A/N: I know I haven't posted for a while, I've been a tad busy. And I've been suffering form a bit of writers block, -swoons-. Anyway... -jigs- read on!

I wanted to stay at Hogwarts for the summer holidays. It was an entire year of new things and I had to get used to the fact that I had to be independent, that I had been thrust into adulthood way too early. Well, I had planned to stay at Hogwarts, until Sammy invited me to stay at her place.

'It'll be awesome! We can go to Diagon Alley for day trips, meet up with Aoife, Hannah and the boys, oh and my little brother is a pain, he's only ten, comes to Hogwarts next year, my parents are grotty, I mean, honestly, once is enough! They got the best deal with me but noooo, they just had to have a boy!'

I laughed and agreed. The exams were over and people were relaxing in the common room. On the other side, in a group in the corner, James looked up at me and gave a queen-wave. I grinned back and shook my head in amazement. What a dope. He and I had become firm friends in the past few months and I had become lenient over my hatred towards pranks. In turn, he had become slightly (I stress, slightly) more mature. With my friends we could be kids again.

'Sorry, Sam, but can we not discuss your parents' sexual activities?'

'Who's having sex now?' Sirius asked, sidling up alongside Sam and sliding an arm around her waist. Oh, did I mention they were going out? Nope? Well, they were, at that stage. So were Hannah and Remus. They were all secretive about what happened, when, where and how. Despite Aoife's constant barrage of questions, they both remain stubbornly mum.

'Sam's parents.'

'Ok, enough, enough!' Sam cried, planting her hands hard over her ears. 'No more! I'm the offspring, remember? These are MY parents' sex life we're discussing-.'

'Which seems pretty heated.'

'Sirius!'

He ducked as she swung her hand at him and laughed. 'Oh, it's natural, get over it.'

'Imagine yours, or, better yet, your grandparents!'

'Argh! Ok, stop!'

I laughed and James looked up and caught my eye again. He cocked his head and frowned. I just mouthed 'old people sex' at him and he clapped a hand over his eyes.

'New topic!' Sam declared. 'This one is making me feel sick.'

'Oh, Lily, nice to finally meet you.' Sam's mother, Helen, swept me into a tight hug, and I glanced over her shoulder at Sam, who just shrugged and grinned. I was just astonished that the first time I'd met Helen, she treated me like she'd known me for years. I couldn't help but smile. Helen seemed to have, stupid as it sounds, some sort of blanket of protection she lay over everyone surrounding her. I felt it as soon as she swept me into that huge hug, a momentary feeling of relief and relaxation. My mind unwound despite itself, just a tiny bit. For just a little while, things weren't quite the struggle.

Sam's parents lavished me with attention and, I have to admit, her little brother adored me. All modesty. Seriously, he'd pull a prank and, thanks to James, I'd know exactly what was going to happen before it did and he was often caught out that I knew which way to turn, what to say, to duck, to twist and to laugh all at the right times and in the right places. When, after too many attempts, he realised I could not be beaten, he decided to join the enemy, rather than fight against my obviously unbeatable superhuman strength (or so he called it). Sam wasn't too pleased with the fact that her brother had fallen head over heels for me, but hey, it got him to leave us alone. If only for the odd short while.

Holidaying with a wizarding family was incredible. Everything was so much different to home. My old home, that is. It was late when we finally arrived at Sam's place and my eyes were closing of their own accord, so I basically stumbled in the direction Sam pointed, fell into my temporary bed and fell asleep straight away. The next morning was an eye-popping experience.

Sitting up in bed, I yawned... and froze mid-yawn, my arms half straightened in a stretch above my head. Across from me against the wall the mirror said cheerily 'Good morning!'

I blinked. I'm sorry, but I'm not used to having furniture well-wish me.

I rolled out of bed, immediately awake, and staggered into the en suite. Where the shower turned itself on, the towel rack growled and created a tug-of-war game with me, giggling when it released the towel and I tumbled to the floor. I frowned and stood up, just in time to see the toothpaste squeeze itself onto my toothbrush. Niamh meowed as she padded in through the door.

'I don't think we're in Kansas anymore...' I muttered. My golden cat sprang onto the counter and gave me a reproachful look. I stuck out my tongue at her and she rolled her eyes.

'Don't look at me like that,' I said, smiling slightly. 'I'm an adult at school, do you mind if I'm a kid for five minutes?'

She mewed sarcastically and leapt to the floor as I pulled a white dress off its hanger, then stalked out of the en suite, tail ramrod straight.

I flounced down the stairs and almost toppled over at the sight of the house I was living in. The dishes were washing themselves, the fireplace was massive, and I mean massive, the radio was playing some music I'd never heard before, with a woman crooning about 'my love potion went so wrong, ooh, how can I ever go back' and Sam's family owl, Eryn, was ruffling his feathers on the banister beside me. I grinned and skipped down the last two steps, landing on the floorboards.

'Alright, I demand you tell me how you do that.' Sam appeared in the doorway to the kitchen, blocking off the sight of the sink. I frowned.

'Do what?'

She pouted and glared at me, feet slightly apart and arms folded in an angry stance. 'You're so light on your feet. I want to be light on my feet! I want to be graceful. You suck.'

'Sam, you're a girl with the mind of a boy.'

She grinned suddenly. 'I know, don't you just love it?'

'Sam!'

Sammy groaned as her red-faced father stomped into the kitchen, using the back door. I smothered a smile as Aaron held up a chicken. With bright purple feathers.

'Care to explain?'

I turned and left them to it, heading out the front door, ready to explore, as Sam's voice faded into the background.

'She kept getting lost...'

The Merrywands live on a five acre property in the south west region of England, near Glastonbury. Hey, I'm from Manchester. I've never been down south, apart from the odd week trip to Plymouth and Brighton, so I have no clue where exactly Sammy's place was. And I didn't really ask. I was too busy soaking it all in. All I knew was that Bristol was that way, London that way, and Scotland all the way up there.

Most of the day I spent out of the house, roaming Sam's property. It was beautiful, green grass and blue skies, incredible contrasts and flowers... birds... Niamh had a great time loping around the property, chasing butterflies, mewing plaintively at birds skipping just ahead of her and looking dolefully up at me when they evaded her, yet again. It was strange, I felt, sometimes, like I should be sad, missing my parents. But I was happy, too. I missed them, yes, but I felt free.