Disclaimer: What I would give for them to be mine…but alas, they are not.
Oh well. They belong to Ms. J.K. Rowling and people of that sort. They are
not being used for my financial gain (Ha! As if!)
Alrighty…here comes Chapter 7! Brace yourselves!
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Much later in the season, James, Sirius, Remus and Peter didn't feel like going to the Slytherin-Hufflepuff Quidditch game, because they didn't want to see Slytherin being awarded the Quidditch Cup. Even though Gryffindor had an excellent season with no losses, the Slytherins apparently had an even better season. From what Dumbledore said at the last Prefect meeting, Slytherin was just ahead of Gryffindor in points toward the House Cup. That definitely angered James—but what could he do? Points were points, and that is unfortunately what mattered when it came towards winning the House Cup.
So instead, James, Remus, Sirius, and Peter spent their time in the Common Room, which was, considering that there was a Quidditch match on, quite full. Evidently some other Gryffindors didn't want to witness Slytherin's triumph either. James and Sirius were playing chess and doing their Transfiguration homework at the same time. James kept getting distracted and changing his pawns into needles and back again. This didn't please the pawns, and they kept trying to attack him, though they couldn't move from the board. Remus and Peter were playing Exploding Snap with Lily and Juliet, who had also opted to stay in the castle, and so James and Sirius encountered frequent explosions and bursts of laughter from behind them, and the noises from the crowd out in the grounds.
After a few hours, they heard a large amount of shouting and cheering that could mean only that the Quidditch match had finished. After a few minutes, James spotted people coming out of the stadium and heading back up to the school, laughing and joking. Everybody seemed very jovial. This was soon explained. Slytherin, it transpired, had played very complacently, and because of their lack of enthusiasm, Hufflepuff had managed to get the Snitch quite early and win by two hundred and twenty points to thirty. This meant that now both Ravenclaw and Gryffindor had a chance to steal the Quidditch Cup from Slytherin's clutches – it all depended on who won, and by how much – Gryffindor would need to win by twenty, Ravenclaw would have to win by fifty, and now that they had their star player back, this seemed like a probable prospect.
James, Remus, and Peter all ran down to the front of castle where James spoke to Anton at length about the new situation. Anton advised him that Gryffindor indeed had a chance of winning the House Cup, but that Ravenclaw did too. James understood, and Anton gave him the 'run-through' of his new practice schedule.
"If there's anyone who deserves the House Cup this year, it's us," Anton said. Pointing around to the various Gryffindor players that were outside. "We worked very hard this year, and unlike some other teams—ahem, Slytherin—we played fairly. So I think we have a great chance at winning."
James nodded his agreement and started to spread the word about the new Quidditch practices to all the teammates he could find in the crowd. Peter and Remus helped him.
By the time the three boys managed to claw themselves through the crowd and reach their dormitory again, they were out of breath. When they opened the door, they were surprised to find Lily in there still, talking quietly to Sirius.
"What's all this then," said James loudly, grinning from ear to ear. "Surreptitious rendezvousing?"
"Damn you, James!" said Lily wryly. "You interrupted Siri and my moment of passion."
"Yes indeed, Jamesy-Boy," said Sirius in the same tone. "I was just about to propose to dear Lils here, and here you are, ruining my moment of glory." James laughed.
"Lily, m'dear," said Remus, approaching her. "Your hair looked nicer the way it was before."
"What are you on about?" said Lily, chuckling at Remus' expression.
"What?" said Remus apparently horrified. "You didn't know about your tomato- flavoured hair?" Lily surveyed him for a moment.
"Hmm. And all this time, I thought Sirius was the insane one. Now I don't know what to think!"
"When you were unconscious," Remus elaborated. "Your hair was covered in soup. Very, very messy. Not to mention tasty."
Lily looked shocked. "When was I unconscious recently? I think I might have remembered being there!" James and Sirius looked at each other. Sirius spoke.
"Well, when James and I were transfiguring the Wizards' Chess pieces, we got into some kind of duel, and I we started transfiguring them into different items. So, yeah, I transfigured them into a bowl of soup, and it kind of flew off the table and knocked you in the head."
Astounded, Lily said, "Surely I could have felt it."
Sirius shook his head. "Naah, it hit you straight in the back. You fell asleep, basically. It was all over your hair. Granted, we couldn't notice it at first, since the tomato soup was about the same color as your hair, but it was dripping."
"And I don't suppose I could condescend to ask why it isn't there now?" said Lily, a tad bit irritated and rubbing a hand through her dry hair.
"You've got three guesses," said Peter, as everyone turned to look at James, who grinned. "And the first two don't count."
Lily stared at James. "You?! You washed my hair?" James laughed and shook his head.
"No! I put a drying spell on your hair, and I brought you over to Madam Pomfrey's, where she cleaned you up. I brought you back to the Common Room too. Just seated you in the same place as before."
Lily smiled. "Okay. It has only been, what, three? Four? Months since school has started and I've been the Hospital Wing twice! This is preposterous! I managed to get thrown off my broom and get whacked in the head by a bowl of soup. Jules! Call the circus! I'm on my way!" Lily stood up and laughed.
"You get around a bit, don't you?" said Juliet, grinning at James. "Rescuing fair maidens from falling brooms, ugly Slytherins and – much more importantly – messy hair!" James laughed.
"All part of my cunning plan to win Lily's heart,' said James seriously. "Don't tell me you – didn't – know?" he added horrifically.
"Aw," said Sirius. "Does that mean I don't get her heart?"
"Hey, I can give my heart to whoever I like, thank you very much," said Lily, laughing. "Still my life you boys are discussing, remember?" She threw a sly glance at James, who caught it and threw another secretive smile back. Nobody caught their exchange of glances.
"Anyone but Snape and I'll be happy for you." James said slowly.
"Gasp! How did you know that he was my secret lover?" said Lily monotonously.
"Right," said Remus. "This conversation is now officially sickening. Possible cure: Exploding Snap." He pulled a pack out of his pocket, and for most of the rest of the evening, loud explosions and a great deal of laughter could be heard from the Gryffindor dormitory.
~*~
For the next week, Hogwarts was cruelly subjected to a severe thrashing from the weather. Black, billowing storm clouds adorned the sky, and the grounds were soaked with relentless rainfall. Post owls were finding it increasingly difficult to get their massages delivered in time, and Hagrid had taken it upon himself to care for them before they took flight again. The Quidditch practices were sporadic, despite their early planning. It was just too hard to play on the field with thunder and lightening outside. But with Anton's and James' determination, the poor Gryffindor Quidditch players managed to learn and perfect all of their plays with or without the thunder.
By Friday morning, the weather had slowly worsened. A loud clap of thunder woke James very early. He rolled over, and tried to get back to sleep, but the noise of the storm, combined with Peter's snores, was enough to prevent this. In the end, he poured himself a glass of water, pulled on a sweater and grabbed his Quidditch robe for extra warmth, and made his solitary way down to the Common Room. His first thought on entering was that it was empty, but then a slight movement of something red in the corner caught his attention. It was Lily. She was lying on the chair next to the fire, shivering slightly.
"Here you are," said James, wrapping his Quidditch robe around her shoulders, and sitting next to her in front of the fire.
"Oh, Morning," said Lily sleepily, slightly taken aback by his sudden entrance.
"Couldn't you sleep?" James asked. He leaned over to the fire so that his watch was illuminated. It said 6:15 am.
"In this?"
"Yeah, well, at least you don't have Peter's snores to keep you awake as well." Lily chuckled weakly.
"Ooh, you'll have fun playing Quidditch in this," she said fervently, getting up and peering out at the window. Flashes of lightning were rippling across the sky. She shivered again and pulled James' cloak closer to her body. She threw him a worried glance, as she sat back down on the couch next to him.
"Yes, so I see. Maybe it'll have cleared up in – er, half an hour," he said, checking his watch again and throwing her a ridiculous smile.
"Fat chance," came a groggy voice from the door up to the dorms. It was Remus. He was rubbing his eyes and walking slowly down the stair towards his friends on the couch. "What's this? Another secret tryst between Lily and latest secret lover?"
"Hardly," said James, dismissing Remus' comment. "We were discussing my chances of survival in this." He pointed to the large window.
"Slim to none."
"Don't you have confidence in us?" came another voice. Anton Avery had entered the room, carrying his broomstick in one hand and his Quidditch robes in another. "Everything alright, James? Got your Quidditch robes? Where's your broomstick?"
"Lily has my robe. My broom's upstairs. Are you going down to the pitch now?" James started to get up.
"Yeah, I think that's the plan. I'll wake the others quickly, and then we'll go down. What broomstick have you got?" Anton inquired, putting on his robe.
"A Silver Arrow." James' father had bought him a new one before the school year started. James enjoyed it a lot, and was quite fond of it. "Just give me a second, it's in the back of my room." He ran up the stairs and back into his dorm.
"Take your time. It's gonna be a while." Anton climbed the some other stairs, evidently to go and rudely awaken his fellow Quidditch team members.
~*~
After the early morning practice, James met his friends for breakfast in the Great Hall before attending to class. It was a rather uneventful day. There was a lot of homework in Potions and Charms, and he realized that he had another 'tutoring session' in the afternoon.
'Maybe I could feign sickness,' he thought, as he was walking with Sirius and Remus after Charms had ended. They were heading towards the Great Hall for lunch. 'No, then Sophie would manage to sneak into my room just to see me in my pajamas. Oh good Lord.' He shuddered. They entered the Hall.
As they entered the Hall, they spotted Peter speaking with Juliet and they both waved. Remus waved back and rushed to his girlfriend. Sirius and James walked over and took their seats. They began talking and eating, and soon Juliet stopped.
"Hey, where's Lily?"
James and Sirius shrugged. "I don't know. She left in the middle of Charms, so I guess it must be something important. Charms is her favorite class." James said, taking an apple from the bowl.
Remus nodded. "Yeah, McGonagall personally requested her presence, and she left."
"Oh. It's just that I had some stuff to give her, and I was hoping to give it to her now before lunch ended." Juliet shrugged and the friends continued to talk and eat at the loud Gryffindor table.
~*~
Meanwhile, Professor McGonagall had requested Lily's presence out of Charms class and had taken her to Professor Dumbledore's office. A little confused, Lily followed the Professor to Dumbledore's office, and whispered the password. She found herself face to face with Dumbledore, and he ushered her to take a seat in the chairs in front of him. Professor McGonagall stayed close to the back of the room, where Lily noticed her presence in the corner of her eye.
"Good afternoon, Professor Dumbledore," Lily said politely. She smiled lightly, and Dumbledore smiled back. "How may I help you? Is it something to do with my tutorial sessions?"
Dumbledore smiled a weak smile, and walked around his desk to sit in front of Lily. "No, Ms. Evans, it has nothing to do with those sessions, but I have heard you have been doing a superb job in all of your extra classes. I congratulate you for your fine efforts. It seems as though you are learning a lot." Lily smiled.
"Is it about my tutee then? He has been doing a great job too. His grades have vastly improved." Dumbledore shook his head.
"No, it is not that either. I have news concerning—I have news about your parents."
Lily's smile dropped, and she suddenly felt a churning sensation in her stomach. Lily was afraid to ask what the news was about, but she had a clear feeling where this conversation was turning.
"Oh God, Professor, please, don't tell me something happened to my parents…please…" Tears were forming in Lily's pretty green eyes and she bit her lip and looked down. After reading the Daily Prophet article, she had a terrible feeling something bad might happen, but she was praying and praying that it would never occur. Her parents were all she had.
Dumbledore took Lily's hand. "Ms. Evans, I'm very sorry to say that your parents passed away last evening, while at the cinema. They were not targeted, since there were many other Muggles that died last night, but they were some of the few Muggles that had magical children or backgrounds. Unfortunately, you are the only student at this school who was affect. I am so very sorry, and you have my utmost condolences." Professor McGonagall had now walked to Lily from the back of the room and started comforting the girl. Lily just sat in her chair, unable to comprehend what Dumbledore had just told her.
In that moment, Lily felt as if this was some horrid nightmare that she could just wake out of. All she could hear was "Parents passed away…parents passed away…" again and again in her mind. She felt herself become detached, and for a moment, the world stopped turning. All her previous worries—schoolwork, lunchtime, tutoring sessions, Sirius' lame jokes—seemed trivial. Lily shut her eyes in a weak smile. 'What I would give to live in that moment of ignorance I had about an hour ago, when I thought everything was fine. Before everything changed.'
"Ms. Evans? Are you alright?" Lily was shaken out of her thoughts by Dumbledore's voice. She glanced up to see a sincerely concerned Professor Dumbledore looking into her eyes.
"Ms. Evans…Lily…believe me, you are excused from classes for the rest of the day and the rest of the week, if necessary. I know how traumatic this must be for you."
Lily nodded and said a small, "Thank you, Professor".
Professor McGonagall leaned down and whispered to Lily, "I am so sorry Ms. Evans, to tell you this awful news right now. We are going to make sure everything is okay." Lily smiled a weak smile at Professor McGonagall and thanked her too.
Dumbledore spoke up. "Would you like to go to your room, Ms. Evans?" Lily nodded, and started to get up from her chair. She was unsteady and still a little shocked, so Professor McGonagall helped her to the door. Suddenly, Lily turned around to Dumbledore.
"Petunia…what about my sister…is she alright? Is my house alright? What happened—" Dumbledore put his finger to his lips.
"Ms. Evans, you sister Petunia is perfectly fine. She did not attend the cinema that evening. As for your house, it is still there. The cinema was in town. But please, I just want you to get some rest. I am very sorry that everything had to be said this morning. It is a lot of information to grasp at such a short notice. And so devastating. I will promise I will talk to you later and straighten everything out." Lily nodded faintly, and Professor McGonagall head her back to her dorm room.
They walked by the Great Hall and through the busy corridors, but Lily did not seems to notice the bustle of people around her. She could not hear the laughter of all the people, her friends, in the rooms near her. All she could think of was the fact that her parents were gone—and she did nothing to save them. In fact, it was her own magical self that probably ensured their untimely death. Throughout the entire ordeal, Lily did not cry.
She was very surprised at herself, because usually she was very sensitive, and would start bawling, but the her parents' death seemed still too surreal for her to understand at that moment. All she could do was walk in a stunned silence back to her room.
Once in her dorm room, Lily turned and thanked Professor McGonagall, who asked if she need anything. Lily shook her had and thanked her. Professor McGonagall left and shut the door quietly behind her.
Lily walked slowly to her desk and picked up a picture frame with a picture of her and her parents at the end of fourth year. The picture was old, but her parents' image was the same to Lily. Her mother's shining eyes—emerald, just like hers—and her father's brilliant smile.
She remembered taking that photo—and how much she did not want to take it. Juliet convinced her and took the snapshot. Now, it was all she had left of her parents at Hogwarts. She ran her finger over his parents' faces and sighed. She clutched the picture to her heart.
Lily was suddenly overwhelmed with a sense of fervent need and she ran to her trunk. She opened it and began and throwing items just to find more pictures of her parents. 'That is all I have left now,' Lily said hastily, tossing out picture albums and other gifts her parents had given her from her trunk.
Almost crazily, Lily stopped what she was doing and began stumbling around the room, the full impact of Dumbledore's news hitting her. She yelled out to everyone and no one in her dorm room.
"It's not fair!" Lily screamed, still clutching her parents' picture in her hand. "They weren't supposed die just going to the cinema! They shouldn't have felt any pain!" Lily crawled onto her bed. "Mum…Dad…you weren't supposed to go…you weren't supposed to die…"
"Not because of me…not because of me…it's all my fault…" Lily whimpered, kneeling on her bed, her hand covering her eyes.
Lily did the only rational thing she could think of at that moment.
She cried.
~*~
A/N: I'm very sorry…but Lily's parents had to die sometime, and unfortunately, it had to be now. I have a pretty good timeline of my story now…and this is the most appropriate time for this.
Take care.
~ Stellar
To my wonderful reviewers…you guys are marvelous! Thanks for the kind (and constructive) words!
KittyKat – Thanks for the review! I'll email you for the update!
Orca – Muchas gracias for reading and reviewing! I wish guys like James existed too! *Sigh* Next chapter up!
Sirena Oculare – Yeah, Lily's parents had to go…*sob*…but the story my go on. Thanks for reading and reviewing!
Snow Flurry – Thanks for nice review and reading my story! Thanks for the compliment! I'm writing as fast as I can!
Diabla666 – Thanks for reviewing! As for my timeline…If James started as an 11 or 12-year-old first-year, it is highly plausible that he could be 17 by the time he is in the sixth year. I just want him to be 18 by the time he ends Hogwarts. As for the "last destination" line, I just wanted to say that the last stop (or destination) of that train ride was at Hogwarts, not the last time they were arriving at Hogwarts. Sorry if my writing was confusing! I'll try to fix that…but thanks for reading my story and reviewing! I means a lot!
Seshat – No problemo about missing Chapter 5…Chapter 8 is where the L/J action begins…^-^ So yeah, be prepared!
Quack Quack 88 – Thanks for the compliment (and reading and reviewing)…I'm sorry my idea was so muddled by my writing that it was hard to comprehend! Yeah, so sad that Lily's parents had to go…*sob*…but thanks! I'm writing as fast as I can!
Prongs – Thanks for reading and reviewing! It means a lot and is definitely appreciated! ^-^
Thistlemeg – Wow, my dental woes seem frivolous compared to what you have! But yeah, wisdom teeth = no fun at all. Blah. Oh yes, gotta love L/J flirtation. Not much next chapter (some loose ends to tie up), but a lot Chapter 8 though…bring on the L/J action! (as for the telepathy…hmm…hehehe). Thanks for reading and reviewing!
SeaS – Thanks for reading the story, and I am very glad you like it! I am trying my best! Thanks so much for reviewing!
VIELEN DANK TO ALL MY REVIEWERS!
Alrighty…here comes Chapter 7! Brace yourselves!
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Much later in the season, James, Sirius, Remus and Peter didn't feel like going to the Slytherin-Hufflepuff Quidditch game, because they didn't want to see Slytherin being awarded the Quidditch Cup. Even though Gryffindor had an excellent season with no losses, the Slytherins apparently had an even better season. From what Dumbledore said at the last Prefect meeting, Slytherin was just ahead of Gryffindor in points toward the House Cup. That definitely angered James—but what could he do? Points were points, and that is unfortunately what mattered when it came towards winning the House Cup.
So instead, James, Remus, Sirius, and Peter spent their time in the Common Room, which was, considering that there was a Quidditch match on, quite full. Evidently some other Gryffindors didn't want to witness Slytherin's triumph either. James and Sirius were playing chess and doing their Transfiguration homework at the same time. James kept getting distracted and changing his pawns into needles and back again. This didn't please the pawns, and they kept trying to attack him, though they couldn't move from the board. Remus and Peter were playing Exploding Snap with Lily and Juliet, who had also opted to stay in the castle, and so James and Sirius encountered frequent explosions and bursts of laughter from behind them, and the noises from the crowd out in the grounds.
After a few hours, they heard a large amount of shouting and cheering that could mean only that the Quidditch match had finished. After a few minutes, James spotted people coming out of the stadium and heading back up to the school, laughing and joking. Everybody seemed very jovial. This was soon explained. Slytherin, it transpired, had played very complacently, and because of their lack of enthusiasm, Hufflepuff had managed to get the Snitch quite early and win by two hundred and twenty points to thirty. This meant that now both Ravenclaw and Gryffindor had a chance to steal the Quidditch Cup from Slytherin's clutches – it all depended on who won, and by how much – Gryffindor would need to win by twenty, Ravenclaw would have to win by fifty, and now that they had their star player back, this seemed like a probable prospect.
James, Remus, and Peter all ran down to the front of castle where James spoke to Anton at length about the new situation. Anton advised him that Gryffindor indeed had a chance of winning the House Cup, but that Ravenclaw did too. James understood, and Anton gave him the 'run-through' of his new practice schedule.
"If there's anyone who deserves the House Cup this year, it's us," Anton said. Pointing around to the various Gryffindor players that were outside. "We worked very hard this year, and unlike some other teams—ahem, Slytherin—we played fairly. So I think we have a great chance at winning."
James nodded his agreement and started to spread the word about the new Quidditch practices to all the teammates he could find in the crowd. Peter and Remus helped him.
By the time the three boys managed to claw themselves through the crowd and reach their dormitory again, they were out of breath. When they opened the door, they were surprised to find Lily in there still, talking quietly to Sirius.
"What's all this then," said James loudly, grinning from ear to ear. "Surreptitious rendezvousing?"
"Damn you, James!" said Lily wryly. "You interrupted Siri and my moment of passion."
"Yes indeed, Jamesy-Boy," said Sirius in the same tone. "I was just about to propose to dear Lils here, and here you are, ruining my moment of glory." James laughed.
"Lily, m'dear," said Remus, approaching her. "Your hair looked nicer the way it was before."
"What are you on about?" said Lily, chuckling at Remus' expression.
"What?" said Remus apparently horrified. "You didn't know about your tomato- flavoured hair?" Lily surveyed him for a moment.
"Hmm. And all this time, I thought Sirius was the insane one. Now I don't know what to think!"
"When you were unconscious," Remus elaborated. "Your hair was covered in soup. Very, very messy. Not to mention tasty."
Lily looked shocked. "When was I unconscious recently? I think I might have remembered being there!" James and Sirius looked at each other. Sirius spoke.
"Well, when James and I were transfiguring the Wizards' Chess pieces, we got into some kind of duel, and I we started transfiguring them into different items. So, yeah, I transfigured them into a bowl of soup, and it kind of flew off the table and knocked you in the head."
Astounded, Lily said, "Surely I could have felt it."
Sirius shook his head. "Naah, it hit you straight in the back. You fell asleep, basically. It was all over your hair. Granted, we couldn't notice it at first, since the tomato soup was about the same color as your hair, but it was dripping."
"And I don't suppose I could condescend to ask why it isn't there now?" said Lily, a tad bit irritated and rubbing a hand through her dry hair.
"You've got three guesses," said Peter, as everyone turned to look at James, who grinned. "And the first two don't count."
Lily stared at James. "You?! You washed my hair?" James laughed and shook his head.
"No! I put a drying spell on your hair, and I brought you over to Madam Pomfrey's, where she cleaned you up. I brought you back to the Common Room too. Just seated you in the same place as before."
Lily smiled. "Okay. It has only been, what, three? Four? Months since school has started and I've been the Hospital Wing twice! This is preposterous! I managed to get thrown off my broom and get whacked in the head by a bowl of soup. Jules! Call the circus! I'm on my way!" Lily stood up and laughed.
"You get around a bit, don't you?" said Juliet, grinning at James. "Rescuing fair maidens from falling brooms, ugly Slytherins and – much more importantly – messy hair!" James laughed.
"All part of my cunning plan to win Lily's heart,' said James seriously. "Don't tell me you – didn't – know?" he added horrifically.
"Aw," said Sirius. "Does that mean I don't get her heart?"
"Hey, I can give my heart to whoever I like, thank you very much," said Lily, laughing. "Still my life you boys are discussing, remember?" She threw a sly glance at James, who caught it and threw another secretive smile back. Nobody caught their exchange of glances.
"Anyone but Snape and I'll be happy for you." James said slowly.
"Gasp! How did you know that he was my secret lover?" said Lily monotonously.
"Right," said Remus. "This conversation is now officially sickening. Possible cure: Exploding Snap." He pulled a pack out of his pocket, and for most of the rest of the evening, loud explosions and a great deal of laughter could be heard from the Gryffindor dormitory.
~*~
For the next week, Hogwarts was cruelly subjected to a severe thrashing from the weather. Black, billowing storm clouds adorned the sky, and the grounds were soaked with relentless rainfall. Post owls were finding it increasingly difficult to get their massages delivered in time, and Hagrid had taken it upon himself to care for them before they took flight again. The Quidditch practices were sporadic, despite their early planning. It was just too hard to play on the field with thunder and lightening outside. But with Anton's and James' determination, the poor Gryffindor Quidditch players managed to learn and perfect all of their plays with or without the thunder.
By Friday morning, the weather had slowly worsened. A loud clap of thunder woke James very early. He rolled over, and tried to get back to sleep, but the noise of the storm, combined with Peter's snores, was enough to prevent this. In the end, he poured himself a glass of water, pulled on a sweater and grabbed his Quidditch robe for extra warmth, and made his solitary way down to the Common Room. His first thought on entering was that it was empty, but then a slight movement of something red in the corner caught his attention. It was Lily. She was lying on the chair next to the fire, shivering slightly.
"Here you are," said James, wrapping his Quidditch robe around her shoulders, and sitting next to her in front of the fire.
"Oh, Morning," said Lily sleepily, slightly taken aback by his sudden entrance.
"Couldn't you sleep?" James asked. He leaned over to the fire so that his watch was illuminated. It said 6:15 am.
"In this?"
"Yeah, well, at least you don't have Peter's snores to keep you awake as well." Lily chuckled weakly.
"Ooh, you'll have fun playing Quidditch in this," she said fervently, getting up and peering out at the window. Flashes of lightning were rippling across the sky. She shivered again and pulled James' cloak closer to her body. She threw him a worried glance, as she sat back down on the couch next to him.
"Yes, so I see. Maybe it'll have cleared up in – er, half an hour," he said, checking his watch again and throwing her a ridiculous smile.
"Fat chance," came a groggy voice from the door up to the dorms. It was Remus. He was rubbing his eyes and walking slowly down the stair towards his friends on the couch. "What's this? Another secret tryst between Lily and latest secret lover?"
"Hardly," said James, dismissing Remus' comment. "We were discussing my chances of survival in this." He pointed to the large window.
"Slim to none."
"Don't you have confidence in us?" came another voice. Anton Avery had entered the room, carrying his broomstick in one hand and his Quidditch robes in another. "Everything alright, James? Got your Quidditch robes? Where's your broomstick?"
"Lily has my robe. My broom's upstairs. Are you going down to the pitch now?" James started to get up.
"Yeah, I think that's the plan. I'll wake the others quickly, and then we'll go down. What broomstick have you got?" Anton inquired, putting on his robe.
"A Silver Arrow." James' father had bought him a new one before the school year started. James enjoyed it a lot, and was quite fond of it. "Just give me a second, it's in the back of my room." He ran up the stairs and back into his dorm.
"Take your time. It's gonna be a while." Anton climbed the some other stairs, evidently to go and rudely awaken his fellow Quidditch team members.
~*~
After the early morning practice, James met his friends for breakfast in the Great Hall before attending to class. It was a rather uneventful day. There was a lot of homework in Potions and Charms, and he realized that he had another 'tutoring session' in the afternoon.
'Maybe I could feign sickness,' he thought, as he was walking with Sirius and Remus after Charms had ended. They were heading towards the Great Hall for lunch. 'No, then Sophie would manage to sneak into my room just to see me in my pajamas. Oh good Lord.' He shuddered. They entered the Hall.
As they entered the Hall, they spotted Peter speaking with Juliet and they both waved. Remus waved back and rushed to his girlfriend. Sirius and James walked over and took their seats. They began talking and eating, and soon Juliet stopped.
"Hey, where's Lily?"
James and Sirius shrugged. "I don't know. She left in the middle of Charms, so I guess it must be something important. Charms is her favorite class." James said, taking an apple from the bowl.
Remus nodded. "Yeah, McGonagall personally requested her presence, and she left."
"Oh. It's just that I had some stuff to give her, and I was hoping to give it to her now before lunch ended." Juliet shrugged and the friends continued to talk and eat at the loud Gryffindor table.
~*~
Meanwhile, Professor McGonagall had requested Lily's presence out of Charms class and had taken her to Professor Dumbledore's office. A little confused, Lily followed the Professor to Dumbledore's office, and whispered the password. She found herself face to face with Dumbledore, and he ushered her to take a seat in the chairs in front of him. Professor McGonagall stayed close to the back of the room, where Lily noticed her presence in the corner of her eye.
"Good afternoon, Professor Dumbledore," Lily said politely. She smiled lightly, and Dumbledore smiled back. "How may I help you? Is it something to do with my tutorial sessions?"
Dumbledore smiled a weak smile, and walked around his desk to sit in front of Lily. "No, Ms. Evans, it has nothing to do with those sessions, but I have heard you have been doing a superb job in all of your extra classes. I congratulate you for your fine efforts. It seems as though you are learning a lot." Lily smiled.
"Is it about my tutee then? He has been doing a great job too. His grades have vastly improved." Dumbledore shook his head.
"No, it is not that either. I have news concerning—I have news about your parents."
Lily's smile dropped, and she suddenly felt a churning sensation in her stomach. Lily was afraid to ask what the news was about, but she had a clear feeling where this conversation was turning.
"Oh God, Professor, please, don't tell me something happened to my parents…please…" Tears were forming in Lily's pretty green eyes and she bit her lip and looked down. After reading the Daily Prophet article, she had a terrible feeling something bad might happen, but she was praying and praying that it would never occur. Her parents were all she had.
Dumbledore took Lily's hand. "Ms. Evans, I'm very sorry to say that your parents passed away last evening, while at the cinema. They were not targeted, since there were many other Muggles that died last night, but they were some of the few Muggles that had magical children or backgrounds. Unfortunately, you are the only student at this school who was affect. I am so very sorry, and you have my utmost condolences." Professor McGonagall had now walked to Lily from the back of the room and started comforting the girl. Lily just sat in her chair, unable to comprehend what Dumbledore had just told her.
In that moment, Lily felt as if this was some horrid nightmare that she could just wake out of. All she could hear was "Parents passed away…parents passed away…" again and again in her mind. She felt herself become detached, and for a moment, the world stopped turning. All her previous worries—schoolwork, lunchtime, tutoring sessions, Sirius' lame jokes—seemed trivial. Lily shut her eyes in a weak smile. 'What I would give to live in that moment of ignorance I had about an hour ago, when I thought everything was fine. Before everything changed.'
"Ms. Evans? Are you alright?" Lily was shaken out of her thoughts by Dumbledore's voice. She glanced up to see a sincerely concerned Professor Dumbledore looking into her eyes.
"Ms. Evans…Lily…believe me, you are excused from classes for the rest of the day and the rest of the week, if necessary. I know how traumatic this must be for you."
Lily nodded and said a small, "Thank you, Professor".
Professor McGonagall leaned down and whispered to Lily, "I am so sorry Ms. Evans, to tell you this awful news right now. We are going to make sure everything is okay." Lily smiled a weak smile at Professor McGonagall and thanked her too.
Dumbledore spoke up. "Would you like to go to your room, Ms. Evans?" Lily nodded, and started to get up from her chair. She was unsteady and still a little shocked, so Professor McGonagall helped her to the door. Suddenly, Lily turned around to Dumbledore.
"Petunia…what about my sister…is she alright? Is my house alright? What happened—" Dumbledore put his finger to his lips.
"Ms. Evans, you sister Petunia is perfectly fine. She did not attend the cinema that evening. As for your house, it is still there. The cinema was in town. But please, I just want you to get some rest. I am very sorry that everything had to be said this morning. It is a lot of information to grasp at such a short notice. And so devastating. I will promise I will talk to you later and straighten everything out." Lily nodded faintly, and Professor McGonagall head her back to her dorm room.
They walked by the Great Hall and through the busy corridors, but Lily did not seems to notice the bustle of people around her. She could not hear the laughter of all the people, her friends, in the rooms near her. All she could think of was the fact that her parents were gone—and she did nothing to save them. In fact, it was her own magical self that probably ensured their untimely death. Throughout the entire ordeal, Lily did not cry.
She was very surprised at herself, because usually she was very sensitive, and would start bawling, but the her parents' death seemed still too surreal for her to understand at that moment. All she could do was walk in a stunned silence back to her room.
Once in her dorm room, Lily turned and thanked Professor McGonagall, who asked if she need anything. Lily shook her had and thanked her. Professor McGonagall left and shut the door quietly behind her.
Lily walked slowly to her desk and picked up a picture frame with a picture of her and her parents at the end of fourth year. The picture was old, but her parents' image was the same to Lily. Her mother's shining eyes—emerald, just like hers—and her father's brilliant smile.
She remembered taking that photo—and how much she did not want to take it. Juliet convinced her and took the snapshot. Now, it was all she had left of her parents at Hogwarts. She ran her finger over his parents' faces and sighed. She clutched the picture to her heart.
Lily was suddenly overwhelmed with a sense of fervent need and she ran to her trunk. She opened it and began and throwing items just to find more pictures of her parents. 'That is all I have left now,' Lily said hastily, tossing out picture albums and other gifts her parents had given her from her trunk.
Almost crazily, Lily stopped what she was doing and began stumbling around the room, the full impact of Dumbledore's news hitting her. She yelled out to everyone and no one in her dorm room.
"It's not fair!" Lily screamed, still clutching her parents' picture in her hand. "They weren't supposed die just going to the cinema! They shouldn't have felt any pain!" Lily crawled onto her bed. "Mum…Dad…you weren't supposed to go…you weren't supposed to die…"
"Not because of me…not because of me…it's all my fault…" Lily whimpered, kneeling on her bed, her hand covering her eyes.
Lily did the only rational thing she could think of at that moment.
She cried.
~*~
A/N: I'm very sorry…but Lily's parents had to die sometime, and unfortunately, it had to be now. I have a pretty good timeline of my story now…and this is the most appropriate time for this.
Take care.
~ Stellar
To my wonderful reviewers…you guys are marvelous! Thanks for the kind (and constructive) words!
KittyKat – Thanks for the review! I'll email you for the update!
Orca – Muchas gracias for reading and reviewing! I wish guys like James existed too! *Sigh* Next chapter up!
Sirena Oculare – Yeah, Lily's parents had to go…*sob*…but the story my go on. Thanks for reading and reviewing!
Snow Flurry – Thanks for nice review and reading my story! Thanks for the compliment! I'm writing as fast as I can!
Diabla666 – Thanks for reviewing! As for my timeline…If James started as an 11 or 12-year-old first-year, it is highly plausible that he could be 17 by the time he is in the sixth year. I just want him to be 18 by the time he ends Hogwarts. As for the "last destination" line, I just wanted to say that the last stop (or destination) of that train ride was at Hogwarts, not the last time they were arriving at Hogwarts. Sorry if my writing was confusing! I'll try to fix that…but thanks for reading my story and reviewing! I means a lot!
Seshat – No problemo about missing Chapter 5…Chapter 8 is where the L/J action begins…^-^ So yeah, be prepared!
Quack Quack 88 – Thanks for the compliment (and reading and reviewing)…I'm sorry my idea was so muddled by my writing that it was hard to comprehend! Yeah, so sad that Lily's parents had to go…*sob*…but thanks! I'm writing as fast as I can!
Prongs – Thanks for reading and reviewing! It means a lot and is definitely appreciated! ^-^
Thistlemeg – Wow, my dental woes seem frivolous compared to what you have! But yeah, wisdom teeth = no fun at all. Blah. Oh yes, gotta love L/J flirtation. Not much next chapter (some loose ends to tie up), but a lot Chapter 8 though…bring on the L/J action! (as for the telepathy…hmm…hehehe). Thanks for reading and reviewing!
SeaS – Thanks for reading the story, and I am very glad you like it! I am trying my best! Thanks so much for reviewing!
VIELEN DANK TO ALL MY REVIEWERS!