Chapter edited and reposted – 31st July 2006 (Harry's birthday!)

Right I've added more description and a few more things.

Disclaimer: Okay, I will say this nice and slow so you get every word. I…do…not…own…Harry… Potter…JKR…owns…it…all. Got that?

Thanks to the following reviewers: Fairy-GYAKUTENNO-MEGAMI, iluvgerardbutler, PrettyPadfootLover, Alex, Ashley, MoonylovesFlo, jazzamataz, WhiteCamellia and maneatingbananas

A/N: Okay my writers block is coming back. But that could just be cause I'm in mourning for the person who died in HBP (and I say person for the benefit of anyone who might not have read that far yet). I should be back on form within a week. That was my recovery time for Sirius in OotP. Lucky I am still a few chapters ahead. Also, this story is probably going to be slightly different to some of the things we learnt about Lily and James in HBP. Well enough of me rambling. Enjoy!

Chapter 15

"Is she okay?" Lily's mother asked. Lily vaguely realised that her father and Petunia were no longer in the room, and assumed that they had gone upstairs.

"Not really," she sighed.

"What I can't believe," Remus said. "Is how long it took the Aurors to get there. I mean the Death Eaters must have arrived a good ten minutes before the Aurors got there. Why did it take them so long?"

"Well the paper said most of the families were murdered in their sleep," James said. "I suppose no one would have had time to send for help."

"Suppose," Remus frowned. "But still, if Tash could notice that there were Death Eaters around, someone else must have realised too."

Lily shook her head. She had a million theories, none of which made the remotest sense to her. The door to the living room opened and Sirius came out, closing it gently behind him.

"She's sleeping," he told them.

"Probably a good thing," Jenny said. "She'll be exhausted." She sighed and got up. "Listen I've got to go, I told my Mum I wouldn't be long."

"I'll come with you Jen," Remus said. "See you all later." There were two cracks and they both vanished.

"Are you going too?" she asked.

"No way," Sirius said, before looking worriedly at Mrs Evans. "Is that okay?"

"Of course it is," her mother smiled and went back to the dishes.

Lily sighed and rested her head in her hands. James put his arm around her. Lily felt so glad that she had him.

Some Christmas this was turning out to be.

OOO

Lily awoke the next morning and was slightly surprised to find Tash sleeping on the floor. Then she remembered the events of the previous day and suddenly didn't feel like celebrating Christmas anymore.

After Jenny and Remus had left, James and Sirius had spent time discussing reasons why the aurors could have been delayed. Lily had listened numbly before deciding to move Tash's belongings up to her room. Her friend had slept until mid afternoon when Dumbledore had shown up on the doorstep to take her to St Mungo's. Sirius had gone with them.

Now looking at her friend sleeping on the floor, Lily wondered how Tash could still want to be an auror after everything that had happened. Any normal person would have been scarred by an attack, but it only seemed to have made Tash more determined. Looking at her state now though, Lily saw how pale and sick Tash looked. She made a mental note to make sure Tash got some food that day.

Lily sighed and sat herself upright at the exact moment Petunia appeared in the doorway. She shot Tash's sleeping form a sneer before glaring at Lily.

"Vernon will be over this morning," she said. "So…"

"I know Petunia," Lily sighed. "No magic of any kind. I'll tell Tash the same."

"Thank you," Petunia said stiffly. She turned to leave, tripping over Tash's arm as she left. There was a bang and Petunia screamed. Lily fought down a laugh as Petunia's hair turned neon green. It seemed Tash now slept with her wand under her pillow.

"Whoops!" Tash said, trying not to chuckle. "Sorry Petunia!"

Mrs Evans came hurrying upstairs at the noise and nearly passed out at the sight of Petunia's hair.

"What happened?" she looked at Lily accusingly. Tash interjected.

"It was me Mrs Evans," she said. "I'm sorry, but Petunia woke me and I thought she was a Death Eater trying to attack me! It was instinct."

Mrs Evans frown faded slightly and she looked sympathetic.

"Can you change it back?" she asked. Petunia looked frightened at the prospect of having more magic done on her.

"Sure!" Tash said brightly, but then she stopped. "Although Lily is much better at Charms so maybe she should do it. I don't want to chop it off accidentally or something."

Petunia squeaked at Tash's words and she backed away from her. Lily thought that she looked even more terrified since it was her, but she flicked her wand and Petunia's hair returned to blonde. She muttered an extremely stiff 'thank you' before hurrying out of the door. Mrs Evans smiled and told them to come down for breakfast. As soon as she left, both girls burst out laughing.

"Brilliant Tash!" Lily giggled. Tash shrugged and went to find her clothes.

"Bloody good thing it was reversible," she said.

"But green!" Lily said. "How would that defend you against a Death Eater?"

"It wouldn't," Tash said. "But it was the first spell that popped into my head. I wasn't kidding. After the other night I'm not taking any chances."

Lily lost her smile. She knew it would take a while for Tash to forget what had happened to her family yesterday.

"So! Happy Christmas! Any plans for today?" Tash asked her grin returning.

"Uh presents, eat and hopefully get to see boyfriend," Lily listed. "Pretty standard for Christmas. Oh, and Petunia said Vernon will be over this morning, so no magic in any shape or form."

"Gutted," Tash said. "I wanted to turn him into a whale!" Lily laughed again.

"There probably wouldn't be much to do!" she said. "I mean he's large enough to be one!"

"Here you go Lils," Tash dug around in her trunk and pulled out a small, wrapped package. "Happy Christmas."

"Thanks," Lily took the gift and gave Tash hers, which was considerably larger. Tash tore hers open first. Lily grinned at the copy of 'the experts guide to Auror training' and Tash squeaked.

"Thanks Lily! This'll be great," she flicked through the pages and Lily saw her eyes grow wide.

"Wow! Half these spells I haven't even heard of!"

"Yeah I read through it first," Lily admitted.

"Go on open yours," Tash urged. Lily opened the package to find a ring with a glass looking stone set into the top.

"It's pretty, thanks Tash."

"It does more," Tash grinned and extended her own hand. On her index finger was a matching ring. "If I'm in trouble, the stone on yours will glow blue. If you're in trouble, the stone on mine will glow red. I'm going to give the other to Jen, hers will be green."

"Great," Lily grinned. She should have guessed there would be a practical side to Tash's gift.

"Happy Christmas Lily," Tash smiled and hugged her.

OOO

"Are they here yet?" asked Tash, racing downstairs with her hairbrush in her hand.

"The answer is the same as it was when you asked me thirty seconds ago," Lily said. "So the answer is still no."

Tash groaned and pulled her hair back into a loose ponytail.

"Relax Tash. You've never been this worked up about Sirius before," Lily pointed out.

"Last time he saw me, I was a mess," Tash said, pointing her brush as she spoke. "I'm trying to make an effort. Besides I have to look good for my family."

Lily smiled at her. James and Sirius would be arriving any minute to see them. Lily would be very happy to see them again too, even though she had only seen them yesterday. Today at least it would be under happier circumstances. Though Tash had by no means forgotten about the attack, she was making sure that she enjoyed every moment of Christmas.

Tension in the house had picked up mid morning however, when Petunia and Vernon had turned up for lunch. They had commanded all attention all morning and spent most of lunch going over various plans for the wedding. Lily had kept herself amused by listening to Tash alternate between giving ludicrous suggestions for the flower arrangements and causing Vernon's sprouts to magically bounce up and down in his mouth when he tried to swallow them.

The only disturbance they had had was when, after Tash had suggested that Petunia have petunias in her hair and on her dress, that Petunia had decided to ask her how her brother was and whether he was out of the mental ward yet. Mr Evans had hissed a warning at his daughter and Vernon had looked in horror at Tash. Obviously due to her comments throughout the meal he thought that insanity was hereditary. Tash on the other hand had looked menacing and accidentally shattered her glass by magic.

Fortunately after all this, Vernon still did not suspect that any of the events that had happened that day were strange in the slightest. Lily supposed that his mind didn't allow him to imagine the possibility that things such as magic could be real. Lily did not receive any presents from her sister, nor did she particular want them. Fortunately both of them had cleared out after lunch, allowing the day to continue normally.

Right now it was late afternoon and Lily was wearing the pale blue sweater she had received from her Gran and was reading one of the books her mother had given her. Tash had been running around for the last half an hour trying to find her snowboots. Sirius was taking her to St Mungos so she could see her family.

"Found your boots?" Lily asked.

"No," Tash said. "I've looked everywhere!"

"Have you tried summoning them?" Lily asked placing her finger on the page of her book so she could watch Tash's reaction. Tash's jaw fell open.

"Bugger! Why didn't I think of that!"

"Cause you were panicking!" Lily sighed as Tash pulled her wand out and summoned her boots. They came flying into the room just as Mrs Evans entered with mugs of hot chocolate.

"Are they here yet?" she asked.

"No," Lily said, going back to her book.

"Right I think that's everything," Tash said going through her bag and yanking on her boots. "Got presents, got wand…"

There were two loud cracks and James and Sirius appearated in the middle of the room. Lily grinned and hugged James.

"Happy Christmas," she whispered in his ear.

"Same to you," James said, giving her a quick kiss on the cheek.

"Happy Christmas children!" Sirius smiled. He was being hugged by Tash.

"Who you calling a child?" she snorted. "I recall I wasn't the one who dumped buckets of paint over the Slytherins in the first year."

Lily and James broke apart. Mrs Evans was sighing at the sight of the happy couples.

"Ah young love," she said to herself. Lily and James snorted as their friends broke apart from their embrace, which had turned into a game of tongue tag.

"Happy Christmas guys!" Lily said.

"Miss us?" James asked.

"Not really," Tash grinned.

"Come on then," Sirius said. "We've got your family to visit. See you two later."

Both of them disapperated.

"I'm going to finish tidying up," Mrs Evans said. "I'll be in the kitchen."

"You're presents upstairs," Lily said to James. "Shall we?"

"We shall," James offered his arm and Lily led him upstairs. She grinned as James looked around in fascination at her house.

"Lily your pictures aren't moving," he said, pulling out his wand and tapping the nearest one.

"Muggle pictures don't move," Lily said, going into her room and flicking the light on.

"Sorry it's a bit messy," Lily apologised. "Tash isn't the tidiest of people on earth."

She rummaged through her trunk to find James's present. She had gone into Diagon Ally three days ago to get it. James was examining one of Lily's pens on her desk.

"What does this do?" he asked.

"What the biro?" Lily asked. "It's like a quill that doesn't need ink."

"Cool! Can I have it?" James asked.

"What do I get for such a generous present?" Lily teased. James answered this in his own fashion by sweeping her up into a heated kiss.

"That do?" he asked.

"Think so," Lily replied, a little breathless. "You've got gloss on your face by the way," she added as she turned back to her trunk. James hastily wiped his lips.

"Found it!" Lily smiled pulling the package out of her trunk. She was hoping fervently that he liked it.

"Here's yours," James grinned and handed Lily her present.

"You first," Lily encouraged. James tore off the wrapping paper and opened the box. Inside sat a walnut sized winged golden ball. James grinned as the snitch took flight. He caught it before it could escape and found an inscription on the side.

To James

Happy Christmas

All my love, Lily.

"Lily it's brilliant, thank you," James smiled at her. Lily almost sighed in relief. Thank Merlin he liked it.

"You're turn," he grinned at her. Lily tore the paper off. Inside was a small red box. She opened it slowly and gasped.

Inside was a fine delicate looking silver chain, on the end of which was a tiny silver lily.

"James I…" Lily trailed off lost for words. James could see how much she liked it.

"Happy Christmas Lily," he said leaning in to kiss her tenderly.

OOO

"Aww Lily it's beautiful!" Jenny squeaked. It was two days later and Lily and Tash had met up with Jenny in Diagon Ally to go shopping. At present all three of them were sitting in the leaky caldron where they had agreed to meet that morning.

"Did he like the snitch?" Jenny asked.

"I think so," Lily said.

"Hurry up guys!" Tash said impatiently getting her bag and standing up. "I want to go dress robe shopping!"

"Come on then," Lily said, and all three of them trudged out into the snow.

"Bloody hell it's freezing!" Tash complained.

"I'm fine," Jenny said. "I've got my scarf!" She pointed at the multicoloured green scarf wrapped round her neck, which had been Lily's gift to her.

"Come on!" Tash whined. "Robes!"

"Yes Tash," Lily said patiently, tapping the brick in the wall to open the ally up. "So Jen did you see Remus over Christmas?"

"Um…yeah," Jenny said absently. Lily and Tash looked at her closely.

"You're hiding something," Lily said.

"He told me he loved me," Jenny squeaked, as though she still couldn't quite believe it.

"Aww!" Tash cooed. Lily chuckled at Jenny's colouring.

"What did you say?" she asked.

"Said I loved him too," Jenny said, now looking rather pleased with herself.

"Aww!" Tash cooed again. "Little Jenny's in love!"

"Excuse me!" Jenny demanded firing up and placing her hands on her hips. "Who you calling little? I'm older than both of you are! I turn eighteen in…twenty days! Hah! I worked that out off the top of my head!"

"Yes Jenny," Lily grinned. She knew that Jenny knew Tash was only teasing.

"How about you and James?" Jenny asked Lily. "You in love yet?"

"Maybe," Lily smiled, thinking of James.

"Ugh! You're like a clam you are!" Jenny said. Lily grinned at her exasperated friend as they continued down the street. They stopped at Gringotts to get some money.

"How's Chris?" Jenny asked as they left the bank fifteen minutes later, with their money bags full. Tash's wild enthusiasm for the cart rides vanished as Jenny raised the question.

"No change," she said sadly. "He's still out of it."

"He'll get better," Lily said trying to stay positive.

"Hope so," Tash's enthusiasm for shopping was gone.

"Have there been any more Death Eater sightings?" Jenny asked. "Mum's been hogging the newspaper to use for the fireplace."

"No," Lily shook her head. "They're laying low after the last attack."

"Speak of the bloody devils," Tash muttered suddenly sounding very menacing. Lily and Jenny looked over at where she was staring. Coming out of Knockturn Ally were Bellatrix and Rudolphus. Lily could sense a fight if they spotted them and she and Jenny instinctively grabbed Tash to stop her from attacking them.

"What are you doing!" Tash hissed, wand out and her face blazing. "Those people put my brother in hospital! I'm not just going to let them get away!"

"You can't just attack them in broad daylight!" Lily reasoned. "Save it for when we get back to school!"

Tash stopped struggling and looked at Lily incredulously.

"I think I just missed something Lily," she said. "Did you just try and persuade us to break rules when we get back to school? I thought you were supposed to be head girl? Interhouse unity. Uphold the rules and all that crap?"

"I am," Lily said. "But being head doesn't seem to stop James does it? Besides, as long as I'm not around I'm not liable."

"I like the way you think," Tash said. Lily peered over her friends shoulder and saw to her relief, that Bellatrix and Rudolphus were both gone.

"Come on, let's go shopping," she said. All three of them hurried into Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions.

"Hogwarts dears?" Madam Malkin appeared from behind a stack of bright yellow robes. "Dress Robes?"

"Yep," Lily nodded.

"There's another young lady looking over there too," Madam Malkin pointed to one side of the shop where Crystel Thompson was comparing a silver robe to a dark blue one.

"Crystel!" Tash called. Their dorm mate waved at them.

"Hey guys, which do you think looks better?" she held up the two dress robes against her.

"Mmm…the blue one," Lily said.

"Cheers," Crystel said. "You trying to find robes too?"

"Sure are," Jenny said rummaging through the nearest rack of coloured material. "We were going to go shopping last Hogsmeade weekend but we never got round to it."

"Oh yeah I head about the attack on Christmas Eve," Crystel said. "I'm really sorry Tash."

"Don't worry," Tash said waving it off and focusing on the robes. "I'd rather not think about it right now." She pulled out a couple of robes and gave a disgusted look at the lace on them.

"Who in their right mind would have lace on the cuffs of their robes!"

"Right first rule," Jenny said. "No pink, red or white okay?"

"Why?" asked Tash.

"It's a Valentines ball," Jenny said. "Pink, red and white are valentines colours are they not?"

"Oh sorry," Tash said. "Blonde moment."

They had searched for about fifteen minutes before Jenny found a pale green robe that she liked. And liked, in Lily's opinion was an understatement. Jenny was eager to try it on and was bouncing around, urging her friends to chose quickly. They all agreed to find the robes first and then go and try them on together.

"Hurry up! Hurry up! Hurry up! Hurry up! Hurry up! Hurry up! Hurry u…"

"Jenny," Tash said, her head appearing from a stack of red robes. "Say that once more and I will train Bali to attack anything green that he sees!"

"Cats are colour blind," Jenny reminded her. "And in any case, my family have five dogs and two of them are mine so there!"

Tash rolled her eyes and disappeared in the robes again.

"Anything?" Jenny asked, coming to stand beside Lily, who was holding up a silver robe with glittering stars on them.

"Nothing," Lily said shuffling through the hangers again. She now officially hated robe shopping. None of the robes went with her hair or her eyes.

"Guys," Tash came up at this point. "How about this?" she held up a burgundy robe that she had found down the other end of the shop.

"Great!" Jenny sized it up before nodding. "Come on, just Lily to hunt for now. And then we can try the on!"

Another quarter of an hour later however and they had still not found anything.

"I hate shopping," Lily muttered.

"You're a girl, don't say that!" Jenny said. "It's scary!"

"Lily!" Tash had her head in a stack of robes. "Over here! Bring money!"

They hurried over to her and, with flourish, Tash pulled out the robe she had been concealing. The dress was a deep gold, the robe itself was forest green, almost the same shade as her eyes with gold trim around the edge which went with the dress.

"Huh?" Tash asked.

"Get it!" Jenny urged. Lily did not need telling twice.

"Right let's got try them on!" Tash bounced over to the changing rooms and disappeared into one. Lily rolled her eyes and went to try her dress robe on. Five minutes later, Lily looked at herself in the mirror and was pleasantly surprised. The outfit fitted her in all the right places as well as complimenting her eyes, and it didn't clash with her hair at all.

"Ready guys?" Tash called.

"Ready!" Lily shouted back.

"Green!" Jenny squealed. Lily snorted.

"Three, two, one!" Tash counted down.

Lily stepped out and looked her best friends up and down. Both of them looked brilliant.

"Wow! Lily you look fantastic!" Tash squeaked.

"So do you," Lily said. Tash's robe was a deep red colour which hugged her slim frame. Tash whistled at Lily.

"Knew it was a good choice. James isn't going to know what hit him."

"Guys!" Jenny said. They both looked at her. She hadn't moved from her space and was instead, looking up and down at herself with an ecstatic smile on her face.

"That looks brilliant on you Jen," Lily said.

"It's green!" Jenny squeaked. Lily and Tash rolled their eyes. If it was green, Jenny would wear it.

"So are we all happy?" Tash asked.

"Definitely," Lily nodded.

"So we're all buying?" Tash asked.

"Yeah!" Jenny squeaked still very hyper about her dress robe.

"Do you think she's going to change out of that or is she going to apperate home in it?" asked Tash.

Fortunately Jenny did get back in the changing rooms so they could go home. As soon as they had paid, all three girls made their way back to the leaky cauldron.

"Right, don't forget about New Year Party at James's house this weekend," Lily reminded them.

"How could we forget," Jenny said. "We meeting at your house first Lils?"

"Yeah," Lily nodded. "Seven o clock okay for everyone?"

"Fine by me," Tash said.

"Of course it's fine by you, you're living there right now," Jenny said.

"Blonde moment," Tash repeated for the second time that day.

"I'll see you two then," Jenny said, grabbing her bags. "Bye!" Lily and Tash waved as Jenny disapperated.

"Come on then," Tash said. "I want to see if your mum's made any more of those milk chocolate cookies."

Lily sighed and got ready to disparate. There was a crack and both girls were gone.

A/N: Whew! Fifteen down! I am going to try and shorten each chapter. Be patient with me, it's all about finding a good place to stop. I also thought I'd better mention that whilst in France with me and my family for the weekend Jenny did actually find a pair of green pyjamas. Needless to say she was more than slightly hyper.

Review or I will set my most vicious muse on you… now which one would that be… I know I'll set Fred on you cause you're not reviewing his story!

Next chapter: New Years Eve party (you can guarantee I'm going to have some fun writing this chapter!).

May Stardust fall in your dreams!