For our group, their third year was so fun that it passed quickly. Very quickly. In fact, it passed so quickly that before they knew it, it was over and summer was gone. It was now time for fourth year.

A/N: Only joking :D Really, I will be skipping the third year but only because for this story the third year is one of the most important and I don't want to mess it up by dragging it on too long or forgetting to include something, you know what I mean, right? Well, I'll be going to fourth year, this chapter bridging the beginning of third and fourth, and everything that you miss out in third year I will go back to by including them as flashbacks. These will be written in italics (as above) and will probably, unless I forget, be clearly marked by either "FLASHBACK" or "F/B". Ok, that said let's get on with the story.

As the September of 1975 started and 11.15 rolled around, excitement filled the pupils of Hogwarts as they left Kings Cross Station. Some were filled with nervous anticipation as they awaited the first glimpse of what was to become their new home. For others there was an almost sadness as they realised that this was the last time they would journey to the place that had brought them so many memories, both good and bad. Then there was another group, the ones who were neither starting Hogwarts nor preparing to leave it. These were the ones who were excited to catch-up, explore new areas and learn new things, but mostly, they were the ones who wanted that feeling of belonging that you get when you are finally accepted. The same feeling that most muggles spend their whole lives trying to find but never quite manage.

The students headed to Hogwarts were not the only ones hoping to remember that feeling of belonging that had been lost to them over the past 6 weeks. A small selection of Hogwarts students were headed to Beauxbatons, France and every fibre of their being was praying that they would be accepted there as easily as they had been at Hogwarts. None of the delegation wanted this more that Lily, who felt like she hadn't belonged anywhere in a long while.

What all of these students didn't realise, what they didn't know, was that this was the year that would test everything they knew. Those who felt their school was the place they belonged would soon find themselves feeling it was a living hell as waves of terror and suspicion spread throughout the students. Personal terrors would haunt some while others would find their loyalties tested. But for some, those lucky few, the trials they were about to face would merely serve to strengthen the bonds between them and make them realise that the thing they needed all along was the thing they'd always had. That school year, 1953 – 1954, our groups third year, would be such a challenge that it would mould and affect everyone and help in shaping them to be who they were born to be.

- - - - - - -

"I hope this year's less eventful than last," Marie commented as she sat beside Remus, snuggling into him as he wrapped his arm around her shoulder.

"Me too," Remus agreed with a small yawn.

He and Marie were sat in a compartment on the Hogwarts Express with the other Marauders, Alice and Narcissa on their way to Hogwarts to start their fourth year. It was a tight squeeze but Narcissa made a little extra space, choosing to sit on James' knee rather than the seat. Obviously in the last year there had been some rather odd developments.

"I doubt it could be more so," Sirius remarked bitterly.

James nodded. "At least Evans won't be able to scare the hell out of us all again."

Alice shot him a look, "She didn't, and that was one of the only surprises of the year that was actually nice, except for those two of course." She pointed at Remus and Marie who smiled at each other before smiling back at Alice.

"You're kidding right? Waking up and going down the stairs to see a rain-drenched, make-up running wild thing standing in the common room was not a nice surprise, especially when the first thing she says is a threat to cut your pieces off the muggle way if you make any comment about her."

Narcissa rolled her eyes, "Don't worry baby, I'd have made sure she didn't."

"I know you would," James cooed at her making everyone in the carriage want to gag.

"Anyway," Sirius said quickly, the idea of his cousin and best friend already making him sick to the stomach, he didn't need to see it too. "Why did she come back? Did she ever tell you?" He was talking to the girls in the carriage.

"No, thank Merlin," Narcissa said, actually sounding relieved.

Alice and Marie shook their heads. "She told us bits, not everything."

"Tell us then," Peter urged them.

- - - -

FLASHBACK:

Lily fled the Hall, running all the way back to her dorm room, thankful they were single-rooms. She didn't cry, tears stung her eyes but not once did they flow over. What was wrong with her? She always let people get to her, and this lot more than anyone else ever. She was always trying to be someone she wasn't here, at least at Hogwarts, no matter how bad she'd felt, there was always someone around to help her. Marie, Alice, Jacob, Remus…Thinking about him made a small pinch at the bottom of her thought. As she began to think of Hogwarts and the thing she was missing she even began to put Alex and the Marauders in there too, not that she would ever tell them that. She compared her years at Hogwarts to the two-thirds of the one she'd spent here at Beauxbatons. Not once had she felt comfortable here, not really, not if she really admitted it, and now she knew what they really thought of her, she had to leave. Hogwarts was the place she was meant to be.

In a flash she was off her bed, out of her dorm and headed to the Professors dorms. She banged on Monsieur Gladen's door.

"Oui?" he asked, irritated at being interrupted.

"Sorry, Monsieur, I don't mean to interrupt you it's just…I was wondering, can I go back to Hogwarts?"

"'Ogwarts?"

"Yes, it's where I want to be."

"Mademoiselle Evans, can we talk about thees in thee morning?"

"No," Lily said boldly. Most pupils were afraid of their head, even Lily was really, but her desire to go back was outweighing any fears she had.

Gladen sighed. "You cannot leeave Beauxbatons until thee end of the year, they are thee conditions of the exchange."

Lily looked at him with pleading eyes but the Professor still refused. With a sighing growl Lily left but not without making a lot of noise on her way.

FLASHBACK END

- - - -

"She wanted to some back, she says she missed us and wanted to see us again," Marie said.

"That's it?" Peter asked, a little letdown that's all it was.

"According to Lily that's all there is to it, yeah."

"Rubbish!" Sirius announced.

"What?"

"Well think about it, if that's all it was, why didn't Dumbledore know she was coming back? And why was she so wet? Even if she'd got a portkey to the grounds only she wouldn't have been that wet. She looked like she hadn't rested for a few days. I reckon she ran from there."

Marie gasped in shock, Alice looked at him like he was crazy, as did Remus, Peter and James looked like they agreed with Sirius.

"Don't be stupid Sirius," Narcissa snapped at her cousin. "Miss goody-goody would never run away."

"Actually, she did," a voice spoke up from the doorway.

"What!" Narcissa asked, her normally composed stature sagging slightly in shock.

"Petal, she ran away from Beauxbatons. No one liked her so she upped and left one night." The person moved into the carriage and flopped herself beside Sirius who shifted over as far away from her as he could.

"Whatever, Alex," Marie said, not believing her.

"She did," Alex protested.

"Tell me all then," Narcissa said, wanting all the gossip.

- - - -

FLASHBACK:

"Where eez Mademoiselle Evans?" Gladen asked the student body the morning after the dance.

The whole room was silent, no one knew.

"Where eez she?" he asked again, a little more frantic this time.

Alex put her hand up. "Sir? We haven't seen her, not since she stormed out of the hall last night."

He blinked, "S'étendre. Chercher partout," he commanded to the professors. "Nous devons la trouver."

After a thorough search of the school the professors concluded that Lily was nowhere in the building.

"If anyone has any idea where she eez then please tell us."

Gladen was once again addressing the student population who remained silent. He and the other teachers had searched her dorm to find her few belongings gone and her school books left behind. There was no trace informing them she was coming back, and that's because she wasn't. Late the night before, after Gladen had refused to help her, Lily had packed her stuff and crept out of the chateau, heading for the nearest town. She used the little muggle money she had to buy train fare to Calais then settled herself on for the long journey.

FLASHBACK END

- - - -

"You're joking?" Peter asked stunned.

"Of course not!" Alex exclaimed after telling them the tale.

"Don't sound so defensive," Sirius remarked. "It's not like you've never lied before."

Alex was silent for a moment before speaking. "Not to you I haven't."

The whole carriage went silent waiting for Sirius to say something but instead he snorted, "Whatever."

"Fine, believe me or not," Alex said. "But think about this, if she didn't run away and it wasn't because no one liked her, why wouldn't she tell you all what really happened?"

She left the room then, unwilling to put up with their doubt, plus they were nearing Hogwarts and she needed to change into her robes.

"Do you believe her?" Marie asked Remus, breaking the silence of the room.

Remus shrugged. "I don't know. It certainly fits with Sirius' theory that Lily ran away but wouldn't she tell us? We're her friends, she doesn't keep secrets from us."

Alice interrupted, "But she was acting really weird when she got back. Something might have happened."

"Like what?" Remus asked concerned.

Narcissa sighed. "Who cares, she's just a stupid little mudblood. Can we move on? Or get changed or something? I'm fed up of talking about her."

"Sure babe," James agreed, not wanting to talk about Lily that much anyway.

Narcissa's use of the word 'mudblood' didn't go unnoticed though but no one brought it up, preferring to store it and use it later on.

- - - - - - -

"I am so glad Dumbledore let me stay on this year," the girl announced happily as she fell backwards onto her bed. "I can't stand Beauxbatons, it's just so fake."

"You got that right," Lily muttered as she began putting some of her belongings in their right place.

The girl grinned at her. "They really did a number on you, didn't they?"

Lily shrugged, "Maybe, but it all worked out good so I can forget about it, can't I?"

"I guess…" the girl said not really convinced.

Alice popped into the dormitory, smiled at its inhabitants as she grabbed a hairbrush and waved it about.

"The trouble with having your best friend go out with one of the Marauders; when you hang out with her you end up hanging out with 'Cissa too. I was hoping we were past that last time James broke up with her. Why'd he have to get back with her?" She shook her head and sighed wearily before heading out again.

A small smile on her face Lily headed to the bathroom to change. While in there she shouted through to the girl. "Hey, Tae?"

"Yeah?" The girl answered, moving to the semi-open door.

"I was thinking on the train. Do you think if I hadn't come back early things would be different?"

"In what way?" Tae asked with a frown.

"Well," Lily said, coming out of the bathroom and finding herself face-to-face with the blonde-with-blue-streaks hair and ice blue eyes on a fair-skinned but lightly tanned girl. "Merlin you're freaky," she teased with a light laugh. "If I hadn't come back early then you'd probably still be with Sirius for a start, and I wouldn't be your friend right now, you'd probably be friends with…I don't know, Narcissa and Alex! And you know, you'd be down there right now, the one who's doing 'Cissy's hair instead of Alice."

Tae grimaced at the idea but gave Lily's words a bit of thought. "You might be right," she answered. "But that's not a good thing. I'd much rather have you as a friend than the other two, at least I know where I stand with you. I mean, sure, me and Sirius would probably be together right now, but given his track record what are the chances, honestly? I'll get him back on the one-woman path one day but until then I'm going to have a little bit of fun with him."

Lily laughed at her bubbly confidence. "Like what?"

Tae grinned secretly. "I can't tell you yet, but you'll love it, trust me."

Lily shook her head in an amused sort of way and said nothing as she headed for bed and Tae into the bathroom to get changed herself.

A/N: Ok, so I'm not very good at writing a French accent, and the translations might not be very good because I was using a free translator site but if anyone can do better then review and tell me 'cos I'll need a lot more of them from now on!

Do you like? I know it's taken a while but I've been busy writing for my new fic In Mind, In Spirit. Yep, that's right, I decided I'd give that idea a shot…it doesn't seem to have been very widely received though! Ah well, I'm gonna stick with it 'cos I like it. Time for some review responses methinks

Elephant Wings – Sorry about the delay! Enjoy it!

Helen – Chances are I'll see you on msn tonight, but here's your next chapter. I'll be sure to keep you informed even if we're not in Chemistry any more…THANK MERLIN!…And you're right, Lily probably would have been punished but I was tired and couldn't be bothered thinking one up and you weren't being much help at the time, were you?

Lizthelaugh – I agree, they do seem older, and they probably seemed 16 because that's how old I was when I wrote it (my b'day was last month). But it's hard to get inside the head of an 11 year-old when you're a few years older, how JK manages it I'll never know!

The ORIGINAL Meathead – See that? I got the hint eventually… he he

Jen – They're about to start 4th year, I don't know what grade that is because I'm not American (my friend thinks it might be grade 10 though). When you asked me it was the end of 2nd year.

Spix – I hope it was nothing too bad, by that I mean dangerous. Revenge can be oh, so sweet, but if you injure them you're gonna get into more trouble! Thank you for your kind words.

Pigs can fly – You really like it then, huh? Review some more for me then :D I've got 102 of them now!

Porcelain Prayer – LOL! I'm glad you think I'm improving, I hope it'll keep your attention to the end, it might get a bit too long though, we'll have to see…

The Critique – Longer? Well, I suppose it was quite short…is this one ok for you though?

Rae