Chapter One

"Lils, can you believe we made it? Fifth year! Merlin, this is like, the biggest year of our Hogwarts career!" Lily smiled at her best friend Georgette ruefully.

"Why do you say that, Georgie?"

"Because. The boys are actually taller than us this year! I can't wait!" Lily rolled her eyes. However, upon reflection, she realized this was true. Georgette was very tall--5'11", and Lily, while she was five inches shorter, had still been taller than all the boys in fourth year. But during the feast, standing next to her fellow Gryffindors, Lily felt much less dominant this year. James Potter and Sirius Black had certainly had massive growth spurts. And maybe Remus Lupin, too. Come to think of it, all the boys seemed taller. Puberty--what a wonderful thing, Lily mused.

"Did you girls hear the news?--Earlier today a dark wizard killed three Muggles. When the Aurors caught him he told them he was a part of a quest to take over the magical world with some bloke named Voltamore or something." Lily and Georgette turned to see their friend and roommate Caroline standing in the doorframe of the dormitory.

"No, I didn't hear," Lily said. "That's horrible! All this anti-Muggle prejudice crap makes me so mad!" Caroline, like Lily, was Muggle-born. She nodded fervently.

"It scares me sometimes--it's the Muggle-born witches and wizards they despise. That's us, Lils."

"Oh calm down, Caroline. You and Lily are both immensely talented--more talented than most of the pure bloods I know," Georgette cut in. "Except for me and DonRue, of course. I must say, we have ginormous talent as well."

DonRue and Julia entered the room as she said this. The five girls got along like sisters. They were very comfortable together, but had feuds and fights rather often. The fifth year Gryffindor girls were very close. Just over a year before, there had been seven of them, but Kathy McKay and Lydia Bartholomew were killed over the summer vacation before fourth year while playing Quidditch in a thunderstorm. Lily never understood why the two had been so reckless. They were usually quite sensible. Since their deaths, however, the girls had taken to protecting one another in a very real way, despite their differences.

DonRue was petite and very cute. Freckly, with short strawberry-blonde hair and braces, she looked quite young. She was a Weasley--a pureblood, old wizarding family, and had an older brother, Arthur had always tried to keep the boys away from her, but DonRue was hopelessly boy-crazy, and Arthur couldn't keep her away from them. He was graduated anyway now, and apparently had married his Hogwarts sweetheart over the summer, giving DonRue more boy time than ever before.

Julia was also petite and was slightly plump. She had long brown hair and puppy-dog eyes. She always seemed sad to Lily. Julia loved music and writing. She spent most of her time composing music and playing her violin. She was the kindest girl ever, and was the peacemaker of the dormitory.

Caroline was a Spanish beauty. Her dark hair fell softly around her shoulders perfectly, without any effort on her part. She had a strong sense of fashion and a love for gossip. Anytime there was something worth knowing, she knew it.

Georgette Thomas was tall and athletic. She was black and had long, dark brown curls that she usually stuffed into a bun. She played on the Quidditch team with her older brother, Kenny Thomas. Playful and relaxed, she was a very calm and easy-going person. Her personality complimented Lily's feisty, impatient nature perfectly.

Lily Evans was very dedicated to everything in her life--school, family, friends--she devoted her whole self to every aspect. She was compassionate and loving. She also had a temper to match her lovely red hair. Her almond-shaped emerald green eyes were extremely expressive, and her friends always knew exactly how she felt just by looking into her eyes.

Just now Lily's eyes were brimming with happiness, despite Caroline's depressing news flash.

"I've missed you girls so," she said, hugging her knees to her chest. "Petunia was such a pain this summer. It's good to be back with sane people."

"Us, sane?" DonRue laughed. "I think you should get some shut eye, girly. You're not right in the head."

Lily threw a pillow at her, which sparked a hardcore pillow fight. Afterwards the giggly, un-tired girls crammed onto Georgette's bed for "girl talk."

"Any summer flings, anyone?" Caroline asked.

"Ha, yeah right!" Georgette said.

"I wish," DonRue said.

"Well, Freddy…" Lily began.

"Yes?" Georgette and DonRue said in unison, eyes huge.

"What in magic happened with him this summer!" Georgette inquired excitedly. "I can't believe you didn't mention this sooner!" The girls had been anticipating a romance between Lily and Freidrick, whom she called Freddy, since the beginning of their Hogwarts legacy. However, Freidrick, who was a Slytherin, had asked Lily out too many times to count, and Lily always had a reason to turn him down.

"Nothing," Lily said quickly. "He came to see me, though, and he asked me out. But I said no."

"Oh Merlin. Lily, Freidrick Klein has been in-love with you since day number one. And you love him too, we all know it. How could you say no AGAIN!" DonRue groaned.

"Lily doesn't love him," Julia said calmly.

"Yeah, she loves Jamesey Potter," Caroline said with a smirk.

"That is disgusting," Lily said disdainfully. "Potter is a pig. I would be ten billion times more likely to date Freddy, I can guarantee that."

"You still haven't kissed a boy," DonRue said with a strange swoon. "You've totally got to do it soon! We're almost sixteen!"

"So what?" Lily retorted. "My first kiss is going to mean something, unlike yours, Donny." DonRue blushed a little but laughed it off.

"I was five, what do you expect?" she said. "Julia and Georgette, you girls need to find boys to snog this year too. Virgin lips are not cool." Grateful to be out of the spotlight, Lily changed the subject as Julia and Georgette looked awkward.

"Any summer flings for you, Caroline? Since you brought it up?"

Caroline laughed merrily.

"Lily, it's like you're psychic! Okay, so it's not a great story, but I totally hooked up with a hottie Canadian when my family went to Paris. He was there with family, and we just had a couple nights together, but it was rather fun…"

"So how many boys have you snogged now?" Julia demanded.

Caroline grinned. "Twelve. Not that I'm counting. I want to get to 20 by next September."

Oh Merlin, Lily thought. And then she mused to herself: If I was to choose a snog partner…Potter or Freddy…would I really choose Freddy? He's a little obnoxious. Always talking about serious, boring stuff. But he's very mature, and cute. And Potter is a conceited pig. Kissing Potter may be nicer. He's probably better at it. But that's not why you kiss someone. You do it because you love him. I don't love anyone. But at least Freddy loves me. Yes, Freddy definitely wins. But Potter seems like a more sensual choice. Not that I'm that kind of girl. Definitely not.

"Lils?" Georgie looked inquisitively at her best friend. "You okay?"

"Splendid," Lily said, smiling and erasing images of herself passionately snogging James Potter in a thunderstorm on the Astronomy Tower from her mind.

"DonRue is trying to ask you something," Georgette added.

"You didn't hear me?" DonRue said. Her grin was making Lily nervous. "I said: Why don't we go on a double date? I will go with James and you and Freddy can go. And then by the end of the night we'll have loads to evaluate and you can choose which one you want to snog."

"That's the biggest load of dung I've ever heard," Lily said.

"You're just scared that you'll fall in love Lily Evans," Caroline said teasingly.

But to Lily's horror, the way her heart jumped when she heard these words confirmed the truth of her friend's jesting comment. But she smiled as she calmly replied, "I'm fifteen years old, Caroline. No way am I falling in love this year. Especially with Freddy, and especially not withPotter the Pig."