Wow. Oh my god. 70 reviews and climbing! Again, I am shocked and very
thankful to all of you! *hugs all reviewers* Some of you thought I was
going to be mean and evil and stop it right there at chapter 11? Well I'm
not, so I guess that means I'm nice and angelic . . . ok, not really, but
close enough! ^_^ Too bad none of this belongs to me . . .
* * *
Lily was crying in her sleep again. Not even her parents knew it, although Petunia heard her once. She figured it was just because she was away from her freaky friends and is now with her boring, normal family. But Petunia was far, far from the truth.
A piece of Lily felt empty. It was unbearable, and she didn't know why. Maybe deep down she knew the reason, but her mind refused to see it.
James Potter . . . where are you when I need you?
* * *
James's heart felt cold and hard, like a stone. He had opened himself up to Lily, like with that kiss, and he felt like he'd wasted it on her, who so obviously will never come around. He just hung around with his friends, laughing and playing pranks on his sister and stuff. (The pranks have been getting even more elaborate since Sirius came to stay at James's house last summer.)
But even Sirius noticed something different about James. He didn't seem to enjoy making his sister squirm like he used to. That was very unusual of James. Plus, Sirius would have thought James would be angry that he was still dating Celia, Lily's best friend. But he wasn't. He figured that James was still unhappy about Lily. Sirius was dead right.
James sort of went mechanically when he did things, always with slight reluctance. Whenever Sirius would suggest that James go talk to that pretty girl over there alone in the corner, James would shoot Sirius a murderous look and Sirius would reluctantly back down.
Lily Evans . . . why can't you love me?
* * *
AUGUST 25, DIAGON ALLEY . . .
Lily smiled a Celia cracked a joke. Margaret was checking out a boy in front of the Quidditch shop.
"Ok, so we've gotten our books, gotten our wands tuned . . . what else?" Celia pondered out loud.
"What about new robes?" Margaret suggested, eyes now off the boy. "Mine are getting pretty short."
"You think that's a good idea, Lily? Lils? Hello! Are you with us?" Celia waved her hands in front of Lily's face.
"What? Oh! Right, good idea." Lily's eyes lost that clouded, lost look and now the emerald sparkle gleamed through.
"Lily, you've been out of it all day, what's the matter?" Margaret asked in a gentle voice.
"Oh, it's nothing really. I'm . . . I'm just thinking about how this is going to be our last year at Hogwarts. You know, I may never see that place again. It feels like a second home." Lily lied. But by the looks on their faces, Celia and Margaret bought it. Whew!
"Hey, I know what'll cheer you up!" Margaret announced brightly. "Ice cream! You love the ice cream here, and so do Celia and me! I'll go get it! Chocolate for Celia and peanut butter and chocolate for Lily, right? And strawberry/vanilla swirl for me! Ok, meet you guys in front of Madam's? Bye!" Margaret ran off to buy their ice creams.
"That girl loves ice cream." Celia commented.
Yeah. Maybe some yummy ice cream will cheer me up. Get over James. Lily thought.
Lily and Celia walked slowly over to their meeting place, taking their time to look at the things shown in the windows. They saw some Hogwarts people they knew and stopped to chat a bit. Luckily for Lily they didn't bump into James and his crew.
Then, as they were nearing their destination, a cold chill spread throughout Lily's body. She could sense evil around her, something was coming. Then, she heard screaming and a cold, merciless laughter. She turned to see everyone fleeing one way or another, or disapperating right out of there. Then, she saw it, the source of the evil.
It was a man, a tall, frightening man with black hair and very tiny eyes. The eyes were like snake eyes, just little slits. And they were red. His nose was unusually flat, and his voice was slimy smooth, yet high and evil.
"Yes, fools, run, run while you can! For no one can face the wrath of Lord Voldemort and live! All you there! Learn my name, and fear it! No? Maybe you need a little convincing. Ah, they will do just fine."
And Goosebumps went up Lily's arm as he headed towards Celia and Lily. Was this the murderous Voldemort whom people now call He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named or You-Know-Who because they fear him so much they cannot even speak the name? They ran, but then Lord Voldemort uttered a spell that stopped them right in their tracks. Lily and Celia were trapped! They could not move!
Lily felt fear like she'd never felt before. For this isn't a tiny tear of spiders or something, this was REAL fear. Lily quivered all the way down to her toes, her face was white, and she felt like she couldn't breathe. Celia was scared out of her wits too.
Oh my god, I don't want to die . . . I wouldn't even have the chance to apologize to James, to tell him . . .
"Now which one shall I kill first? The one with the pretty green eyes? Or the one who has a beautiful complexion, so full of life." You-Know-Who stroked a finger on Celia's cheek. Celia had the courage and hatred enough to bite his finger.
"Ahhh!" the scream was high pitched, and Lily felt like her ear drums were shattered.
"You shall pay for that dearly!" he said, "No one crosses Lord Voldemort AND LIVES!!" Then he screeched, "AVADA KEDAVRA!"
Lily saw a flash of green light and then a small scream. Then, she felt something heavy against her shoe. When the green light subsided, Lily looked down. On her foot was the limp and still body of Celia. Her eyes were wide open, and they stared up at Lily, but they had no light, no friendly shine that Celia was known for. Lily screamed, screamed at the cursed monster, "I HATE YOU! WHY DID YOU DO THAT? SHE DIDN'T DO ANYTHING TO YOU!" And then tears coursed down Lily's cheeks as she cried for Celia, cried for the unlived life. Cried for how Celia would know miss out on the rest of her life, that Celia was . . . dead. Murdered.
And Lord Voldemort laughed. He had killed someone, an innocent girl, not even an adult yet and laughed about it like it was some game. Lily hated him, hated everything about him. Hated his laugh, hated his cold, murderous eyes, hated his flat snake nose, hated his oily way of talking, hated that he had just killed one of Lily's closest friends without giving a care that she was just a teenager, just turned seventeen, just looked forward to the life ahead of her. The life that this abomination had just cut short. He cut short her life, and her dreams of becoming Minister of Magic.
"Ah, that was a good warm up. Now for the green eyed one with that sparkle. That good sparkle. Well, once you're dead, it won't have that sparkle, will it? And I won't have to look into that good soul you have because of your eyes. They bother me. But since you spoke so outwardly towards me, it would be rude of me to send you to your death without a little present first! Crucio!" A jet of light came out of his wand and was aimed at Lily. Lily braced herself for whatever would come . . . and then she felt someone push her out of the way, and then heard a male scream of pain.
Lily turned her head, and her sparkly green eyes were wide open with horror.
On the floor, wriggling in agony was James Potter.
He screamed as the invisible knives pierced his skin, dug deep into his heart, his head, and his very soul. He wanted desperately to die, just die so the pain would end. But part of him said, "No, you cannot die, because there is Lily." But, god, why won't the pain stop? Finally, the pain was released, and James clutched his chest, gasping for breath, his head feeling overwhelmed, and he felt like he was about to faint. He had never experienced such pain before, and he did not want to experience it again, ever.
"So, the green-eyed one's little Prince Charming has come to save her, eh? Well, no matter, she'll watch him die first, and feel the guilt of being the cause of another death!" You-Know-Who raised his wand and said the incantation, "AVADA KED-"
But a flash of light came in front of James and a force of good apparated there. Lily recognized the long white hair and beard of the person, even if she only saw his back.
Albus Dumbledore. Headmaster of Hogwarts, School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Lily's heart leaped as new hope arose in her heart. Never had she been so happy to see the headmaster.
Professor Dumbledore scanned the scene before him. Celia, lying crumpled on the ground, the life sucked out of her now pale face, James, on the ground, looking like he'd been through torture, and Lily, looking scared out of her wits, and looking at Lord Voldemort aka Tom Riddle with pure hatred in her green eyes.
Dumbledore shone of a great and mighty power, and his blue eyes were afire.
"You have killed a little girl, Tom, yet you couldn't care less. I will not stand by and allow you to murder two more of my students!" Dumbledore announced, his voice echoed throughout the alley.
"Don't call me by that name again, Dumbledore!" You-Know-Who screeched angrily. "How'd you get here so fast? Of course, not fast enough to save one of them, though, were you?" He taunted.
"I was given call in the fireplace, Tom. Leave now and never come back."
"HA! You think you can order me around like you did before, Dumbledore? Well, I'm older now, and a whole lot stronger than the likes of you, old man!"
"LEAVE!" Dumbledore whipped his wand out and didn't need to utter a spell. His wand was held by a man with such goodness that it sensed the pure evil of the being in front of its master and immediately shot out a spell reflecting with pure goodness to confront the evil.
Lord Voldemort's scream could be heard as the goodness hit him. "I will be back, Dumbledore, mark my words! And I will remember the girl and the boy! Mark my words, I WILL have them!" And he was gone.
Lily felt like a great load was lifted off her shoulders. She was no longer under You-Know-Who's spell. She could move. And she did so.
She crawled as fast as she could to the still recovering James.
Lily surprised James and embraced him tightly. She was crying, and she whispered into his ear, "Thank you, James, thank you."
James was stiff at first with surprise, but then he put his arms around her too and said, "Your welcome, Lily."
Then, Lily whispered, "I love you, James, you know that, don't you?" Lily didn't even bother to look at his surprised expression and attacked his lips. James pushed back a strand of Lily's red hair and kissed her back; his heart breaking out from the stone it had become, and was whole again.
* * *
Whew, that was a long chapter! Sad, too. Don't worry, that's not the end of this fan fic yet! Please review, some advice is fine too. I'd like to see if I could make this any better for you guys, my readers! REVIEW!
* * *
Lily was crying in her sleep again. Not even her parents knew it, although Petunia heard her once. She figured it was just because she was away from her freaky friends and is now with her boring, normal family. But Petunia was far, far from the truth.
A piece of Lily felt empty. It was unbearable, and she didn't know why. Maybe deep down she knew the reason, but her mind refused to see it.
James Potter . . . where are you when I need you?
* * *
James's heart felt cold and hard, like a stone. He had opened himself up to Lily, like with that kiss, and he felt like he'd wasted it on her, who so obviously will never come around. He just hung around with his friends, laughing and playing pranks on his sister and stuff. (The pranks have been getting even more elaborate since Sirius came to stay at James's house last summer.)
But even Sirius noticed something different about James. He didn't seem to enjoy making his sister squirm like he used to. That was very unusual of James. Plus, Sirius would have thought James would be angry that he was still dating Celia, Lily's best friend. But he wasn't. He figured that James was still unhappy about Lily. Sirius was dead right.
James sort of went mechanically when he did things, always with slight reluctance. Whenever Sirius would suggest that James go talk to that pretty girl over there alone in the corner, James would shoot Sirius a murderous look and Sirius would reluctantly back down.
Lily Evans . . . why can't you love me?
* * *
AUGUST 25, DIAGON ALLEY . . .
Lily smiled a Celia cracked a joke. Margaret was checking out a boy in front of the Quidditch shop.
"Ok, so we've gotten our books, gotten our wands tuned . . . what else?" Celia pondered out loud.
"What about new robes?" Margaret suggested, eyes now off the boy. "Mine are getting pretty short."
"You think that's a good idea, Lily? Lils? Hello! Are you with us?" Celia waved her hands in front of Lily's face.
"What? Oh! Right, good idea." Lily's eyes lost that clouded, lost look and now the emerald sparkle gleamed through.
"Lily, you've been out of it all day, what's the matter?" Margaret asked in a gentle voice.
"Oh, it's nothing really. I'm . . . I'm just thinking about how this is going to be our last year at Hogwarts. You know, I may never see that place again. It feels like a second home." Lily lied. But by the looks on their faces, Celia and Margaret bought it. Whew!
"Hey, I know what'll cheer you up!" Margaret announced brightly. "Ice cream! You love the ice cream here, and so do Celia and me! I'll go get it! Chocolate for Celia and peanut butter and chocolate for Lily, right? And strawberry/vanilla swirl for me! Ok, meet you guys in front of Madam's? Bye!" Margaret ran off to buy their ice creams.
"That girl loves ice cream." Celia commented.
Yeah. Maybe some yummy ice cream will cheer me up. Get over James. Lily thought.
Lily and Celia walked slowly over to their meeting place, taking their time to look at the things shown in the windows. They saw some Hogwarts people they knew and stopped to chat a bit. Luckily for Lily they didn't bump into James and his crew.
Then, as they were nearing their destination, a cold chill spread throughout Lily's body. She could sense evil around her, something was coming. Then, she heard screaming and a cold, merciless laughter. She turned to see everyone fleeing one way or another, or disapperating right out of there. Then, she saw it, the source of the evil.
It was a man, a tall, frightening man with black hair and very tiny eyes. The eyes were like snake eyes, just little slits. And they were red. His nose was unusually flat, and his voice was slimy smooth, yet high and evil.
"Yes, fools, run, run while you can! For no one can face the wrath of Lord Voldemort and live! All you there! Learn my name, and fear it! No? Maybe you need a little convincing. Ah, they will do just fine."
And Goosebumps went up Lily's arm as he headed towards Celia and Lily. Was this the murderous Voldemort whom people now call He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named or You-Know-Who because they fear him so much they cannot even speak the name? They ran, but then Lord Voldemort uttered a spell that stopped them right in their tracks. Lily and Celia were trapped! They could not move!
Lily felt fear like she'd never felt before. For this isn't a tiny tear of spiders or something, this was REAL fear. Lily quivered all the way down to her toes, her face was white, and she felt like she couldn't breathe. Celia was scared out of her wits too.
Oh my god, I don't want to die . . . I wouldn't even have the chance to apologize to James, to tell him . . .
"Now which one shall I kill first? The one with the pretty green eyes? Or the one who has a beautiful complexion, so full of life." You-Know-Who stroked a finger on Celia's cheek. Celia had the courage and hatred enough to bite his finger.
"Ahhh!" the scream was high pitched, and Lily felt like her ear drums were shattered.
"You shall pay for that dearly!" he said, "No one crosses Lord Voldemort AND LIVES!!" Then he screeched, "AVADA KEDAVRA!"
Lily saw a flash of green light and then a small scream. Then, she felt something heavy against her shoe. When the green light subsided, Lily looked down. On her foot was the limp and still body of Celia. Her eyes were wide open, and they stared up at Lily, but they had no light, no friendly shine that Celia was known for. Lily screamed, screamed at the cursed monster, "I HATE YOU! WHY DID YOU DO THAT? SHE DIDN'T DO ANYTHING TO YOU!" And then tears coursed down Lily's cheeks as she cried for Celia, cried for the unlived life. Cried for how Celia would know miss out on the rest of her life, that Celia was . . . dead. Murdered.
And Lord Voldemort laughed. He had killed someone, an innocent girl, not even an adult yet and laughed about it like it was some game. Lily hated him, hated everything about him. Hated his laugh, hated his cold, murderous eyes, hated his flat snake nose, hated his oily way of talking, hated that he had just killed one of Lily's closest friends without giving a care that she was just a teenager, just turned seventeen, just looked forward to the life ahead of her. The life that this abomination had just cut short. He cut short her life, and her dreams of becoming Minister of Magic.
"Ah, that was a good warm up. Now for the green eyed one with that sparkle. That good sparkle. Well, once you're dead, it won't have that sparkle, will it? And I won't have to look into that good soul you have because of your eyes. They bother me. But since you spoke so outwardly towards me, it would be rude of me to send you to your death without a little present first! Crucio!" A jet of light came out of his wand and was aimed at Lily. Lily braced herself for whatever would come . . . and then she felt someone push her out of the way, and then heard a male scream of pain.
Lily turned her head, and her sparkly green eyes were wide open with horror.
On the floor, wriggling in agony was James Potter.
He screamed as the invisible knives pierced his skin, dug deep into his heart, his head, and his very soul. He wanted desperately to die, just die so the pain would end. But part of him said, "No, you cannot die, because there is Lily." But, god, why won't the pain stop? Finally, the pain was released, and James clutched his chest, gasping for breath, his head feeling overwhelmed, and he felt like he was about to faint. He had never experienced such pain before, and he did not want to experience it again, ever.
"So, the green-eyed one's little Prince Charming has come to save her, eh? Well, no matter, she'll watch him die first, and feel the guilt of being the cause of another death!" You-Know-Who raised his wand and said the incantation, "AVADA KED-"
But a flash of light came in front of James and a force of good apparated there. Lily recognized the long white hair and beard of the person, even if she only saw his back.
Albus Dumbledore. Headmaster of Hogwarts, School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Lily's heart leaped as new hope arose in her heart. Never had she been so happy to see the headmaster.
Professor Dumbledore scanned the scene before him. Celia, lying crumpled on the ground, the life sucked out of her now pale face, James, on the ground, looking like he'd been through torture, and Lily, looking scared out of her wits, and looking at Lord Voldemort aka Tom Riddle with pure hatred in her green eyes.
Dumbledore shone of a great and mighty power, and his blue eyes were afire.
"You have killed a little girl, Tom, yet you couldn't care less. I will not stand by and allow you to murder two more of my students!" Dumbledore announced, his voice echoed throughout the alley.
"Don't call me by that name again, Dumbledore!" You-Know-Who screeched angrily. "How'd you get here so fast? Of course, not fast enough to save one of them, though, were you?" He taunted.
"I was given call in the fireplace, Tom. Leave now and never come back."
"HA! You think you can order me around like you did before, Dumbledore? Well, I'm older now, and a whole lot stronger than the likes of you, old man!"
"LEAVE!" Dumbledore whipped his wand out and didn't need to utter a spell. His wand was held by a man with such goodness that it sensed the pure evil of the being in front of its master and immediately shot out a spell reflecting with pure goodness to confront the evil.
Lord Voldemort's scream could be heard as the goodness hit him. "I will be back, Dumbledore, mark my words! And I will remember the girl and the boy! Mark my words, I WILL have them!" And he was gone.
Lily felt like a great load was lifted off her shoulders. She was no longer under You-Know-Who's spell. She could move. And she did so.
She crawled as fast as she could to the still recovering James.
Lily surprised James and embraced him tightly. She was crying, and she whispered into his ear, "Thank you, James, thank you."
James was stiff at first with surprise, but then he put his arms around her too and said, "Your welcome, Lily."
Then, Lily whispered, "I love you, James, you know that, don't you?" Lily didn't even bother to look at his surprised expression and attacked his lips. James pushed back a strand of Lily's red hair and kissed her back; his heart breaking out from the stone it had become, and was whole again.
* * *
Whew, that was a long chapter! Sad, too. Don't worry, that's not the end of this fan fic yet! Please review, some advice is fine too. I'd like to see if I could make this any better for you guys, my readers! REVIEW!