin table were glaring at her back. 

***

The Library was nearly empty, save for a few students sitting by the tables and scribbling down notes for homework. It didn't take too long for Lily to find the mop of black hair she was familiar to. He was standing by the Advanced Transfiguration section. She smiled.

"Sheesh…I knew you were good at Transfiguration, but don't you think it's a bit early for this stuff?" Lily asked. The black-haired boy lifted his head, meeting her gaze.

"Erm…extra-credit." James muttered and hastily placed the book back in the shelf.

"Listen, can I talk to you for a second?" Lily asked. James nodded and together, they headed out of the library. They walked silently for a second until Lily lead them outside to the edge of the lake. They sat by the sandy banks as the breeze ruffled red curls and black locks.

"I…I want to apologise for last night…or really early in the morning, whichever you prefer." Lily said. James turned to look at her.

"You caught me at a bad time, I guess I'm a bit cranky in the morning, and I was a little paranoid I guess." Lily continued, not meeting James' face.

"Paranoid about what?" James asked. Lily shook her head.

"Nothing. It wasn't right for me to take it out on you; I guess my redhead temper sometimes gets the better of me. First you, then Malfoy. I don't know, today's been rough, and I guess I just kind of took on you and which you don't deserve, and Malfoy, which he did deserve."  Lily said, turning to face him. James smiled.

"Water under the bridge," he replied holding out his hand. Lily smiled and shook it. "Let's head back inside, it's never good staying out for a long time on a cold November day."

They both stood up, and headed back into the castle, planning of ways to curse the hair off Malfoy's head. They never noticed the elegant Eagle Owl heading out, past the forest.  

***

A/N: Hello everyone! Firstly, I must apologise profusely for my serious lack of updates for the past…erm…months? L I'm sorry! I never meant to leave it for so long, but I have the curse of the block…Writer's Block to be precise, and I also have exams coming up which I had to revise for. So, I never had much time to update, and whatnot. I'm so sorry for leaving this for so long! Forgive me? Yes? No? Maybe? If you do forgive me…please review! J