It was impossible for Lily to get through this hell by herself. By default, she was an extremely intelligent girl among her peers, but her parents wanted her to be one of the top students. Even thought she was intelligent, there were still those who just were naturally better. So here Lily was, 'studying' her NEWTs and OWLs, but really dreaming about a certain someone.
Lily sighed again and tapped her quill against her NEWT preparation book. Suddenly a handsome owl flew by the window and tapped it twice. Lily smiled, curious to see if it was Jeanne and opened the screen. The bronze owl hooted and flew off again without looking back. Jeanne never sent her an owl unless it was absolutely necessary. Lily opened up the crème monogrammed paper and started reading:
Hi Lily,
How is your summer going along? Hope you're not studying too hard for the NEWTs and OWLs. Just take it easy but don't completely blow it off like me. Heh. Sirius and I are here at my place, just waiting for something to happen. Sirius wants for us to go to another club but then changes his mind again to play quidditch. He's so peculiar but he's the best bro. If you're ever un-busy then just call for me with Neo, my owl. But at the moment, it seems like you are. Keep it up, you can do it Lily. Sirius also sends his good luck. Owl us back so we know you're not dead.
James Potter
Lily smiled and immediately picked up her quill to write back. She chose a simple red colored stationary and began to write:
Hey James,
Oh man, you have no idea how bored I am. Yet my mom still won't let me off this stupid studying. I think I'll be able to see you once school starts because I'm just so swamped right now. Thanks for writing me by the way, it totally made my day to see an owl at my window, especially since my days consist of studying now. I'm actually counting when I'll be going back to Hogwarts.
You blew off your NEWTS and OWLs and yet you still placed the very top, so smart James. If only I could do that, but I'm no genius. But thanks for your motivation^^ Talk to you in soon, about two weeks?
Lily Evans
There, Lily finished with a flourish and called for her own owl, Athena. Stroking it's ears, Lily whispered for Athena to send it to James Potter and the owl hooted in response. Lily watched as the female bird soared out into the evening sky before returning to a long night of studying.
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Lily slowly slipped on her loose black warm up pants. They were the ones that didn't make any noise so it was perfect for this. She carefully slipped on the fitted long black-sleeved shirt and tied her hair into a straight braid down her back. Lily didn't care what her parents would think. She needed some 'me-time.' That is, she needed some time that didn't consist of either eating or studying, for heaven's sake, she was getting fat from not exercising. Anyway, slowly and stealthily, Lily slid open the screen of her window and levitated her broom outside. Cautiously, she lid one leg over and balanced quietly. There, free atlast, Lily shut the window and zoomed off into the night sky, hoping her parents wouldn't check her room.
The night sky was brilliant. The navy carpet cascading with millions of glittering stars and a crescent orb decorated the peaceful atmosphere making Lily sigh into the gentle windy breeze. The past weeks had been nothing but stress and stress didn't make Lily a happy girl.
Lily flew far and hard, away from her house. Her broom had a spell that would take it back to its house if Lily asked it to so Lily wasn't worried. The wind gently caressed her smooth face and her bangs flew around her face. Finally when she had gotten high enough to meet the moon's rays, she sped toward what looked like a body of water; the coast.
It was breathless. That's all Lily could call it. Lily dived down to the sand and stopped inches before it, sliding off. Throwing off her shoes, Lily felt the sand between her toes and heard the poetic beating of the waves. She couldn't resist just running into the ocean and feeling the water caress her ankles. Lily wanted to just run and splash at the water through her anger. So she did. Still fully clothed, Lily splashed and kicked at the water until she was breathless. Hearing a song in her head, Lily danced around getting rid of her pent-up energy.
Not so far away sat James Potter reading by his window. A sudden movement in the moonlight caught his eye and he squinted to see what was happening out on the beach. Was it possible? Was someone actually swimming and running around this late at night? James felt he should do something like call the police just incase if this person was suicidal. After all, you never know what people did at night. Nah, it wasn't his right anyway. Another glint of light flashed his way. Whoever it was, had just untied their hair and from what James could see, it was most certainly a girl. Wait, was that red hair? The moon's teasing paleness reflected upon that deep wine color almost looking like a brown in the dark. Red hair reminded James of Lily. Gosh, he missed that girl. Wait, what the?! He missed her just like he missed Sirius, he corrected himself. She was just like another Sirius. How many other redheads in this area of England was there? Maybe he was hallucinating. Lily didn't even live in the same city. James turned back to his reading.
Lily used a cleaning charm to get all the sand off her feet and shoes. Tying her shoelaces together and hanging it on the end of the broom, Lily pushed off from the ground and lifted up in the air. The broom should know how to get home now. Feet hanging carelessly and hair blown mercilessly behind her, Lily closed her eyes and just felt the broom zoom through the air. That was just so nice. A night out on her own to just calm her nerves. School would be starting in 2 days and Lily would be free of her parents. However, school would just be another obstacle. Especially seeing James being surrounded by constant beauties. Lily sighed and just waved that motion aside. He was a 7th year and after this year, he'd be done. End. Over with and he'd have to go find a wife since it was customary for Prominent wizarding families to teach their children to find their significant other post-Hogwarts.
Lily returned home, opened the window and snuck back into her room, careful to not disturb anyone.
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Lily pulled on her knee high white socks and slipped on black heeled shoes. Adjusting her pleated skirt on her hips, Lily tucked in her collared blouse and slipped on her gray oxford sweater with Red and Gold markings symbolizing Gryffindor. She was definitely too lazy to change on the long train ride to Hogwarts so she'd just wear a long coat over her uniform. Besides, it wasn't as if Muggles didn't wear long coats, everyone did whether in the wizarding world or the muggle world. Tucking in all her other clothes and robes for the year, Lily slowly pushed the trunk lid closed and glanced around the room to see if she forgot anything.
Dress Robes. Check. Underwear. Check. Hair ties. Check. Uniforms. Check. Casual wear. Check. Good. Everything was set and Lily hadn't forgotten anything. Jeanne's parents had already gone to Diagon Alley to buy their books and robes so Lily was all set. She put the books and her Hogwarts robe into the enchanted messenger bag that Jeanne had given her for her birthday 2 years ago. It was enchanted to look like it was holding nothing while the things that were placed in it automatically shrank and became weightless. Putting on her long black coat, Lily wheeled out her trunk from her room and went downstairs.
There, her parents were completely beaming at her.
" Don't forget to Study and sleep. Sleep is important." Lily's mom smiled.
" Yes and listen to the teachers. Don't forget to learn and improve everyday." Lily's father joined in.
Lily smiled sincerely, for she really did those things, but screamed on the inside, and replied, " Yes mom. Yes dad."
Her parents beamed at their youngest daughter while her older sister Petunia shrugged and looked away. Lily didn't care either, for Petunia had totally distanced herself away from Lily once she found out that Lily was a witch.
The three of them got into the navy Mercedes and sped off the Kings Cross.
Once they had gotten there, Lily's parents parked the car and wheeled her trunk into the station for her, Petunia lagging behind. While Petunia had on a pantsuit that helped her look a bit more curvy, since she was extremely tall and thin with no meat on her bones, Lily's black coat flowed out behind her making her look powerful with her chin held high.
" Have fun this year." Lily's parents hugged and kissed her making Lily feel a bit guilty for being mad at them. They were her parents and they wanted the best for her. Lily hugged and kissed back, even stiffly hugging Petunia who's facial expression remained the same; cool and unaffected for she had a date with a man in 30 minutes.
Lily waved and with a final glance, disappeared through the brick wall between platform 9 and 10. She smiled and took her trunk behind her, striding towards the ringing train for the final 10 minutes before leaving. Lugging the trunk into the nearest compartment in which she and Jeanne sat at every year, she put it securely in the closet and came back out, leaving the train. She was waiting for Jeanne.
Jeanne looked around, trying to spot a relatively not tall but not short girl with wine red hair. Ahh there she was, with her famous black coat that had everyone wanting it when she first got it. Lily was a natural trendsetter. Grinning and picking up her pace, walked and put her hands around Lily's eyes feeling Lily stiffen up instantly.
" Guess who?" She said in a low voice.
" Jeanne Wang! I've missed you soo much!" Lily spun around to face a grinning Jeanne and hugged her warmly. Jeanne was wearing a heather gray peacoat over her uniform with her hair tied with a silver bow at the nape of her neck.
"Come on, I saved our compartment." Just as the two girls were going to leave, two pairs of running leather doc martens launched themselves near them as two pairs of strong arms lifted the girls up making them squeal.
" Oh my freaking---" Lily was interrupted.
" Now now Lily." James grinned at her. " Where'd you learn naughty words like that?"
"And what about you dearest Jeanne?" Sirius smiled at a giggling Jeanne. " Do you want us to put you down or would u prefer for us to literally escort you on the train?"
" Oh no. We loooove how we're still about 3 feet off the ground." Came Lily's sarcastic reply.
James and Sirius grinned at each other and said, "Alright, suit yourself." With that, both of the men hoisted a squealing Jeanne and an equally squealing (plus kicking) Lily over their shoulders and charged towards the leaving train. Passerby's laughed at the two men carrying one young lady who was laughing hysterically and another one who was torn between murderous glances and laughing.
Once they reached on the train, Sirius asked where their compartments were and Jeanne pointed it out to him.
" Shoot, we came too late." Sirius replied. " There are no more."
Jeanne pulled her bangs away from her face and grinned at him. " You could stay here with us, there's only me and Lily anyway."
James smiled at her and looked at Sirius. " So we stay?"
Sirius nodded as he and Lily sat down on the squishy couches.
"Those are some pretty hot coats you got there," He remarked to Lily. " I don't see those at Roseblooms." The store he was referring to was an extremely successful chain of designer clothes from the wizarding world.
Lily laughed with Jeanne and replied, " Nope, these coats are muggle made. I bought Jeanne this one after I got my own. It's really long as you can see." Sirius was fascinated as Lily stood up and twirled around jokingly and modeled in her long, long black coat. James even asked if he could try it on but ended up not being able to fit it well since it was pretty snug on Lily.
The door slid open and a handsome sandy blond guy walked in smiling shyly.
"Remus!" Lily exclaimed and instantly bounded up to hug the tall student. "How have you been? I haven't seen you for ages!" The other guys and Jeanne chimed in with equally sentimental statements showing their friendship.
" Hi Lily, Jeanne. Like your coats by the way, Prongs, Padfoot. Peter's already at Hogwarts, his mother brought him in since he gets sick." Remus told the group.
" Poor Peter," Sirius remarked airily to no one in particular.
A/N: blaaah…I'm so tired. Heh. Sorry for not posting earlier^^ I'm so burnt out from school. Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter. More coming up!
