November

Dear Diary,

I have been in my second year at Hogwarts for two months, and, as though fate is punishing me for having so much fun last year, this year has been horrible. It started bad and got worse.

Firstly, only a few days into the term, James started being horrible to me for no reason. He turned my hair green! He knew I couldn't bear anything happening to my hair!

In return, I called up a muggle radio station and asked them to play a hate dedication during their 'love-song dedication' night. They told me that it was a night for love, and they would not play my song. I told them I would never listen to them again. Worst of all, all this was on air. My sister heard it all, then told my parents, I got an owl from them a few days later saying that they were ashamed of me and, I quote, "How could you do this to us, shame us like this, after all we have done for you?"

Worse still, James was tuned in. I cried myself to sleep for a week.

--Regina and Kate turned reproachful eyes on James as he began to feel really guilty.

"I was such an idiot then, wasn't I?" he said hurriedly, then gave Lily a quick hug.--

He seemed to realise he'd really hurt me though, because he apologised to me. I wish I could believe he was sincere but I don't. I could see he was really laughing at me.

Do all twelve-year-old boys act like that?

I remember when Petunia was younger, and she brought home her first boyfriend. He was really mean too, though maybe that was more her bad taste in guys than his age. I've seen him around town. He's still a loser.

But that wasn't my point. What I really meant to say is that I really miss James. He barely talks to me now. I don't know what I did wrong, but whenever he is around me, he blushes and stutters, almost as though he is afraid of me.

That's not the only thing that's making this term absolute crap. I was out of bed one night, because I had had a detention in the trophy room. I'd been caught dropping timed dungbombs into Snape and Malfoy's cauldrons. It was the last night I had to stay up, and then my detention would be finished. Lucky for me that Pringle, the caretaker, was prowling. He wouldn't believe my excuse that I was going to bed from a detention, and instead of at least trying to find out if I was really telling the truth, he just gave me a whole term of detentions! I haven't been to bed before two since a week into term. And, since I can't do my homework in the evenings, if I don't do it after my detentions then I will get more detentions, and I'll never catch up!

I guess I really am lucky though. Remus has managed to find out how to lend me energy from that book I might have mentioned. The one made for us.

Well, after I finished reading it, he borrowed it, and actually managed to make some sense of the energy lending charm, so I can stay awake on an hour of sleep for as long as he holds out. But I've told him that he has to let the others take turns, otherwise he'll get caught sleeping in class and we'll both be in the same situation.

More about this book. It's old, so old that it looks like it would fall apart at your fingertips. There's an enchantment on it to keep it from harm though, so we can read it. Apparently, we are representatives of the Elements, thus, we have elemental magic. Four people, witches and/or wizards, are born every couple of hundred years or so, in times of trial, and they must work together to destroy Dark Magic, which is what Lord Voldema-thingie or whatever he's called uses.

Sadly, none of them succeeded. And if Dumbledore thinks we will, he's got another think coming. We're not even teenagers, there is a serious lack of communication between some of us, i.e. James and me, and we are simply not cut out to be world saviours. Jeez, Sirius and Kate want to destroy the world, not save it!

Speaking of Kate, I think I said the book told me where she and Regina fitted in with all of this. They are two Loyals. Don't ask me why they're called that, from what the book tells me, all they do is run around getting us out of trouble. But their power is that of the lesser elements, if my understanding is right.

I'm starting to sound like some sort of magical Einstein, aren't I? I just memorised most of the book, that's all.

Anyway, it's November. There's about a month to go until Christmas. I really should stop being so pessimistic. Then again, if I'm not pessimistic, I must be optimistic, and as a wise person once said (I have no idea who said it, so don't ask) "Optimists see only the green light. Pessimists see only the red light. The true wise man is colour-blind."

So I don't want to be optimistic either. I suppose I could just cheer up a little.

In that case, I will tell you about Sirius's bubbles.

--"Bubbles!" Sirius and Kate cried in unison. "I like to eat bubbles!" Kate added. Lily smiled.

"You've had my wonderfully cooked dinner, and you still feel like you should eat bubbles?" She asked, pretending to be insulted, while Kate and Sirius did their best to look innocent. Lily Summoned a feather duster from the laundry and began tickling Kate, until Sirius Summoned another one from the nearest shop (which happened to be a Muggle 'Cheap as Chips' store, so Sirius could have got into a lot of trouble if the clerk had been awake) and began tickling Lily.

"I want to hear about the bubbles!" Regina screamed over the Lily's squeals and James's noisy attempts to rescue her while laughing too hard for his own good.

"I'll – tell you – if this – jerk – stops – tickling – me!" Lily gasped in between laughing.

Everybody immediately snatched up a pillow and advanced. Sirius, realising he was beaten, backed down with his hands up. When Lily could breathe again, she began another story.--

-Flashback-

Lily walked into the Great Hall, her nose buried in yesterday's Daily Prophet. She had just bought a present for Sirius, because it was his birthday today. She wanted to know when it would arrive, if it came on time at all.

The paper said it was delivery within 24 hours if you lived in Britain, so Lily expected it to arrive sometime at breakfast. She was just starting on toast when it came – a whole box full of muggle champagne bubbles, the ones that they bought for birthdays and weddings. Sirius liked bubbles, she'd guessed that much from her one visit into the boys dormitory last year, for Christmas. They had each painted their bit of the room in something uniquely them.

James had a sky blue ceiling, his space was charmed to look like a Quidditch pitch. Transparent players had a constant game going, sometimes detaching themselves from the wall entirely, and drifting about the boundaries of James's personal space as though they were highly coloured and concentrated ghosts. It had even been charmed so that the paint reflected the weather, like in the Great Hall.

Remus had a starry night sky. His corner was usually dark and quiet, and kept perfectly neat. The paint would usually tone to softer blues and maybe even a sunset if Remus was really happy. It reflected his moods, which was useful because Sirius had absolutely no clue as to how to read body language and only knew when to leave his friend alone by the colour of the paint.

The other boys in the dorm were more normal (although one had thrown pots of bright paint at the wall, causing a splattering of colours all over the place).

Sirius's walls were just strange. He painted them a sort of champagne yellow, and had huge bubbles floating around, similar to the Quidditch figures on James's walls. The bubbles were all shimmery, like the ones that appear when bubble bath is poured into a bathtub, or champagne is poured into a glass. Lily had thought the only thing wrong was that Sirius wasn't the neatest of all people and his room reflected this flaw.

Smiling, Lily placed a few charms on Sirius's present. She meant to prank him, as well as give him a present he would really like. Tying it with a multicolour ribbon, she floated it above Sirius's sleepy head, where it would remain until he noticed it.

Three days later, Sirius was still asking Lily where his present was.

Finally, he noticed that something was floating above his head. Laughing manically, he pulled it out of the air, and opened it. There were the bubbles. Laughing even more manically now, he blew one. And stopped in astonishment.

Sirius was now drifting around at about 2 metres off the floor. Lily, unable to contain herself, burst out laughing at the look on his face. James looked around for Sirius confusedly, but after he saw what had happened, he began laughing too. Soon everyone in the room was laughing at Sirius, while he began pounding on the walls of the bubble.

"Get me out!" He screamed, though Lily could only see his mouth moving. He seemed to realise shouting wasn't such a good idea, as the words transfigured themselves into visible soundwaves and began reverberating off the walls of the bubble, obviously amplifying. Sirius was pretty much howling in the pain it was causing his ears, which just made things worse.

Finally Kate, taking pity on him, pulled a huge pin out from somewhere, magnified it's size even more, and stood on the table, trying to reach the bubble that was now very high up. Sirius's mouth opened in panic as he realised what was going to happen, and he desperately tried to warn Kate, but – pop!

He fell nearly 10 metres. Luckily James quickly transfigured the hard floor into a trampoline. Which Sirius then refused to get off.

-End Flashback-

--"I was not scared!" Sirius cried indignantly, as everybody laughed.

"Were too!" Kate screamed happily back at him, "You thought that even if the fall didn't kill you, I'd skewer you on my pin!"

Remus just laughed. "It's getting late, we should all go leave Lily and James in peace." He said.

"No, stay!" Lily cried, "You have to hear the end of this entry!" Nobody needed any more persuasion, so Lily continued.--

I decided to get him some bubbles for his birthday, and I pranked them so that the first few bubbles he blew would leave him floating around until they burst. It seemed like a really good idea, but he could have been hurt if they burst too high.

Luckily James was there to save him. He turned the floor into a trampoline.

Needless to say, Sirius wasn't the only one bouncing around that afternoon. Nearly all Gryffindor tower joined in!

Well, I really ought to get some sleep. I will have to get up early tomorrow to finish the work I haven't done yet, and I can't keep on relying on Remus for energy. Good night.

Love,

Lily.

(Author's Note:

You know what? I'm a regular updater now! I regularly update - once a term. Well, at least you all know how long you'll have to wait now. Sorry it's never sooner, but you know how busy things can get. They say it's a scientifically proven fact that teenagers have the same stress levels as the average working 40yr old. Weird, huh?

Also, I apologise for this chapter being so depressing and not well written. Not that I'm saying I'm a good writer or anything, it's up to you guys to decide that, but I don't think I did such a great job. 40yr old stress levels catching up.

But as for the depressing thing, I think the story might be getting progressively darker as I go along. I don't know, I'll see where the story takes me, but I do intend for the rating to increase when Lily hits sixth year, for one thing. She's also going to get the usual teenage angst, when she gets old enough.

And sorry this AN is so long ;)

Cheers,

The Invisible Stranger)