Chapter Five: The Shock

Lily was smiling after her meeting with Sirius. He may have been a prankster, but he was after all her friend, and hadn't told her secrets to James, no matter how close he was to him.

When she and Vanessa had finished shopping, they took Floo powder back to Vanessa's house, as they were hanging out there for the afternoon.

"So, Lily—" said Vanessa, but Lily interrupted.

"How long have you liked Sirius?"

Vanessa flushed a deep crimson color.

"Since I've met him," she responded, and Lily smirked.

"It's not that hard to tell. He likes you too Vanessa," she said, but Vanessa shook her head.

"No. I don't want to be another kiss-and-run casuality. No, I'll wait for now, until he likes me enough to stay with me," Vanessa responded.

"Well, since we have nothing better to do, want to go work on becoming Animagi, like we had figured we'd do?"

"Definitely. Lessgo," said Vanessa, and they ran up the stairs (they had been lounging by the pool) of Vanessa's house into her room.

Vanessa's room had an Unbreakable Charm on it, placed on the door especially by her mother. Anything they said or did could not be heard from the outside, and any eavesdropping curse would rebound upon its opponet, causing the people in the room to hear everything they said.

Lily attempted first, as she was already an unregisterd Animagus. She turned into a act, with tiger stripes. Vanessa tried to do it, but she was having problems.

"Clear your mind! Not even Sirius can be in it!" said Lily, and her friend began to tranform. She got stuck halfway though, and they waited for five minutes in silence until finally Vanessa turned into an owl—a bright, snowy owl. Lily transformed back into a human, as did Vanessa.

"And to think we thought it would be hard," said Lily, smiling at her friend.

"We need nicknames so we know what form of ourselves we're talking about," said Vanessa.

""You just want a nickname so you can be like Sirius! Anyway, I guess we can—what name did you have in mind?"

"Well, since I'm an owl, maybe something like Beaky?"

"Nah, that sounds just strange…I'll be Tigerlily. Hmm, something that is with owls….Parsley?"

"Ew no! Parsley is disgusting! I dunno, what should I be?"

"Helphart?"

"Actually, that's not half bad!"

"Okay. Now you're Helphart. At least, when you're in your Animagus form."

"And you're Tigerlily."

"Okay."

Time passed, and the two girls chatted away in Vanessa's room—until they were called down by Mrs. Prewitt.

"Lily, your mother seems to have had a bad fall—she fell into some Dungbombs and now is in the hospital. Do you want to go visit?"

Tears covered Lily's eyes. "Yes, I'd like that, thanks."

With that, Mrs. Prewitt drove Lily and Vanessa to the emergency room. Lily ran to her mother's area, where her mother appeared to have passed out.

"She was found at her home by your sister. Lord knows how long she's been lying there."

Lily's eyes once more filled with tears. If her mother died, where would she live?

Chapter Six: The New Term

The summer passed, quite eventfully, unless you were Lily. Her mother still hadn't awaken—but she was still breathing, nonetheless. Lily was wondering what would happen quite worriedly—her father had made it clear that she was not to go back to her school if she lived with him—but she would, if her mother died, have nowhere to go.

Lily's eyes filled with tears once more as she boarded the scarlet train to go to Hogwarts. She had a bad feeling about this.

"Love you Mum," said James, hugging his mother.

"Have a safe trip!" said James' dad.

"I don't want any letters from Professor Dumbledore this year!" said his mother, a grin on her face. "Try to stay out of trouble."

"Trouble is my middle name!" said James, smiling, as he boarded the train. He went down the hall and quickly found the room with Remus, Sirius, and Peter, so he went inside it. But they weren't the only ones in there—so were

"Lily? Vanessa?"

"Leave Lily alone, she doesn't know how much longer her mother will be here, let her be."

"What do you mean Vanessa?"

"Her mother tripped down the stairs. Her mum's a Muggle, see, so she didn't know what happened with Dungbombs—the smoke they gave off made her miss a step on the way down the stairs and she tumbled downwards. Lily's mum is still in the hospital, and has been there approximitely two months. Leave her be."

James looked at Lily, sorrow in his eyes.

"I'm sorry to hear about that," said James, triying not to look guiilty. It had been he that sent Lily Dungbombs for her birthday—and she seemed to know it.

"Potter, I know what you did. Don't think I didn't.

"I never said you didn't!"

"But you were thinking it."

"How would you know?"

"I'm a mind reader."

"Such people don't exist, Evans."

"Yes they do. Like this: I know what you're thinking."

"What is that."

"You're thinking that you want me to leave the compartment now."

"Now I'm not!"

"Yep, I see it in your eyes. 'Those gorgeous eyes,' thought Lily, but snapped out of her thoughts quickly.

"As I do in yours, Evans. Leave the compartment NOW," he said, and she picked up her stuff, looking accomplished, smiled, and walked out.

James watched her figure sit in one of the other compartments before entering his own.

"Vanessa, go comfort your friend."

"Arrogant toerag," said Vanessa, walking out.

"Why'd you say that to Vanessa?" asked Sirius, angry.

"I don't need to keep hearing about Evans," he said. "It hurts the ears and annoys the listeners, not to mention the tellers."

"No, Vanessa is different," said Sirius. "She's eccentric, she's—"

"Way outta your league, man. Snap out of it."

"No."

"Bull, man. Anyway, we need to get this straight about what we're doing for the Slytherins this year…"

And they spent the rest of the trip getting ready for their first prank.