Hey. I'm really really sorry that I took so long to write this part. Finals and my job and everything have been piling up lately and something had to give. Plus my muse Frodo left me for some time, which made it very hard to become motivated to actually write this. But I finally got into it. I'm hoping that the next part will be out soon. As soon as finals are over, I'm hoping to go back to posting a new part every weekend or so. Thanks!

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, but this plotline is my original work.

Chapter Four:

Charity Case

Lily left Madam Malkin's with a feeling of contentment. So many people in the store had been happy to have her back. Only a few of them had given her the looks that she had expected. The few were greatly outweighed by the rest, however. She felt happy, happier then she'd been in years. In fact, she hadn't felt this happy since her wedding day.

Her wedding day… Lily's euphoric state abruptly ended. Thinking of her wedding day reminded her of James. She tried to pull herself out of the slum she had reentered, but had no luck. She was finally free, free to live her new life. James, James was dead. She'd never see him again, she'd never feel his arms around her, never taste his sweet kisses, never see him ever again. Lily stopped and sat down in a chair at Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor. Madam Malkin's was across the street, still in view, but the happiness she had felt there didn't catch up with her. She wished that Dumbledore or Hagrid could have been there. They might have been able to pull her out of the sadness that had engulfed her. But neither of them were there. Neither were anywhere close to where she was and neither could help her at this moment. The streets seemed to be full of people, jeering, taunting, teasing, and waving.

The apothecary could barely be seen from her chair on the edge of the ice cream parlor, but she could still see it. She could also see a slightly familiar man walking, now running, towards her, waving his hand far above his head. His light brown hair was streaked with gray and his tired face was lit up with a huge smile. Lily looked away. This man was probably looking at somebody who was farther down the street, not at the redhead recently released from a mental hospital.

"Do you want anything to eat, dear?" a smallish witch asked Lily. Lily turned her attention to the waitress, ordering a small cup of chocolate ice cream. She felt deep into her pocket and realized she had spent the last of her gold on the robes that were in a bag by her feet. Lily gave herself a mental slap when she remembered that she had forgotten to take more gold out of her vault when she had been at Gringott's. She hastily raised her hand to cancel the order, but the witch had already disappeared. Lily looked frantically at the ground, searching for a dropped Knut or a lost Sickle, but there were none. The witch reappeared, holding Lily's order and placed it in front of her.

"Six Sickles," she said, waiting for Lily to hand her the silver. Lily looked up at her with embarrassment spreading all over her face.

"I seem to have misplaced my bag of gold, I can't pay you. Do you mind taking this away?" she asked, quickly rising. The witch curtly nodded her head and picked up the cup of ice cream.

"No, I'll pay. And bring another, please," Lily heard a slightly familiar voice command the witch. She shrugged and placed the ice cream back down on the table. Lily looked over at her mysterious admirer and her face broke into another large smile. It was the waving man, but now that he was closer to her she recognized him. It was Remus.

"Thanks," she whispered, casting her eyes downwards. Remus rarely had enough money to get himself new clothing. The potion that he took monthly had a lot of costly ingredients and Remus always said that it was more important for him to be safe once a month then it was for him to be well dressed. "I'll pay you back later," Lily continued. Remus nodded his head and then got up from the table, pulling Lily with him. He pulled her into a tight hug.

"It's so good to have you back," he whispered. Lily felt a small twinge in her stomach and hugged him back as tightly as he hugged her. Remus pulled back from the embrace and looked at her. "You haven't that much. You just look pale."

Lily gave him a look and then ate a spoonful of her ice cream. The chocolate tasted delicious. She hadn't had chocolate since before she'd entered St. Mungo's. They hadn't allowed her any sort of sweet there, it'd been all the necessary food servings and nothing more. The focus of St. Mungo's had been to get the patients well, not provide them with sweets. Lily continued to enjoy her ice cream and unintentionally ignore Remus.

"Lily? Lily?" she heard Remus calling, knocking her out of her thoughts. Lily looked at Remus, slightly annoyed. She placed the last spoonful of ice cream in her mouth, savoring the chocolate flavor until the last bit slipped down her throat and into her stomach. She then looked up at Remus. He was half alarmed, waving his hand in her face. Lily playfully batted it away.

"What?" she asked. Remus' face slowly relaxed.

"I said, the newspaper said you were working at Hogwarts. Is that true?" Lily's mind flew to the newspaper clipping and then to Dumbledore's earlier announcement. She nodded her head. Remus looked at her with a small delighted smile. "I'm taking the post as Defense Against the Dark Arts this year. Quirell took last year off of school and decided that instead of coming back, he'd continue. He's having quite a good time out there."

Lily looked at Remus, then back at the table. She had just gotten out of St. Mungo's. Dumbledore had secured her a job at Hogwarts so that he could keep an eye on her. Now Remus was going to be at Hogwarts. Was it so that he could keep an eye on her as well? Anger started to swell within her. She felt her cheeks begin to turn a bright red color.

"Lily, what's wrong?" Remus asked. Lily looked at him, anger starting to blaze in her eyes.

"Are you there to keep an eye on me?" she challenged. "Like Dumbledore? The only reason I got that job was because he has to make sure I don't go crazy again. Come on, is that why you're there too? Admit it." Lily felt her old temper start to come back. It had come in handy when she was dealing with Sirius and James on a daily basis. Right now though, it seemed that it had hurt someone more then it had helped her. Remus looked saddened.

"Lily, I thought that you'd be happy. I'm not there to keep an eye on you. I'm there because I can't find paying work because of who I am. Dumbledore kindly gave me a job. It was purely a coincidence that you got a job there too." Remus looked Lily straight in the eye. "And I though that you would be pleased to have at least one friend around. You do know that Snape's working there, don't you?"

Lily sat there, the shame washing over her body. She sometimes had problems judging the motivation of people. All the doctors at St. Mungo's had been that way. Come on Lily, take your pills. They were getting paid for it, no need to make sure she actually did it. They didn't care, as long as a nice sum of Galleons from her account made it's way into theirs. Lily, take your pills. It isn't going to help you if you ignore them. How many Galleons had been transferred to their accounts over the years? And they had no real reason for helping her--or so she believed.

Turning her mind briefly back to what Remus had just said, Lily quickly answered, "Yes, I do." Dumbledore hadn't told her who else was on the staff, but then again, technically she wasn't on the staff. She was only his assistant and that wasn't a real teaching job. She had never actually seen Dumbledore with an assistant before. Most likely he had made up the position and given it to her, just to keep an eye on her.

"Where are you staying?" Remus asked, once again knocking her out of her previous thoughts. Lily looked as far down Diagon Alley as she could, then back up it.

"I don't know," she replied. "Hagrid will probably tell me. Dumbledore's at the Ministry getting some things sorted out."

"Something things?" Remus asked. Lily continued her search down Diagon Alley, ignoring the question. Her eyes traveled from shop to shop. Excited Hogwarts students and their parents raced in and out of the stores, their packages hitting their ankles as they walked. Other people meekly walked from store to store, trying to understand the difference between a wand and a hollow stick. Her eyes stopped on the un-eaten ice cream that sat in front of Remus. Her eyes traveled from the chocolate to Remus' face. He was somewhat grim, but his eyes held some of their cheeriness.

"Sirius," Lily whispered. Remus sat up straight in his chair and looked Lily directly in the eyes. "He's innocent. Dumbledore's getting him out of Azkaban." Remus let out a gust of breath making Lily realize that he'd been holding his.

"He's not going to be happy with you," Remus said, his eyes showing the fear that they always had when somebody told him that it was almost the full moon. "He's not going to be very happy with you at all." Remus looked pensive for a moment and then changed the subject. "The term doesn't start for a week. Why don't you come and stay with me?"

Lily looked at Remus. She could tell that he was serious about his proposal. She didn't want to be a burden to him, but she also didn't want to be a charity case taken to Hogwarts early because she had no where else to go. Hagrid wasn't her bodyguard and she could owl Dumbledore when she got there. She looked at Remus and nodded her head. He immediately broke into a large smile that lit up his face. He almost looked seventeen again, when they'd all graduated from Hogwarts.

"I have to go to Gringott's and get some money," she told him quickly. "But I'll be right back. Eat your ice cream." She got up from the table leaving her bags underneath it and a very happy Remus savoring the chocolate ice cream as he slowly ate it and awaited her return. Lily walked as fast as she could to Gringott's. Something inside of her told her to hurry back, told her that this was something good to do. It was a step towards becoming herself again. It was going to make her a new and lively person. She was going to be all right.

A/N: Has anybody else noticed how temperamental ff.net is being? I couldn't post this when I was finished with it. Anyway, thanks to XxXTonuXxXChickXxX, crazed spyromaniac, and QueenoftheQueer. I hope you guys come back and read this since it took me so long to write it.

Writers Block=hopefully over!