Before it Began
By. SkyQuill
Summary
James knew he was in love at first sight, but what would it take for Lily to love him back? Read their story leading up to their deaths and discover the dangers they faced and the loves and friendships they shared.
Disclaimer
I do not own most of the characters and places or anything else that may seem familiar. J.K. Rowling has the exclusive claim to this as well as the general plot that formed this fanfic.
Chapter 16: Memories
"LILY!" someone shrieked as Lily arrived back at home in the fireplace. Grinning meekly, she stepped out into Cadence's ecstatic hug.
"Are you okay?" Callidora asked peering at Lily over Cadence's shoulder.
"We were so worried!" Cadence exclaimed before Lily could answer. She stepped back and surveyed Lily shrewdly, "Where've you been? And have you heard there was another murder last night? Oh and they set Fenrir Greyback loose near Hogsmeade. Do you think someone got hurt? I know the Daily Prophet says something else stopped him but I don't know if I believe it. Do you know who Greyback is?"
"Let her breath Cady." Callidora said exasperatedly. Ignoring Cadence's affronted look, she turned to Lily and gazed questioningly at her. Lily knew the time had come to tell her friends the truth. Sighing she beckoned for them to join her at the kitchen table.
"Alright. Where should I start?" Lily asked.
"How about what Dumbledore REALLY wanted the day after Alice and Frank's wedding?" Cadence suggested. Lily felt a wave of surprise wash over her,
"How did you know I wasn't telling the truth?" she gasped. Callidora rolled her eyes as she and Cadence exchanged a look.
"Come on Lily. Why would Dumbledore ask you to a meeting if all he wanted to do is ask you if you're coping okay?" Calli' explained. "And for some reason there's a big blank spot in my memory about that day. You said that's all he wanted but I can't remember a thing!"
"And," Cadence added, "We tried to contact James last night to see if he knew where you where. We got worried when you didn't come home, even though we found your note. But anyways, James wasn't home either. So we tried Sirius, Peter and Remus and NONE of you guys were home. That's not coincidence. What are you hiding from us Lily Evans?" Cadence asked suddenly looking stern.
"Okay so," Lily began, taking a big breath before she plunged into the story. And she told them everything. All about the Order of the Phoenix and who was in it, about how Calli' had turned down the option of joining and all about the meetings including last night's disaterous mission. By the time she had finished, and the time was considerably later, both Calli' and Cadence were gaping.
"I turned it down?" Callidora asked wonderingly.
"I didn't get invited?" Cadence asked indigantly.
"You fought the death eaters?" Callidora added wide-eyed.
"And to think, you could have been killed!" Cadence put in dramatically.
"Girls-" Lily started.
"Remus could have been killed!" Callidora exclaimed. Her face was pale and her expression worried. Lily and Cadence turned simutaneously to look at Callidora. She shrugged, barely blushing.
"Wow, Lily. Wow." Cadence said in a hushed voice, breaking up the momentary silence.
"But both of you HAVE to promise to keep quiet about this. Dumbledore or the other members will have my head if you tell." Lily said firmly. Both girls nodded mutely and Lily knew from the expressions on their faces that the secret was safe.
"I'm just glad you're okay Lily. And Alice and the marauders too. We were really worried about you last night." Calli' said.
"I know. I'm so glad to see you two as well. I was so scared last night. I never even got to say goodbye..." Lily said, and she felt the burning of tears prickle at the corner of her eyes. All three girls leaned in automatically and shared in a long, comforting embrace.
00000
November flew by in a flurry of snow and December arrived with a merry warmth, although the weather remained as frosty as ever. Lily, yawning widely awoke on Christmas morning to the merry crackling of the fireplace. Beaming she looked around. James, Sirius and Remus had all spent the night and in honour of the occasion, everyone had camped out in the living room at James' house.
James turned abruptly in his sleep and wrapped his arm around Lily who allowed herself to withdraw into the warmth from his body. As she snuggled as close to him as possible (A/N:And for any of sick-minded people they're in SEPERATE sleeping bags) she saw that Sirius and Cadence were already up. Just then Cadence caught her eye and smirked. Ignoring her (For she had seen her and Sirius quite busy kissing under their covers earlier) Lily flipped over onto her other side. Unfortunately, her movement had awoken James.
"Morning Lils." he greeted her groggily and gave her a good morning kiss. Smiling dreamily Lily thought, I could wake up every morning to this.
"Morning Love." Lily responded sweetly and gave him a kiss back. Grinning, James sat up and rumpled his hair in the usual fashion.
"Oi, Happy Christmas everyone. Now up and at 'em. There's a whole stack of presents under the tree with my name on them." Sirius shouted. Everyone seemed to stir under their sleeping bags then suddenly they had appeared from the depths of their sleeping bags and were sitting up. Tousled haired and puffy eyed, they could only watch enthusiatically as Sirius began tossing presents towards them from under the tree.
"Thanks." Calli' said thickly from behind a yawn as she caught a particularly lumpy package.
"Yeah thanks." Remus echoed as a gift came whizzing his way. He was looking quite dishevelled but the swiftness in which he opened his gifts proved otherwise.
"Watch it!" Lily said angrily as one of her presents winged its way to her and knocked James over. Everyone burst out laughing and Lily couldn't help but crack a small smile. Trying to look furious, she leaned over and straightened James' glasses. He kissed her as his thanks.
"Hey mate. Maybe it's better if we just use magic?" Remus suggested, still grinning. Sirius shrugged and shrank back looking crest-fallen.
"Accio Lily's presents." James muttered pulling out his wand. With a soft swishing noise, Lily's numerous gifts flew towards them and landed with a soft thud on the floor.
"Thank you James." Lily said and tore the paper off the first one.
"Thanks Cadence." she murmered setting aside a gorgeous set of green dress robes. Then turning back to her stack she saw a package that caught her eye.
To Lily, From Petunia
Read the small label on the top. Eyeing it warily she gently tore at the paper. A small note and pin fell into her lap.
Dear Lily, we have gone beyond the point of what some call sisterhood. You are abnormal and I want nothing more to do with you so please do not get the wrong idea from this note. I only wished to let you know that the lovely Vernon Dursley and I are getting married in January. I also wanted to send you back this pin I found when I was moving my stuff from mom and dad's old house and into my fiances. Good bye.
Lily took the pin curiously and held it up to eye level. For a moment she gazed at it blankly but soon the memories came flooding back,
"Daddy, Daddy look!" a four year old Lily Evans shrieked as she came flying out the back door to where her father was working on the new shed.
"Look what we got Daddy, look!" Petunia Evans added as she tore after her younger sister.
"What is it girls?" asked a lean, kindly looking man from behind a tall piece of hard wood. Sticking out their palms, the two girls revealed two matching shiny pins. Each glittered a dazzling gold and bore the words, Sister's Forever.
"Mom got them for us when we went shopping!" Lily said excitedly, her vivid red hair blowing in the breeze.
"It means we'll always be sisters." Petunia said seriously, though her eyes sparkled with glee. "We'll never be apart, ever."
"That's sweet girls. But what will you do when school starts this fall Petunia?" Mr. Evans asked genially, smiling at his two tiny daughters clad in their spring dresses. Petunia frowned and Lily replied, lookign agahst,
"I'm going with her! We're going to do everything together for the rest of our lives." Mr. Evans looked into the two smiling faces of the girls and frowned slightly.
"I'm sure you will." he finally replied.
"Lily?" asked James, "Are you alright? What's that?" Lily snapped back to the present and found everyone staring at her.
"Oh yeah!" she said quickly, "I'm fine. Sorry just an old pin from Petunia. Memories you know?" They all seemed to be satisfied with the answer and went back to opening their gifts. Brushing aside her surprise, Lily joined them. By the time every bit of papr had been torn and scattered around the room, Lily now had a pile or assorted items laying at her feet. Tons of candy, (though no chocolate frogs), a few books, new robes and a beautiful necklace from James consisted the heaping pile.
As Lily helped the others magic their garbage into bags, and changed back into her day robes, Lily reflected on the pin Petunia had returned to her. Lily of course, still had hers, locked somewhere in one of her jewellery cases. She hadn't looked at it in ages. But for some reason she hadn't felt sad to recieve the pin, only a mild sense of loneliness and loss. Petunia and Lily had been ever so close in their early childhood days. They had cherished their pins for a few years, cleaning them regularly and bearing them proudly on their chests.
That had all changed when Lily recieved her Hogwarts letter. Until then, the girls had always done everything together. Only a few out of the ordianry things had ever happened in Lily's presence and it was nothing big. She had developed her fiery temper after her big falling out with Petunia. Which incidentally, had occured the very same night her letter arrived.
Obviously, Lily had been over joyed when she found out that she was a witch. And for a few blissful seconds, Petunia had been ever so pleased as well. Only that had changed when Petunia found out she couldn't come. She had refused to talk to Lily for days afterwards and with each passing day became more verbally violent. The first time both girls swore was during that summer. Angry at her sister, and eager to test her new found talents, Lily got aboard the Hogwarts Express on September the first. She had never seen Petunia look so upset when she left. That was the last time her sister ever showed any heart-felt emotion to her since.
During the passing summers, nothing changed. Petunia was as hostile as ever and during her summer vacation, Lily felt constantly on edge. Even at their parents funeral during the summer of Lily's sixth year didn't bring any change to the girls demeanour. And although Lily would gladly have accepted an apology, she never recieved one.
"LILY! CALLI'! GUYS!" Cadence hollared, breaking Lily's reverie. "Alice, Frank and Peter are here!"
"Coming!" Lily shouted back and with a last flick of her wand, the sleeping bags rolled themselves up and disappeared.
"Merry Chirstmas." Alice said brightly when Lily hurried to the door. "How were your gifts?"
"Good. Thanks for the book." Lily responded as she quickly hugged her friend. "Did you apparate?"
"Yes." Frank said deeply. "The Floo Network's always in a jam over holidays so we decided to come the quick way. Although flooing would be warmer."
"Well come in." James said suddenly appearing at Lily's side. "Sirius has just got dinner started."
"Sirius is cooking!" Alice asked her eyes widening, "Are you sure he can cook?"
"Yes of course." responded Remus who had also joined the fray. "He had to learn when he lived with his family."
"Oh, I just thought because of the whole Quidditch party incident." The chattering group sat happily in the sitting room on the squashy sofas and spent the next half-hour discussing a story involving a post-match party, a few fresh baked pasties and a gaggle of polk-a-dotted first years.
Afterwards, they all enjoyed a large Christmas feast, which included all the usual favorites. Turkey, various puddings and large flagons of butter beer and fire-whiskey. Thankfully, nobody had a single inch of abnormal patterns across their faces or arms. They all then, spent the rest of the evening happily reminiscing old times at Hogwarts and wondering about what the students at Hogwarts were doing now. And although they touched very lightly on the subject of Voldemort towards the end of the night, Lily felt it had been a rather enjoyable day.
"Love you." she murmured, kissing James goodbye before she apparated back home.
"Love you too." James responded and they broke apart. "Take care now." Smiling Lily turned slightly and disappeared in a whirl of snow.
A/N: There we go. Chapter sixteen. I know and i'm sorry that nothing interesting happens really during this chapter. But i've kept you all waiting long enough and I wanted to get something up so you can keep reading. I've been so busy with school work it's amazing I have time to write at all anymore, lol. This chapter is quite mellow after the last few, just to calm everyone down for the moment, lol Anyways hope you enjoy, please review!