CHAPTER 12!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And this time, it took less than half the time it took to get chapter 11 out, HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Thank you everyone, and an especially big thank you (as always) to the people who reviewed. As I said in the last chapter, I have officially upped the rating to R. In the next two or three chapters (more likely less than that) the story will get somewhat graphic and I don't want anyone getting offending and flaming me saying "YOU SAID IT WAS PG13" Who needs that? So I upped the rating. Seeing as how it is R, there might might might might and I stress the word, might, put in some R material, but ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to the extent of NC-17, I point black refuse to do NC-17. The R rating will be mainly for violence and much darker themes; however I do plan a make-out scene or two (not more than three) that goes beyond the PG13 limit. With that said, on with the story.

Also that whole, Lily spying on Voldemort and Bellatrix thing, it DOSE play a part later, but not right now. I didn't waste three chapters writing just to be a bitch. It plays a role later on.

I got a little soft when I wrote this. I was listening to my favorite Japanese song of all times, Toki ni ai waa (Right now love is..) by Masami Okui when I wrote it. With the combination of the pair I even got a little sappy. I wish I had someone like James. (Sigh)

Disclaimer: I don't own anything. Blah blahh...all is property to Rowling...blahh blahh blahh blahh... accuse me of stealing it and I will kill you...blahh...blahh...blahh.

CHAPTE R 12

Christmas vacation seemed to end all too soon for Lily. Before she even knew it, it was the 2 nights before she was to return to Hogwarts. That night Petunia and Vernon were to eat dinner with the Evans' and James, who still hadn't left, was to be eating too. The idea that James and Petunia would finally meet and, undoubtedly, lock horns, sat rather weird in Lily's mind. On the one hand there was no doubt that Petunia would bitch off to James and her sister, calling them both freaks. Then she would storm out of the room with Vernon muttering on how "unfair" life was to her, and somewhere in between that call Lily a bitch, and or whore. On the other hand Lily knew for a fact that James would not put up with anything of the sort and he would retaliate. But the idea of James being with her almost seemed to sooth the idea of Petunia and Vernon both being in the same room with a Witch and Wizard at the same time. Nothing good would come of it, but perhaps things wouldn't all go to hell, or at leas that is what Lily hoped. One could only hope for the best when some fool was holding a red flag in front of a bull, or worse, a pair of bulls.

James had not yet had the "pleasure" of meeting Petunia, and Lily hoped that the circumstances wouldn't be the way they were. Lily knew that the combined arrogance and, in Petunia's case, prejudice, would produce nothing good. She just hoped that James would not retort to his wand. If that were the situation, Petunia would scream and claim James wa going to kill her, Vernon would jump James and the two would be in a struggle on the floor to which there was two outcomes; Vernon, being the bigger person would beat the crap out of James, or two James would curse Vernon to have dog ears and croak like a toad. The idea of Vernon croaking like a toad was rather humorous, but the consequences with Hogwarts AND The Ministry of Magic would show no humor what-so-ever. Lily however, thought Vernon should have the voice of a pig instead of a toad. She chuckled to herself at the thought.

Petunia and Vernon were to arrive around eight-o-clock. It was seven thirty and Lily was busy getting dressed. Her parents wanted both her and James to look nice for Petunia and Vernon because it would be the last time Lily would see Petunia for another year, possibly more. 'The less I see Petunia the better,' Lily thought savagely. That afternoon when Mrs. Evans said she wanted James to look nice, James immediately summoned a pair of black, silk robes but Lily informed him on what proper means to a muggle. Lily's father, who was around James' size, allowed James to borrow some of his clothes, although Lily would have given anything in the world to see the expression on her sister's face of James walked into the room wearing silk robes. Petunia would no doubt faint in her seat right then and there. For dinner Lily wore a long black skirt and the red shirt she bought at The Purple Lizard. Around her neck was, of course, her father's necklace and she wore small stud earrings. Her hair was tied back, revealing her dazzling green eyes. Lily didn't wear any makeup because she thought that dinner with Petunia wasn't a good cause for her to go through all the hassle of makeup. She normally hated wearing it, which was the cause for why she never wore it at all, unless she was going to a formal banquet which she never did.

Lily went down the stairs into the living room where Mrs. Evans was peering nervously out the window. Lily sighed, 'it's the calm before the storm'. The calm was of course, awaiting toe arrival of Petunia, and the storm being when the world of magic and muggles clashed in the form of James and Lily vs. Vernon and Petunia. 'Well at least it should prove to be amusing when Petunia sees James', she murmured silently. Lily's mother turned to her daughter and said," Lily dear, will you please keep a look out for your sister and keep an eye on your friend?"

"Sure thing Mum," Lily said with the corniest smile she could conjure giving the situation.

"Thanks dear," Mrs. Evans said as she turned the corner and went to check up on dinner. She was wearing a simple black cocktail dress, and Mr. Evans was sporting an old suite that was four times bigger than his raggedy figure. James was upstairs getting dressed. Lily assumed that he was having trouble figuring out muggle clothing, she chuckled. Because he had not brought anything for the occasion, Mr. Evans had offered to let James borrow some of his clothes. Mr. Evans was no bigger than James, so their sizes were in the same range.

Up in a corner of Lily's room was her gift that she wanted to give James. The flower he gave her was the best gift that James could have ever given her. She only hoped that her gift would be the same. Lily had found it in Amberle's family owned store and she quickly purchased it before Christmas Break. Sirius would have most likely made immature faces and sounds, like he always did but in a good sense, and give James a hard time. That was the reason why she chose to give it to him when they were alone. Lily was caught up in her own thoughts when someone tapped her on the shoulder. She jumped in response, temporarily losing touch with reality. Lily turned around and saw James behind her. He was wearing a pair of nice jeans and a black sweater. He apparently looked rather uncomfortable in it, but the combo looked very nice on him. It complimented his already divine figure. As always, his hazel eyes swirled in a boyish charm that gave James mischievous presence, his charming smile only added to the look. "Hey Lils," he said.

"You look nice," she said.

"How do muggles wear these things?" he burst out.

"If you were in my sister's position and you showed up wearing those silk robes she would be thinking the exact same thing," Lily responded. Lily sighed; she might as well tell James now. It would be much better for his health if he knew it before Petunia showed up, and he would be forewarned. "Speaking of my sister, there are a couple of things you need to know about her," Lily said.

"What?" James said.

"Both her and her fiancé, Vernon have a very...medieval...attitude about magic. They think that witches and wizards are freaks and should be banished from the Earth. My sister conceders me as a freak, and when she learns that you go to Hogwarts, she will also say the same thing. Please, please, PLEASE don't let what she says get to you, or, for that matter, what Vernon says," Lily said.

"Your sister considers you a freak..." James trailed on. That was pathetic when even your own flesh and blood would conceder you a freak. Now he knew why Lily got so tense whenever the subject of her sister was brought up. For Lily it was as sensitive a subject as it was with Hagrid being half-giant. That also explained why she didn't let anyone close to her until Dorcas, Anthy and Amberle, and why she didn't warm up to James for six years.

"Yes, she dose. She hates me. But do not let that cloud your actions; don't say anything to her or Vernon. This will hopefully be the last time I see the pair of them for a good many years. Despite the fact that she despises me and the feeling is mutual, I don't want my last meeting with her for several years to end on a bad note," Lily said.

"Don't worry Lils" James said. He often awed at Lily's maturity. She was beyond her years. That was why he cared about her so much, and why he is so attracted to her.

"Thanks James," Lily said with one hundred percent sincerity. She stood up on her tip toes and kissed James' check. Just then the lights of a car showed through the curtains and announced Petunia's arrival. Lily sighed and hollered to her parents that her sister had arrived.

VIV

Two hours into dinner and things had gone over rather smoothly given the circumstances that the two most magic haters and the Head Boy and Girl of Hogwarts were sitting in the same room. After a few snide glances the sister's eventually dropped the starring contest. Vernon looked disgusted when he saw James, and the look Petunia gave was no different. The pair of them looked revolted at James' presence. Lily dearly wanted to tell the couple to take their feelings about wizarding kind and shove it up their asses, but in the presence of her parents she was forced to hold her tongue. Both Lily and James kept silent for a majority of the dinner while Petunia and Vernon rambled on about their plans for their wedding. Lily could care less because Petunia would not want her at her wedding to a perfectly normal man, and Lily just didn't want to go. On the other hand, Lily was at least glad that she found Vernon because the pair could complain all they could about magic. Both seemed to be made for each other; both hated magic and both were not gifted in their looks. Every once in a while the couple would make some snide comment, but Lily was far too used to it to care.

James on the other hand had to restrain his tongue at all of the snide comments. Several times Lily gave him a warning look about keeping silent. The strain seemed to be killing him, but he did indeed comply, at least until desert rolled around. Desert that night was a family tradition called Apple Crisps. They were Lily's favorite desert, and James, who had never had them before, took delight in complementing Mrs. Evans on her recipe. By then Mr. and Mrs. Evans were sipping coffee, and restrain their obvious yawns, Vernon and Petunia apparently ran out of things to say so they resorting to fondling each other, and James and Lily spent most of the time exchange sickened glances at the couple. Eventually even Petunia got tired of saying sweet nothings to Vernon and began talking again, slowly and almost sinisterly," So...I take it things are okay at that freak school of yours," she hissed, her horse-like teeth protruding from her upper lip.

"What dose it matter to you?" Lily responded just as coldly. James made an attempt to say something, but when Lily gave him another glance he turned his comment into a cough.

"Don't even bother asking Petunia, I doubt they are even capable of a normal answer," Vernon cut in spitting acid.

"Too true, what would she know about being normal," Petunia said putting a delicate stress on the word normal.

"Funny, because in our world you two would be considered freaks, so maybe you should think in the point of view of others instead of your own," James burst in. he didn't care what Lily had said or warned about. He wouldn't allow her to be insulted by those two who were so selfish and inconsiderate that they couldn't see past their own desires. It was enough to make anyone's blood boil. James had now clue how Lily put up with it for seven years, since they day she got her letter. 'She sure as hell won't put up with it anymore, not if I have anything to do with it,' James thought bitterly.

"I was beginning to wonder if you were capable speaking," Vernon said. "A scruffy looking person like you most likely hasn't had the proper schooling to speak. Or do you only know those magic tricks? I suspect that Houdini's trickery would be out of your league," Vernon added, adding fuel to the already deadly flame.

"James, this dose not concern you. And you..." Lily growled at Vernon, "Do not EVER insult him like that again. You know NOTHING," Lily said, slowly loosening the grips on her explosive temper. That fat headed pig had no right no reason to insult James.

"Are you threatening him? What could you ever do to him? Wave your stick and say 'hocus pocus'," Petunia mocked.

"'Hocus Pocus' is it? Would you like to find out," Lily said. She drew out her wand from the back pocket in her skirt. "You have no right to insult what you do not understand," she said full of rage and hatred. Her feelings for her sister were of nothing but hatred, deeper than the hatred for the Dark Lord.

"No Lily, don't!" James said. "A muggle isn't worth facing the ministry," he said.

"You should listen to your little boyfriend," Vernon said. By that point Mr. and Mrs. Evans had left the room. The pair of them had learned many years ago to stay out of Lily and Petunia's fights. As much as they hated the fact that their daughters fought like bulls, they couldn't help it. The only thing they could do with a clear conscious was to just stay out of them.

"I doubt she even ranks up to a girlfriend, a whore is more like it, "Petunia said.

At that Lily couldn't take it anymore. Everything was all screwed up, so screwed up that Lily lowered her want and turned around and left the room. She was called a whore more times by the Slytherins than she could count, but when her own sister called her that it was like someone kicking her in the chest. A tear trickled down from her face. Lily walked almost robot like up the stairs and into her room. She closed the door almost without noise.

Downstairs James was in shock. He never saw Lily get that emotional. Ever. Normally when she was angry she muttered a series of devastating spells and curses, both magic and non, at the object of her anger. Only this time she was so caught up in her emotions she just broke down and cried silent tears. The only other time he saw her cry was the aftermath of Rodulphos Lestrange's attempted assault. But she did not cry silent tears that time, silent tears was a sign of beyond anger and beyond grief. James threw Petunia and Vernon the looks of the ut-most loathing that a human being can manage and went up the stairs to find Lily. He murmured, "Bitch", under his breath but obviously Petunia didn't catch it. She just stood there with a snobbish look on her face. How did Lily put up with seventeen years of hell living with that cold heartless bitch? James would have no doubt cracked and cursed her into oblivion. Just how Lily accomplished that was a more miraculous feat that the wizard who first invented the wand. Seeing Lily like that scarred him in a way. She had to have been hurt beyond belief for her to just leave that way, and openly let a stray tear fall down her cream colored face.

When he went up into Lily's room she was just sitting on her bed, crying silently. Her green eyes lost their spark and Lily did not even notice James' presence until he said softly, "Lily".

"I hate her. I HATE her," Lily said with clenched fists.

James moved slowly towards her and sat down next to her. "It's okay. It's okay," James smoothed. Lily snuggled against James, crying into his sweater, and James took her slender form and embraced her. For at least an hour Lily just sobbed into him while James tried to sooth her. Lily was grateful for James. She loved James. In that simple action of being there when she was in need proved beyond all doubt that he loved her. When James had whispered it into her ear Lily scarcely dared to believe it until that night. And it was when she truly realized she loved him beyond anything in the world. She loved him more than anything in the world and beyond the world. Lily wanted to be with him forever, for time to stop and their love to last for eternity. Eternity was a long, long time and Lily would give even her life to spend it with James and James alone.

Eventually Lily regained some of her composer and stopped crying. She sat up straight and said "Thank you,"

James gave his trademark smile. Words weren't needed to express what he was feeling. Then James spoke up in an attempt to get Lily to smile," your sister is more shriveled up than a dementor," he said.

"Demen-what..," Lily said.

"Opss...sorry about that Lils. A dementor is the creature that guards the wizarding prison of Azkaban," James said. "Like your sister, they suck out all the happiness you feel whenever they are around you," he explained.

"Sounds like a dementor and my sister would get along great," Lily said with a small laugh.

James smiled; he loved it when Lily laughed. She was so beautiful and full of life when she smiled and laughed. Laughter always made life more beautiful, especially Lily's laughter. James laughed in spite of himself, it was a really good thing that Sirius couldn't read his thoughts, or else James would never hear the end of it.

As Lily regained herself she remembered James' present. To his puzzlement she got up and grabbed a small parcel wrapped in scarlet paper with snitches on it. "I didn't want to give you this in front of Sirius and Remus, but here it is, your Christmas present," she said. Lily hoped and prayed that he would like it.

"And to think, I was beginning to think that you had completely forgotten," he joked. James tore away the paper to reveal Lily's gift. Inside of a cherry wood box was a sold gold broom compass. James starred in awe at the present. And here he was thinking she would get him a new Quaffle to replace the one he "accidentally" blew up in the summer. There was not doubt that the compass had been expensive. James flipped over the compass to the back were his names was engraved in fancy letters. "Wow, thanks. This is perfect," he said with complete honesty.

"I hoped you would like it," Lily said nervously. She bore a shy smile and a light blush crept on her checks.

"It's the best," James said as he pulled Lily in close for a kiss.

On the other side of the door, Petunia's head was in a twist trying to take in what she had just overheard.

XIX

The next morning everyone said goodbye and, in James' case, good riddance, to Petunia and Vernon. Everything would now return to as close to normal as one could manage. Lily and James only had one more day before they were to return to Hogwarts. Oddly enough James already had plans. Not too far away was the place Sirius was living at. He lived around an hour away and on the edge of the woods, a small field was adjacent to his house, which served as a sort of make shift Quidditch field. Although James knew that Lily hated flying with a passion in her soul, he thought it would be a good idea to visit Sirius and try and liberate Lily from her deadly fear. Sirius had been informed on James plan even if Lily had no clue, and he wanted to keep it that way. In case Lily didn't have any Floo powder, he brought some with him so they could be at Sirius' in two jumps.

As it turned out, Lily had a healthy supply of Floo Powder. Her parents were gone for the day so the two teenagers were free to do as they wished. The only information Lily had was James planned on dragging her to Sirius' house, where most likely Remus and Peter were staying at as well. James stepped into the fire place and threw the Floo Powder. In a flash of emerald light the words "The Dog Star" and James was gone. Lily figured that the 'dog star' was the name of the place were Sirius was living. She followed James' example and in a series twists and turns she found herself in an unfamiliar kitchen where James and Sirius were talking.

"Hey Lils, what took you so long? First time Floo powder user," Sirius joked. Lily just laughed softly.

The three spent a while catching up on times and Sirius eventually came around to the question of why the hell did Lily stop hated James all the sudden and agree to go out with him? It was a question that Lily just responded with, "I'll answer that question the day that you stop playing jokes on Snape," she joked.

"If that's the case then I don't want to know. There is nothing more fun than giving good old Snape a hard time," Sirius said.

"I must agree with you on that Padfoot," James added in. Well humiliating Snape was the second most fun thing to do in James' mind. Being with Lily and giving Snape a more than hard time were his favorite pastimes. Those and Quidditch, that had to be in the top three somewhere too. "Say, where is Moony and Wormtail?" James asked.

'Wormtail,' Lily thought to herself. The name sounded somewhat familiar but she couldn't put her finger on it. It was as if she were trying to remember something from a time long since. 'Well if I can't remember it, it isn't important,' she figured.

"Remus is going to be here in a few hours and Peter said that he had something else to do. Funny he always seems to be preoccupied with something. I haven't seen him all Christmas," Sirius said.

"Well that's Peter for you," James said

XIX (I do this a lot in this chapter, get over it)

Three hours, and a two course lunch later, James was having a rather hard time getting Lily to comply with the idea of flying around on a broomstick. "No, absolutely not," Lily said, stamping down her foot. She hated flying almost more than Voldemort, her sister, Death Eaters and Professor Lantis. James knew that all too well to ask her to fly on a broomstick more than two inches off the ground. Her first time flying had been less than pleasurable, with something, or someone, speeding like an idiot towards Lily causing her to fall off her broom and break an arm. Since then no one had been able to get Lily off the ground. Despite the fact that both Dorcas and Amberle were avid Quidditch, and in Amberle's case Quodpot, fans Lily just couldn't get into the liking of flying. At least she had Anthy to stick by her. Anthy too, hated flying. Lily was just fine sitting safely and firmly on the ground, thank you very much.

"But Lils," James begged with a puppy dog smile. Lily, far too used to his puppy dog smile trick, was not one to be fooled.

"No is no. You know I hate flying," she said stubbornly.

"Bad luck Prongs, "Sirius mocked, who was a good 20 feet up in the air.

"Shove it Padfoot," James shouted, to which Sirius just laughed and soared even higher. The sky was a pure crystalline blue. Not a cloud could be seen for miles. It was perfect weather, even if the chill of Jack Frost nipped at everyone. "Please Lily," he begged some more. "I won't go high, I promise," James said.

"You won't guy high, but who said you wouldn't go fast," Lily replied.

"I won't go high OR fast. Please Lily? Just one go, if you freak out I will land," James offered with the puppy dog eyes, smile and his boyish grin all wrapped in one. Even Lily couldn't resist. She finally threw away her pride as James landed with both feet on the ground.

She mounted the broom slowly and cautiously, as if sneaking up on a mob of Death Eaters. Not fully trusting James with a broom, no matter how strong her feelings were towards him, was clearly on her face and mind. Lily did not let James out of her eye sight for a split second. Once Lily was on the broom, James mounted in front of her (pervs!) and slowly began to rise from the ground. James could feel Lily's chest beat a mile a minute against his. Her entire demeanor had changed, she had become much more on edge and fidgety, as if trying, and failing miserably, to control and hide her fear. As the broom began lifting a few inches off the ground Lily grasped James' waist for dear life, 'And we aren't even off the ground yet!'. "Wait, James stop. Too high," Lily said.

"But then we would still be on the ground, "James said.

"That's the idea," Lily replied. James released one of his hands and put it gently over Lily's, trying to sooth her fear somewhat. Of course James had no one to blame but himself for her fear. When he had his first flying lesson at Hogwarts, James just "happened to notice" that the Quidditch team was practicing nearby. He wanted to show off that he was as good as anyone else on the team and began speeding off like a bullet. Before he knew what happened James ran into a large, red haired object, which was soon on the ground with a broken arm. Naturally James didn't give much of a care at the time, but later on, when he realized the full greatness of the female sex, he began to feel almost sorry for Lily with her phobia of flying.

At the touch of James' hand, Lily became much calmer, and soon James was several feet off the ground before Lily knew what was happening. She gripped his waist even harder, but James didn't mind; at least he didn't mind until "Oi James, I haven't seen you move that slow since the age of 6," Sirius mocked. James flipped Sirius the number one sign and continued to soar upwards. His speed never went up too high, and James seemed to have more fun with his Lily than what he normally did in fast paced Quidditch matches.

XVIVX

END CHAPTER

Well at least I got this one out a heck of a lot faster than I got the last one out. I am still so sorry for how long 11 took to get out. I apologize sincerely. Things with me have been hectic since school started (for more info, see my live-journal. Link in my profile under homepage) and writing has been a sort of release lately, but I haven't had the time. I must have worked on his story for twelve or thirteen times, but I only got MAYBE 15 minutes to write, that is why everything is taking so long. Once everything settles, down (AKA: AFTER marching season around November and Christmas) then I will get the chapters pumping out faster. Right now I am so far ahead with my credits that I next semester I may be able to get out of school around lunch on my even days. So that is more time to write AND I can start looking for a part time job, (dose the happy Frodo chicken dance).

My friends are writing their own manga and they want me to do some of the character designs. As much as I want to, I can't. I almost never pass up a chance to draw (unle$$ you can pre$uade me other wi$e $$$). I am that friggan swamped with school work and crap like that.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

All flames will be laughed at and deleted. If they are that funny, I will post them in my next chapter for everyone to make fun of. HAHAHA)