Author's Note: Hello, all! Finally, I've updated within a reasonable amount of time, huh? Anyway, I'm very happy right now, because I realized how many reviews I have--75!! That's the most reviews I've ever had on anything! I live off reviews (okay, not really, but sort of), and for some reason only two people reviewed for the last chapter…I think I drove everyone away with my not updating enough. (Sighs) Oh well, I guess that's the breaks sometimes. Karma. Eugh. Anyway, 75 is still a lot, so thank you very much!

Windowseat Wonderer: Yes, Malfoy really is horrible. And, sadly, you should be worried, and you'll see why in this chapter. Glad you liked it, even though I didn't, so thanks!

Lady of Masbolle: Well, I hope it was at least good, because I'd be very disappointed in myself if I was writing bad chapters. Yet, I'll admit, I dislike Chapter Eleven very much. It was a product of writer's block and a feeling that I would never get it done if I didn't just write something. Anyway, at least you reviewed, which means a lot, so thanks!

Chapter Twelve

Lily sat in her chair during Transfiguration, feeling extremely impatient. It was the last day of classes before winter holidays, and incidentally, it was also the last class of the day. She found herself watching the clock; silently counting down the seconds before the bell would ring. Professor McGonagall was making yet another speech about how crucial N.E.W.T.s would be to the rest of their lives, and normally, Lily would have been listening. But when the speeches began to sound painstakingly repetitive, she often found herself daydreaming about other things (usually James).

When the bell finally did ring, she packed up quicker than she ever had before, and nearly ran out of the classroom. She couldn't figure out exactly why she was in such a rush. It was either because she was absolutely starving, and it was dinner, or it was because she knew James was leaving tomorrow, and it was her last day to spend time with him for a whole three days.

Three days. Yes, Lily had decided the liked the sound of that, rather than a week. She had done her very best to disguise the disappointment of him leaving as the holidays approached, but had found it was near impossible. James, of course, persisted that he had shortened his stay by his own choice, and it hadn't had anything to do with her. She had chosen to believe this story, mainly because she hated feeling like she'd ripped him away from being with his family for Christmas.

She headed off to eat dinner, assuming James would be there too (stuffing his face with Sirius, as usual). However, he did not come down to eat dinner in the Great Hall for at least 15 minutes after the rest of them had.

"Where have you been? Did you forget that tonight was supposed to be our 348th official eating contest?" Sirius asked, swallowing an enormous mouthful of mashed potatoes.

"Er…yes," James said offhandedly, sitting down and loading his own plate with food, "Sorry, I was packing."

"Are you done then?" Remus asked, and James nodded.

The rest of dinner carried on completely normally, with the exception of Peter missing his bowl and pouring soup into his lap. When everyone was finally done, they headed up to the Gryffindor Common Room. Sirius challenged Remus to a game of chess, Peter said he had to go check out a book from the library, Anna said she had to go write a letter home. Lily and James sat down in chairs opposite each other in front of the fire.

Neither really knew what to say; for a minute or two, they just kept smiling uncertainly at each other. Then, all of a sudden, Lily laughed.

"What?" James asked, "Is something funny?"

"It's just…if someone had ever told me I was going to be sitting across from James Potter without fighting," Lily replied, "I'd've thought they were absolutely crazy."

"Come on, we didn't always used to fight," James said, "At least not every time we spoke to each other."

"Okay, let me rephrase then," Lily said thoughtfully, "If anyone had ever told me I was going to be sitting across from James Potter, thinking about how much I was going to miss him and not wanting him to leave…then I would have thought they were crazy."

"If someone had told me you'd end up being my girlfriend, I would have taken them straight to the hospital wing," James added. They both laughed at this.

They sat there, reminiscing about all the stupid things they'd ever fought about, how absolutely adorable James had looked when Lily had insulted him, and how gorgeous Lily had been when she was mad. Sirius and Remus joined them for a while, mostly making fun of how weird the both of them had been and occasionally making retching noises when Lily & James "got all lovey-dovey", as Sirius said. Eventually, it was just the two of them and a few fifth years sitting in the Common Room. Though neither would say it, they were merely dragging out the time they could spend together as long as they could. Finally, when it was nearing midnight, James looked at his watch.

"Sadly, I think we'd better go to sleep, or the house-elves aren't going to get any cleaning done in here tonight," He said, standing up, "And then they'd probably hold a grudge against me the next time I went down to the kitchens."

"Do you really have to leave tomorrow?" Lily half-asked, half-whined to him as they neared the two staircases.

"Well, I don't really have to," James replied, "But I should. My parents might be just a little disappointed."

"I suppose so," Lily said, sighing sadly, "I only wish you weren't."

"Oh," James said, laughing, "This coming from the girl who said…what was it…oh yeah, that she could handle herself and didn't want me to stay just because she was. I see how it really is now. C'mon, Lils, it's only three days. It'll be over before you know it."

"Don't you dare make fun of me," Lily replied, "Or I might change my mind about missing you so much."

After a very long good-night that consisted of very little talking indeed, they reluctantly went up separate staircases and fell asleep.

On the edges of a city called Little Hangleton, there was a small, decrepit old house that hadn't been inhabited for years. Barely anyone ever noticed the little shack--the only place people ever got interested in was the old Riddle house--and this was why it was the perfect place for someone to carry on something that was secret.

In one of the few rooms in this small building, a man sat in chair. He was completely alone and undisturbed in this room for the moment, and that was exactly the way he liked it. He'd never mixed well with people, even when he had been young--and normal. Now, the only visitors he took were his most loyal followers.

A knock on the door made him start slightly. "What?" He hissed, irritated that anyone would bother him.

"My Lord," A nervous voice said from the other side of the door, "It's Rookwood--you wanted to see me?"

"Come in," The man said, after a pause. He had forgotten altogether that he had even sent for Rookwood. Once he had entered the room, looking rather intimidated, it took him a moment to look up--after all, it wasn't the easiest thing to do, to stare Lord Voldemort right in the face.

"Rookwood," Voldemort murmured, "What news do you have for me? What of Bagman, my accomplices at Hogwarts, and the Potters?"

"M-my Lord," Rookwood stammered, "Bagman is still unaware of his actions. He does not realize who he truly passes information to."

"I figured as much," Voldemort said contemptuously, "Ludo Bagman is a meddling fool. You did well in creating a story to keep his questioning mind satisfied. He trusts you now, Rookwood, and I feel we will have nothing to fear from him."

"And…at Hogwarts, my Lord," Rookwood began timidly, "All those you wished to bring into your circle have been asked. All have agreed, and they believe there are others, weak others, who they can persuade to join us as well."

"Who are those who have agreed?" Voldemort said quickly.

"Bellatrix Black--Rodolphus & Sebastian Lestrange--Regulus Black--Severus Snape--Bartemius Crouch, Jr.," Rookwood listed, "Those are all. So far."

"Bellatrix and Regulus agree…but Sirius Black does not…and Bartemius Crouch's son…" Voldemort mused to himself, "Why do they desert their families so quickly?"

"My Lord, Sirius Black turned traitor long ago, Regulus says. He has been removed from their family tapestry, he says, and is in Gryffindor," Rookwood said, and paused before he spoke again, bracing himself, "A-and…they say he has become best friends with James Potter."

"Another Potter," Voldemort hissed violently, "Tell me, Rookwood, can we move to attack on the Potters before Christmas Day?"

"M-my Lord, it is as you wish. I only know that their son, the one I spoke of, is indeed going home during the Hogwarts holidays," Rookwood said. Both men were silent, before Voldemort spoke again.

"Tell me more of this…James Potter. What do you know?"

"He is in his seventh year at Hogwarts, my Lord, and Head Boy. He is on the Quidditch team, and is quite popular with the rest of the school. Those who I spoke to particularly hate him, for many reasons," Rookwood said, "That is all I was told--oh, yes, and he has a girlfriend named Lily Evans."

"Evans…" Voldemort muttered, "Who is she? Who are her parents?"

"She is Muggle-born, my Lord, and Head Girl at Hogwarts. I do not know who her parents are."

"Not that it matters," Voldemort spat, "The scum. Muggles. And a Muggle-born, Head Girl, I do wonder what Ms. Black thinks of that…"

"Should I tell Malfoy to attack on Christmas Day?" Rookwood said. When Voldemort did not reply, he spoke again, "My Lord?"

"No," Voldemort said, an evil grin spreading across his face, "No, Augustus, I think we can do better than just killing the Potters in one day…no, we will see about this James Potter…see how he feels about losing his parents and his lovely Mudblood girlfriend…we will see."

"Then there will be no attack?"

"No. Not yet, at least," Voldemort said, "You may go, Rookwood."

Rookwood, looking relieved, moved to the door, but stopped when Voldemort spoke one last time.

"And Rookwood--I'd like you to keep a very close watch on Mr. Potter and his girlfriend."

"You know, if you four don't stop messing around, James is going to miss his train," Anna said. She, Lily, James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter were walking down to the Hogsmeade station. James's train was going to arrive in five minutes, but by the looks of it, it seemed like they would take another hour to reach the train.

James and Sirius had brought some very small Dr. Filibuster's firecrackers down to the train, and Sirius had set on off right beside Peter's ear. His hair had gotten singed, and everyone had stopped as he ran around screaming and hollering that he had gone deaf. Finally, after the four boys had assessed that Peter was not deaf (Sirius yelled very loud in his ear), they had continued. However, after only a few minutes, James had set off another firecracker, this time right in Sirius's ear. Sirius had tackled James at this, and it had taken them another ten minutes to settle the whole thing. Lily and Anna had taken away every firecracker they had (or so they thought), but, soon enough, they were attempting to set another one off, though everyone was paying attention by now, and it was impossible to catch anyone off-guard.

"Oh, come on, we've got way enough time," Sirius exaggerated dramatically, ducking as Peter tried to throw the firecracker right at the side of his head.

"Well, fine by me, if James wants to miss his train and waste his money on a ticket, disappoint his parents, and have to sit at a bloody train station for six hours before there's another train, because I'm sure not staying with him!" Anna snapped.

"Yes, and I suppose after all that's over with, I'll just drop dead and die," James said sarcastically, "Honestly, Anna, could you be any more pessimistic?"

"Yeah, James just wants to miss his train because he can't stand being away from his Lilykins for five minutes!" Sirius said, and yelled in pain as James pushed him on the ground.

"Am not," James protested, "But if someone would stop trying to--Remus, don't even come near me with that thing--hit me with a firecracker, I'd be able to move a lot faster."

Finally, they made it to the train, amazingly on time (mainly because the last of the firecrackers had exploded already). James had a few minutes before the train would arrive, and he turned to say goodbye to everyone. Avoiding any type of awkwardness, he merely joked around with his friends and said "See you later," quite a few times. He gave Anna a very quick hug before turning to Lily.

"So," He said, "I guess I'll see you in three days, then."

"Is that the only goodbye I'm going to get, then?" Lily asked.

"Don't be stupid, of course not," James said, and hugged her very tightly indeed.

"You'd better be back soon," Lily said unhappily, "I don't like this whole leaving ordeal."

"Sooner than you'll even believe, I promise," James said, just as the train whistled, signalling that it was about to leave. "Lily, I--" James said, and paused.

"You what?" She said.

"I…nevermind. I'll see you soon, okay?," James said finally, and kissed her goodbye. He waved goodbye to everyone and got on the train, before it pulled out of the station.

Author's Note: Aha! There! I have done it! I updated within a realistic amount of time! I kept putting it off, before I finally realized that I was just procrastinating horribly. So then I finally finished it!!! Yay!

So…how do you like that little Voldemort part in there? I know it was kind of random, but, here's the thing: I wouldn't put it in unless I thought it was necessary, and, well, he's kind of a big part in the story right now, even though I've downplayed that whole aspect like crazy. Anyway, it's a little scary, isn't it?

So, I'll hopefully be able to keep updating pretty regularly. And, by the way, I know there are 21 people out there who have me on Author Alert…so how come I only got two reviews for my last chapter? I'm begging you, if you have me on author alert, please review my chapters. I love reviews, good or bad.

Feel free to comment on anything in the story in your reviews. I.E. discuss anything that was said in the Voldemort part of this, ask me questions about what might be coming next (though I won't answer all of them), or give me ideas.

Thank you to the five people who have me on their favorites list:

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