Lily was not conscious of anything except her thudding heartbeat and the numbness that had spread throughout her body as she followed McGonagall back up to the school. James walked beside her in silence, not knowing what to say. Lily was grateful for the silence; if one person said anything, she thought she might break. She wrapped her arms around herself, to block both the internal and external chill. After what seemed like years, Lily found herself in front of a large stone gargoyle.

"Mister Potter, if you could please…" McGonagall motioned to a bench near the gargoyle.

"James, you don't have to wait," Lily managed to say. "I don't know how long…"

"I'll be in our common room," James reached out and gently touched her arm. "I'm not going anywhere."

"Thanks," Lily gave him a small smile. She watched James walk down the hallway, but even after he had been gone a good two minutes, she still hesitated.

"Miss Evans, please…" Professor McGonagall led her towards the gargoyle and spoke to it: "Fizzing Whizbee."

The gargoyle moved aside, and Lily entered with heavy legs. Gravity didn't seem to be able to hold her up, and she felt like she was ready to throw up when she entered Dumbledore's office. Dumbledore sat behind his desk, and he looked up solemnly at Lily when she entered.

"Have a seat, Miss Evans," Dumbledore greeted Lily, gesturing to the chair in front of his desks.

Shakily, Lily sat down, locking her hands around the chair arms in a death grip.

"I will put your mind at ease, Miss Evans," Dumbledore began. "Your family is quite safe."

"Thank God," Lily breathed, feeling the air rush back into her lungs. "They're fine? No one is injured or anything?"

"They're fine, although when I wrote to your parents, they sent this back," Dumbledore handed Lily a letter. "They requested that I give it to you. It concerns some of your neighbors."

Lily looked down at the letter and slowly unfolded it. She had never been more relieved to see her father's handwriting.

Dear Lily,

I'm sure you've heard about the attacks in Surrey this past week. Professor Dumbledore was there immediately, and we asked him to give you this letter. Your mother, Petunia, and I are perfectly alright, but I do have some horrible news that you should hear from me, rather than the newspaper.

One of the people killed was Megan Faust, whom I know you were very close to. I'm so sorry to tell you this, Lily. I had hoped that the attacks you told us about would never reach us, and I hoped that you would never have to face such death. Professor Dumbledore assures me that you are safe at Hogwarts, and I can not wait to see you at Christmas. It will be quiet at home, but your mother and I are so happy we'll be able to see your precious face.

Love always,

Dad

Lily swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat and closed her eyes against the tears that had formed.

"Lily," Professor McGonagall put a hand on her shoulder. "You'll of course be able to take time away from your classes if you need."

Lily took a deep breath and shook her head. "That's not necessary. Meg was…she wouldn't…she'd want me to go on."

And that was true. Lily and Meg had been close friends all their lives, though they had drifted the past few years that Lily went to school at Hogwarts. Still, even though Lily didn't see Meg as often, she felt like she'd just been punched in the stomach. Putting on a brave face, Lily looked back up at McGonagall and Dumbledore.

"I'd rather just go back to my common room," Lily said quietly.

The professors nodded, and Lily left quickly. She didn't want to hear any words of sympathy. After a few moments, Lily broke into a run and ran straight to the Head common room. The shock of Meg's death wore off, and it was replaced by a devastating sadness and horrible bitterness. Students stared at Lily as she ran past, tears beginning to stream down her face.

Bellatrix Black smirked at Lily and called after her: "What's the matter, mudblood? Lose one of your muggle-loving family members?"

Lily was ready to strangle the Slytherin girl, but instead kept her rage in check and kept running. When she finally got to the common room, James was there.

"Lily, what is it-"

Lily simply ran to him and buried her face against his chest. Taken aback for a moment, James quickly put his arms around her and held her tightly against him. Lily didn't know how long she was there, sobbing against James Potter. All she knew was that she felt safe as James whispered soothing things to her and tightened his hold.

"I hate being 'pureblood'," Gari said at lunch the first day of Christmas holidays. Lily had just left to go home, but everyone else was staying. Gari was sitting at the long table in the Great Hall with James, Remus, Sirius, and Rayven. Peter was off somewhere by himself, but James shrugged it off, saying he was probably off talking to some rats.

Sirius glanced up from his chess game with James to look at his…friend, girlfriend, er…whatever. "Hm?"

"I would gladly be muggle born or half," Gari continued, throwing down her Daily Prophet paper. "Honestly…look at people like the Black sisters, Lucius, and the Lestranges. They're sick…"

"What do your parents think of the whole pureblood thing?" Rayven asked from her position in Remus' lap, absentmindedly toying with a lock of his hair.

Gari shrugged. "They're friends with Sirius' family, and the Malfoys, people like that, but they really do it out of obligation than anything. They still talk to the Longbottoms and Weasleys, even though they're blacklisted by everyone else."

"They don't have an opinion on Voldemort?" Rayven looked slightly disgusted.

Gari rolled her eyes and nodded. "Sort of. They don't support him, but they aren't outspoken about it. They don't want to make enemies with the power families, you know, the Malfoys, Lestranges…so they don't say anything against him in front of them."

Rayven opened her mouth to argue, but then remembered that it was Gari's family, and shut her mouth again.

Gari smiled slightly. "It's alright, you can say it. They're cowards, every single one of them. Not sick or twisted like the others, but they're cowards all the same."

"You still love them though," Rayven said more as a statement than a question.

"Yeah, I mean…they're still family, you know?" Gari said. "If they were anything like the Malfoys, I'd hate them. But they aren't cruel, just naïve…so I love them."

Rayven nodded and chewed on this for a moment. "I guess I can understand that."

"I don't think you can, love," Remus spoke after holding his tongue for a few minutes. "I understand what Gari's saying. They're in the wrong for not defending people, but you can't fault them for being scared. I mean, it's like me and-" Remus stopped abruptly. "Nevermind."

Rayven looked at him, startled. "It's like you and what?"

"Well, um…" Sirius and James glanced up at their friend. "It's like me and my brother."

"Brother?" Sirius and James said in unison.

"You have a brother?" Rayven asked, frowning. "You…you never mention him."

Remus shrugged. "It wasn't important. I'm trying to tell you, I love him, but we don't get along. He's older, and we just…well anyway, we don't speak anymore."

"Yeah, talk about loving each other," Rayven said, incredulous. "Why don't you talk to each other?"

"Another time, Rae, alright?" Remus whispered to her.

Rayven nodded reluctantly. "What's his name?"

"Romulus," Remus replied, drawing a snort of amusement from Sirius.

"Didn't see that coming," Sirius chuckled a little. "Seriously, mate, why didn't you ever mention him to us?"

"It never came up," Remus said. "He left home a few years ago, and I haven't spoken to him since. My mum and dad still hear from him occasionally, but it's rare."

Rayven's eyebrows went up. "That's…I'm sorry."

Remus shrugged again. "It doesn't bother me as much as it used to. Trust me, we're nothing alike."

"Anything else I don't know about you?" Rayven's tone was playful, but her eyes were dead serious.

"Other than that, I'm pretty much an open book," Remus said. "Ask me anything."

"No, I'll save that for another time," Rayven replied, smiling a little.

"What about you, Rae?" Gari asked. "As long as we're baring our souls to each other, tell us about your family. I've never met your parents or anything, and you only talk about your mother."

Rae flushed suddenly, but kept her tone calm. "Oh, well…you know, muggle born."

"Yeah…" Sirius looked at her to go on.

"I don't know, my parents got divorced when I was ten," Rayven continued. "Both my parents are British, but my mum's parents were from Korea."

"Any brothers or sisters?" James asked, moving his knight on the chess board, but still listening.

"Well, um…Rayven looked more somber. "I had a half brother on my dad's side, who was two years older."

"Just two years?" Sirius asked.

"I told you my parents split up," Rayven repeated. "Jake was illegitimate."

"Jesus, this is a day of revelations!" Sirius exclaimed. "What's next?" He looked up at James. "Do you have a sister you keep chained in your basement?" He looked at Gari. "Are you a vampire?" He looked at Rayven. "Are you a secret assassin?"

Everyone laughed, but Gari sobered quickly. "It's true though…I didn't know any of this about either of you." They all went silent, but then Gari spoke again. "Rae, where's your brother now?"

"He died," Rayven answered rather quickly. "He…he was murdered in London last year."

"Rae, why didn't you say anything?" Gari asked, staring in amazement.

"Jake and I were never close," Rayven replied. "It never came up."

At the echoing of Remus' previous words, the friends fell into silence, all of them a lot more educated than they were only an hour ago.

Good news, guys, now that summer's started just this past Tuesday for me, I've been writing lots. I know where I'm going, and drumroll the story should be completed by the middle or end of July! The story will finish with about somewhere from 25 to 30 chapters, and it looks really good. Can't wait for HBP guys! Only 20 more days!

BTW- I know there's a lot of info this chapter, but it is very relevant. (Remus's brother however, is AU, he doesn't have one in the books).

Yet another note (wow, I like to talk a lot)- I got a few e-mails from people here and from another site about Lily's parents deaths; I might as well say now, Lily and James' families are all fair game to die, because Harry goes to stay with Aunt Petunia, his ONLY living relative.