Chapter 12

After Lily, James and Remus came back from the walk, Lily went upstairs to take a shower. The two boys sat down in the living room.

"You know James, it seems as if we haven't had a normal conversation in the longest time," said Remus. James laughed. "What's normal to two teenage boys? But, I know what you mean. Now, I'm not complaining, but ever since Lily showed up, our lives have been turned upside down." It was Remus' turn to laugh. "Yeah, you're right. About both things."

"So, how are things with you and Lily?" Remus asked, after a few silent minutes had passed. James thought for a moment, scratched his head and replied, "I'm not too sure. I know Lily told me that we are going to stay together once school starts. I was getting a bit worried that this was just the result of a summer filled with hardship. But... Lily told me she loved me," said James, finally admitting to his friend what Lily thought.

Remus smiled warmly. "Good for you Prongs. I knew she'd get around to it some day," he said. James nodded. "I was just hoping that she would have come to her senses a long time ago."

Lily let the hot water run down her face. With her eyes closed, Lily's thoughts turned to James. A blush spread across her face as a sudden image of James having joined her in the shower crept into her mind.

She pushed those thoughts to the back of her mind as she thought of the matter at hand: her ex-best friends. What was she to do? They shared a dorm, and for sure Meagan was going to hear about Lily's out burst on Laura. Suddenly, Lily remembered something; she had her own dorm as Head Girl! She sighed happily. Maybe this year wouldn't be as bad as she originally thought.

Lily also thought of James, what the year would be like with him. But what if he found some other to get together with, leaving Lily alone in the dark once more? Would he care if she killed herself? Right now, he was the only thing keeping her alive. Alive and... well? Was she really well?

Lily wasn't the happiest woman on earth. She never had been, and she doubt she ever would be. Yes, James did make her smile, laugh, feel great, but what if he got bored of her. Lily's breath quicken its pace. He was known to do things as such.

What if she was just another girl he dated? She had always been "the girl who rejected James Potter", a title which seemed to follow her around the school. She wasn't Lily Evans to them, those... people, animals, horrible excuses for human beings. Only the teachers had known her name, bothered to know it. Her supposed friends of course knew her name, and Lily couldn't forget the Marauders. They, of course, knew her name because of James's "obsession" with her, for lack of better words.

No one had bothered to get to know Lily. She was just the strange bookworm-teacher's pet-girl who turned down James Potter. But wait, if James had been like the rest of them, he wouldn't have bothered to get to know her name, fall in love with her, and make her feel so loved and cared for. Slowly, Lily's breath returned to normal, finally realizing how much James loved and cared for her. James would never leave her... or so Lily hoped.

Lily had gotten out of the shower and rushed to her room. The last thing she needed was Sirius finding her in her towel, which could have been a bit longer if you asked her. She quickly got dress, trying her hair up in a bun, and made her way downstairs.

As she walked down the stairs, she could hear Remus and James having a conversation. She knew it was wrong to eavesdrop, but she just had to know what James and Remus where talking about.

"So, you're not going to leave her, right?" Remus asked. James laughed. "If I left her, I think that you and Sirius would kill me! Of course I'm not going to leave her." Remus smiled, and said, "I think that Lily might be worried a bit that you'll leave her, like all the other girls you dated." James nodded. "I do too. I can see it in her eyes; she's worried I'll hurt her like everyone else has," he confessed. "You're good for her, you know that?" Remus said, turning his attention to the sound on the stairs.

Lily saw Remus turn his head, and she blushed. She had been caught! She made her way down the stairs. James hadn't noticed that Lily was eavesdropping, and, silently, Lily was praying Remus wouldn't tell.

"Hey Lily," said James, as Lily walked into the living room. Lily smiled. "Hello James, hello Remus," Lily answered. She sat next to James, and noticed Remus' smirk.

"What were you two talking about?" Lily asked, noticing Remus's smirk turn into a grin. "You, love," replied James, kissing Lily softly on the cheek. Lily blushed. "Come on, let's go find out what Sirius is doing," said Remus.

That night, as Lily was getting ready for bed, an owl flew into the open window. Curious, Lily went to see whose owl it was. The brown tawny owl was one that Lily had never seen before, and was cautious as she took off the letter from it's leg.

Before she could react, the letter began to shake. Lily realized it was a Howler. All too soon, a voice erupted from the letter. Lily recognized the voice as Meagan's.

"How dare you say that we don't care! Laura and I have always been there for you, no matter what you say!" screamed the voice. "And, how dare you go out with Potter! You hated him, while I fancied him! And, you didn't bother to write to me either, so don't you dare say I didn't care to write! I'm sorry about your parents death, but you don't have to take out your anger on Laura! And, I can't believe you slapped her! And what the bloody hell is this about you trying to kill yourself?" Lily's eyes swelled with tears, and after the Howler called Lily a few names, it was ripped up into pieces.

James, who had heard the Howler, came rushing in the room. "Lily, are you alright?" he asked, as she cried on his shoulder. "Oh James, I know I shouldn't be crying, but Meagan has always been quiet, and with this, it's just pushed me over the edge."

James stroked her hair and tried to calm her down. "You know Lily, it's a bit like what you did to Laura; except this time, it wasn't face-to-face." But that didn't help much. Lily pulled away and slapped James. "How dare you!" she cried. "Lily, I'm just stating the truth! You hurt Laura. Did you really expect that she and Meagan wouldn't do anything to retaliate?" James answered calmly, knowing how to deal with Lily's outbursts.

Lily bowed her head in shame. He was right. Stupid git. "I'm sorry James. I'm sorry for being so emotional, you know, one moment I'm happy, the next I'm sad, and the next I'm angry," Lily said. James lifted her chin and gave her a small smile. "Lily, it's okay. I understand. You're going through a tough time now." Lily nodded and rested her head against James' chest. "Thank you James."

For Lily, James, Remus and Sirius, school seemed to be coming up fats. Mere days were left until school re-started. Even though they were worried about NEWTs (Sirius not as much), they were exited to be finishing school.

"Is that Lily Evans?" whispered a blond-haired boy. "Ya, it is. Her parents died this summer," replied the brunette. More whispers erupted as Lily and James walked onto the train, heading down to a compartment. They were still holding hands, a sight for everyone to see. Many girls shot venomous stares at the red-head, including Laura and Meagan. But Lily was not fazed. She didn't care anymore.

The couple, along with Remus and Sirius, found an empty compartment, and sat down. Peter Pettigrew arrived shortly afterwards and nearly fainted when he saw Lily in the compartment, holding James' hand.

After the train departed from the station, James and Lily made their way towards the Head's compartment. The meeting for the Prefects were about to start.

As soon as the meeting was over, Lily and James headed back to their compartment. As they arrived, they bumped into two girls.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I'm so clumsy!" said the brunette. She helped Lily up. "Aren't you Lily Evans?" the brunette's friend asked. "Why?" asked Lily suspiciously. "Oh, it's just there were rumours flying around that you were dating Potter. Are they true?" the brunette asked. Lily nodded. "Cool. I just thought they were making stuff up... again! By the way, my name is Audrey Blaine, and this is my friend Jessica Galadriel," Audrey said. Jessica smiled.

"Do you mind if we sat with you? There are no more compartments left," said Jessica, tugging at her dark blond hair. Lily smiled and nodded. "But, you'll have to suffer the raft of Sirius Black."

James opened the door for all three girls, and closed the door behind him. Hopefully, theses girls will become friends with Lily. It would do her good to have some female friends.

For the whole train ride, Lily, Audrey and Jessica talked about many things. Lily felt happier than she had in quite some time. She felt as if these girls and she would be good friends.

Jessica and Audrey promised to save Lily a seat next to them in the Great Hall. She and James needed to check the compartments to make sure no one was left behind. The two made their way to the last carriage, which brought them to the castle.

Lily had known that this year was going to be hard. But, maybe, with the help of a boyfriend and two brand new friends, the year was going to be better than she expected...

Fin

Author's note: Done! It's finally done! Audrey Blaine was the name of one of the winners of the contest, though she had as name audreyblaine (also her pen name. Go check her stories, they're good!). Jessica Galadriel was the result of BoOkWoRmof2005, who had submitted the name Jessica and Pontas-Metallika, who had submitted the name Galadriel. I've already posted in Chapter 8 who won, but I never said what the answer was! For those who didn't know, Ron's middle name is Billius. Strange middle name... Thank you for all who've reviewed, such as kooky, BoOkWoRmof2005, audreyblaine, zippyfox, maraudersrock77, sugur-huny-bun, LilyXJames, and everyone else that have reviewed!