Of all the letters Lily had received, these were by far the worst. Whether it was because of the number she had received or the sheer maliciousness that seemed to radiate from them she wasn't sure, but something about them made her nervous.

Each word written in a different colour, the rainbow notes had a simple clear message hidden in a deeper one; 'Stay away from Sirius, he's not meant for you.'

While Lily wasn't really seeing Sirius, the two of them seemed to have fooled the entire student population into believing otherwise and this had led to a number of 'hate mail' from Sirius' many admirers. And while it was easy for her to ignore the majority of these letters, the rainbow notes were hard to forget. Just one example went like this:

Evans,

Reports come of an increase of muggle deaths. We know that muggles are quite a destructive race and normally I would not concern myself with such news, but there are rumours that they are not simply due to muggles. There is a man waging a war on muggles and half-bloods alike. No one is safe, especially not know-it-all mudbloods who fraternise with purebloods, and the Black's are one of the oldest pureblood families around. You endanger him and your family by staying with him. If you really like him you will dump him. You've been warned mudblood.

To Lily that was a good story, somebody obviously had a vivid imagination, so she didn't pay much attention to it but at the back of her mind was a nagging feeling telling her that maybe, just maybe, whoever wrote the note was telling the truth. She had expressed her concerns to Remus but he laughed it off, finding the whole idea ludicrous.

"You really think there's a raving madman out there killing muggles?"

"No…Yes…Oh, I don't know!" she'd let out an exasperated cry.

"Relax, if there was, we'd have been told."

Even though he had sounded calm and believable, he didn't help to soothe Lily's anxiety. She couldn't explain why, but something about the rainbow notes made her nervous. She'd just have to watch her back.

-

The full moon at the beginning of May had arrived when the decision was made, the decision to finally draw a line under it all. Remus wasn't around to witness it, but when he got back and found out what had happened he was so happy that he snuck down to the kitchens and had a celebration with the house elves. He didn't even question it, which was very un-Remus-like behaviour. Had he questioned it he would have discovered just how fragile and terrified his best friend, and secret crush was and how much she needed someone at this time. But he didn't question it and so, while he was celebrating the fact Lily no longer had a boyfriend, Lily herself was falling deeper into helplessness, counting the days until the year ended so she could get away from that place that seemed to cause her nothing but misery and back to her loving family for six weeks before heading to France for a year.

And it all began with a particularly vicious rainbow note on the Friday morning. All through the day Lily's mind was focussed on the note, and only the note. She was fortunate enough to be able to bluff her way through the lessons she was called upon in, and received just one detention for her distance during Charms. She wouldn't even have got that if it hadn't been for the fact that her unfocussed behaviour had led to the burning off of Professor Flitwick's beard. All-in-all she was distracted to the point that even Sirius noticed she was acting odd.

She was in the Great Hall on Sunday morning when he approached her.

"Hey Lilykins," he said giving her a peck on the cheek before sitting beside her.

She gave a small smile, but didn't look directly at him.

Sirius frowned before looking at Marie and Alice opposite him, questioning them through his expression as to whether or not they knew what was up with Lily. They both shrugged.

He stood up. "Lily, come for a walk with me?"

She said nothing but stood to join him.

The two headed outside in silence. After five minutes Sirius couldn't take the silence any longer. "So what's up?"

She remained quiet.

"Come on Red," Sirius sighed. "We're meant to be going through the act of being girlfriend and boyfriend here. Act like it and talk to me."

"But we're not, are we Sirius? Everyone thinks we are, but we're not. This whole idea was ridiculous; a Black scheme through and through."

He ignored that last remark, instead asking, "So what if we're not? I'd like to think we're at least friends and friends talk."

"We're not friends either, not since the day you cheated on Alex." Lily's voice was emotionless, but she felt a tug at her heart when she said Alex's name.

Sirius sighed. "Fine Red, I at least tried. I'll see you later, when you're over this ridiculousness."

He turned from her and started to walk away when he heard quiet mumblings. Turning back he saw Lily sat on the grass, her back to him. He crouched in front of her. She was staring blankly ahead, quiet words coming from her lips.

"Shouldn't have let it go on for so long…Shouldn't have agreed…Fooled them all but look where it got me…Why?"

She stopped then and looked at Sirius, her emerald eyes staring unfocused into his grey ones. Then, taking Sirius and even herself by surprise, she threw herself at him and wept into his robes.

He wrapped his arms around her in a comforting bear-hug; one hand around her waist as the other rubbed her back soothingly. After a while her tears stopped.

"Better?" he asked. She nodded in reply. "Good. So do you want to tell me about it now?"

She nodded again and the story of what was bothering her spilled from her lips. She told him about the rainbow notes, the man who was supposedly coming and then finally about the last note she had received. The one that said the man had all he needed now; support, a symbol of fear, terror spreading through the nation and, most importantly, a name; Lord Voldemort. Sirius had shifted slightly at the sound of the name, but he said nothing and made no other indication to knowing it so Lily, in her upset state, pushed it aside.

"The note said that the 'Lord' guy would kill me next if we don't break up. We're not even going out Sirius. This is all your fault!"

"My fault?" Sirius asked, still wide-eyed at Lily's story. "How is it my fault?"

"It was your idea," she stated simply, her fiery temper lacking as she spoke.

"You were quite happy to go along with it," Sirius quipped back.

"I didn't have much of a choice."

"Whatever," Sirius muttered, not feeling like he should argue with her when she was like this.

After a few moments silence he asked a question they were both wondering. "What do we done then?"

Lily shrugged. "Break up? I mean, I didn't want to agree to this in the first place, so it's no big loss to me, but then, I'm not sure if the letters are real or just someone's idea of a sick joke. And then, if they are real, don't you think we should warn someone? And the 'plan' has worked. People have stopped going on about me and Jacob, not that there was ever anything to talk about, but you know what people are like…"
She trailed off, realising she was rambling.

"So we end it?" Sirius asked, his eyes following a fourth year as she made her way across the grounds.

Lily nodded but didn't smile. "Yes, right here, right now."

"You don't want to make it public?" he asked, a little surprised.

"No. Not everything in my life has to be public viewing for this school. So as of this moment we are broken up."
Sirius nodded. "Broken up. The letters should stop now, right?" He was still watching the girl

"I hope," Lily said her voice slightly fearful and then, with a slightly wry smile, "Go give her a bit of Sirius."

Sirius tore his eyes away and looked at Lily, a mischievous smile on his face. "You'll be alright?" Lily nodded. "Good, because I haven't been near a girl since we started 'going out'. It'll be nice to be a free agent again."

With one last caring look at Lily to make sure she was ok, Sirius chased after the fourth year.

Lily watched him for a moment or two as he stopped the girl. Then watched as, after a bit of conversation, Sirius earned himself a slap across the face and was made to further chase after the girl when she stormed back into the castle. The scene didn't cheer Lily up much, but the conversation had eased some of the tension she felt. Some, but not all, a large portion still remained.

-

"Did he like it?" Narcissa asked Lucius cautiously. She half hoped he said 'No,' and that would be the end of it but another part of her wanted him to say 'Yes', that her work truly was appreciated.

"He did. He is using it as his symbol. Congratulations Narcissa, you've just earned respect from the Dark Lord."

Lucius' icy drawl sent shivers down her spine.

"What do you mean 'his symbol'?"

Lucius mouth twisted in a cruel smile. "Well, we'll be seeing a lot of it quite soon. But don't worry, that's what you wanted isn't it? People to notice you're art skills?"

She looked at him, trying to see through his cool exterior and find some signs of life within, but all she could see was cold, cruel hardness. She wasn't even sure there was a heart beating in there.

"He's going to leave it for people to see? Like a calling card?" she asked horrified at the thought.

He nodded. "Soon everyone will now your work, they might just not realise it's yours."

He turned from her and left the room then, chuckling as he went.

Narcissa stared after him, appalled at the misuse of her design, but then what had she expected when she suggested it in the first place? What did she think a snake protruding from the mouth of a skull could be used for if not as a symbol of terror? No, she wanted this; she just wasn't willing to admit it to herself.

-

A week since that day and things weren't too bad for Lily. After a couple of hours the questions died down, she spent more time with Alice and Marie and she and Sirius were on semi-pleasant terms. He had asked her if there had been anymore notes, there hadn't, and he seemed to be acting the brother she didn't have. It was weird, but comforting to know he was around if Remus wasn't. So here she was, a week after their 'break-up', getting dressed in her dormitory when her eyes fell upon a copy of The Daily Prophet on Alex's bed. With one leg in a pair of jeans, Lily hopped across the room and snatched the paper, only to read the headline in horror; 'Seven Killed in Attack on Muggles.'

Normally the Daily Prophet did not report on muggle attacks, this she new from the limited number of articles she had read, so with a morbid interest she read the story. Five muggles had been killed in Suffolk, as had the two wizards who had attended the scene once it became apparent that the attack was by wizards. When more arrived to retrieve their dead, they found a glowing green picture of a skull with a snake coming from its mouth hovering in the sky. The article ended with, 'The picture has since been named the Dark Mark. This is not the first of such attacks and it appears it will not be the last, until the people at fault are punished we must be on guard.'

She had time to silently put the paper back and fasten her jeans when an owl arrived. It carried a rainbow note, she could tell this before she even opened it. She read:

Evans,

Good, I am certain you and Black are finished for good now. I am sure that by now you have had time to hear the stories and have verified that every word I have told you is true. For this reason I feel compelled to tell you that, as you no longer have romantic connections to Black, the Dark Lord is willing to save your untimely death until last, unless you decide to save us the trouble? You have cooperated with us so far; do not break the rules now.

A chill descended on Lily that warm morning and as she ripped the article from the paper and took the rainbow note down into the common room with her, heaviness took over her, as though no matter whom she confided in, and no matter how many times, some terrible burden had been placed on her and her alone. At the age of thirteen, Lily Evans had a horrible feeling the fate of the world depended on her and for that reason alone she decided she would fight, no longer could she be as weak as she had been until now.

A/N: A long wait for a short chapter, I know, but I'm about to write the next one and it won't be as long a wait, in fact I plan to have it up today, Tuesday otherwise (I finish early on Monday's, Tuesday's and Wednesday's, which is why I always say one of them, but unfortunately my mother has kidnapped my Monday afternoons, so Tuesday is, really, the earliest possible convenient time for me to write. So yeah...)

What did you think of this chapter? Was it worth the wait? I hadn't planned on Voldemort being introduced so early, but I was really stuck for stuff to write. And I'm not sure I like the end, but the rest isn't too bad.

Ok, shutting up now.

Rae