Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters. Everything belongs to J. K. Rowling. No profit is being made from this story. I am simply having fun and providing entertainment for other readers.

Chapter Two

Screaming in the Rain

... … … … … … … … ... … …

The bright ray of sunshine that crept in through the window of the seventh-year girls' dormitory would have been appreciated by any other person that was just waking up. However, Lily rolled over onto her stomach and grumpily pulled the curtains back around her bed.

The thought of getting up on that Saturday morning to take a walk in the beautiful October weather made her want to scream. She didn't want to face anyone, deal with anyone, look at anyone, or talk with anyone – especially not Emery. She would have given anything to stay in bed all day. But of course, because of her current social stance, her presence would not go unnoticed, and Emery would most likely send someone up to fetch her; they would go to Hogsmeade with their "friends" like they always did, and Lily would once again find herself in a crowd of snobbish people.

Lily was bored with her life. Most girls would have taken her to be a mental case for wishing to be someone else; after all, she was popular – people were willing to throw themselves at her in order to be her friend. There was no doubt that she was smart – she was the top in almost everything except for Transfiguration, which she was beaten only by James Potter. She was pretty – something she was constantly reminded of, thanks to her friends, or her posse and she often referred to them. And not to mention she was dating one of the richest, most sought-after young wizard bachelors in the world.

Lily hated her life.

"Lily, what are you doing in there? You better hurry up and get ready!" said Kinsee, pulling open the curtains around Lily's four-poster. Lily shut her eyes tightly as the radiant sunlight hit her directly in the eyes. The various girls within the room became covered up with splotches of different colors across Lily's vision.

"Yeah, you want to make sure you look good for your date with –" Riley paused, sighed in admiration, and whispered, "Emery."

The three girls in the room – Kinsee Walker, Riley Keaton, and Belle Greenwood – looked at Lily with expressions half-envious, half-admiring. Lily restrained from rolling her eyes at her pathetic friends. Typically, Riley, Kinsee, and Belle were also dating some of the richest young wizards in society who, coincidentally, were all of Emery's friends. Lily had only become friends with them when she started to date Emery last year; before that, they weren't necessarily mean to her, but they made no effort to be her friend. And now, they were like her followers – all because she was dating Emery William Haywood.

They always hung around in the same snobby group – she and Emery, his friends and Lily's friends. And Lily was tired of it. Perhaps it was the fake smiles that everyone put on. Or maybe it was the same mindless chatter and constant bragging. Every time they were together, Emery and his mignons would discuss political topics and brag about absolutely everything, while Lily sat with Belle, Riley, and Kinsee and watched as they argued about how much they thought their boyfriends would buy them during the upcoming Hogsmeade trip. Lily could tell, however, that all three of them were about as happy with their lives as she was with hers. The only reason they were dating these guys was because the young heirs were all swimming in money.

Any Hogwarts female student would have killed for Lily's life. But at times Lily would have preferred to be a social nobody.

"How did you do it anyway, Lily?" asked Riley, as she sat in front of the mirror brushing her curly, dirty-blonde hair.

"Do what?" Lily asked blankly, cringing when she saw her pale face in the mirror. She looked exactly the way she was feeling – tired, upset, and lost.

"Get Emery to be your boyfriend!" Kinsee said with an exasperated expression on her face.

"Oh," said Lily, slightly surprised at this question. "I don't know. It just sort of – it just happened, I guess."

"Well, you are the luckiest girl in the world! I would dump Aidan any day of the week if it meant I could be Emery's girlfriend," Kinsee stated, her brown eyes glossing over as she seemed to go into some sort of reverie.

"I…well yes, I guess so…" Lily looked up, and the other girls seemed to be staring in shock at her hesitation.

"What is it, Lily? What? Are you okay?" asked Riley, looking disbelieving that her friend could possibly be hesitant about dating Emery Haywood.

"I was just thinking – don't you guys ever get the feeling that you're just…just following their every command or something? Don't you think they get sort of controlling sometimes?" Lily whispered quietly, as if she was afraid Emery was standing outside the door listening in on them.

Kinsee laughed, in an almost relieved way, as she tucked a strand of her straight blonde hair behind her ear. "Is that all you were worried about, Lily?" She raised her eyebrows at her and Lily shrugged uneasily. "Well of course they get controlling…that's just how they were raised. They're used to getting their way. And if Emery is going to get nasty when he doesn't get what he wants Lily, then you just have to learn to let him have it his way," she said indifferently, as if this was a trivial discussion and Lily was just being silly.

"Don't feel bad, it happens to all of us, Lily. I remember when I used to be best friends with Chris Camden. Well, Will hates when I talk to other guys and he told me I couldn't see Chris anymore. It killed me at first, because I missed Chris so much. But I finally got over it, and look how happy I am now!" Riley said in a falsely cheerful voice. The smile that she forced out afterwards made Lily want to scream into her pillow.

Belle, a petite girl with wavy brown hair, laughed slightly, and when they all turned to her as if to inquire what was so funny, she said "Liam doesn't allow me to wear anything blue because he doesn't like how it looks on me. And it's too bad…blue is my favorite color." She sighed, and tried to pretend as though she thought it was stupid.

Lily looked on at the three of them, somehow feeling even worse than she had before they tried to cheer her up.

"Why do you do it then? Remind me why are we putting up with this again?" Lily stopped and wanted to curse herself for spitting out the questions, but she waited for their answers none the less.

Riley and Belle glanced at each other, but Kinsee smiled and said, "It's simple Lily…survival. It's not a secret between all of us that I'm not exactly well-off, but Aidan is going to inherit a ton of money. If I stick with him, then I'm pretty much set for life, aren't I?" Riley smiled and nodded, showing that she was in it for the same reason. Belle didn't say anything, but looked down at the floor doubtfully and then turned to begin making her bed.

Lily sat there thinking for a moment, and admitted somewhere deep down inside herself that she too had only continued to date Emery out of fear. Her parents had died when she was much younger, and her family had always struggled with money, so they didn't exactly leave behind a big will. And plus, the only person she had was Petunia. Lily knew that even if she was out on the streets Petunia would never take her in. Remaining Emery's girlfriend was her only choice. All of her money was gone – he was her only chance for survival.

This whole thing seemed so ridiculous to Lily that she was ready to slap herself when she nodded at them, showing that this too was the reason she was putting herself through such unhappiness.

… … ...

"Lily, what on earth are you wearing?" Emery exclaimed, ignoring the bright smile Lily had put on to greet him.

She stopped in front of him and glanced down at the sweatshirt she had thrown on with a pair of jeans. It must have looked strange on her because she usually wore were designer robes and expensive clothing – provided by Emery. The outfit she had chosen was nothing fancy, but Lily's father used to wear the sweatshirt all the time, and she loved the fact that his scent still remained on it.

"Er – what does it look like I'm wearing?" Lily said, somewhat sarcastically. Emery continued glancing at her outfit, not bothering to hide his look of disdain. Lily shifted uncomfortably from side to side.

"Sorry Emery, but we tried to talk her out of it!" Kinsee piped up, her voice high and breathless. Belle rolled her eyes to the back of Kinsee's head.

Emery glanced at Lily for another moment and then finally spoke. "Lily, this hurts me. I spend tons and tons of galleons on you so that you can wear the finest clothing that is made, and then you go and throw on something frayed and sloppy like this! Do you care at all about your appearance in public? There will most likely be people photographing us today, considering that the paparazzi tend to favor putting my picture in their papers!" Next to him, Kinsee and Riley were nodding their heads vigorously.

"Emery honestly, I don't care if I look like this! Let them take their stupid pictures. And don't you call my father's sweatshirt old and frayed! It's important to me!" Lily said, controlling her voice only because she didn't want the several Hogwarts students passing her to overhear.

"Well…" said Liam slyly, "I must admit I like seeing the sweatshirt with the tight jeans." He looked at Lily with a stare that made her squeamish. When he looked around he found Emery and Belle both glaring intensely at him.

"Liam," growled Emery, "why don't you keep away from her and look at your own girlfriend!" He pushed him lightly.

Liam smirked, wrapped his arm around Belle's waist, and said "Okay let's go Belle, we're leaving. We'll see you all at Hogsmeade." With one last wave he turned and led Belle out into the bright autumn day.

Emery turned his attention back to Lily. She glared at him with strong defiance. Sensing a fight coming on, Kinsee and her boyfriend Aidan, along with Riley and her boyfriend Will, turned and followed Liam and Belle out the door. "Why don't you just save us the time of arguing and go change Lily," Emery said, his expression one of boredom and irritation, as though he was dealing with a stubborn toddler.

Lily stared back at him unblinkingly. "No. I like this sweatshirt."

"Either you change into some decent clothing or we don't go to Hogsmeade," Emery said tiredly, with an air of finality.

Lily let out a scream of exasperation, ignoring the stares of interest in her direction, and walked quickly out of the corridor, heading back up to Gryffindor tower. When she turned a corner, still breathing hard with her fists clenched, she clashed into someone.

"Blimey, slow down Lily," someone said as they extended a hand to help her up. Lily took it and allowed the strong but skinny arm to pull her back on her feet. James Potter was staring down at her with his mischievous smile.

"Oh, how lovely it is to run into you," Lily said impatiently as she began walking down the corridor again, this time with James at her side.

James continued looking down at her and smiled, seemingly unabashed by her comment. "I'll take it I wasn't the person you wanted to run into at a time like this," he said, turning around and walking backwards so that he could face her.

"What do you mean, at a time like this? Nothing's wrong. I'm just heading up to my dormitory to…to get something," Lily said, feeling herself flush slightly.

James threw his head back and laughed. "Lily, you don't have to bother lying to me. You're obviously in a huff about something and I am wisely going to guess that Emery has something to do with it…" he stated confidently, beginning to grin the way he always did when he knew he was right.

"And why do you take it has something to do with Emery?" Lily asked, beginning to feel uneasy.

James shrugged simply. "The guy's a control freak. And don't even try defending him. I've been forced to attend stupid parties and cotillions that he was at as well, so I know him pretty well. You probably won't admit it, but I bet you agree he always has to feel like he's in charge of everything. I'm going to guess he tries to command you around too?" James asked, glancing at her with an understanding manner.

Lily opened her mouth to contradict him, but found her mouth shaping the world "yes" instead. James nodded, and Lily heard him mutter some rude words under his breath that made her say "James!" in a scolding tone.

"Don't worry, I don't let him boss me around though," Lily found herself saying, though she knew perfectly well it was a lie.

James stopped walking and looked down at her incredulously. Lily stopped as well and turned to face him reluctantly. "Then why are you changing your outfit?"

His eyes looked straight into her and the more she tried, the harder it was for Lily to speak. James smiled sympathetically at her before he headed down the opposite hallway. Before he turned the corner, he stopped, looked at her, and smiled genuinely. "By the way, Lily, I think you look great."

… … …

Sirius Black exhaled loudly and stretched his arms out behind his head in a confident, satisfied manner. Most onlookers would have been surprised at his state of calmness, because of the fact that he was sitting in a large booth in The Three Broomsticks with a number of giggling girls.

Sirius's pale, somewhat chubby friend Peter Pettigrew, however, contrasted greatly with Sirius's self-assured behavior. Peter was nervously shaking his foot up and down underneath the table, as he sat in the corner of the booth biting his fingernails. He looked positively terrified to be in the middle of the sea of girls that were fussing over Sirius.

"So, Sirius darling, do tell me, are you going to take over your father's business when he retires? Your parents must be so proud of you for doing so well with your grades and everything else!" said a pretty brunette named Melanie, leaning in so close to Sirius that he could smell the peppermint in her mouth.

Sirius looked away and, for the first time that night, became uncomfortable. He hated it when a girl would try making conversation by bringing up his family, mostly because he couldn't flat out tell her that he wanted nothing to do with them. Sirius looked all around the pub in an attempt to change the topic and was immediately relieved when he saw Remus enter through the door.

Sirius stood up and shouted loudly "Oy Moony! Over here!" and grinned at the various people around him who had jumped when he yelled. Remus smiled and pulled off his cloak, which was dripping wet due to the gloomy weather outside. After he waved and smiled to all the giggling girls, he sat down across from Sirius and shook all the water out of his hair, causing several droplets to land on Sirius's face.

"What was that for, eh?" Sirius asked, wiping water off his face. Melanie and another girl immediately offered their cloaks for him to use, but Sirius politely turned them down, beginning to grin as Remus sat laughing across from him.

Remus shrugged, his gray eyes flashing with secretive mischief. "I just call it a tiny payback," he said smoothly, as he took a sip of Butterbeer and smiled – more to himself – when drool started coming out of the mouth of a blonde-haired Hufflepuff girl that was staring at him.

Sirius leaned away from the table dramatically, feigning surprise. "Payback? Whatever did I do?" he asked with a low, innocent voice. Melanie laughed a little too harder than necessary, causing Remus to smirk into his glass. He was, of course, used to this behavior when girls were around Sirius Black.

"You didn't have to shout my name so loudly, causing the entire pub to stare at me. The barman was even glaring at me, as if itt was my fault that you're such an idiot," Remus said, though his eyes crinkled with amusement.

"What can I say? It's in my nature to be loud and obnoxious, Moony old pal," Sirius said, purposefully raising the volume of his voice for effect.

"Remind me why I become your friend again?" Remus asked in a bored voice, tilting his glass and downing the rest of his Butterbeer in one gulp.

… … …

James Potter sat on the floor in the Trophy Room, scrubbing a particularly stubborn spot that would not come off the Quidditch Cup trophy he had won for Gryffindor in fifth year. Although he was in detention polishing every single trophy in the room, he could not help the smile that weaved its way across his face when he was brought back to the biggest match of his Quidditch career.

He had a brief feeling of the butterflies that had churned in his stomach before he had marched onto the field with the rest of his team. Never in his life had he been so incredibly nervous. The final match against Slytherin had been for all the marbles, and as the best Chaser, the team was leaning on him to score as many goals as possible in order to put Gryffindor in the lead.

And he had. A second before Sirius had caught the Snitch, he had successfully shot the Quaffle through the hoop, causing Gryffindor to once again take the glory of winning the Quidditch Cup.

He had lead his trusty broom over the stands, flying so close that he was able to high-five a couple of students. As James rubbed the cloth across the trophy over and over again, he remembered how he had searched the cheering crowd for Lily's beaming face.

She hadn't come.

James's smile turned into a frown and, not wanting to remember the crushed feeling any longer, he put the last trophy onto the shelf and walked out of his detention in an irritated matter.

Don't even think about it. Just stop right now before this gets any worse.

He thought he had gotten over Lily Evans once he realized that they were not going to happen, but he was wrong. Very wrong.

He could not understand how she could have turned him down at least a hundred times because he was "an egotistical idiot", and then turn around and date a stupid jerk like Emery Haywood. She didn't really know what Emery was like – how snobbish and conceited and commanding he was. Maybe now she did, but if Emery did treat her like that, she was pretty good at hiding it.

James knew he was more annoyed with himself than he was with Lily. She had clearly moved on from him and showed no regrets in doing so. He on the other hand, simply could not let go.

He knew there were plenty of other "fish in the sea". Of course he knew that. His friends reminded him every day that plenty of other Hogwarts girls would throw themselves at him – and many of them had. But none of them had red hair and green eyes and freckles. None of them were stubborn or willful. None of them made him understand how arrogant he had been. Only Lily had.

James shook his hair out of his face, as if shaking his thoughts away with it, and turned the corner to the entrance of the castle. He covered himself with his cloak to avoid the rain as much as possible, and went to join his friends in Hogsmeade. Perhaps he could swallow down his hopes of ever having a relationship with Lily along with a warm Butterbeer.

… … …

"How about this one, hun? Would you like this one?"

Lily turned to glance at the gorgeous, sparkly robe that Emery was holding up for her. Any girl might have fainted if someone had offered to buy her a robe that beautiful – and expensive. But Lily just smiled half-heartedly at it and walked on through the store. Her friends stared at her like she was crazy, but she acted as if she hadn't spotted their shocked faces.

Emery sighed loudly and roughly shoved the dress robe back on the rack with annoyance. A small man turned to him and said in a high pitched voice, "Sir I'd appreciate it if you didn't handle the clothing in such a manner –"

Emery turned sharply to glare down at the man, who immediately realized who he was. "Oh! M-Mr. Haywood. So sorry. I do apologize. If t-there's anything I can do for you just –"

"I'll let you know" Emery cut in condescendingly. He acted as if store owners treated him like this all the time – which they most likely did. Their group of friends laughed and smirked at the tiny man. Liam waited for the man to walk by and then stuck out his foot, causing the owner to trip over it and fall to the floor. Emery, Aidan, Riley, and Kinsee shrieked with laughter, while Belle just forced a small smile. Lily fought the urge to run out of the store and never talk to the stuck-up people she called her friends ever again.

"Lily what's wrong?" asked Kinsee as she took a dress robe off of a rack and carelessly handed it to the saleslady that had been ordered to follow her around the store and carry her items.

Lily realized she had been glaring at all of them so she quickly blinked and looked away. "Er it's nothing. Never mind me, I'm just distracted," she said quickly, walking away from them towards the opposite end of the store.

"Distracted with what, Lily?" Emery asked, his voice getting to be somewhat accusatory.

Lily looked up to find him looking at her suspiciously and quickly broke eye contact. "Nothing Emery. Just – just thinking, you know, about the upcoming N.E.W.T.'s." As she spoke Lily pretended to be interested in a pair of earrings.

"Lily, dear, they're not for several months," Emery said as he continued following her throughout the store. He took the pair of gold earrings that Lily had been looking at and said, "You can get these. I like them on you. Hey – you! Add these to my pile." He snapped his fingers and the storeowner sped over and cautiously took the earrings, then he bowed and walked away.

Over by the mirrors Kinsee was trying on the most expensive outfits she could find, and trying them on to get Aidan's approval of which ones he liked and which ones he didn't before he bought them for her.

Riley was by the jewelry stand with Will, and she was slipping a beautiful diamond bracelet onto her wrist. Lily saw Riley say something, and Will nodded his head; Riley giggled, pulled him close, and kissed him. It was not hard for Lily to guess that he had probably agreed to buy her the most expensive bracelet in Hogsmeade Village.

Lily looked over to where Belle and Liam were, and she saw Belle pull out a beautiful blue dress robe that would have looked lovely on her. She watched as Belle ran her hand down the fabric sadly and spotted the look of longing in her eyes. "Belle! Put that back. You know you're not allowed to wear blue! How many times must I remind you?" Liam yelled exasperatedly. "Go in the dressing room – I want you to try this pink one on." Belle sighed quietly, unknowing that Lily had been watching, and walked into the dressing room without another word.

"Emery you don't need to buy those earrings for me. They're really expensive and I don't like them that much," Lily said, though she was grateful that Emery was no longer breathing down her neck.

"Lily I don't care how expensive they are. I don't even have to care. And plus, I just want to buy some things for you."

"Why?" Lily asked, turning around sharply and looking at him.

"Maybe I just like spoiling you sometimes. Plus you seem rather irritated with me, so I figure a good spending trip will get me forgiven," Emery said, as he swung around the extremely heavy bag of money he had and smiled arrogantly.

"Why would that make me forgive you?" Lily shouted angrily, forgetting to control her temper.

"Why wouldn't a shopping trip make you forgive me? Quit being so stubborn. Merlin's Beard – I'm spending quite a lot of money on you!"

"I didn't ask you to buy me anything! You think I'm just some stupid girl who will love you and worship you just because you buy me things? Well forget it!" Lily screamed, disregarding any ounce of common etiquette she had learned while being Emery's girlfriend.

Emery grabbed her roughly around the arms and pulled her towards him. "Don't you dare talk to me like that again! How dare you!" he yelled in her face, as Lily began to lose all blood flow in her arms.

Behind him, Riley and Kinsee were shaking their heads disapprovingly at Lily. Belle peaked out of the dressing room and Lily did not know what to make of her expression. Was it sympathy?

"Don't tell me what to do!" Lily shot back, squirming to get out of Emery's grip. He shook her again roughly. "Get off of me you jerk!" Lily kicked Emery's shin and stomped hard upon his foot, causing him to reel over in pain and let go of her. Without a second glance at her friends she raced out of the store and into the pouring rain.

She began running down the sidewalk as fast as she could without looking back. The streets were abandoned. Most pedestrians had taken cover from the rain in the several pubs and stores in Hogsmeade so that Lily found herself alone as she ran.

She finally stopped running when she had put enough distance between her and her friends. Lily glanced up at the sky and closed her eyes, letting the rain wash down her face. She allowed herself to do something that she hadn't done since her parents had passed away.

She cried.

The thunder was booming so noisily that Lily let out a scream as loud as her lungs would permit. Every frustration that had ever occurred to her, every annoyance about her life that she had kept cooped up inside of her, every thought Lily had about how much she hated her life escaped with Lily's deafening scream. It was so ironic, she thought to herself, how no one in her life had noticed her screaming with unhappiness, and no one was hearing her now, as salty tears spilled down her cheeks.

The problem was, someone had heard her cry for help. Someone had caught The Lily Evans crying and screaming and acting like a child. Someone now knew that Lily Evans did not have the life of a fairy tale princess.

Lily turned around to find James Potter looking at her, and this time, he was not wearing a charming grin on his face.

… … …

A/N: A heh heh heh. Er…so basically all I can say is…um…please don't hate me. I'm really sorry about sticking that first chapter out there and then not giving you guys anything else. It was a late night and I wasn't thinking right and I hadn't planned to release my story so early but it kind of just happened. This chapter just took me forever because I for some reason could only do it little by little and I kept changing it. But even if you're mad at me please review and tell me if you liked it. I'm really fond of the changing view points so let me know if you like that too. A reviewed author is a happy author. Keep me happy. I will write.