A/N Girls, Guys and those of you who arent sure yet, I want to thank everyone forthe reviews, Iwant to apologise in advance for this chapter,its a sad 1, I just hope I managed to pull it off effectively, I hav personally never lost ne1 really close to me so Ifound it hard to portray the feelings but I triedmy best, hope it duznt suck

Grief is the Hardest Feeling

'Hey there Jamie-Boy,' said Sirius energetically as James and Lily joined everyone else in the Great Hall for breakfast. James gave him an evil eye for the name and sat down next to Hermione. Lily and himself had done as Dumbledore had asked them over the last few days and not mentioned what they had found out to anyone, including Harry and Hermione though they discussed it between themselves at every possible opportunity.
'Hey, look here's the post,' said Remus looking up from his book (Hogwarts: a History, Harry was amused to notice) and getting hold of this glass so that it would be knocked over. It had been a full moon last night and he was looking very tired, Hermione noticed.
A Daily Prophet landed in the cereal bowl in front of Sirius, he mumbled something about stupid owls not being able to just put things on the table, and picked up the paper, gasping at the front page.
'Damn,' he said, 'You-Know-Who has got another family.' He held up the front page for everyone to read the heading.
More Brought Down by the Nameless
Hermione took the article from Sirius and read it quickly. It had been a muggle couple from the north of England, they had just been killed in their homes, though that was all the information about them it had given. She shook her head and looked around the others.
'This is getting worse,' said Lily, she was particularly worried about this, as was Remus. They both had muggle parents.
'Come on,' said Lily breaking the silence, 'We've got charms,' with that they all stood up and left the Great Hall.

They entered charms and within 5 minutes Professer Flitwick had set the group off practising summoning charms because he thought it was going to big a big part of the NEWTs.

Glancing around the room it seemed to be a perfectly normal day. Hermione, Lily and Em were chattering excitedly in the corner about what they were going to be doing for Halloween (it was rumoured that there was going to be a ball), as they were each taking it in turns to absent-mindedly summon a cushion so that they couldn't be accused of not working. All three girls were especially gifted witches, and for Lily charms was her best lesson.
The boys, however, were making no attempt to even pretend to be working. Harry, Peter and Remus were sat on one of the desks watching James and Sirius put a dancing curse on Snape's robes. Everything seemed normal.
'Hey Lily,' called Remus suddenly, 'ain't that your owl.' Lily looked to the window that Remus was pointing at and there was indeed her owl. She glanced around to check that Flitwick was distracted (he was trying to de-curse Snape's robes) and she quickly opened the window and retrieved the letter her owl was holding. She opened it up and immediately went white, James noticed this and grabbed hold of her seconds before she fainted.

He laid her on the desk and was desperately trying to wake her up, saying her name over and over in a very worried tone, he had forgotton about the letter.
'James,' came a voice, he looked around to see Harry looking as pale as Lily and holding the letter. He passed it to James and sat down, putting his head in his hands.
Dear Miss Evans,
It is our deepest regret to inform you that, tragically, both your parents died last night at the place of their residence.
They were killed by He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named and it is our belief that it was quick and painless, we hope this is some comfort to you,
Deepest regrets
Minister of Magic

James read the letter and his mouth fell open, for a few seconds nobody moved and if anyone had walked in it would have looked like a photograph (a muggle one of course). Lily was lay unconcious on the desk, with Remus stood next to her. Sirius was stood with his arm around a crying Em. Harry was sat in a chair looking whiter than a sheet, while Hermione had hold of his hand and James stood staring into space. He released the letter from his hand it floated slowly to the ground. Then, Em let out a loud sob and buried her head in Sirius' chest.
This noise brought everyone to their senses and James span around and picked Lily up, mumbling something to Flitwick about taking her to the hospital wing before leaving the room. Em followed them.

'Erm...,' came Flitwick's voice breaking the silence and making everyone jump, 'can...er...everyone get back to work, please?'
Everyone turned back to their cushions and no-one spoke for the rest of the lesson.

At the end of the lesson Harry, Hermione, Remus and Sirius hurried out of the classroom as quickly as possible, they were going to the hospital wing.
They ran along corridors, with people diving in all directions out of their way, until they around the corner to see the entrance to the hospital wing. Just as Sirius reached forward to open the door, it opened and Albus Dumbledore walked out. He looked at he group with sad eyes.
'Professer,' said Sirius,' is she alright?'
'Well, Master Black, physically, she is fine. She is awake and alert.' There was a release of breath around the group. Only Remus didn't.
'Sir?' he said, 'That's not all is it?'
Dumbledore looked at Remus for a second, realising for the first time how very grown up he had become, so quickly. 'No, Master Lupin, that's not it. Though Lily is physically fine, emotionally, she is in turmoil, this news has come as a large shock to her system and she is devastated, she is going to require alot of support from you all. This is going to be very difficult for her.' Everyone nodded, looking grave, 'You may go in now.'
The group moved forward and when Harry, who was at the back walked past him Dumbledore put his hand on his shoulder. 'You ok, Harry?'
Harry looked at him, slightly confused, 'Yes Sir, I'm fine.'
With this Harry entered the hospital wing with the rest of his friends.

When they walked in Lily was sat on a bed silent tears were falling down her cheeks. James was sat beside her holding her hand and Em was perched on the bottom with the look of someone who was desperately trying not to cry. None of them were speaking.
They walked over and Remus pulled her into a hug.
'I have absolutely no idea what to say, but I'm really sorry Lils.'
She smiled at him gratefully. 'I called Pertunia,' she said quietly, 'The funeral is on Thursday.'
'I'm going to go,' said James.
With these words Lily looked up at him gratefully, 'Really?'
'Of course.' She smiled and kissed him.

'Thank you.'
'Me too, of course,' said Remus. She smiled at him also.
'Thank you I dont wana do this alone.'
Harry raised his hand, 'Don't forget me.'
'Or me.' came Hermione and Em simultaneously.
Lily smiled at them all gratefully, 'Thank you all.'

That night the group, minus Lily who was still in the hospital wing, all sat around the fire in the Gryfindor common room. It was about 1am but none of them were in the mood for sleep. They had been sat for hours talking about everything they could think of, including Lily's parents and the conversation turned to them telling of the relatives they'd lost.
'Well, I've been lucky,'said Remus, 'I've never lost any relatives.'
'Yeah, me neither really,' added Hermione, 'not through death anyway.' As she said this her eyes moved to the floor and a tear came to her eye, she brushed it away quickly as discretely as she could. Harry knew that she was having a hard time with not seeing her parents, they had been in this time for a month now and they had spent every available moment looking for a spell to get home but they hadn't had any luck. Harry would never admit it to Hermione, but he was starting to lose hope.
'Well, I wish I didn't know my parents,' said Sirius. They all knew he lived with James, 'but James' parents are the best.'
James grinned and agreed, 'What about you Harry?'
Harry looked up quickly and once again Hermione let her eyes drop to the floor. He cleared his throat, 'Both my parents died when I was a baby, I never knew either of them.'
'I'm sorry Harry,' said Remus.
Everyone went quiet for a few minutes then and typically it was Sirius who broke the silence, 'Hey guys, how long do you think you could dangle a house elf by his ears for?'
Every one laughed and they lauched into a debate about Sirius' question, Hermione obviously insisting it was cruel but smiling anyway.

That weekend the whole gang was excused from school to attend the funeral, Dumbledore went also and arranged the train to come a take them to Kings Cross.
As they sat in the church no-one spoke. Sirius gripped Em's hand and Hermione did the same with Harry's. She knew how hard this was for him and the fact that he wasn't able to show his grief for his grandparents too much without arousing suspision was making it worse so she had decided that she was just going to stay close and hold his hand. People would assume it was her who was upset as girls were more emotional than boys.

Em and Hermione immediately burst into tears when Lily walked in with the rest of her family, including a girl they assumed was her sister Pertunia (though Harry didn't need to assume), she looked terrible and Remus felt James' whole body stiffen by his side when he saw her. One look into James' face showed that he was desperately fighting tears.

The ceremony seemed to last hours and as everybody was leaving in a huge group, the friends got seperated. Hermione managed to keep hold of Harry's hand and she grabbed hold of Remus before he got pulled away but they had no idea what happened to everyone else.

When they were clear they decided to look for Lily immediately as she was definately alone. They found her with James who apparently had found her when they were still in the church. The three of them ran over and pulled Lily into a hug one after another. She looked terrible but was trying to smile.
'Hey guys!' They turned around to see Sirius and Em running out of the crowd. After more hugs Remus looked around ,'Hey, where's Peter?' Just then there was a massive explosion and an amplified voice.
'SEE WHAT MY MAGIC CAN DO? NO-ONE CAN MATCH THE POWER OF I, LORD VOLDEMORT!'
Then everything and everyone went silent, not even the birds were singing.
'YOU ARSEHOLE!' screamed Lily suddenly, 'CAN'T YOU JUST LET ME BURY MY PARENTS IN PEACE?'
With that she fell to her knees in unconsoleble tears. James went over and held her in his arms but no-one else seemed to be able to move and no-one noticed that there was still no sign of Peter.

Review Response

Michelle - in answer to your question bout Harry wanting to go to Dumbledore and Hermione not. Hermione is scared to go to Dumbledore cos she knows that if he duznt know a way home then no1 will and they will be stuck there 4eva. She duznt want to have to face that just yet. She's in denile. Also, she has always been able to work these things out for herself. Who was it who found out about the Basilisk? Also, as always she duznt want to get in trouble. Harry on the other hand, knows of Hermione insercurities and knows she wont go and see Dumbledore yet, but basically he's not ready to leave. He finally has everything hes eva wanted and hes not ready to give that up yet. He has no doubt in Dumbledore's ability to send them home, hes grown to see him as a solution to any problem, he simply duznt want to leave yet.

Also, I checked out ur website n its kool, tho the fact ur a science whizz is where we differ I'm afraid. I recently dropped Biology, not my strong suit :)

Serendipity9 - hope this chapter answers you question, didnt want to do it but thought it was necessary.

Glad you like my story, means alot :)

Dont forget to R&R