HeY yOu GuYs! HeRe'S yOuR cHaPpIe On ThE fOuRtH dAy LiKe I pRoMiSeD! BoN aPpEtTiTe!

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Lily woke up at seven that morning, instead of six like the previous day. She noticed Shay had left for Quidditch. She got up and got in the shower. She stood under the hot running water, thinking about the new winged horse she would get to take care of, starting today. The project… partner… James. She shook her head, trying to get rid of him. 'Get over it Lily' she said in her head. She decided to take a safer route. Her homework in Transfiguration… how the class went… how she had been yelled by Professor McGonagall… Shay defending her by bringing up James… James. 'Oh my gosh!' Lily was now screaming in her head. She tried to occupy herself by doing random math problems in her head. She was very good in math, as she was taking Arithmancy. 'Let's see, 2957 times 35… 5 times 2957… hmm… 10,285' Lily said to herself. Suddenly an image of James popped in her head, 'No, no, Lily, 2957 times five is 14,785.' 'Great. Now he talks…' Lily thought.

She turned off the water and walked out slowly, trying not to slip. She summoned her bathrobe and put in on. She shook her dark red, auburn hair but still keeping it damp. She liked how her cold hair made her head clear, free of James. She dressed into her usual robes and was about to walk out to eat breakfast when Shay ran into her.

"Hi Lily!" Shay said.

"Hey." Lily grumbled, as the sight of Shay's Quidditch robes made her think of James.

"Wait for me, I'll be right down, just need to change." Shay shouted running up the stairs.

The portrait swung open and a group of Gryffindors walked in, ignoring Lily. Lily sighed and just sat down on a couch, staring at the fire. She heard the portrait open again, and she turned around, to see who it was. It was Conner Banks, flushed with Quidditch practice. He just went up to the dorm, not realizing Lily was there. Lily turned and faced the fire again, and slumped. She again heard the portrait swing open and didn't even bother to turn around to see who it was.

"G' morning Lily." Remus said.

"Oh hi Remus!" Lily responded, whipping around.

Remus walked over and sat by Lily. They talked about their family at home. 'Good, this is keeping my mind off James…' She thought. 'No! I just thought of him again!' Soon Shay came downstairs. Remus went to his dorm and Lily and Shay left for breakfast. They sat by Sunmin and started to eat breakfast. Soon everyone was done. Their classes went normally, so did lunch, and it was soon time for double Care of Magical Creatures.

Everyone whispered excitedly. They walked out into the big courtyard behind the classroom. In a fenced area, there were various colors of baby horses. But they all had a short, stubby wings growing on the side of their round sides. Professor Icheo immediately started choosing partners.

"Let's see… Evans, Evans, Evans… Who should I put you with… I want to put you with someone a little dumber, to even it out a bit, but, how about someone to match your abilities with. Now let's see, who's the other Gryffindor prefect?" He asked.

"James Potter" Lily said.

"All right, you'll work with him," he said carelessly. He then moved onto other people. Lily walked over to James, who was talking with Peter.

"Um, James, you're my partner." Lily said.

"I told you," James said, smiling. "Which horse do you want?"

Lily shrugged and looked at the baby horses.

"I really like that black one, running around with its head held up high." James said. "Are you okay with that?"

"No," A cold male voice answered. It was Malfoy. "I expect the mudblood want something more like that skinny brown sick one in the corner, they resemble each other." He sneered, looking at the poor horse by the barn, so skinny that it could hardly stand up. Its eyes were sunken and hollow. There were patches of fur missing. It only hung around with another one, almost exactly like it, except white, without the missing patches of fur.

James looked at Lily whose eyes were shiny. Her lips were in a thin line as she looked away.

"Go away, Malfoy. We can do fine without you. If you think that horse is good for Lily, you don't even deserve to look at it." James said simply, gripping his wand. Malfoy growled and left.

"I want that one." Lily said, looking at the brown horse.

"What?" James said, frowning.

"I said I want the brown one." Lily said, walking over to Professor Icheo to tell him.

James walked behind her, confused.

"Professor Icheo, we chose our baby horse. We want that brown one, in the corner." Lily said.

He looked at them suspiciously but still said,

"Okay. I don't see why you would want it, but fine with me. That one's mother died when giving birth. The white one's its only friend. You want to be really gentle with her, she's really weak. Here's the bridle, just put it on her and lead her around. Today's a free day. Just make sure to put her back before the class is over."

"Thank you." Lily responded, taking the black bridle.

"Why the hell did you choose her?" James asked.

"Because." Lily said.

"Why?" James said, jogging to keep up with her.

"She'll be a challenge. Plus, she looks so lonely. I know what it feels like you're the only one left out, when everyone else gets chosen." Lily said, now opening the gate.

"Oh." James said.

They walked in the pasture and walked to the brown horse. She was so muddy that it was uncertain to tell the real color; it just looked brown from a distance away. Lily stroked her head. The hollow sunken eyes looked up at her. They were telling a million stories. Lily just stroked her neck reassuringly. She put the bridle on her and gave the rope to James.

"What should we name her?" James said, looking at Lily.

"I don't know, but let's clean her up first."

"All right" James led the foal into the barn and got a bucket of warm water. They got two sponges and started to clean the horse. After 10 minutes of scrubbing, they were done. Lily muttered a drying spell and took a step back to examine the foal. She wasn't brown anymore. Even though there were still patches of missing fur, she was stormy grey.

"Let's name her Storm" James said, admiring the foal.

"Okay." Lily said, putting the bridle on her. She led the foal out. It balanced uneasily on its wobbly legs. Its small folded wings spread out to about a feet. It walked around in the new environment, smelling new smells, tasting new grass.

"Wow, look at the time, class is almost over." James said. Lily responded by putting the foal in its own stall in the barn.

"Where did you learn to take care of horses?" James asked, looking at how quickly and professionally Lily handled bridle and the horse.

"I work at a Muggle Horse Stable during the summer." She said. She put some hay in and Crystal Water. Crystal Water was an essential part of a winged horse's diet. It gave them extra nutrition to help them grow their wings without their own mother's milk.

They walked out into the cold sun. It was straining to give out the last drop of heat from the summer, but the cold fall weather was taking over quickly. The icy breeze flew across the grassy field. Lily shivered and hugged her school uniform tighter around herself. 'I should've brought my cloak' she thought.

"You cold?" James asked, taking off his thick cloak.

"No, it's okay." Lily said quickly, letting go of the folds of the robe that she had been clutching tight around herself.

"Yes you are." He said, smiling. He threw his cloak around her.

"Th—thanks." Lily said, teeth chattering, but smiling.

"What class do you have next?" He asked, getting out his schedule.

"Defense Against Dark Arts." Lily responded, getting out her own schedule.

"Same. I have this class with you, Advanced Charms, Potion, and let's see… you take Arithmancy?" James said.

Lily nodded. He continued.

"I heard it's really hard. I take Muggle Studies."

They reached the warm castle corridors soon. Lily took off his cloak and said thanks.

"You're welcome; I'm going to go up to my dorm and take my cloak off. I don't want to carry it around. I'll see you in class" James said and left.

Lily walked down the familiar dark corridors to the DADA classroom.

"Evans," A voice hissed. Lily turned around. It was Gringley. She gasped. He came out of the dark corner and grabbed her wrist. "I heard you were good with horses… you better take care of mine, the chestnut one." Lily frantically looked around, trying to find someone to call help for but no one was there. Gringley tightened his grip.

"It's in the third stall from the east entrance of the barn. Vaser is my partner and I wouldn't trust her with a flobberworm." He spat. "I told her I got it taken care of. And if you don't take care of my foal I will make sure your foal is dead." Lily struggled to take her hand out of the strong grip. His nails were making red marks on her skin. "Do you hear me Evans? One word out, and you can say good bye to your own foal, and I don't think Ocheo would be pleased… neither will be Potter."

"Let go, you're hurting me." Lily whimpered. He glared at her and let go. He turned around and walked as if nothing happened. Lily stood there and massaged her wrist. It had red scratch marks. She gulped down her tears and ran down to her classroom. She ran in at the last minute. She grabbed a seat by Remus and Shay.

"Why are you so late?" Remus said.

"I'll tell you later." Lily said. 'Should I tell him? Of course I should. I've always told him everything… But this is different. If I tell him, he'll definitely tell Professor Dumbledore and make a big deal out of it. Then Gringley will get worse… I won't tell him. But it's Remus. He's never lied to me before. He's so honest. I'll tell him someday. When it doesn't matter anymore.' Lily thought.

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tHaT's... It, FoLkS! hOpE yOu LiKeD iT!!!