A/N: please… don't yell at me. I know, it's been a while since I reviewed, an I even promised a date for the next update. I'm sorry. I was just having some wicked bad writers block. I had to rewrite this chapter many times because I couldn't get everything right. It wound up being my longest shapter yet, because I've been doing some research, and some people have every chapter with like 10000 words! Poll: do you think that I should make my chapters longer, shorter, or are they just right? J/w! Well, with out further ado I give you chapter six!

The truth isn't far behind me

Chapter six

The initial shock

Lily stepped carefully out of the taxi, careful to miss the large puddle in the drive. The house they'd arrived at was immaculate. A large Tudor style sporting fancy mullioned windows with stained glass and huge double oak doors. While she'd grown up in a fancy enough house, it had nothing on this. It was as though she was standing before the house of a king or something.

"Big, isn't it?" Her father stepped up beside her, looking at the house. "Well, I didn't really expect a welcoming committee, so lets just go and see who we find." He picked up her bag and led the way up the pebbled path.

The inside was just as spectacular as the out was, if not more. The oak doors led into a cavernous front room, which was filled with several large Victorian couches and mahogany tables. Lily liked it, but all the same it made her feel very small.

"Oh, this was all for the visitors back when I was a kid. We never really use this part of the house. Come along dear, I think that we can find your grandmother in the parlor." He set her bag down on a rack, which immediately whisked it off down some unknown corridor, and gently guided her through several more grand rooms, until they finally reached a small room that smelled of turpentine and fresh paint.

Lily was wondering what exactly they were doing there, when a woman stepped out from behind a large canvas, and smiled at them. Lily hadn't meant to stare, but she couldn't help it. The woman standing before her didn't look a day over thirty, with her long black hair and fit body. She had her sleeves pushed up to her elbows, and paint staining her long fingers.

"Ah, Luke! This must be Lillian?" Her voice flowed out smoothly, not unlike a song, stringing her words to some unheard melody. "Come, dear, and let me have a look at my only grandchild."

Lily bit her lip, and walked carefully over to her, feeling awkward and gangly beside the beautiful woman. When she was close enough, the woman pulled Lily's arms straight out and looked her up and down.

"Lovely. Absolutely lovely." She smiled. "How old are you?"

Lily cleared her throat uneasily. "Fifteen, ma'am." She said uncertainly, not sure how she was supposed to refer to her grandmother.

"Oh, no need for the formality. Just call me Bridget. We're family after all. Fifteen then. So you're quite on your way to your sixth year. That's lovely!" Bridget said easily, smiling at Lily.

"Yes ma'am…. I mean Bridget." She tried out the title.

"That's a good girl. You're grandfather is around here somewhere, in the shop I'd imagine. Tinkering away with some contraption." She looked exasperated, and picked up her paintbrush. "I'm almost through here, and then we can go hunt him down."

Lily nodded and looked around. Sometime during their conversation her father had left, but it didn't bother her. Bridget seemed nice enough, even though she did look a bit young.

"There!" Bridget said as she made her final stroke with finesse. "What do you say we go have a smoothie before rushing off to find Harold?" the woman's eyes twinkled.

"Sure," Lily said, smiling. This was going so great, she'd half expected her grandmother to be an old hag.

Lily followed Bridget into a quaint little room that greatly resembled a muggle ice cream parlor, and sat on a stool at the bar.

"Lucinda!" Bridget called over the counter.

A small, rather young house elf stepped out from a back room and smiled.

"Yes Miss Bridget? What is you wanting?" The elf, presumably Lucinda turned her head and looked at Lily. "You must be Master Luke's daughter, Lula!"

"Lily." She corrected, staring at the odd little creature. She knew that Hogwarts used house elves, but apart from pictures, she'd never seen one.

"Lucinda, could you get us both a smoothie, I'll have butterscotch, and Lily will have…" She looked at Lily questioningly.

"Strawberry." Lily prompted the little elf, who scampered off back into the door where she came from. "Do you, er, I mean do you have many house elves?" Lily turned to Bridget uncertainly.

"Oh, a fair few I suppose. With just Harold and me here, it's rather hard to maintain the house, from dust and such." She waved her hand around. "I mean, a house this size really isn't practical, but back when I was younger, I did like to show off around my friends." She smiled.

Lily almost laughed, finding it odd to hear some one who looked so young speak of their younger years. She was on the verge of asking Bridget how she looked so young when Lucinda burst in, carrying two smoothies.

"Here you go Miss! And for Lily, am I saying it right?" Lucinda squeaked.

"Yes. Thank you, it looks delicious." Lily grabbed the straw and sipped carefully. It really was wonderful. Perhaps it was because it was made with magic, but Lily found herself sucking it down very fast, unable to get enough of the sheer flavor.

Bridget looked amused as she watched Lily. "Now, it's a wonder that someone as thin and beautiful as you can just drink that like such. Slow down, or you're going to get sick!"

Lily stopped drinking it, slightly embarrassed. "Sorry, it's just so good!"

"Yes, I'd forgotten that you were raised as a muggle. But at least you're here now." Bridget smiled at her, but somehow there was ice behind those warm brown eyes.

"Yea. I guess so."

Lily lay in her room that night still marveling at the sheer size of her 'quarters' as everyone referred to them. She was given an entire section of the manor, complete with a sitting room, bathroom, bedroom, and an entertainment room. It was really a lot, too much in fact. The large house made her feel so inferior.

She'd met her grandfather, and thank goodness, he was normal. He looked his age, and he called Lily 'little lady' and was truly genuine. Not at all like her grandmother. There was something off about her, something terribly wrong, but Lily couldn't quite place it.

Sighing, she rolled over, falling into a fretful sleep.

Within a week, Lily had the large house down. There were 82 windows, 30 rooms, and more doors than she could count, many of which were locked, and no one would let her see what was behind them. One door, Lily found on the third day, led into an immense library, brimming over with any book she could imagine muggle or not. She also soon found that it was the best place to hide from her Grandmother, who was always suggesting that they do the most ludicrous things, like painting their nails, or shopping. These were perfectly fine things for Lily to do, with her friends, but not with a 70-year-old woman who refused to grow up.

Lily spent so much time in there, in fact, that she often times found herself waking up in one of the large wing-backed chairs, not sure of how much time had passed. She was in there when she got her letter from Olive and Dana. She'd completely forgotten to write to them, so she was surprised when the large owl swooped in on her, carrying a rolled up message. Carefully she unraveled it, and smiled at Olive's untidy scrawl.

Lillian Evans!

Where do you get off making Dana and I worry so? You have some serious explaining to do! Lucky for you, we are willing to forgive you! Don't bother messaging back, because it won't be necessary, we already messaged your Dad, and he said you could floo over today. So pack up and come on! We've only got a week left of summer!

Love you!

Olive and Dana

Lily stared at the word 'floo'. She knew the gist of it was travelling through fire, but she'd never actually done it. It did seem dangerous though. Once, when she was about four or five she was running around outside and she ran right into the grill, and the flames had burned her. She'd learned her lesson to stay away from it then, and just stepping into it for travel seemed ridiculous. Sighing, she rolled the letter up and put it in her pocket.

It only took her a short hour to pack everything back up, as she hadn't spent much time actually messing with her own things. Once she had her trunk packed, she lugged it over to the trolley that had stationed its self in the corner of her room. She looked at it skeptically as she lugged her trunk up onto it, wondering if it would just take off as it had when her father loaded it up. But, as if to quiet her worries, it darted off, opening the door for its self to make its journey to… wherever it was going.

"Dad!" She called, looking down the hall.

"Yea?" He walked in, carrying what looked like a sack of flour.

"Oh, there you are. Well, that… rack, just took off with my bag…"

"When we were kids, we called it Jack. It knows what its doing, just trust me. Now, this is floo powder." He opened the bag and showed Lily the sparkly green powder inside.

"Oh, it's beautiful!"

Mr. Evans chuckled. "You always did see the beauty in everything. Well, all it takes is a handful, and you throw it into the fire. When the flames turn green, step in, and shout the address of where you are going, and poof, you're gone." He smiled.

"It's that easy? But doesn't the flame burn you?"

"No, it doesn't. Come on, we need to get going." He led her down the corridor and into a room with a roaring fire.

"Oh, its stifling in here!" Lily fanned her hand in front o her face.

"Well, it is the middle of summer, with a fire."

"Yes, I suppose I didn't think of that." She smiled, then looked at the fire. To her relief, her trunk was sitting beside it.

"Oh, Lily!" Lily cringed as Bridget swept into the room, followed by her grandpa.

"Hello, Bridget. It's been great staying here."

"Oh, think nothing of it dear, we're family after all!"

"And bye grandpa!" Lily smiled and gave the old man a hug.

"Bye Lily darling. Have fun with your friends."

"I'll miss you girl!" Bridget swept Lily into a suffocating hug.

"Erm, I'll miss you too…" Lily said oddly. "Well, I better be off now, wouldn't want my friends to worry…"

"Yes, yes. I suppose you must. I will see you at Christmas." Bridget released her.

"Bye daddy." Lily gave her father a peck on the cheek. "See you soon."

Nervously, she grabbed her trunk and took a handful of the sparkling powder from the proffered bag. She threw the powder in, and watched the fire fade to a soft green. It was oddly pleasant, and very attractive. Tentatively, she stepped into the flames, immediately realizing that it was merely a pleasant warm temperature, and even much cooler than the room that had been heated by the previous red flames.

"Welch Residence, 152 second street, London." She said clearly, and was immediately swallowed by green.

Flooing wasn't a pleasant experience at all. It was fast and she spun around and around, catching glimpses of the passing grates. She was getting dizzy and a bit nauseous, she closed her eyes, fighting down the vomit that was threatening to surface. Suddenly, she fell forward, and she gasped.

The second she gasped, she sorely regretted it, as she sucked in a load of ash and soot, choking her.

"Lily's here!" She heard someone, it sounded like Dana, shout. "Hey, Lils, are you o.k.? Here, drink this." She put a half-full bottle of butter beer in her hand.

Graciously Lily drank, suppressing the coughs.

"Thanks," she gasped. "Well, that was an experience!"

She looked around at her two friends, along with a whole group of people that Lily'd never met.

"Hey Lily, bout time you got here!" Olive pulled her into a hug.

"Yea, I had to pack and all…" She looked around nervously at the people, who were all staring at her.

"Oh, I forgot. This is… my family!" Olive smiled. "Erm, names. Right. Well, o.k. this is Michael, that's Jeff, Rebecca, Lauren, Leisel, Mara, Elsie, Daniel, and that's Mum and Dad." She said, pointing to each person in turn.

"Erm, hello everyone. I'm Lily." She smiled at them.

"So now you know the terrible truth. I am the baby of the family. They've all graduated, and moved on. Unfortunately they are lazy bums, and would rather still live here."

"You'll pay for that one later, little Olive." This came from the dark haired man that Lily believed to be Jeff, though she wasn't positive.

"Right, and whose going to make me? You?"

Lily smiled, biting her lip.

"Well, anyway, that's the family. Now you guys can all go away, and stop making her nervous. Don't worry, they did the same thing when Dana came. But don't worry, the initiation isn't until tonight."

"The what?"

"Oh, nothing." Olive smiled, sharing a look with Dana. "Anyway how has you're summer been? Rumor has it that you've been visited by James Potter."

"Oh, that." Lily rolled her eyes. "That was nothing. The prat came over, when to the beach with us—"

"And you were in your bathing suit I presume?" Dana interjected.

"Absolutely not! I actually wore an entire outfit the whole time. I wasn't even going to get wet, until…"

"Until what?" Olive picked up Lily's trunk.

"Well, James kind of threw me in." She blushed, remembering the events of that day.

"Just threw you in? That's all?" Dana pressed, smiling.

"Wait. What have you two heard exactly?" Lily demanded.

"We've heard a fair bit. Something about a… kiss."

"Argh!" Lily shrieked. "I'll kill him! That prat! Let me guess, he told you that we had this really passionate kiss."

"No, actually, you just told us." Olive smiled mischievously.

"Oh!" Lily turned red with frustration and embarrassment. "Well, it wasn't. He kissed me, I slapped him, and then he went home. That's it. Honest!" She insisted as her friends gave her skeptical gazes.

"So you actually slapped him?" Dana asked incredulously. "Well, if Sirius kissed me, I'd never dream of it."

"Sirius isn't half bad. Potter is a…"

"Prat? Yea, we know Lils, you've told us… over and over and over again!"

"Well, he is!"

"You seem to be the only one that thinks so." Olive heaved the trunk down the hall, and into a door. "Well, this is my room." She stepped aside and let Lily in.

"Wow, its so… pink."

And it was. From the carpet to the curtains, everything was splashed in pink.

"Er, yea, this was Laura's room first, and she's a bit… girly…" Olive said meekly.

"I'd say!" Lily laughed.

"Hey, Mum made some brownies, in light of your arrival, what do you say we head down to the kitchen to test them?" Olive smiled, taking Lily's arm in her own.

Lily smiled. "Um, o.k."

Olive led the way through a long hallway and into the kitchen. Lily supposed it was the brownies that smelled so delicious, as they seated themselves around the small round table.

"Here you are dears." Olive's Mum placed brownies in front of them all.

"Hey, do you want a glass of milk?" this came from the tall brother with light hair, and a crooked smile.

Both Olive and Dana shook their heads. Lily nodded.

"Sure… Michael… right?"

"Nope, I'm Jeff." He smiled at her as he brought her a glass of milk.

"Lily, don't drink it."

"Huh?"

"Don't drink it." Dana whispered again.

"Why?"

"Oh, don't let them scare you. It's just milk." Jeff intervened.

"First rule. Be afraid. Never trust a Welch bearing gifts." Olive said to Lily.

"I don't see the harm in a glass of milk…" Lily insisted as she took the glass from Jeff. "It smells alright." She gulped down a sip. "And it tastes fine to…"

Suddenly Lily hiccuped, and out of her mouth burst a large green bubble. She covered her mouth.

"Excuse M—" She hiccuped again, and again. Each hiccup had a different color bubble.

"Oh, Jeff!" Olive shouted angrily. "Lily, hold on…" she stalked over to a cabinet and pulled out a bottle of thick black liquid, and brought it back over to Lily. "Here, drink a bit of this."

Lily took the bottle tentatively. She hiccuped again, and quickly unscrewed the top, drinking a few drops. It tasted horrible, but the hiccups stopped. Lily turned to Jeff, glaring.

"That was a nasty trick!"

"Sorry kiddo. It was my job. That was part one of your initiation. Just be glad mine is over, you still have… everyone else left to go." He smiled mischievously.

"My what?"

"Nothing Lily. Jeff was just leaving." Olive shoved her brother out of the kitchen. "Now lets eat these brownies before anything else happens!"

Lily poked hers carefully.

"Oh, don't worry, Mum wont have done anything to it. She thinks that the pranks are ridiculous." Olive assured her, biting into her own, as though to show her.

"Well, alright then." Lily picked up her brownie, and bit into it. "Oh, this is wonderful!"

"Thank you dear!" Mrs. Welch bowed beside the stove.

"Oh, don't make her have a big head!" Olive warned. "Dana here is enough of an ego booster for her."

Lily nodded, remembering that Dana, too, was muggle raised. "But, Dana and I both know how much better magical food is."

"Of course, everything is better the magical way." Olive smiled.

"So, Lils, tell us what happened. I mean, why did you move?" Dana asked eagerly.

And she did. Lily told them the whole story of her father being a squib and meeting her grandparents.

"Hmm. Did you say Bridget?" It was Olive's Mum who spoke.

"Yes ma'am."

"I know her. She's old, but doesn't look it, right? Yes. There is something… dark about her. Oh, I mean she's nice enough. But something just doesn't seem right with her."

"Yes, I felt that too. But, how do you know her?"

"Oh, family friends. She was friends with my mother."

"Oh." Lily nodded. "I don't know what's up with her. But I'm sure that I'll find out before its all said and done.

"I'm sure you will dear." Mrs. Welch said soothingly as she turned back to the pot that she was stirring.

Lily nodded and turned back to her friends.

"I have a question."

"Congratulations." Dana rolled her eyes.

"Oh, shut up! But, seriously, what is this 'initiation' that every one keeps talking about?" She looked at her friends carefully, trying to read their faces.

"I'm sure I have no idea what you're talking about." Olive said, but a bit too quickly.

Lily looked at them suspiciously. "Well, if you won't tell me, then I guess I'll figure it out for myself."

"Too right you will…" Dana mumbled, but shut up as Olive kicked her from beneath the table.

Lily settled for looking baffled, while thoughts and actually fears ran through her mind about said initiation.

It wasn't long, however, that Lily had to wait to figure out what, exactly, this initiation was. After

Lauren put Veritaserum in her soup at dinner, and Daniel put live spiders in her bed, she realized that they were all doing something really nasty to her, to test something. But what? Her worth? Or were they just pointless pranks to be played by children for fun. Lily didn't know what it was, but she was going along with it.

She was quite proud as she awoke on the third day. So far she'd survived Lauren putting Veritaserum in her soup, Daniel putting spiders in her bed, Leisel and Elsie (the twins) casting a silencing charm on her, Mara turning her hair green, and Rebecca putting laughing ointment in her toothpaste. All that left was Michael, but she was fairly certain that his trick wouldn't be too awful, as it was her sixteenth birthday.

She stretched luxuriously and got out of the cot that was set up for her in Olive's room, smoothing the covers in her wake. Excitement trilled through her body as she remembered that today was the day that they'd all be going to the local wizarding fair. Olive and Dana were already out of the room, they always woke before her, so she hurried to brush her hair and throw on some muggle clothes as they'd be travelling through muggle London, and skipped off out of the room and down to the kitchen.

"Good morning sunshine!" Olive smiled as Lily walked in and sat down across the table from her.

"Hi!" Lily grinned.

"Well, how does it feel?" Dana inquired.

"How does what feel?" Lily frowned.

"To finally be as old as us, and not the little girl?" Dana laughed.

"Oh, I don't think age was ever an issue here Dana. I mean, mentally I passed you years ago." Lily smirked as she sipped the tea that was placed in front of her, watching her friend work out what exactly she had meant.

"Hey!" Dana glared at her. "If it wasn't your birthday, I'd have to wallop you for that!"

Lily laughed, then so did everyone else. Finally, Lily felt like she fit in. Everyone was laughing with her, and it was great. She stopped laughing, but everyone else continued. She was baffled, then just shook her head, sipping her tea.

After they'd all carried on for a full minute, she started to feel suspicious.

"Hey.. What's so funny?" She bit her lip.

Olive wiped tears of mirth from her eyes.

"Lily, I love you! You are now fully a member of this gang!" she pulled Lily into a hug, but was still chuckling.

"What!" Lily demanded, pulling back.

"Lily!" Michael intervened. "When is the last time you brushed your teeth child?"

"What?" Lily felt her teeth, they felt fine, but when she pulled he hand back, there was black ink on her fingers. "Oh…. Michael!" Lily felt her emotions getting the best of her. Everyone had been laughing at her after all.

"Sorry Lily." Michael shrugged. "We all drew straws, and I drew ink. I'm sure you understand."

Lily gulped back the tears. She wasn't going to let them see her cry. "Oh, yes I understand." She spit into her napkin. "I'll be right back."

After a full ten minutes of brushing her teeth, she realized that all of the ink simply wasn't coming off. Angrily she kicked the wall. Now she would be the laughing stock of the fair, with black teeth. There was a tap on the door.

"Who is it?" Lily asked.

"Its me, Jeff. Are you decent?" He pushed the door open slightly.

Lily grabbed the handle and pulled the door open. "Apparently. Well?"

"Huh?" Jeff looked baffled.

"What do you want?" Lily demanded.

"Oh, here." He gave her a bottle of clear liquid.

"What's this?" Lily pulled the stopper out of the bottle and sniffed it. "Poison?"

"No. Don't worry, the initiation is over. I'd say you got of a bit easy, poor Dana was bald for a week."

Lily reached up instinctively to touch her own hair. "Yea, well, what is this?"

"Oh, it's magical cleaner. Just swish it around and the ink will come off."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes!" he insisted. "Being related to this lot… well, you find out a lot of things."

"I bet!" Lily exclaimed, pouring some of the liquid into her mouth tentatively.

"Just swish it around a bit, then spit it out. Make sure you don't swallow it though. I did once… I was shipped off to St. Mungo's!" Jeff shook his head.

Lily quickly spat out the liquid in the sink.

"I was only joking about the swallowing. It's harmless. Now, open up, and let me see."

Lily smiled. "Is it all gone?"

"Yes. Look," he indicated the mirror.

Lily turned, and indeed all of the ink was gone. "Oh, thank you!" She gave him a big hug.

Jeff chuckled. "Well, you're welcome. I figured it was the least I could do, what after the hell we put you through in the past few days? Well, anyway, come on. We're leaving for the fair now, Mum wants to get there early, so that it won't be too crowded."

A/N: And that is where I am going to end it. Don't fret, there will be a fair, but this is a rather lengthy chapter already, so I will give it a rest. I love all of you for reviewing, do you know that? Checking my reviews is the first thing that I do when I get online. It's so exciting. Well, anyway, that said, I suppose that I will just get on with the reactions to my previous reviews.

Fluery: Yes, Tony is completely a jerk, but he had to be, for my story purposes. I'm sure that you understand.

Amandinka: Wow, and in my working 28/500… I suppose this story will be done… soon. Lol. Your review made me smile. That's good!

Hplovesme: Well, her quickness to forgive her dad is a lot of the insecurities that she needs at least one parent, and her mother isn't a likely candidate, if you know what I mean… Yea, Anthony's really rude, but at least she broke his nose…

Theverylittletutle: First, I am SO sorry, I haven't been faithful to your story. I have been so busy, and all that that I haven't even really had time to review! I promise that I will get to all of it, and your reviews should be there by Thursday. Anyway, yea, I feel sorry for lily, especially after all that stuff that happened in this chapter, but what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, and Lily needs to be pretty tough for everything that will happen in her very near future. Yea her mom is a… (cough cough) never mind. Lol. We now see where Petunia gets it.

Navi: Hello my friend. Well, I suppose that you're saying that I was going way too fast jinxed me. Because, this chapter has been a real bogey to write! But here it is none the less. Lol, I guess you are a real supporter of Lily and James. Well, fret not, she'll see him, sooner than you think too. (like, next chapter.. hint…) But anyway, the inevitable will happen, so don't worry about that, just promise not to harass me, as seems to be the habit of people lacking romance, when I throw some real problems in there. But yeah. Her grandparents.. well, I'll let you form their own opinions on them.

Hplovesme: Thanks! And another BILLION cookies for you!

Sipgurl: Thank you for taking the time to find me through other people! Kudos for that! Yes, finally some one who sympathizes with me! I am only human, and errors are in my nature! Might I suggest my other story Sanity of the Insane. It's getting rather long, and I like it. (but be warned, it has a lot of mistakes, and I have a beta on it right now!) Thanks for your review!

To everyone: Please keep reviewing, and follow Hplovesme's example, and tell a friend! Or something. (gives hplm more cookies and some brownies too). Yea, that made me happy. Anyways, I hope you all like this chapter, and I'll try to update timely this time!

Love you guys!

Aimee