Author's Note: I'd like to offer my humblest apologies to all who are still here reading this fic. My unfortunate workload this year has put me quite behind in writing anything. I meant to post this two weeks ago, but my father surprised us with a visit. (He's been in Iraq since January). I (of course) spent my time visiting with him rather than writing. But, sadly, he is on his way back and, happily, I AM BACK HERE!!!!!!!!

Same Old Disclaimer: Listen people, if I owned Harry Potter, do you think I'd be writing it here? I DON'T! So please don't sue me, I have nothing! Zero, Zip, Zilch, Nada, Cero! (I need to change this and make it interesting, agree?)

P. S. I own characters you don't recognize, but the rest are the work of the goddess of fantasy, J. K. Rowling.

Chapter 6: Unexpected Visitors

Lily was having a miserable summer. It had started with at the train station. Her mother had picked her up crying miserably. When Lily stepped out of the barrier, her mother had hugged her silently and cried on her shoulder. Before they left, Lily asked her where petunia was. Hannah Evans replied, "She's not very social right now." They went home, and a few days later was her father's funeral. Many people had come and Lily didn't really know how to talk to them. Everyone seemed to understand and didn't pressure her to talk, but she couldn't shake the feeling that something wasn't right. Her sister had been the first to name the problem about two weeks into the holidays. It was a sunny day when her mother had caught her at the stairwell.

"Lily, dear, Petunia's boyfriend, Vernon, is coming over to study today and she has requested that you not bother them. They'll be in the parlour. Could you please do that for me?"

"Sure mum." Lily answered dully. "I'm going to work on my history of magic homework in the Library, then finish reading the new mystery I'm reading."

"And you'd better not leave any of your freakish books and stuff all over, either!" Petunia yelled from the top of the stairs.

Lily turned and glared at her sister. "You're the freak, Pet-Tuna. Why would I want to bother you and Vernon anyway? Sounds frightfully dull in my opinion."

"Girls," their mother said warningly.

"Shows what you know. At least I have a boyfriend and a normal life. You wouldn't know fun if it smacked you in the face." Petunia's normally pale face reddened with anger.

"Girls."

Lily's eyes narrowed dangerously. Who does she think she is? Lily thought. I could have a boyfriend; Merlin knows James Potter has asked me out enough. "I have a normal life," she growled.

"Yeah, well your normal life got our father killed!" Petunia stomped off to her room.

Lily felt like she'd been slapped. Her sister had always been cruel, but she'd never blamed Lily for anything like this. Tears burst from her like a well and she crumpled to the floor. She heard her mother rush over and she turn to her, the tears still falling. Her mother gathered her in her arms and rocked her slowly. And Lily cried. She cried for her father, her mother and sister. She cried for James, who will never know his mother. She cried for her unborn cousin, who has no uncle to be spoiled by. But most of all she cried for herself, because she knew Petunia was right.

She didn't know how long she sat there crying, but after a while she spoke, loud and angry. "Oh, Mummy, she's right!" she wailed. "If I hadn't gone to Hogwarts, Daddy would still be alive. It's all my fault!"

"Shh, no she's wrong. It's not your fault, Baby." Her mother cooed.

"But Mum..."

"Honey, listen to me." her mother pushed her at arms length and looked her in the eyes. Lily brushed the stray tears from her eyes and hiccupped. "Honey, how do you know this isn't what was meant to be? How do you know that even if you hadn't gone to Hogwarts, your father wouldn't have died? He could have been in an accident of some sort or something. We don't know what could have happened. So don't go blaming yourself because you're thinking about the 'what ifs'. It will only make you miserable. And Daddy wouldn't have wanted that." Her mother helped her up from the floor and smiled consolingly. "Why don't you invite the girls over to visit? I'm sure they could help you feel better," she suggested.

"I don't think I will. I just want to relax today and those three have sooo much energy!" Lily shook her head and declined. "I really want to finish that book."

"All right dear. I'll see you and Petunia later." With that her mother turned to the kitchen, and Lily headed toward the Library.

A few hours later, Lily had just gotten to the climax of the mystery, when she heard someone knock loudly on the front door. Lily groaned and set her book down. "Why is it always at the good part?" she wondered out loud as she stalked out to the kitchen.

They knocked again.

"Coming!" she called. Lily reached the door and grabbed the handle. When she pulled it open, her jaw dropped. "What on Earth are you two doing here?"

Hahahahahahahahaha! A cliffy! I love cliffies! I thought I'd just throw that in there for you all that love them too!

Now, You've read, So REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!