Lily was set down on a bed and Madam Pomfrey came over and started examining her, asking what had happened. Severus explained the best to his knowledge. Professor Cauldro immediately left the hospital wing and went down to the Slytherin Common Room in search of Lucius.

Dumbledore thanked Severus for his help and told him to go back to his dorm. Severus left and headed back to his dorm. Dumbledore was helping Madam Pomfrey with Lily. "She's exhausted her energy to control the earth's energy. I've never seen anything like this, not even when Synthia and I were in school."

"Is that so," Dumbledore mused.

"Yes. This is just too much. She needs to stop using her powers before she uses too much energy and kills herself."

Dumbledore nodded. He remembered when Synthia had been in school and decided to use her powers for tricks on her classmates. He had been a teacher at the time and had constantly warned her about the dangers of killing herself if she used her powers too much and drained her energy. Now he would have to give Lily the same lecture, though he was glad she wasn't unconscious from a prank.

When Lily woke up, there were five faces staring down at her. Three of them had black hair, one had brown hair, and the other had dirty blonde hair. When Lily's eyes came into focus, she realized that they were James, Remus, Rini, Severus, and Sirius. "What happened?"

The four standing Gryffindors looked toward Severus. Severus gently grasped Lily's hand as he told her what he understood had happened. "Well, Lucius was ordered by his father to capture using any means possible. I suppose Mr. Malfoy was waiting somewhere outside the school grounds for Lucius to come out with you, but it can't be proven. He took a polyjuice potion with one of my hairs in it to transform him into my likeness for an hour. That's how he planned to lure you. By posing as me because he knew you trusted me more than him.

"When I finally got outside, the potion had nearly worn off. After you saw it was Lucius and that he was going to hex us or something you put up some sort of barrier to protect us."

They watched as Severus's demeanor changed and his voice softened to that of a concerned friend. "Lily, you are so stupid! You could have killed yourself. Don't you ever do that again, especially for me. You should have protected just yourself, as it was you he was after."

Lily smiled at him and gave his hand a small squeeze. "I'm sorry I worried you, Sev. I promise I'll try to think more of myself next time." Severus laughed and then took his leave, knowing that her other friends wanted her attention.

Remus was standing right beside her head and placed a hand on her cheek. "Lily, are you okay? That is, are you better?"

Lily leaned her head against his hand. "I'll be fine, Remus. I always am. I just wish I knew what was going on with me. Why would Lucius's father want me?"

Rini hopped onto Lily's bed and lay down beside her. "I wish I knew, Lils. I'm afraid that's something we'll have to wait for another day to find out."

"Malfoy's got detention for the rest of the year," Sirius said triumphantly. "Serves him right, trying to get you to do something as despicable as he did."

James remained silent. Lily knew by his furrowed brow he was deep in thought. Lily also took the opportunity to try a still developing new power: reading other people's minds. Looking into his eyes she heard one word come from his mind: Voldemort. "What about him, James?" Lily said, forgetting that she had just read his mind without his knowledge.

James snapped out of his reverie and stared at Lily along with the others. "How did you…"

Lily blushed. "I'm sorry, James. It's a new developing power, reading another's mind. You don't think He wants me, do you?"

James sighed and shook his head. "It's just possible. You know as well as the rest of us He's the reason my mother is dead. If he's trying to gain strength, as well as supporters, you would be one of the best recruits."

Lily curled into a ball on the bed and Rini gave her a hug to comfort her. "It's alright, Lily. He can't get you with Dumbledore around. Everyone knows that he's afraid of Dumbledore."

Lily nodded. "I guess you're right. I really shouldn't be worried, should I? I have Dumbledore, Synthia, and I have you guys."

"Of course," they said simultaneously. Rini gave her one last hug before jumping off the bed and letting everyone else give her a hug. Remus was the last to hug her, and Lily didn't let go. The others saw this and slowly crept out of the room.

Lily finally let go of Remus, and he pushed back her hair from her face. "I've spent every free moment I could waiting for you to wake up," he said quietly.

"How long have I been here this time?"

"Six days. I heard you gave a spectacular performance."

Lily gave him a glare, but it lasted only for a second and was replaced by a soft smile. "I'm not to sure what I did, actually," Lily said with a small laugh.

"I'm just glad you're all right," Remus said, pulling her into his embrace.

"Me, too," Lily said softly. "Me, too."

Dumbledore talked to Lily the next morning about overexerting herself with the constant use of her powers and made her promise to use them less often lest she kill herself. Lily promised. She then asked about Lucius, and Dumbledore said that he was being punished for attempting to kidnap her. Lily accepted the answer without asking for further details. She also didn't mention the fact that Lucius seemed to have more than kidnapping her on his mind.

The end of the year came rather quick. They took their finals and passed. Lily, James, Sirius, and Rini were still trying to find all the information and ingredients they needed on how to brew an animagi potion. Lily had asked Professor Cauldro for the ingredients, who had given them to her after she forced what Lily needed them for out of her. Professor Cauldro was surprised and pleased when Lily told her and promised not to tell anyone about the potion lest the four get in trouble.

The five friends were standing at the station talking before getting onto the train. Remus was standing behind Lily with his arms around her waist. Sirius was standing behind Rini holding her the same way. James was standing beside Elle and looking at his four friends, pretending to gag.

Lily had just started laughing over a joke Sirius had just told when Lucius walked by them, giving Lily a long, sorry look. She hadn't seen hide or hair of him since the night he tried to kidnap her. Lily stopped laughing immediately and leaned closer into Remus's embrace for comfort, trying to get away from him. She heard Remus behind her growling at Lucius, who walked away after hearing his growl and seeing Lily make an attempt to get as far away from him as possible.

Lily relaxed and Remus held onto her just a bit tighter. "It's okay, Moony. I'm with you and will never go back to him, never again speak to him if at all possible."

They boarded the train and found a compartment at the back. Lily settled down and was prepared to go to sleep while the other were deciding what they were going to do during the train ride. Just as Lily closed her eyes she felt two pairs of hands on her, tickling her. When she opened her eyes she saw that her attackers were Remus and Rini.

"What do you want that you had to tickle me to keep me awake?" Lily asked with her most annoyed sounding voice.

"We don't want you to sleep," Rini said simply.

"Why not?"

"Because we want you to join us in the fun!" Sirius said as he jumped on Lily's lap, causing her to give a shriek of surprise and pain.

"Get off me, you big louse!" she yelled at Sirius. With Rini's help, she got Sirius off her.

They all laughed and enjoyed themselves. Even Lily didn't mind too much when Peter came. They were all fairly rowdy until they realized James had fallen asleep. Lily was the one to notice and told them all to be quite so he didn't wake up.

Meanwhile, James was glad for his sleep, for while he was sleeping, he had a wonderful dream…

He was standing in the doorway of a red room trimmed with gold. Inside the room there was a cradle and a woman holding a baby. The woman had the loveliest voice he had heard as she sang to the infant in her arms.

"Hush little baby, don't say a word. Papa's gonna buy you a mockingbird. If that mockingbird don't sing, Papa's gonna buy you a diamond ring. If that diamond ring don't shine, Papa's gonna buy you a broom to ride…" He recognized the voice, but just couldn't place it.

James smiled in his sleep. His friends saw this and wondered what he was dreaming about.

When James woke up they were nearly at the station. He was surprised that he had slept through just about the entire train ride. His stomach growled and he realized that he had missed his snack that he usually got on the train. Looking around the train, he noticed that Lily wasn't there. "Hey, guys," he said, causing everyone to realize he was awake. "Where's Lily?"

Sirius and Rini looked at each other. They were the only ones that knew James was falling hard for Lily again. They were surprised even Lily hadn't noticed. She had been so wrapped up in making Remus realize that he couldn't do what he had been doing that she hadn't paid attention to his thoughts. "She's just walking around," Rini said as innocently as possible.

"Alone?" he asked surprised.

Remus looked at him weird. "Yeah, why?"

James tried to look as innocent as possible. "Well, I just thought that you wouldn't want Lily to walk around by herself for now. I mean, Malfoy is still on this train, you know."

"I know," Remus said with a sigh. "I hardly doubt that he'll want to deal with Lily's powers right now, though. Even if Dumbledore told her not to use them as much, she's going to use them to defend herself against Malfoy."

James thought about it for a moment before saying, "Yeah, I guess you're right. How long has she been gone, anyway?"

Remus, Sirius, and Rini all looked at each other, as if asking the other the same question. "I'm not quite sure—" Remus started to reply, but was cut off as James ran out the door to look for Lily.

James glanced in each apartment he passed in hopes of finding Lily. When he saw she wasn't in a compartment, he would apologize for the intrusion and continue his search. He reached the middle of the train within fifteen minutes and finally found her curled up on a seat in a compartment, asleep.

::An hour before hand::

Lily had been watching her friends throughout the entire train ride, not really participating, but being denied her sleep. She didn't understand why they had to keep her awake, so she decided to try and find an empty compartment. Using the excuse that she was going for a walk, she exited the compartment and started to look for a place to sleep.

Lily was surprised to find a compartment half way down the train. She had expected all of them to be occupied. She decided that Lady Luck was with her and lay down on the seats and was soon asleep. Her sleep was dreamless.

Lily didn't know how long she was asleep when she felt someone shaking her. She tried to tell them to go away, but it came out as a mumble. Then she heard her name being called. "Okay, okay! I'm getting up!" she said sleepily.

Lily opened her eyes and saw that the person that woke her was James. "Oh," she said, blushing. "Hi."

"Hey," James said with a small smile.

"How long have I been gone?"

"I don't know. I was asleep when you left and I just woke up fifteen minutes ago. When I saw you weren't there I asked where you were. When they said they weren't sure and then they said they didn't know how long you had been gone I went to look for you."

Lily smiled. "Thanks, James." Lily sat for a moment before frowning. "They didn't realize how long I had been gone?" James shook his head. "Not even Remus?" Lily asked, her lip trembling just a bit.

"I'm sorry, Lils," James said as he pulled her into a hug. "I think they were caught up in whatever they were doing."
"But Remus is suppose to look after me," Lily said with a strained voice. "He's suppose to notice when I've been gone for quite some time. He was the one that should have come looking for me, not you, James."

James pulled back and looked Lily in the eyes. Lily had blocked her mind and didn't even think about reading his. James wiped away her tears with his thumb, but they were replaced with fresh ones. He leaned down and kissed away each of the tears.

This movement surprised Lily. She leaned back and looked into James eyes. They were an intense shade of blue. Funny, she didn't remember them being so intense. Before she could think another thought, James had leaned down and kissed her. Her head screamed at her to break the kiss, but the rest of her being told her it was right and to continue it.

::Five minutes earlier::

Remus, Rini, and Sirius were sitting in the compartment still, waiting for James and Lily to return. Remus was starting to worry. He was pacing the compartment when he burst out, "I can't take it anymore! I'm going to find them myself!" and left the compartment.

He moved a lot faster down the train than James had and it only took him ten minutes to reach the middle of the train where Lily's sleeping compartment was. When he looked through the window on the door the sight that he saw made him stare in shock.

There, in the compartment, were James and Lily. What made him stare was the fact that they were snogging. They were acting as if they thought no one could see them. Remus couldn't believe it. His girlfriend and his best friend were snogging right in front of him, even if they didn't know he was there. The last straw for him was seeing James kiss her neck.

Remus opened their compartment door, but they didn't notice. "I can't believe you two!" he shouted, causing James and Lily to jump away from each other in surprise. Pointing at Lily, he yelled, "You're my girlfriend! You're not suppose to be snogging my best friend!" Then, turning and pointing at James, he yelled, "And you! You're suppose to be my best friend, yet here you are, snogging my girl!"

James stood up in hopes to calm Remus down, or at least make all the anger directed at him. "Remus, just try to stay calm. It's not Lily's fault. I'm the one that kissed her."

Remus glared at James. "She could have stopped you at any moment, James. The fact of the matter isn't who kissed whom. The fact of the matter is that I caught my girlfriend cheating on me with my best friend!"

Remus made to punch James, but Lily, who had been cowering from Remus' wrath, read histhoughts and intentionsand jumped in front of James, screaming, "No!" The punch meant for James landed on Lily's temple. Lily flew to the side and her upper body landed on a seat. James had tried to catch her, but was a few seconds too slow.

Lily groaned in pain as James sat on the floor and pulled her into his lap. There was already a bruise forming on her temple. Her head rested on James' shoulder. James was gently stroking her hair out of her face as he asked, "Lily, are you going to be okay?"

Lily nodded slightly. "He didn't hit you, did he?" she asked faintly.

"No, he didn't. He hit you. You're so stupid, Lily! Why did you do that?"

"I couldn't let him hit you," she answered, her voice still faint. "He's right. I could have stopped it. You aren't the one that should have been hit."

Remus had stood in horror, watching and listening to the conversation. He knelt down beside the two. His throat was tight as he tried to speak. "I'm so sorry, Lily. I never meant to hit you. Please forgive me." He moved his hand to brush a few stray hairs out of her face, but Lily recoiled from him. "I'm sorry," he said one last time before he stood up and left the compartment, heading for the one that still held Rini and Sirius.

When Remus reached the compartment, he entered and sat in his seat, his head in his hands. Rini looked at him and thought better than to ask where James and Lily were. Instead, she asked, "What happened?"

"I hit Lily," he said quietly.

Sirius looked at him in surprise. "You did what? Why?"

Rini gave Sirius a disapproving look. "Tell us what happened from the beginning."

Remus looked up and began. "Well, I found the compartment Lily was in within ten minutes. It's in the middle of the train. I looked through the window, though, and saw James and Lily snogging. I opened the door and confronted them. James tried to take all the blame, but I wouldn't let him. I was so angry that I went to punch James. That's when Lily jumped in front of him and I hit her instead." Remus had tears in his eyes by the times he finished the story. "I never wanted to hit Lily. I would never willingly hit a girl."

"Oh, Remus, I'm so sorry," Rini said.

"For what? You're not the one that kissed Lily." Sirius would have said something, but knew that this wasn't the time.

"Remus, I may not have been the one to kiss Lily, but I knew that letting James go and find her was not the best idea," Rini said carefully. "You see, Sirius and I have been watching James over the year and we knew that he was developing feelings for Lily. Really, really intense feeling for her. I would have stopped him from going, but then you would have asked why, and I didn't want to make you mad at James."

Remus snorted. "A bit late for that, isn't it? I can't believe I hit Lily. I would never intentionally hit her. To make it worse, she feels that she should have gotten hit. That she deserved what she got."

Sirius had heard enough. "I'm going to find them. I say I can get there in five minutes, since I know to look in the middle of the train." Sirius left the compartment before anyone could stop him.

When Sirius reached James and Lily's compartment about five minutes later, he found Lily lying on the seats with her head in James' lap. Lily appeared to be sleeping, but he couldn't tell. He opened the door and stepped in, closing it.

"Just what the hell do you think you two were doing?!" Sirius cried, making James look up at him in surprise and Lily cry out in pain.

"Shut up, you big oaf!" James said to Sirius softly. "Remus punched her in her temple and now she has a splitting headache not to mention her vision is blurred."

"James, is that Sirius?" Lily asked quietly.

"Yeah, Lils, it's me," Sirius said in a soft tone similar to the one James was using.

"Is Remus still mad at me?" Lily asked, still in that quiet voice.

"No," Sirius said, shaking his head even though he knew Lily couldn't really see him doing so. "He's so upset with himself for hitting you and for the fact that you believe that you deserved to get hit."

"I did, Sirius," Lily said desperately. "I should have pushed James away when he first kissed me. This is my entire fault. I could have prevented this from happening had I stopped James." She turned her head to face James. "I'm sorry for making him mad at you, James."

James sighed. "It is not you're fault, Lils. I should never have kissed you in the first place."

"But I should have pushed you away. It doesn't matter that you kissed me. I should have pushed you away."

James was worried at how weak Lily sounded. "Don't talk, Lils. You're weak and need to regain your strength."

Lily looked from the blurry form of James' face to the blurry form of Sirius. "I want Serena. I want Serena and Severus. I want to talk to Rini and Sev!" Lily was speaking as forcefully as she could without giving herself a worse headache and James and Sirius could tell.

James looked to Sirius and said, almost frantically, "You heard her! Go find those two. Go, go, go!"

Sirius said a quick okay before bolting down to the end of the train to the last compartment where Rini and Remus still sat. "Rini, Lils is calling for you and Snape. You might want to get there as fast as possible before she does something to hurt herself worse or else hurt James. The compartment is halfway down the train."

Sirius was about to take off again to find Snape when Remus called out to him. "Sirius, why does she want Snape?" With a shrug, Sirius took off looking for Snape. Remus sat down again, this time with confusion added to his hurt, anger, and guilt.

Sirius finally found Snape sitting in a compartment, with a bunch of Slytherins, near the front of the train. Glancing around the compartment, Sirius noted that Malfoy was there as well. 'Well,' Sirius thought, 'I can have a little fun with this.'

Sirius looked directly at Snape and said in his most perplexed voice, "Snape, Lily is calling for you. I don't know why, but she is." He saw Malfoy shoot questioning daggers toward Snape as he merely nodded and followed Sirius toward Lily's compartment.

When they reached the compartment, Lily had her head in Rini's lap and James was no where in sight. Lily looked toward them as they entered and said, "I only know two guys who would have those blurry images. Sev come here. Sirius go away, right now." Sirius looked a bit hurt as he left the compartment to return to his.

Severus kneeled down in front of Lily and Rini and gently pushed some stray hairs away from her face. "What happened, Lily? Are you alright?"

Lily gave a small smile and quietly replied, "What happened was I had left my previous compartment so I could take a nap and James came to find me. Apparently James has romantic feelings for me and kissed me. I, being the idiot that I am, didn't push him away and actually kissed back. Then Remus came and was going to punch James but I got in the way and he hit me instead. As to am I alright, I will be."

Severus looked at Lily for a few moments before saying, "I can brew a potion that will get rid of your headache and hopefully your blurred vision. As for those two boys…" Severus paused and took a deep breathe before continuing, "they will have to wait."

Severus then left, but returned shortly with his cauldron, ingredients, and a metal tray to keep the fire from burning the train. He set up the cauldron in the metal try and lit a fire under it. Using a charm, he added some water to it, and then started adding the ingredients for the potion. Severus was done in no time and he dipped a glass into it to give to Lily.

Lily drank the potion with no questions and felt her headache start to ease. Within five minutes her headache was gone and her vision was clearer. She sat up slowly with Rini and Severus' help and then gave Severus a hug.

"Thank you so much, Sev," Lily said while still hugging him. "My head hurt to much to use my powers to heal myself. My vision is only slightly distorted, now. Thanks."

Severus pulled away and had Lily sit in a seat while saying, "It was no problem, Lily. Now, would you like me to talk some sense into those two? Possibly keep them from killing each other?"

"Oh, Sev, that would be great!" Lily said with a grateful smile on her face. "Please do."

Severus nodded. "Alright."

Severus made his way down the train to the compartment he knew they would be in. When he opened the door he wasn't surprised to see James and Remus sitting as far away from each other as possible, shooting daggers at the other. Sirius was sitting uncomfortably between the two.

Not being able to take the tension, Severus shouted, "I hope you two are happy!" James and Remus looked at Severus with confusion. Glaring at Remus he said, "Do you know how hurt Lily could have been with a hit to the head like that?" Turning his glare to James he said, "And you should have known better than to kiss your best friend's girlfriend! I'll be surprised if she ever even speaks to the two of you again for what you are putting her through. Luckily, I was able to brew a potion to rid her of the headache Lupin here caused and it also almost completely rid her of her blurred vision."

James and Remus looked at Severus and then lowered their gaze from guilt. They knew they were to cause for Lily's pain and they both felt horrid for it. They now knew why Lily kept Severus as a friend. No matter what house he was in he'd always be there to look after his friends. They both looked up as Severus started to speak again.

"I don't know about you, but if I had done this to my best friend or girlfriend I wouldn't be in contact with her for a while. She carries some blame as well, but not so much as to get hit. Potter deserved to get hit. You, Lupin, were so ignorant to the fact that Lily wouldn't want any of her friends hurt that you didn't realize that if you tried to hit Potter she'd intervene. That's exactly what happened."

Severus started to leave, but paused in the doorway. Turning slightly he said, "Lupin, take some time away from them to cool off and forgive them. Potter, take some time away from her to learn to control your hormones. Most important of all, though, leave Lily alone!" Severus stormed back up to Lily's compartment.

After he left, Sirius sighed. "He's right you know. You should take some time apart. He's right about Lily, too." James and Remus said nothing.

When Severus got back to Lily's compartment he sat beside her and took her hand in his. "How are you doing?" he asked gently.

Lily shrugged and said, "Could be worse."

Severus was a bit worried about Lily and needed to speak with her alone. He nervously glanced at Rini and said, "Would it be okay if I speak with Lily alone. Please," he added as an afterthought.

Rini looked at him unsure, but Lily nodded her head so she left. After Rini left, Lily looked at Severus with interest. "What is it, Sev?"

"It's about when I went to go get my stuff for the potion. I had to go back to the compartment I was sharing with Lucius and the rest."

"I don't want to hear about him!" Lily said quickly.

"Well, you're going to here what I have to say about what happened when I got my things," he said with a sigh. Lily merely sulked in her seat. "When I went back, Lucius immediately asked me why you wanted me. You see, Black had made it seem as if you and I had something going on." Lily laughed at this. "I told him that you had been hurt in an argument. Lily, he was instantly worried about you. He was asking if you were okay or if you were going to be okay. He even asked to come see you. I knew you wouldn't want to see him, so I told him it was best if he stayed where he was."

"If you think that just because Malfoy acted all worried about me when he heard that I had been hurt that I'll go back to him, then you're wrong," Lily stated simply.

"I never thought that, Lily," Severus said looking directly into her eyes. "I just thought you'd want to know that Lucius is sorry for what he's done. He still cares for you, and when you broke up with him…" Severus trailed off, knowing Lily knew the rest. "I just want you to know he wasn't gong to do what his father wanted while you were still his girlfriend."

"So it's my fault he did what he did to me?" Lily asked incredulously.

"No! I'm just saying he did what he did out of hurt and anger. That's all, I swear it, Lily."

They were silent for a few moments. "I know," Lily said finally. "I…I just don't want to talk about any guy that has or ever had a crush on my right now, okay, Sev?"

Severus nodded. "I understand." Severus gently laid his hand over Lily's in a comforting gesture. Lily didn't make any movement, but merely continued to stare at her lap.

Sensing Lily had drifted into her own world, Severus removed his hand from over hers and just sat there. He didn't want to leave, just in case she still needed him to be there if she started blaming herself again.

The rest of the ride was silent. When they reached the station, Lily had Severus help her with her trunk and then walked with her trolley into the Muggle world.

Lily saw James walking with Rini and Sirius. She also saw Remus walking with Peter. Lily couldn't help but feel that the reason the group was split up was because of her. Sighing, Lily bid Severus good bye and said she hoped his summer would be enjoyable. With a bow, Severus walked off to find his parents, leaving Lily alone.

Lily walked aimlessly around the train station for a bit before deciding to head for the exit and her parents. She briefly thought of her mother's smiling face before remembering her mother wouldn't be awaiting her. Glumly, Lily walked towards her father and let him envelop her in a hug. Walking towards her father's car, Lily knew this was going to be a long summer.


Thanks for all the reviews! I really do appreciate them. I'm thinking about starting year 4 as another story, but I dont know. What do you guys/girls think? Reply and let me know.

Amoura Avalon