Disclaimer: See first chapter

Lily's Necklace

Lily didn't know how long she had laid crying on her bed before she fell asleep, but when she woke up it was well past dark and she felt refreshed beyond belief.

She was still furious of course at Kevin, no… Kikkert. She couldn't call him by his first name anymore. He didn't deserve the thought. She needed to get out of her dormitory; she needed to clear her thoughts of him.

Lily got up quickly out of bed, careful not to disturb her sleeping roommates. She then slipped down the carpeted stairs and through the common room to the portrait exit. She needed to get out into the night air.

She walked swiftly through the castle careful to avoid the teachers and Filch and slipped through the front doors. Walking quickly across the lawn, Lily managed to stay out of the moon's bright pathway as she made her way to a willow by the lake. She sat by the trunk facing the lake, hidden by the tree's long branches only moments later.

The gentle swaying of the thin branches seemed to depict Lily's mood to a tee. As Lily felt her body slowly and peacefully connect with nature she could almost hear the trees and the wind moaning in sorrow, weeping with her in her heartbreak.

As Lily tried to make her mind blank she couldn't help but think of Ke – Kikkert. She had thought that he was one of the different Slytherins. Lily couldn't help but think, maybe she was wrong about Severus, Lauren and Rachel as well? Were they just as bad as Kevin? Severus had called her a mudblood last year… maybe he really meant it. What if his apology wasn't true and he just was trying to get in a position to use her? And what about Lauren and Rachel? She was great friends with them, or so it seemed. She hadn't been able to talk to either of them since Easter break of fifth year. Maybe everyone else was right. Maybe it was impossible for someone to get along with a Slytherin.

Lily shook these thoughts from her mind, again trying to clear it. This time she succeeded and smiled as a warm voice began to talk to her.

"How are you today my little flower?"

"Not so good Talswick, but I would rather not talk about it. I haven't talked with you for so long! Have you heard from Flankswood or Brignack yet? Last time we talked you said that they were in a rather large fight!"

Lily had found Talswick completely on accident her first year. At the time Lily had had no friends but nature she felt and when she was at home she always opened her mind up to it hoping that one day it would respond and that one fateful day, halfway through Lily's first week at Hogwarts, it did. You see, Talswick was no person and well wasn't necessarily even female as Lily liked to think. Talswick was, from what Lily could guess, part of the wind. She knew that it sounded silly but that was the only way she could explain it. Talswick had seen many things that happened around Hogwarts from many parts of the castle, both inside and out.

Flankswood and Brignack were her two 'sons'. Talswick claimed to have taken care of them since they were saplings. Lily had never met these two brother trees but Talswick said that they lived almost fifty kilometers from Hogwarts and fought like the dickens so, of course Lily believed her.

Talswick was Lily's mother at school. She would come to her for advice, for all of her problems and just in general to talk when she was lonely. But when Lily had become friends with Dani, and later on, Sarah she didn't have as much time for Talswick as she would have liked.

Lily of course still tried to talk to her several times throughout the school year even if it meant slipping out at night like she had this night. She hadn't of course planned on making this visit but it had just happened. It was like fate had brought her out that beautiful night to spend time with the being she had ignored.

"Oh don't worry about them little flower. The very next day after your last visit they patched things up and I could hear them laughing with each other from across the meadow, so to speak."

Lily chuckled at the thought. Yes, Flankswood and Brignack were always on each other's throats, fighting about one thing or another. Well, according to Talswick. Lily had never been able to talk to either of the two brothers but she figured that it might be because she was a female. She did not know and she never bothered to ask. She stayed silent though, lost in thought.

Noticing Lily's abnormal silence Talswick continued concerned. "What is wrong my young flower? You have come when the sun is gone and you have let your voice be overcome by emotion. What is wrong? You can tell me flower, all of your secrets are safe here."

Lily sighed. It was no use trying to hide things from Talswick. She was like a mother and a friend to Lily, she knew Lily better than all of her friends. Of course, it was the way she was made. "Well, there was this guy…"

"Ah, young Kevin. I have seen him around you quite often."

"I'm sure you have. But you won't anymore."

"Oh? Why not?"

"Well you see –"

"Lily? What are you doing down here this late? You could get caught and expelled you know!"

It was Hagrid. Trust him to find her here. He had caught her by herself there many times. Lily got up and smiled at him but didn't say anything. She was listening for what came next.

"Goodbye my little flower, come visit me again soon." The soft whisper of Talswick was carried off into the wind leaving Lily alone again with Hagrid.

Lily sighed slightly. "I'm sorry Hagrid. I just needed to get out here to clear my mind, you know with what happened this morning and all."

"Well, you're lucky it was me who found you. If it was Filch or worse that new defense teacher…"

"What wrong with Professor Crander? She seems fine to me! One of our best defense teachers yet even."

Hagrid looked like he swallowed a lemon. "I shouldn't have said that. Come on Lily, let's head to my hut for a cup of tea before anyone sees you standing there. There's something you ought to know…"

Lily followed the half-giant to his hut, her mind reeling with thoughts. Everything seemed to be happening so fast. The complicated ordeal of the summer that still wasn't solved, Owen suddenly showing up in her life again, and Kevin… plus now Hagrid brings something else up. He thinks that there is something wrong with Crander, one of her favorite professors.

Lily was so absorbed with her thoughts that she didn't even notice when they had reached their destination or for that matter when they had sat down. Her eyes were glazed over and Hagrid could tell she wasn't listening to a word he was saying.

He had set down her tea in front of her and she didn't move. He had asked her if she was okay and she didn't even respond.

Hagrid just sat there watching her unsure of what to do. He couldn't really bring her to the nurse because then they would ask why she was out so late at night, or as it was becoming, so early in the morning for it was now almost 5:00. He of course could wait until six when a student was allowed to be out and bring her up to the castle if she was still in this daze but he didn't know if he should wait that long.

However, fate decided to help him out with his decision because Lily fainted. She needed to be brought up right away, who cares about questions anymore. Lily needed help.

At six-thirty on Monday morning the 6th year girl's dormitories woke up into a panic. Lily was missing. They all assumed that it had something to do with the previous morning's happenings but they weren't all that sure. And surprisingly, the person who was worried the most was Dani.

Dani had watched what happened the previous morning and knew exactly what happened and why. She had seen it coming from that fateful day in August when Lily had told her that she was dating a Slytherin. And that was one of the reasons she didn't want to be friends anymore with Lily. Lily was all stuck on how it 'shouldn't matter what house someone is in' and Dani didn't want to be there when Lily got hurt.

But she was so worried now because of all the other things that had happened that summer, especially with Lily's disappearance.

Of course, Sarah was worried about that too but Dani was just upset because she had been so mean to Lily and didn't apologize. She didn't want to admit it to Lily but she felt so bad for not talking to her and just generally being a snob to her. Sarah on the other hand had talked to Lily and patched things over a bit before this had all happened.

The girls ran downstairs, still in their pajamas and saw the Marauders, minus Remus, heading down the stairs for breakfast with Isaac and Matt.

"Have any of you guys seen Lily at all today? Because she isn't in the dorm and we were worried that what happened this summer could have-" Dani was cut off by Matt.

"Lily's MISSING!"

"Well, sort of… kinda… yeah. Well. She isn't in our dorm and she is normally a late riser…" Jessica said in a wispy voice.

Just then Remus came moodily down the stairs. "Whaz goin' on?" He yawned out.

"Lily's gone again." Sarah softly said.

"No she's not." Remus said matter of factually. "She's in the hospital wing."

"How do you know that?" Ashley asked.

"I was there until about six this morning. Hagrid brought her in about quarter past five."

Dani pulled Sarah off to the side and whispered one word. "Talswick."

Sarah gasped. "Of course! Lily always talked to her, especially when she was down. But then why did she have to go to the hospital wing?"

"No idea."

The two returned to the group and, after the girls had gone back upstairs to change, they all headed to the hospital wing to visit their favorite red head. Little did they know that someone else had been there first…

Lily woke up about forty minutes after Hagrid had left her in the hospital wing to a sharp pain in her chest. It was as if someone was putting a heated knife against it. She looked down and didn't see anything except for the necklace that she had gotten for her birthday. But the pain kept getting worse, so bad that she couldn't even move, so she did the only thing she could, she screamed.

But the scream didn't come out. It was as if it was stuck in her throat by a force field of some kind. She looked around for someone, anyone to get their attention and saw someone coming towards her. She couldn't quite make out the face but she hoped that they would be able to help her.

When the person sat down next to Lily, she still couldn't make out the appearance, but she could tell that it was a male. But when to person spoke Lily wished even more that the pain would go away so that she could slap him and run.

"Why, I'm so glad that you're wearing my necklace Lily." he sneered.

"You – this – this is YOUR necklace?

"Yes, I thought that it would make a nice touch you know. I charmed it so that every time you woke up from a fainting spell you would be in terrible pain." He was smirking. The foul disgusting jerk.

"I – I thought that this was from Kev-Kikkert."

"Ah yes. You were supposed to weren't you? But nope, that was from me."

"You despicable."

"Ah yes. You've called me that before when we were little, remember?"

"How could I forget." Lily grumbled. "Now just leave and on your way out get Madame Pomfrey."

"Ah but you see, the pain won't go away unless it is I who does something about it."

"Oh really. And what would that be."

"Give you a kiss."

"I'd rather live with the pain."

The Slytherin smiled as he bent closer to her. "Ah, but your not in a position to be saying something like that, are you." He then leaned back in the chair, the smirk still on his face.

"Maybe not. But I can scream."

"Ah, but you can't. That is another spell that I put on it. If you try to talk any louder than you are now, you won't be able to."

Lily glared at him. What was this freak trying to do to her? If he was trying to taunt her it was working.

"Oh," he started, "and if you're thinking about taking this necklace off as soon as you can? Well, you can't. It is stuck on there for… well forever. Unless I am the one to take it off, it won't come off." He glanced at his watch. "Well, it's a little after six thirty. I should be going!" He leaned down next to Lily. "But first? A little kiss." He kissed Lily tightly on the lips and immediately the pain in Lily went away. So she slapped him hard across the face. What both of them didn't realize was that a group of ten people had just walked through the door.

"Get Out. I never want to see you again." Lily was seething and she picked up her wand. But before she could do anything to him, a shout ran out through the Hospital wing.

It was Potter. "GET AWAY FROM HER BROOKER IF YOU KNOW WHAT'S GOOD FOR YOU." He had his wand pointed at his back and it was obvious that he had seen what Owen had done. Why else would Potter be like that.

Owen quickly left the Hospital wing just in time to miss Madame Pomfrey come out of her office enraged that people had dared come in her wing without permission and to be shouting so loud.

"Potter, Black, Lupin, Pettigrew, Anderson, VanRyn, Ginther, Summers, Timmerman (Jessica), and Sprinsma (Ashley) OUT! I will NOT be having you disturb my patient! OUT! OUT! NOW!"

Lily sighed as the nurse quickly went over to her to make sure that she was all right. "Madame Pomfrey? Can I go? I feel fine."

"No. You won't be going to class today. This is the second time this month that you have fainted, and the third time that you have been brought here and I won't be having you faint two times today."

"But I just-"

"No buts about it. You will stay here until I tell you that you can leave."

Lily sighed again as she tried to get comfortable on the hard hospital bed. Seeing as she wasn't going to be leaving anytime soon she decided to at least do something about the decorations. It was far too white for her liking.

James had led the way to the hospital wing, excited to see Lily and to hopefully apologize for, well… just really to try and make her feel better. But when he walked through the hospital wing doors and saw Owen Brooker kissing Lily then Lily smacking him hard across the face as she got out her wand he was furious and got his own wand out. "GET AWAY FROM HER BROOKER IF YOU KNOW WHAT'S GOOD FOR YOU." He bellowed.

He barely had time to look at Lily's face before Madame Pomfrey had ushered them out of the wing to breakfast. It was full of pain, not physical… but mental, spiritual. And he wanted to make it stop for her. Unfortunately though, he knew that Lily would never let him.

The day passed slowly for him, starting with double transfiguration. Although it was his easiest class, today he just couldn't get the hang of changing his cat into a flower. The cat itself just ended up having petals spring out of its neck before McGonnagal had mercy on the poor creature and changed it back, but not before assigning him extra homework so that he could get the hang of it better.

Herbology was easy of course. No homework was assigned and he had just daydreamed the class away anyway.

But Divination was the worst. Since the first day of class, when he had charmed his teacup to have 'the grim' show from every side, Professor Trelawny had taken it upon herself to tell of his 'early' death in a different way each and every day. And unfortunately today was no different.

When James had walked into the door, several minutes late, Trelawny had squeaked quite loudly and started the tale of his death, which he almost completely ignored.

"Oh my! The fates have brought me insight on the end for you! Two will die that night with a third left half dead and another left to try and live on its own. You will be in an accident. A terrible accident in a muggle factory. You-"

Sirius rolled his eyes not wanting to hear anymore so he interrupted her himself. "Hey! Professor? What are we learning today? 'Cause I've got quite a headache and I hope that that doesn't harm my inner eye." He smirked and out of the corner of his eye saw his friends try to contain their laughter.

"Mister Black, maybe if you feel that terrible you should head down to the hospital wing. Harm to the inner eye can not be replaced and-"

By now almost the whole class was in tears from trying to contain their laughter, but Trelawny took it for fear and sadness for their colleague and dismissed them quite early from class to try to get over their mourning.

Although everyone was laughing on their way back to the common room before dinner Matt and Isaac could be seen a ways off from the group talking in low voices so that no one could hear...

Lily had sat in the hospital wing all day with nothing to do, but argue with the school nurse about when she could leave.

"Madame Pomfrey, can I leave tonight? PLEASE! I doubt that I will faint again. Please just let me out of here!"

"No. Miss Evans, you have fainted twice this school year and come in here three times. I insist that you spend the night!"

"But-"

"No buts about it. You will be staying here and-"

The nurse was interrupted when two boys came barging through the doors to the wing running up to Lily.

Lily turned quickly to the nurse; "This conversation is NOT over. I really want out." Then she turned back to the boys a bright smile on her face. "Hi guys! I haven't seen anyone all day! Even during the hour break! What kept you?"

"Well…. We have been planning something great for revenge on Kikkert and we think that-"

"No." Lily said firmly.

"No… what. You have a good idea?"

"I mean no as in no revenge." Lily said, again very firmly.

"WHAT?" both of the boys coursed before Isaac took over. "But Lily! He did something awful! He needs to be taught a lesson!"

"Yes, and that lesson should be kindness. Now I know that he was horrible and all, but don't you think that we could be a little easy on him? I mean after all he was our friend."

"Yeah, WAS is the key word. He isn't anymore. Don't you even vaguely remember what happened yesterday morning at all?"

Lily scowled. "Of course I do."

"Well then why won't you let us do something about it?" The boys were getting close to whining by now, very confused as to why Lily wouldn't let them prank Kikkert.

"I don't want you both to stoop to his level, alright?" The boys sighed audibly; the conversation was NOT going where they wanted. "Look, I know that you really, really want to do something to embarrass him but still…"

"You're still kinda attached to him aren't you." Matt said quietly.

Lily nodded and felt the tears coming. "Can you both leave now? I really want to sleep." She knew what would come next. She knew that they had seen Owen this morning… and she didn't want them to ask about it. Besides, she really was tired.

"But Lily! It's only 7 o'clock!" Isaac protested.

"Please… just leave." Lily's voice was quiet and unnerving to listen to. It was the voice of someone hurt beyond repair.

The boys left the room cautiously, still not connived to stop the prank against the ex-Jusketeer. They looked back over their shoulders every few steps still seeing Lily's shaking body as she cried.

Thanks to everyone for your concerns for my health. I'm sorry that it took me so long to post this all... there will be another chapter up today as well ok? i'm really sorry about the wait. i'll try to go faster from now on...