LAST TIME ON... a trick of time

"Hold on." He told me, and I nervously put my hands around his waist. He turned his head to look back at me. He winked and the with a WOOSH we took off from the ground

now on with the story............

END OF CHAPTER 4

Chapter 5
and neither am I

I shut my eyes and made my grip around his waist tighter as we zoomed up and into the clouds.

"James! Slow down!" I begged him

"Only if you open your eyes."

"No!" I squealed and just as I said that we began to go even faster "SLOW DOWN!"

"Just open your eyes."

"Ok, but slow down first!." The broom began to slow down and I opened my eyes.

"See it's not that bad is it?"

He was right. It was so beautiful so breath taking. I'd never seen anything like it.

"It's gorgeous!" I told him

He looked back at me "I thought you might like it. Its not as bad as you might think."

"No, I guess its not."

"and neither am I." he winked and then turned back around and the broom started going faster again. This time, I wasn't scared.

(a/n- this next section is from the point of view of Lily's 23 yr. old self.)

The yesterday and today have been some of the oddest days of my life. I'm 23 years old trapped in my 16 yr. old self's body. I'm back at Hogwarts, my best friend is alive again, my future husband thinks I hate him (well my 16 year old self does) and a friend of mine who hasn't spoken to me in 2 years is speaking to me.

Sure back when I was 16 I got trapped in a trick of time, but I never dreamed that when I was 23 it would happen again. Although I suppose it's only logical I mean if I was 23 when I was 16 wouldn't it make sense that I'm 16 when I'm supposed to be 23? I really should have seen this coming.

"Lily are you feeling better today?" said Gwen as she came skipping back into our dorm.

"Somewhat." I responded

"Ya, you still don't seem like your normal self. Maybe Potter put some kind of trancing potion on that last rose he sent you."

I'd forgotten about the roses that James used to send me.

"Ya maybe."

We walked out of the dorm together. As happy as I was to have Gwen back, I wasn't looking forward to another day of being 16.

(ok we're going back to the 16yr Lily trapped as 23)

We arrived at the ministry and James walked me to my office. He kept telling me things to remember and told me to avoid doing work cause I'd probably just screw things up for my future self.

"Ok here we are. Remember Ana's..."

"I know, I know she's the person I share my office with."

"Precisely... you'll be fine. Avoid doing work, I'm gonna go. Bye Lils."

"bye James." I opened the door to my office but just before I closed it behind me I waved goodbye.

"I love you Lily." He said and I shut the door

He loved me?

"James flew you here again today? How romantic! Geeze Lily I don't know how you found a catch like him... Jeremy never does anything like that for me."

I turned around to see Ana shuffling papers at her desk. Ok, Ana was the one who was a few years older than me, had a boy named Jacob and was married to what James called a "low life".

"How's Jacob doing?" I asked nervously as I made my way over to my own desk

"Oh he's fine. He's spending the week with my mother."

I spent the entire day trying to remember names and faces. Once or twice I got lost in the ministry, about 5 times I mixed up people names, and atleast 8 people told me I didn't seem like myself and that I should take the rest of the day off. On the bright side, I managed to go the whole day without doing any work.

Seven hours after he dropped me off James came back and picked me up... I still couldn't get over that 'he loved me'. So I didn't talk much. It was weird. This guy who I hated and loathed more than anyone on the planet, loved me? How was that possible?

We arrived back at godrics hallow. I sat down in the parlor and picked up a picture on the coffee table. I was wearing a pale pink dress robe and Gwen had on a sea green one. We looked to be about 21 years old and were holding a chicken while James and Remus were in the background rolling on the ground with laughter.

James came over holding a tray. It had 2 goblets of pumpkin juice on it. He beckoned for me to take one, I took it then he sat down.

"We're you looking at that?" he asked pointing to the picture

"ya, why the hell am I holding a chicken, while wearing dress robes?"

"That was Caroline's wedding, and umm Sirius and I decided to have a little fun. I must say Caroline and Amos weren't to thrilled about it though. Of course we couldn't resist, I mean Amos is and was such a pretty boy, perfect at everything. It was the perfect opportunity."

"I see." I said as I rolled my eyes, maybe James was just the same as his 16 year old self. "Wait... did you say Amos? As in Amos Diggory?"

"Ya, actually you got a letter from caroline about a week ago. She just had a baby boy, I think they named it Charlie, or something with a C."

Ha, so Caroline had found 'the one' and she was wrong, it wasn't James Potter.

"How long was this taken before Gwen..." I couldn't finish it. I still didn't want to believe she was gone.

He let out a small sigh. "2 weeks."

I took a deep breath "How did it happen?"

He set down his pumpkin juice "Lils, I'm not sure I should, I don't think you can handle it..."

"I can."

"But... Lils..."

"Tell me."

"Well it was a beautiful day outside and you and I were brewing a potion. You were out in the herb garden getting some wilt leaf to finish it off but you got bitten by something. You were a mess, you weren't thinking straight and your hand was turning orange then it turned blue. I took you to St. Mungo's to have it looked at."

I nodded.

"Well Gwen was a healer, and even though it was her day off she decided to come in and look at your hand for herself. I talked to her before she came over and she said that the healer who was looking after you was a bone head."

It would only make sense that Gwen wouldn't trust anyone but herself to look after me.

"Well actually this is the odd part. When I went into your room and told you that Gwen was coming you told me to go back and tell her not to. I didn't see what the problem was, like I said you were out of it and not acting like yourself. Whatever bit you was affecting your brain so I didn't take you quite seriously. I thought it might be good for you to see her. She might wack some sense into you, but then you started crying and going into hysterics about how you didn't want her there and that she had to stay where she was. I didn't listen and finally you started crying so hard that tears the size of galleons were coming down your cheeks. I kept waiting and waiting for Gwen to show up, but she never did."

I felt a lump in my throat.

"Gwen was flying her broom. She'd always hated apperating. Didn't like to bother with it. Plus as clever as she was, she wasn't very good at it. The weird thing is, we don't know how she died. A few hours after I talked to her she was found laying in a field her broom busted in two."

My stomach tied itself in a knot, and a few tears rolled down my cheeks. James stood up, walked over to me and sat down with me on the couch. He put his arm around me and I set my head on his shoulder.

"So Clarissa was right?" I sobbed "It was my fault."

"No darling it wasn't."

"But she was coming to see me." I cried

"I know she was, but you wouldn't have been able to keep her away. She loved you like the sister she never had. There was no way she was going to let any other healer touch you."

"But she's gone... because of me..." I cried

He came over and put his arm around me. I rested my head on his shoulders. Then he wiped a tear from my eye.

"No darling, no. It's not your fault."

"But...I..." I studdered as he looked me in the eye. I turned my head away and he picked up my hand.

"Lily look at me."

I couldn't.

"Lillian Evans Potter look at me."

Slowly I turned my head to meet his eyes. Then he said "Lily, I may not be YOUR husband, but I do want to be your friend. You have to trust me when I tell you this is not your fault."

I rested my head on his shoulder again. Then after a few moments I realized what I was doing. No matter how sweet he was, he was still James Potter. The James Potter I loathed and hated, but how could I hate this man? He's done nothing but be patient with me since I got here. Now he's letting me cry on his shoulder. Maybe deep down James wasn't so bad.

"Shhh..." he said "Lily, its gonna be ok."

"ya I know."

I stayed with him like that for a few minutes. Then I stood up, yawned and said "ok I'm going to turn in for the night."

"ya, that's probably a good idea." He told me as he began making a bed up on the couch.

"Good night James." I said

"Sweet Dreams Lily."

"And, James?"

"Yes?"

"thanks."

With that said I headed up the spiral stair case to my bedroom.

I yawned a few times, changed into some night cloths and crawled into bed. I was just about to drift off to sleep when I remembered the pieces of the arrow. Out of curiosity I forced my self out of my bed to examine them one last time. I opened the drawer and pulled out the envelope.

The name Lily Evans glittered on the front. I opened the envelope again and my stomach did twists and turns, and my heart started beating faster.

The arrow was whole again.

End of Chapter 5