Disclaimer: I do NOT own Harry Potter nor am I affiliated with it! And I don't own any rights to the Dashboard Confessionals song "Places You Have Come To Fear The Most", although it is a great song!!

Chapter 3: Bad Days

There are two types of bad days. One where you wake up late and then there is no shampoo in the shower and then the hits just keep on coming. It doesn't get any more frustrating when your day is full of incidents such as these. They may be trivial but they make life that much harder.

The other type of bad days, start off very differently. They start out as every average day starts out. Everything doesn't seem great but it also doesn't seem bad. But then something absolutely awful happens and from then on your day is ruined no matter what else happens.

Lily Evans had a regular morning. She had woken up at 6:30, had her shower, did her hair and put on a little makeup and pulled on her robes. Rhi of course was done all that by the time Lily woke up and was reading during Lily's rushing around. That took all of 40 minutes, and she was in the great hall, with Rhi by 7:30. Rhi was only having coffee as she said she was feeling ill. Lily had her toast with jam and coffee half finished when the morning owls came flocking in.

She was used to receiving letters. She got letters from her parents every other day. But she had just got one the day before so she was a little surprised to see another one so soon. She tore it open carelessly.

When Rhi glanced over she was shocked to see Lily trembling, with a look of horror on her face,

"Lily, hon? What's the matter?"

"They're ... uh … they're …" With that she handed Rhi the letter and ran out.

Rhi read it over and gasped her breath shaky. Sirius, Remus and Peter looked at her questionably.

Dear Miss Lily Evans,

We regret to inform you that on Friday, September 30,

your parents, Frank and Sofia Evans were found dead in their

homes. The Dark Mark was seen above the house, meaning of

course that they were attacked by You-Know-Who and his "death

eaters". They were killed by the avada kedavra curse and felt no

pain. You sister, Petunia Evans, was away from the house at the

time and is still alive.

Our Deepest Condolences,

The Ministry of Magic

James watched in concern as Lily ran out of the hall, distraught. He saw Rhi with a horrified look on her face as she read Lily's letter. So of course he ran after Lily. He ran out the doors, and knew trying to find her would be a lost cause. So he grabbed the Marauder's Map. He definitely knew how to think on his feet. But there she was on the edge of the lake, and James set off to find her.

He did find her there, curled up. Her red hair a sharp contrast to the dreary weather and grey lake. She was sobbing her heart out and looked tiny and delicate. He sat down next to her.

"Hey there, Lily."

She didn't answer.

"What happened?"

"They're … DEAD! … Oh … God…"

And then it clicked in his head exactly what had happened. This morning he had been reading the paper and on the front page the headline had proclaimed : Muggle Couple Murdered By You-Know-Who. They had refrained from names but now James knew exactly who they were. They were Lily's parents.

"Oh God" he echoed "I'm so sorry." She started sobbing heavier and he didn't know what to say. He had never experienced a loss like this. So he wrapped his arms around her, and let her sob onto him. He had a feeling though that it hadn't occurred to her, just who was consoling her.

James had led Lily up to the common room, where he found a frantic Rhiannon, waiting. She had spent an hour searching for Lily, but when she had found her, she had been surprised. For there was James cradling a sobbing Lily. So she left them alone, and went back to the common room. She knew they would be up eventually.

She had ran up to her, and hugged her gently. She didn't say anything. She knew that nothing could be said. James watched on. There was no one in the common room as classes were in session. None of them minded skipping though.

But just as Rhi and James had led her to a couch there was a tapping at the window. Rhi jumped up to get the letter the tawny owl was carrying.

"It's for you Lily."

"Who's it from?"

"…. Petunia."

Lily just stared at the letter in Rhi's hand. She grabbed it from her and tore it open carelessly. She began reading it aloud.

"Lily, I hate you. It is your fault they are dead, you and your freakish ways. If you had never been born, everyone's life would have been better. I would still have my parents. None of us would ever have to know about your world. We would all be so much more happier. You should have been the one to die. Not my parents. I wish you had. I hate you so much. If you ever come near again, I swear to god. You will regret it. I don't understand how you could be my sister. As far as I'm concerned I never had a sister! I HATE YOU! Petunia"

Lily was shaking and had become progressively quieter. Rhi reached out to touch her, but Lily jumped away.

"Don't touch me!"

"Lily I know how you feel." She spoke calmly but her eyes had changed to a clear blue.

"YOU CAN'T KNOW HOW I FEEL!! You don't know loss like this!"

"YES, I do. My parents have died."

"They weren't murdered and it wasn't your fault."

"They were, by Voldemort. And I know how it feels to believe it was your fault. I lost three of my brought one down. We were running and I tripped and dragged him down with me. So I understand completely how you feel." Her eyes had changed to a dark stormy gray, and her eyes were unfocused. She spoke in a monotone voice but anyone could tell she was merely masking her feelings." I know that you feel like you should jump off the face of the earth. But you shouldn't. It's not your fault. These feelings will never go away, but I can promise you that you have suffered through the worst of it."

"And Lily, we are all here for you. We are here whenever you need anything. You still have us." James spoke. Lily looked at him oddly, as if seeing him for the first time. Then she let out a weak smile and nodded. Rhi watched on, with a sad smile on her face.

"Come on, I bet sleep sounds really good right now." Rhi invited Lily. Lily just followed her after whispering a quiet thank you to James.

Rhi padded down from the dormitory, to what she presumed would be a deserted common room. But to her surprise she found James sprawled on the couch. She dropped next to him.

"How's Lily?"

"Asleep."

"Really?"

"Well, I had to give her a sleeping draught. It's almost impossible to sleep naturally after losing someone so close." Then she noticed the alarmed look on James's face. "It's safe. Really. I use it often. It's prescription, from Madame Saers. I'm an insomniac."

"Oh."

"Yah." They sat there in a comfortable silence for about 10 minutes, when Rhi spoke up.

"That was really nice of you, to comfort Lily and all."

He gave a slight nod.

"I know that you really like her. To be frank, before I though it was just a little crush."

"I always thought it was, but now… I don't know."

"Wow. You know, she saw YOU today. Not the showman you, but the one who is a great friend. And I think she liked it."

"Really?" He perked up just a little.

"I mean don't get your hopes up, she is the most stubborn person I know, and she has this fixed view of you. Just keep up what you were doing before, and you may have a tiny chance. But that is probably harder than it sounds. And if you hurt her I will make you regret it."

"Um … Okay thanks."

He glanced over at her. She was fidgeting with her hands, and her eyes were darting everywhere. They had turned a greyish blue. If he had known her better he would have known, she was trying to find anything to distract her from her memories. That she would always talk a mile a minute, to find that distraction.

Lily's eyes snapped open, and she looked immediately over at her clock. It was 4 in the afternoon. Then it all hit her like a brick. Her parents were dead and her sister hated her. But Rhi had been right, it was already the tiniest bit easier.

Than she remembered what James had done for her. He had been so un-James like. He was decent, scratch that, he seemed like a great guy. She was surprised at his gentleman like qualities. But not surprised in a bad way. She had actually liked James right there, and had also considered him as a friend. A friend, but nothing more … right?

A/N: Ooooo so now Lily and James have a friendship of sorts … but will it last. Ok now I am soooo sorry about the wait for this chapter. It was not nearly the longest wait, but way past my goal of when I said I'd have it out. I am such a procrastinator. But in my defence, I have been swamped with school. My marks went way down in my mid-term, which kind of brought down my confidence, so I have been working to bring them up. Also I'm in a special arts program which requires a certain average, so it is especially important that I keep my marks up.

Ok this time I am not going to make any promises of when the next chapter will be up, but hopefully it will be soon, because I am on such a roll. It also helps SOO much that I wrote out a chapter outline. Every writer should do it!!

And I want to give a BIG, whale sized thank you to my lone reviewer, EW4eva . I'd buy you a chocolate bar (I'm sorry I'm poor) but unfortunately that's hard to do, considering I've never met you. But seriously, you made my year. I always appreciate reviews!! HINTHINT

So PLEASE review!!! Please, please, please. I am on my knees!!