Disclaimer: Harry Potter isn't my bout of genius. That credit goes to Jo.
A/N: Wow, I haven't posted in a whiiiiiiiiiiiile. Over a hundred reviews! I love you guys!
FEBRUARY 8 SIXTH YEAR
Dumbledore stared, shocked, at the slight redhead who stood in his office. The girl's sharp chin was lifted rebelliously, as if she dared him to refuse her. Her trunk was at her feet, her owl cage resting on Dumbledore's desk.
"You want to come back. As Lily. To Hogwarts."
"Yes. And you won't even need to sort me, because Lily Evans was… is… a Slytherin."
"But you don't remember anything."
"I'm trying." Lily tried to look sincere, and succeeded rather well.
"All right. The students will be at dinner in the Great Hall right now. I will have your things sent up to your room."
"Thank you, Headmaster." As Lily left the room, she smirked… evilly.
.xXx.
"But I told Minnie…" Sirius Black trailed off, shocking the group surrounding him. Sirius never missed a chance to brag to pretty girls. And that jaw-hanging-open expression was still attractive, but it wasn't his usual sexy smile.
Remus and Peter, aware of their friend's malfunction, looked to see what had rendered their Padfoot speechless. Soon the entire Hall quieted.
"Where's James?" Remus whispered to Sirius.
"In the dorm. Pouting," Sirius replied, equally as quiet.
"Let's go see him, shall we? He'll need to hear this before he sees it."
"It wouldn't compliment his image to faint in front of the entire student body," Sirius agreed.
.xXx.
James hardly glanced up as his friends opened the door and quietly filed inside.
"Er, James?" That was Sirius, looking unusually pale. James did look up then, to study his friends. Remus, too, was pale, and that was strange, as the full moon wasn't anywhere near… Both boys' eyes were wild and wide, as if they had just seen their own ghosts.
"What?" James asked, worried by his friends' silence.
"Um," Remus stumbled on his words. "What would make you sickeningly happy right now?"
"I don't want to talk about Lily," James growled, glaring at the other Marauders.
"Somehow I don't think he'll be able to avoid it," Sirius muttered to Remus.
"But—" Peter piped up. Sirius stepped on his foot to quiet him.
"James, we have to tell you…" Remus tried again.
"Lily's back," Sirius said softly, trying not to startle his friend.
James went deadly still. "She doesn't remember," Remus hurried on. "But she came back."
Very slowly and deliberately, James stood. He walked past his friends, picked up his broom, and exited the dorm.
"Do you think he heard us?" Peter wanted to know.
"You know, Pete, I think he heard us all too well," Sirius told the boy, placing a brotherly hand on his shoulder.
"All too well," Remus echoed.
.xXx.
James didn't think. He didn't want to. He just did what seemed most logical at the time. He headed to the one place where he had known Lily to be truly happy. The Quidditch Pitch.
.xXx.
Lily awoke, gasping, sweating, stifling sobs. She hated those dreams. The ones that forced her to relive every blow dealt to her by a faceless man. But that wasn't what had torn her from her slumber. It was the black-haired boy no older than herself who was tied to the tombstone, looking helplessly between his companion's body and the red-eyed figure in front of him. It was the familiarity yet strangeness of the boy.
She pulled on her school robe over her pajamas, snapped her fingers, and headed for the one place that made sense at the time. She ran for the one person who might know the answers.
.xXx.
The quiet sniffling was what awoke James as someone pulled back his bed hangings in the middle of the night. He sat up to find none other than Lily Evans looking at him through tear-filled eyes.
"Lily?" he could hardly believe it.
Lily was awkwardly quiet for a moment. "Look, I still don't believe you, okay? It's just…"
"What was the dream about?" only one thing could upset the Immovable Lily Evans.
Lily sat down on the edge of James' bed. "I Saw your son," she whispered.
"You what?" he sputtered.
"There was this boy, a little younger than us. He was the exact image of you, James. Except for the eyes. Were it not for his eyes, I might've mistaken him for you."
"Tell me exactly what happened."
Lily carefully related the dream, from the time the two attractive boys tumbled into the courtyard to the part where the raven-haired one raised his wand against the red-eyed figure. That's when she had woken up.
"Why, Potter?" Lily asked.
"Why what?" James asked, startled. He had been pondering her non-dream.
"Why is it that I knew I had to come to you? I hate you! You're a Gryffindor, and yet, I felt as if I could come only to you. Why?"
James closed his eyes for a moment. "Let's talk about this later. Hogsmeade, perhaps. Tomorrow?"
Lily thought about refusing. However, it would be the perfect chance to follow through on her father's wishes. She smiled slightly. "Only if you promise to tell me."
"I promise."
With that, Lily stood and left. James' eyes followed her out. A slight frown was on his face. Lily was up to something, that much he knew. She may have fooled the rest of Hogwarts, but she hadn't fooled James Potter. They say love is blind, yet still he saw through her masquerade… this time, anyway. She hadn't fooled the Gryffindor Prince, after all. It was the Slytherin Princess's turn to be shocked.
A/N: Things are about to get good! Hang on tight, and keep all hands and feet inside the vehicle, because it's going to be a bumpy ride!