It was just barely after midnight and Lily Evans had yet to go to sleep. She was working on her summer homework. She also had just turned twelve years old. Lily rubbed her eyes and looked at the clock. "My goodness!" she exclaimed. "No wonder I'm so dreadfully tired. It's after midnight." Lily was no ordinary twelve-year-old though. She was home for the summer from her school: Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Lily couldn't wait to hang out with her best friends from Hogwarts: Serena (Rini) Avalon, James Potter, Sirius Black, and Remus Lupin. Thinking that she should get to sleep so she would wake up early, Lily finally went to bed.

Lily woke up to a tapping on her window at 7:30 in the morning. She looked and saw an official looking owl. Lily opened the window and saw not only the official looking owl, but also her own owl, Emrys. Emrys flew over to her cage and ate the mouse in her beak. The official owl was waiting patiently for Lily to relieve it of its letter. She took the letter and the owl left.

The letter was from Hogwarts. Inside it had a list of school supplies and her train ticket. Lily smiled, knowing that in a few weeks, she would be going back. Then she got up, got dressed, and went downstairs.

Lily could smell her mother's cooking. What a smell it was! She was making Lily's favorite breakfast: eggs, bacon, toast, pancakes, and tea. Lily sat down and her mother kissed her forehead good morning. "Morning Mum!" Lily said cheerily.

"Morning Sweetheart. Sleep well?"

"Mm hmm. I got my letter as well. Do you think it would be okay if I spent the afternoon with my friends?"

Mrs. Evans looked at Lily surprised. "But we always spend birthdays as a family."

"I know Mum, but there are a lot more friends who want to see me this year. Usually it's just Rini and Tina. Now it's Rini, James, Sirius, Remus, and probably Damien. Plus, I'll be spending the morning with you and it would make Petunia happier."

"We'll ask your father when he comes down."

Lily smiled, knowing that she could get her father agree to almost anything if she played her cards right. Petunia came down around eight o'clock, putting on some sort of make up. Lily laughed at this sight.

Petunia looked skeptically at her. "What's so funny?"

Lily laughed even harder. "You are, Petunia! You're actually putting make up on!"

"Yes, I have plans with Vernon today." Petunia looked at what her mother was cooking. "Wait a minute. Eggs, bacon, pancakes, toast. Oh, don't tell me it's the little brat's birthday!"

"Yes, Petunia, it is. And don't insult your sister!" Mrs. Evens scolded.

"Mum, I'm going out with Vernon and I refuse to change my plans for her. She was gone most of the year, and ever since she came back, you've been treating her like the queen of England!"

"Petunia calm down," Lily said. "You might not have to go anywhere with me and my friends." Petunia brightened.

Mr. Evans came down a few minutes later and kissed the top of Lily's head. "Happy birthday, Princess."

"Thank you, Daddy." Mrs. Evans served breakfast.

About half way through, Lily asked, "Daddy, is it okay if my friends and I spent the afternoon together without the family?"

Mr. Evans looked at his daughter. "I don't see any harm in it."

"But Kevin—"Mrs. Evans started.

"Come on, Evy. Where's the harm?"

"Kevin, most of her friends are boys!"

"Evilan, I really don't think Lily would do something with any of the boys considering there are a few of them going to be there plus Rini." Mr. Evans had called Lily's mother by her full name, so she knew she would be able to go on her own this year. They finished their breakfast in peace. Then Lily opened her gifts.

Around eleven the doorbell rang. Petunia ran to get to the door first. Petunia called to her parents, "I'll be back later, Mum!" so they knew Vernon was at the door. After Petunia left, Lily ran upstairs, put on a blue skirt, a white T-shirt with the word 'Angel' written across the front, and her blue platform heels. Lily ran back downstairs, kissed her parents good-bye, and went to Rini's.

Lily rang Rini's doorbell. A bubbly Rini answered it. "Hi Lily! Happy birthday!" Lily found herself being pulled inside by Hurricane Rini. When Lily finally was able to see things besides a blur, she saw she was in the Avalon kitchen. In the kitchen were Damien Gem, James, Peter, Remus, and Sirius.

"Happy birthday!" they all shouted.

Remus immediately had her in a hug and swung her around. "Thank you, Remus, for that amusing ride," Lily said looking a little pale. "I'd kiss your cheek but I might vomit on it."

"Sorry, Lily. Didn't mean to make you feel queasy."

"I'm feeling a bit better now, thanks. Anyone else up for a none moving hug?"

Sirius came over and hugged Lily. "Happy birthday, little angel." Lily kissed his cheek hello.

James came over and hugged her next. "Happy birthday, Sleeping Beauty." Though the group had been seeing each other all summer, James still felt as if he hadn't seen her since the last time they had hugged. Lily looked at him weird when he called her 'Sleeping Beauty.' James laughed. "Remus, isn't Lily our Sleeping Beauty?"

Remus laughed as he remembered last year. "Yes, but ours didn't wake up!"

"Too true, too true."

Lily just shook her head, still not knowing what they were talking about. She hugged James again and kissed his cheek. He returned the kiss but his was just to the side of her lips.

James backed away a bit nervously. "Ah, you haven't said hello to Damien or Peter yet."

"Happy birthday, Lily!" Peter said with excitement.

Lily cringed with disgust at the sight of him, but only James noticed it. "Thank you, Peter. Damien, I'll leave Rini to give you my hellos and how- do-you-dos."

Everyone laughed as Damien turned red. "With pleasure!" Rini said, which made him blush even harder.

"Well, shall we go to the movies? There's one playing that I've been dying to see!" Lily said.

Rini called her mother downstairs to take them to the theater. Mrs. Avalon gave them extra money, just in case.

At the theater, they bought the tickets and refreshments. Then they got their seats. Damien sat farthest down, with Rini to his right. On the other side of Rini sat Lily, then James, Remus, Sirius, and lastly Peter.

The movie was a horror. James kept hoping Lily would get scared. Lily and Rini were scared by a half-hour through the movie. Rini's head has buried in Damien's shoulder while Lily's was buried in James's. They would look up every once in a while to see what was going on. The guys were fully enjoying the movie. Lily just happened to look up once when a puppy was getting killed. She quickly buried her head in James's shoulder again. James was only too happy to hold her tight to comfort her.

James felt his shoulder were a bit wet and figured Lily was crying from the puppy getting killed. "Lily," he said gently, "do you want to leave? You don't have to see this if you don't want to." Lily nodded so they got up and left. Once they got into the lobby, Lily exclaimed, "How could they kill that poor little puppy! That poor innocent puppy!" Lily continued to cry on James shoulder for the next few minutes. She looked up at James and smiled. "Thanks, James. Why don't you go back in and watch the rest the rest of the movie, okay?"

James shook his head. "No, not unless you want to. It's just a movie. Plus, I wouldn't want to leave you out here alone."

"Thanks, James. You really are a great friend." Lily hugged James once more. "You know, the movie won't be over for about another hour."

"I know that. It there anything else we can do while we wait for them?"

Lily thought for a while. "There's the arcade."

"Okay, let's go there." Lily jumped up and started dragging James to the arcade.

James was in awe of the different games. "How can there be so many. I've heard of a few of these, but I didn't realize there were so many." Lily laughed at the remark and pulled him over to a game called Pac-Man.

They were in the arcade for longer than they meant to be. The movie had ended a few minutes ago and they hadn't left the arcade. They were having too much fun.

Lily was beating James in a fighting game when someone tapped her on the shoulder. "Jesus Christ!" she shouted. She had lost her concentration so James was able to defeat her.

"Finally!" James said with triumph. He looked at Lily who was clutching her heart trying to regain her breath. "What happened to you?" Lily pointed to who had tapped her on the shoulder. There stood Sirius, Rini, Damien, Remus, and Peter. "Thanks guys. You threw Lily's concentration off and I was able to defeat her finally."

"That was not fair!" Lily started. "They shouldn't have tapped my shoulder. I want a rematch. I demand a rematch!"

James shook his head. "You've defeated five times in that game. You're better than me in it and I bow down to your ability to conquer anyone in it." This made Lily happy.

Suddenly, Sirius asked, "Hey guys, why did you leave the movie? Was it just to boring for you?"

James laughed. "Quite the contrary, actually. I found it a fairly good horror movie. It was to much for Lily."

"They killed an innocent little puppy!" Lily started to defend herself.

"Oh my goodness, Lily!" Rini exclaimed. "I forgot all about your animal thing." Seeing the others confused faces, she explained. "You see, Lily has this really soft side for animals. She only eats meat because she knows that the entire animal will be used for something. The hides of pigs and cows, the feathers of chickens, the fleece of sheep, and their meat are being used. Never take her to an animal shelter because she'll burst in tears seeing all those abandoned and stray animals. Seeing an innocent puppy being killed is like the worst thing she could have seen." Lily was crying just thinking about that puppy being killed.

Suddenly, Remus had a question for Lily that he had to ask her privately. "Um, Lily? You want to play a game with me?"

"Sure. You want to see if you can defeat me in a game that James can only win by default?" Lily put another quarter in the machine and she and Remus started to play.

"Lily, is that why you were so understanding when I told you I was a werewolf?" A werewolf had bitten Remus when he was little. The only person that knew besides the professors and Hogwarts and his family was Lily.

"What do you mean, Remus?"

"Your love of animals. Is that why you weren't mean to me? Because I'm part animal?"

Lily glanced at Remus. "Yes, it's part of the reason. As I said last year though, I know werewolves are only dangerous in there wolf forms. As long as you're in your human form, I know I'm safe." They fell silent as they continued to play. The others were watching with interests. They were surprised when Lily cried, "No!" Remus had obviously won the game.

They left the arcade. Lily looked at her watch and exclaimed, "Oh no! I need to be home in twenty minutes! I need to call home." Lily ran to a pay phone and called her parents to tell them she'd be late. Then Rini called her mother and told her they were ready to be picked up.

They were picked up fifteen minutes later by Mrs. Avalon. Rini and Lily sat in the front while the boys sat in the back. The boys were discussing the movie and telling James what he missed. Rini looked at Lily and asked, "So has James asked you out yet?"

"No, Rini, and he probably won't ask me out."

"Why not, Lils?"

"Because I he promised to wait for me. If he likes me as much as he says he does, he'll wait till I ask him."

"That was risky. What if he asks someone else while he waits for you?"

"Then he didn't like me as much as he thought." The rest of the ride home was mainly talk of the movie.

Lily got home twenty minutes late.

"Mum! Mum, hurry up! Mother, get your rear in gear! You're making me late!" Lily was very impatient while she waited for her mother to come downstairs.

"Alright, alright. No need to get your knickers in a twist," Mrs. Evans said as she started coming down the stairs, still putting her hair up in a ponytail. "Why are you in such a hurry anyway, Angel? It's not like you didn't see them all week."

"I know. It's just I don't want to be the last one there."

"Okay. We'll be off then, shall we?"

They listened to the radio the whole way there with Lily singing along. They were almost to the Leaky Cauldron when Mrs. Evans said, "You know, Lily, with a voice like that, you'll have people spellbound when you're older. No pun intended, of course," Mrs. Evans added quickly.

Lily looked at her mother. "You think so?"

"Oh, Lord yes. You have a gift. A very beautiful gist."

"Well, I think you're right about holding people spellbound. That is, whenever I sing at Hogwarts, Sirius is somehow always there. And you know that tale you used to tell me of three witches who try to suck the lives from children to stay young forever?" Mrs. Evans nodded. "Well, according to Sirius it's a true story!"

"Wow! I thought it was just legend."

"All legend is based on fact, Mum."

"True that is. Very true."

They reached the Leaky Cauldron, a magic people's pub. Mrs. Evans told Lily she would be back in four hours. Lily looked at her watch. That meant five o'clock. She went in and realized she wasn't sure what bricks Mrs. Avalon had pushed or tapped last time. She went up to the bartender and said, "Excuse me." The bartender looked down. "I need to get into Diagon Alley. You see, last time I was here, my friend's mother opened the wall."

The bartender looked at her as if making sure she wasn't lying. "Okay, little Miss. Follow me." Lily followed him to the small courtyard. "Now, once I show you, think you'll be able to remember?"

Lily hesitated. "I think so."

"Well, you don't sound to sure, so I'm going to use a memorizing charm after I show you." Lily watched him as he tapped certain bricks of the wall with his wand. He turned toward Lily again and said, "Memorosa!" Lily's head tingled for a few seconds. "There you go, Miss."

"Thank you," she said as she started to walk into the alley.

"What's you name?" the bartender called.

"Lily. Lily Evans."

"Well Lily, I hope to see you again."

Lily walked towards the agreed meeting spot: Gringotts. Lily had another 100 pounds to change into Galleons, Sickles, and Knuts. As she approached the bank, she saw only one person: Remus. Lily walked over and gave him a hug and a kiss on the cheek. They sat down on the step to wait for the others.

"Did you have trouble getting in?" Remus asked.

Lily looked down as she turned red. "I had to ask the bartender at the Leaky Cauldron for help." They fell silent for a few minutes.

"Lily?"

"Yes, Remus."

"Well, I was wondering if...if you...if you..." Remus couldn't figure out how to ask her.

"If I what, Remus?"

"If you would go out with me," he said quietly.

Lily continued to look at her feet. 'Oh no!' she thought. 'If I go out with Remus it will break James's heart. If I say no I'll break Remus's heart. James said he'd wait for me. I do like Remus. Yes, I will go out with him. This will have to be James's test.'

Lily had been quiet for so long, Remus's head was screaming, 'She's going to say no! I just know it!" "Will you, Lily?" he asked as calmly as he could.

Lily looked at him. "Yes," she said with a smile. "I will, Remus." Remus jumped up and smothered Lily in hugs. Lily laughed.

Rini and Damien came a few minutes later, followed by Sirius and Peter. Last to show was James. The hugs and high-fives went all around. When James got to Lily, he noticed she was avoiding his eyes. They broke apart more quickly than James would have liked.

As they broke apart they looked into each other's eyes. Suddenly, James heard a voice in his head, a girl's voice: Lily's voice. I'm sorry, James. Now's just not our time. I hope you keep your promise and wait for me. The whole school's female population goes gaga over you. Please, James, wait for me. And please, James, forgive me. James broke eye contact with Lily. James noticed her arm was away from her body, and her hand, her hand was intertwined with someone else's.

James looked at the owner of the hand and was shocked to see it was Remus's. It was all James could do to not lash out. "The rest of you go inside, alright? I want to ask Remus a question."

Remus walked down the steps as everyone else went into Gringotts. "What is it, James?"

"Why!" James said quietly but forcefully. "Why'd you do it?!"

"It might help," Remus said calmly, "if I knew what I was being accused of."

"You asked Lily out!" James said through clenched teeth. "You know how feel about her! I love Lily!"

"How do you think I knew which questions to ask you, huh? If someone would ask me those things about Lily, do you know what I'd say? Her skin is as fair as a dove. When she touches me it feels like a warm breath of wind. Her skin is softer that a rose petal. Her hair smells richer than a raspberry grove! Have I mentioned yet that she is a vision of loveliness! Mark my words, she is heaven sent, an angel! She is all the wonderful things in this world embodied. She is more than my lady; she is my queen. Do not tell me I did this out of spite, for I love Lily with all my heart." With that, Remus walked into Gringotts.

James just stood there, thinking about what Remus had said. He was snapped out of his trance when Sirius called, "Oi, James! You coming or what?" James walked up the steps and into Gringotts.

He followed Sirius to the front desk. They all told the goblin at the counter their vault number. Lily also changed ninety pounds. She kept the other ten pounds for herself. They all gave her questioning looks. "Just so I have muggle spending money as well," she said simply. Another goblin then led them to a set of railroad tracks.

They all got into a cart the goblin had just called. Remus made sure he and Lily were away from James. "Lily, he knows," he whispered in Lily's ear.

"Who knows what, Remus?"

"James knows about us." Lily's eyes widened. "I don't know how he found out."

Lily didn't hear much more of what Remus said. She was deep in thought. 'How did he find out! We haven't told anyone yet, not even Rini.' Lily heard someone calling her name. "What!" Lily snapped.

Rini jumped at her snap. "Uh, we're at your vault."

"Oh, sorry. Must've gone off into La-la Land. I'm so sorry, Rini," Lily said.

"Just go!" everyone called. Lily got out of the cart and gave the goblin her key. The door opened and Lily quickly filled her moneybag. She got back into the cart as quickly as she could and rested her head on Remus's shoulder. "I have a headache," she said out loud.

They were off again, this time to Sirius's. After they had all gotten their money, they headed for the shops. They went to the Apothecary and restocked their potion ingredients. Then they went to the bookshop.

James dragged Sirius and Peter away from the others. He glanced at Lily and met her eyes. Just like at Gringotts, James heard Lily's voice in his head. I'm sorry, James. Please don't be mad at Remus or me. 'What in the world!" James thought after Lily's voice faded from inside his head. James joined Sirius and Peter.

"James, what's going on?" Sirius asked immediately.

"Remus and Lily are going out," James said.

"How do you know? They haven't said anything to anyone," Peter said matter- of-factly.

"That's the strange thing," James said. "Right before we were going into Gringotts, Lily and my eyes met. I could her thoughts. She was worried about them going out. And right before I came over here, it happened again. She was asking someone for forgiveness about them going out and not to be mad at them."

"Do you know who she was asking in her thoughts for forgiveness?" Sirius asked with great interest.

James hesitated. "No," he lied. He didn't want to hurt Sirius even more than he was about Lily and Remus going out. The three boys got their books and waited for the others to find them.

Rini and Damien found them first. Rini ran over to them and shrieked, "Guess what!"

"Lily and Remus are going out," they said in unison.

Rini's face fell. "How did you know?"

"I saw them holding hands outside of Gringotts," James said. "That's what I asked Remus. I just told these two." He didn't wish to elaborate.

"Oh, okay," Rini said. "Well, they'll be joining us shortly."

No sooner had Rini said that than they Lily and Remus came into view. Lily had her arm linked with Remus's and was whispering something to him. They both had a smile on their faces. Lily saw they others and her smile faded a little. Rini was the only one who noticed.

Sirius decided to act indignant. "So why didn't you tell us you two were going out? We had to hear it from James and then from Rini and Damien."

"Well, ah, I, err, we, um," Lily didn't know how to answer the question.

"Well," Remus said, "we don't even know how James found out. We were planning to tell you all at once. When he dragged you two off we figured he was going to tell you, so we told Rini and Damien." Lily smiled her agreement.

"Well, have we all bought our books now?" Peter asked. Everyone nodded. "Then where to?"

James was the first to answer. "Well, I don't know about you guys and ladies, but I'm going to the owl emporium."

Lily gave a squeak of joy. "Oh, I do love the emporium. Even if I was only going in to look I'd be happy." So they all left Flourish and Botts and headed for Eeyelops Owl Emporium. James immediately went to look at snowy owls, but found none to his liking. Lily was just enjoying looking at the different owls. Remus was also enjoying the different owls. They saw James at the eagle owls. Everyone could see the joy in his eyes as he was looking at them.

Lily walked over to them. One caught her eye and she said, "This one is beautiful! Look at it! Don't you agree, James?"

James looked at the owl. Lily was quite right. It was extraordinary. "By Jove, Lily! It's perfect!" James told the owner which owl he wanted and paid for it. They went outside and James set the cage down. "What do you think I should name him?"

"How 'bout Hermes?" Sirius suggested. "Hermes was the messenger god of the Greeks."

"Nah," James said. "Too original."

Lily knelt down beside the cage and started to pet the owl. It gently nipped he finger.

"Arthur," Remus suggested. "Like King Arthur."

"Still too original."

"Hedwig?" suggested Rini. "I read the name in Hogwarts, A History last year."

"I don't think so."

"Hello, Myrddin. (dd=th)" Lily cooed at the owl. The owl cooed back.

"Well, I guess Myrddin wins, doesn't it." James said.

"Uh?" Lily said, not realizing what had just happened.

"Nice one, Lily," Damien laughed. "You just named James's owl."

"I did? I'm sorry, James. I didn't mean to."

James laughed at Lily's apologies. "It's okay, Lils. Myrddin is a better name than anyone else came up with. A lot more original, too."

Lily blushed at James's words. Keeping her eyes to the ground, she got up and walked to Remus' side and put her head on his shoulder. Remus put his arm around her waist, as if to show James that Lily was his girlfriend.

James opened Myrddin's cage. He immediately flew over to Lily, his namer. "No, Myrddin. You're not mine," she said as she patted his head. She walked over to James and said, "He's your owner. You answer to him." The owl hopped from Lily's arm to James's and nipped Lily's finger. Lily laughed and walked back over to Remus.

They spent the rest of the time looking at the different items in various shops. They even had some ice cream.

All too soon, Lily looked at her watched and gasped. "Oh, no! My mum is picking me up in five minutes. I better get back to the Leaky Cauldron." She gave everyone a hug and kissed Remus quickly before saying, "Bye guys! See you tomorrow, Rini!" She ran quickly down the alley.

She reached the pub and said hello to the bartender. As she was leaving, she heard some one ask the bartender, "Tom, how d'you know that girl?"

She heard his reply. "Oh, she came in here about four hours ago and needed help getting to Diagon Alley. A sweet gal she is." Lily smiled at his response.

She left the Leaky Cauldron just as Mrs. Evans was pulling up. "Have a good time, Dear?"

"Wonderful," she said. "Simply wonderful."