FINALLY! MY GOODNESSSS! I'M SOOO SORRY FOR NOT UPDATING FOR A LONG TIME... Well, not the longest chapter ever... but a chapter a chapter rite? x]~ I should be able to get the next chapter up sooner than this one. I'm halfway done with it. YeP~

_____________________________________________________________________

Christmas was fairly pleasant for Lily. Lily and her family traveled to Aberdeen in Scotland, where their relatives lived. One morning, on Christmas Eve, Lily, being a very light sleeper, woke up to soft, familiar hooting. She opened her eyes and noticed four sleepy owls rustling their feathers softly on top of the bed that she was sharing with her cousin, Olivia. Lily sleepily got up, untied the letters and parcels from the four owl's legs, fed them some leftover pie from last night and sent them back out on their way before Olivia could wake up.

The parcels weren't wrapped in the normal brown paper, but in Christmas wrapping paper, so she put those aside, deciding to open them on Christmas Day and ripped open the first letter, from Shay, which told her that she had just stayed home and something about going to James' house at the end of vacation. The next letter was from Minnie, who had traveled to France and it also said at the end, "See you at James' soon." The third letter was from James and it explained that he had invited a couple of friends to sleep over at his house and catch the Hogwarts Express together. The fourth letter was from Remus, which shortly explained that he was in Sweden and that he'd see her at James' house.

Lily was now fully awake and brimming with excitement. With a heavy sigh of disappointment when she realized that her parents wouldn't be up for another hour, she dragged herself to the bathroom for a long shower.

After the half hour respite, which seemed more like two hours, half of the house was groggily getting up and washing up for breakfast.

"Where did those come from?" Olivia asked, looking at the new small pile of presents at the end of their bed.

"Oh, they were in my trunk, I just forgot to take them out." Lily covered up.

The large dining room was slowly filling up with people as more and more of Lily's relatives came down the stairs. As breakfast progressed, the conversation shifted from the recent IRA attacks to the popular tennis player, Martina Navratilova.

After breakfast, the children went outside to play in the fresh snow, which covered the world in a white blanket while some adults went out to get some last-minute shopping done and some stayed in the kitchen, with steaming hot chocolate. Lily's parents were one of the few that were still in the kitchen so Lily went up to them with James' letter.

"So can I go?" She asked delicately when her mother's eyes finally scanned the last words.

"Love, James Potter?" Her mother said dangerously.

"He's a friend."

"Love, James Potter?" She repeated, her nostrils flaring dangerously like Professor McGonagall's. "Lily, this does not sound like a friend. Your father and I didn't get interested in each other until—"

"I'm not dating him!" Lily interrupted.

"Good! I'm glad you got that right!" Her mother flushed. "Now go play outside like a normal child and don't come to me begging if you can go sleep at some boy's house."

"It's just a friendly gathering. Even Shay is going."

"Lily, I thought you were all grown up, but I guess not. You don't need to go just because Shay is going. Also, you can clearly see that this boy is interested in you and I don't approve of him smothering my daughter. You're falling into his trap!"

"HIS TRAP?! WHAT TRAP! HE'S JUST A FRIEND!"

"Oh, stop screaming. Harold, come on. Tell her we absolutely disapprove."

"Well Jolene, he seems like a harmless friend to me. Just because he used the word 'love' at the end of his letter, we shouldn't be jumping into absurd conclusions."

"ABSURD? JUMPING TO CONCLUSIONS!?" Lily's mother slammed down the cup of hot chocolate, spilling little drops on the mahogany table. "HAROLD! WE CAN'T JUST LET OUR DAUGHTER GO TO SOME STRANGE BOY'S HOUSE! WE DON'T EVEN KNOW HIS PARENTS!"

"Jolene—"

"DON'T CALL ME PARANOID! I'M NOT—"

"I wasn't going to. Why don't we just invite them over sometime and meet them. Maybe they're perfectly fine…"

Lily's mother had stomped off in frustration.

There was an obvious tension between Lily's parents and also between Lily and her mother throughout the rest of the vacation in Aberdeen. There was an awkward silence throughout the car ride and when someone spoke, the words were spoken slowly and stiffly. Even Petunia decided to keep her mouth shut.

The few days after Christmas Day were quite uneventful and rolled by slowly. Lily stayed cooped up in her room, catching up on holiday homework while her parents finally started to speak to each other, although a bit formally than on regular basis. Lily read over James' letter, over and over again, wanting desperately to go. But it was too plain that if Lily brought up the subject again, the consequences would be worse.

When the morning of the day that Lily was supposed to go to James' house finally came, Lily awoke with a heavy sigh and trudged downstairs, filled with envy for her friends. She grabbed a French toast off the oven and carelessly dropped it on her plate. The glass plate made an unpleasant 'clang' on the table when she dropped it a little harder than she intended. She tried not to look around the table as she sat down. She slowly masticated on the toast, while studying the pattern on her plate. The day went by as usual and her mom went out to shop while Petunia was in her room, giving herself a pedicure.

Lily sat comfortably on the sofa and twirled a piece of hair around her index finger, sipping hot chocolate, reading a book. It was pouring outside, instead of the white snow that she hoped. She gazed into the fireplace and was dozing off lazily when the door knocked curtly.

"Got it." Lily heard Petunia say.

She heard the door swing open and the rain splashing outside, accompanied by a symphony of thunders. A blood curling scream echoed in the house and Lily rushed to the scene, surprised by the scream.

"What the—" Lily's father started.

"Um, hello!" Lily said carefully.

"I'm very sorry for the scare miss! I really sincerely did not mean to!" The blue eyed elf said. "Please accept my sincere apologies!"

"What is this… thing?" Petunia spat out, frowning at the small elf.

"This is an elf, not a thing." Lily replied curtly. "How can we help you?"

"Oh yes, I'm sorry, the introduction slipped my mind… I am Cineraria, Elf number 14 of the Potter-"

"They numbered you?!" Lily asked, disgusted.

"Well, no. Us elves insisted Madame Potter to, but she refused. I really do not know why. I don't expect them to remember our names. But they are so kind, to call us by our n-names…" Cineraria managed to say before she broke down, crying. "They're t-too good to us. B-bad time for el-elves… B-b-but too good to us…" It took a few seconds for her to regain her composure before she began to talk normally again. "Please forgive me. Anyways, I am here to pick up Miss Lily Evans. The carriage is outside."

"Huh?"

"Miss Lily Evans right? My master told me to pick up Miss Lily Evans."

"But…" Lily suddenly realized that she never sent a letter back, saying her parent's responses. She turned around to her dad, with a subtle hint of hopefulness in her eyes.

"Lily, your mother said no."

"Dad!"

"Lily." He sighed. "Go ahead. I'll talk to your mother."

"Really?"

"Yes. I think you're responsible enough to make the right choices."

"Dad! You're just letting her go?!" Petunia screeched. But her voice was drowned when Lily squealed in joy and gave her father a tight hug.

"All right, let me get my stuff." Lily said. She had already packed all her stuff since she as done with her holiday homework the day before and had nothing to do.

"Got them!" Cineraria exclaimed, snapping her fingers. The baggage disappeared from Lily's sight.

"Thanks. Okay, dad. I'll see you during Easter Break then?"

"Of course honey." He replied.

Lily hugged him, said bye to Petunia, who was slowly backing out of the foyer, and walked out into the pouring rain. A scarlet carriage with six white reindeers was floating in the air in the middle of the main drive. Cineraria just casually walked out into the street and into the air. There seemed to be an invisible set of stairs, leading up to the carriage. Lily fidgeted on the curb, staring strangely at the happy elf, humming to herself.

"Well hurry up miss! We don't have all day!" She said, motioning to Lily.

Lily precariously stepped into the street, feeling a plushy something ahead of her. The air seemed to be dense under her feet and she carefully and slowly walked up to the carriage. Cineraria swung the scarlet door open for her and she stepped into the carpeted carriage.

"Hey Lily!" Minnie greeted her cheerfully.

"Oh hey Minnie!" Lily smiled and sat down by her.

"Hello Miss Lily Evans!" A brown eyed elf bowed deeply, before breaking into a toothy grin. "I am Lily! Cineraria's second cousin."

"Lily? Your name is Lily?" Lily asked, laughing.

"Yes. I hope that does not cause confusion between the two of us." Lily the elf said.

The two elves both had on a deep burgundy outfit on. She studied carefully and noticed that the skirt was made with curtain ruffles and the top was made with a small pillowcase. They both had a small engraved 'P' on the bottom hem.

"Mr. Sirius Black, Mr. Peter Pettigrew and Miss… uh…" Lolly trailed, scratching her head. Lily the elf violently poked her side and whispered loudly 'Shayla Fintley' and rolled her eyes. "Yes, Miss Shayla Fintley is waiting back at the Manor." Lolly squeaked, her round face turning into bright pink. She turned around and hit her head repeatedly, whispering the name numerous times.

"Oh. Okay." Lily said.

She leaned back in the luxurious seat. The carriage passed lush green hills of the estuaries and passed over the busy streets of Canterbury. Soon, they flew over the outskirts of the city and into the rural parts of the country. The carriage slowed down and hovered above a medium sized house, which Lily recognized as Remus' house. Sure enough, five minutes later, the three of them, Lily, Remus, and Minnie were chatting happily about their vacation. Before long, the carriage stopped in a 19th century style manor with a circular courtyard in front of it.

___________________________________________________________

Bad place to stop... yea i know. o wells. I love reviews... Did u know that?