Title: Light

Author: Amelia Bedelia

Chapter Eight: The Funeral

AUTHORS NOTE: Hello again - no I didn't fall off the face of the earth! But I hope the length in chapter makes up for the long wait! (Eighteen pages people!!! That's my SECOND highest I think!!!)

Well, nothing to say here. The title says it all - sorta…

Chapter Eight - The Funeral

Tap. Tap. Tap.

It was almost seven o'clock on Sunday morning and Bella's beauty sleep was rudely interrupted by a tapping noise.

Angrily, she opened the drapes with such force that she, herself, had not known, and stomped over to the door. With her hair in every which way, Bella flung the door open. Not only did the doorknob hit the wall behind it leaving a mark, but there was also no one standing behind the door in the first place!

As you could tell, Bella was not a morning person.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Bella whipped her head around. Both Lily and Breanna were beginning to stir and wake up to the racket Bella was making. They sat up in bed, not paying much attention to Bella as she threw open the window and an owl flew inside.

She grabbed its foot and held it upside down. He fluttered his wings awkwardly but it was in vain. Once his squawking and fruitless attempts at escaping began to subside, Bella loosened the grip she had on his feet.

"Arabella Figg! How dare you torture that poor, defenseless animal? It did nothing to hurt you, did it?"

"Look, Breanna, right now I don't exactly have the patience to listen to another one of your 'cruelty to animals' speech. I just want to get back to bed!" Breanna sat, unmoving, in her bed. She was obviously not satisfied with her answer. "Look, I'll just take the letter and - " Bella untied the letter from the owl's small foot and threw him outside once again where it fell towards the ground. However, after the owl realized that he was falling, he spread out his wings and soared back into the horizon. "There, he's gone."

Breanna rolled her eyes and got out of bed. "Hey, Lily, can you take me down to the Prefect bathroom? You're the only one who knows the password. Plus, no one's ever taking a shower at this time in the morning on Sunday!" Breanna gave Lily her best puppy dog eyes she could muster.

It was now Bella's turn to roll her eyes. Breanna practically needed everything that she did first class. Showering, eating, sleeping, you name it!

Breanna had also been trying to find out why Lily was back from winter break earlier than planned and was, so far, unsuccessful. Lily would avoid the subject as much as she could and once Lily had decided to do something, she was as stubborn as a mule and didn't budge.

Bella turned her attention to the letter in her land. It was addressed to her. She ripped open the envelope and smiled. It was from Sirius.

Bella,

Hello. I'm not a very big writer, so you'll have to excuse this. (Usually my letters only consist of "yes," "no," or "maybe.")

Bella laughed.

Well, I just thought that since we're friends now, I bought you a Christmas present. I also know that tomorrow's your birthday.

Bella's jaw dropped. How on earth did he know that tomorrow was her birthday? She hated being the center of attention – and that's why only her friends, close family members, and herself knew of her birthday.

One of my presents is enclosed in this letter. Tap your wand at the top twice. And meet me in the common room at midnight tonight as well. Hoping to see you soon.

Sirius

Bella sighed and melted into the comfort of her bed. She picked up her wand and, just like Sirius had instructed her to, she tapped her wand to the paper twice.

Immediately, the letter written to Bella was erased and in the place was a picture of Sirius and Bella sitting together on a couch.

Amazing…

She sat and stared at the picture, analyzing every detail.

Lily walked back into the room, more alert now. Bella frantically threw the drawing underneath her pillow and lay down on top of it.

"So, Lils, what's going on with you? How's the family? I suggest the parents are doing fine. Petunia not being too bothersome, is she? Yes, yes, how's school goin'?" Bella said all this quickly, earning a curious look from Lily.

"Well, they're all doing fine, I guess. How about you're family? Anything new with them?"

"Lily, I didn't go home this winter, remember? I stayed here."

"Oh, right. Yeah, course I knew that!" Lily blushed a shade of magenta. "Well, I best be getting back to sleep. Wake me in a few hours if I'm not up already, ok?"

"Ok."

Checking to make sure Lily had already fallen asleep again, Bella pulled back out the picture of her and Sirius. As Lily's heavy breathing filled the room, Bella sighed and began memorizing the picture front to back.

How does he do this to me? Bella thought just before she fell asleep with the drawing clutched to her chest.

!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~Lily~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!

Lily woke up at a quarter 'til eleven. She dressed, grumpily, and cursed Bella for not waking her up a few hours ago like she was supposed to.

Lily stomped down into the deserted common room and plopped into a large red armchair.

The portrait into Gryffindor Tower swung open and closed admitting the tall Head Boy into the room.

"Excuse me," he asked impatiently, "is your name Lily Evans?"

"Yes…"

"Dumbledore told me to ask if you could join him in his office. If you don't mind, I'll tell you the password into his office and I'll best be off to do better things with my time. The password is Pumpkin Pastry."

"Thanks." Lily walked out of the portrait and headed down the hallways the opposite way the Head Boy was walking.

She walked towards a Gargoyle that was on the other side of the castle. "Pumpkin Pastry," she said, and the large gargoyle sprang to life and jumped aside, letting Lily proceed inside. She stepped onto a long, moving staircase that was spiraling towards the top.

The stairs stopped moving the moment Lily was standing outside of a large, wooden door. Cautiously, Lily raised her hand and knocked three times.

"Please come in, Miss Evans," came the familiar voice of the headmaster, Professor Dumbledore.

Reaching out to the brass handle, Lily turned the knob and entered, gazing at the sight before her. There in the center of the large oval room was a wooden desk. The headmaster sat behind the desk, waiting for Lily to walk inside.

Nervous, Lily shut the door behind her and sat across from Dumbledore. "Er, you called?"

"I did, indeed. Now, yesterday you came in and told me about your parents' deaths." Lily tensed up. She still felt sensitive about the subject. "I was just curious as to if there was going to be a funeral for them."

Lily shrugged. "If there is then it'll most likely be in a few days."

"Of course," Dumbledore said. "Well, classes start again in a little over a week and you have my permission to go back home until then."

Lily nodded her head. "Well, I would want to go back for the funeral, but I guarantee you that I won't need to stay for even a week."

Dumbledore gave a small smile. "Very well, then. You can pack your things for however long you're going to be gone. You can leave after lunch today. I'll have the Hogwarts train come and take you to Platform nine and three quarters. Do you need to call your sister or anyone to get a ride home from there?"

Lily gave a small wry smile. "I think I'll manage."

-----------------------------------James-----------------------------------

James finished his small lunch and headed back to the Gryffindor Common Room unaccompanied. Peter and Remus were still stuffing their faces with food while Sirius was nowhere to be found.

James had barely had any lunch to start with. He took a small sandwich and a few sips of Pumpkin juice, but other than that, James didn't eat anything else.

He didn't know why he wasn't hungry. Maybe it was from the death of two good people he had met only a few days ago. Even if James didn't really like Lily, he still liked her parents.

Walking to a stop in front of the fat lady, James said the password and entered.

He sat down onto one of the couches and closed his eyes.

What a week…

He was just beginning to fall asleep also when the portrait had been slammed back open, and James' "nap time" was rudely interrupted by a loud voice.

"James! Wake up!"

"Yeah," he muttered, groggily.

"I need to borrow your broom."

James opened his eyes. Lily was leaning down in front of his face. "Please? I need it for my parents' funeral."

James softened. "When is it? When are you leaving?"

"I'm going in a little less than an hour. So, can I borrow your broom?"

James shook his head, giving up, and ran to his dormitory. He dropped on his hands and knees to search for Sirius' broom. Reaching under the bed, James pulled out Sirius' Cleansweep and brought it downstairs to Lily.

"Here," he said. "It's Sirius', though. He deserves a little payback."

"Thanks," Lily muttered, and yanked the broom from his grasp. She ran back up into her own dormitory and finished packing her things, hiding the broom in her trunk like she had done only a few days before.

Running down the steps, Lily pulled her trunk out to the horseless carriage waiting for her. She threw her stuff inside and waited until it brought her to the platform where the Hogwarts Express would leave. Little did she know that someone was watching her as well.

James, looking out of his dormitory window, watched Lily climb into the carriage. And then as if he had decided on something, James grabbed his broom and cloak once again.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=Sirius=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

It has to be perfect… Not extremely expensive… Nothing too cheap…

Sirius had sneaked out of the castle today to find Bella a birthday present. He just had to buy Bella the best gift she'd ever gotten in her life. His gift had to be her favorite.

Sirius had gone through nearly every shop there was in Hogsmeade and had found nothing that was right.

Nearly giving up, Sirius was walking down the snowy street, looking inside each window.

No. No. No. Hmm… No. No. No. Wait –

Sirius stopped just before an elderly women causing her to crash into him. "Whoops, sorry, ma'am," Sirius muttered hurried and ran to the window.

"Watch where you're going next time!" the women called, grumpily, from her spot on the ground.

"Sorry, won't happen again!" Sirius placed his face against the frozen glass, and gazed in at the now fogged up display.

Perfect…

!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~Lily~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!

Mary had a little lamb, little lamb, little lamb, Mary had a little lamb whose fleece was white as snow…

Lily looked around the empty compartment. She was very bored right now. You can only read for so many hours; even if it was your favorite book!

Lily had tried to play a little bit of Gobstones and Exploding Snaps, but it was pretty hard to play when you didn't have anyone to play against.

Lily leaned back in her chair and sighed. What to do? She searched her trunk for some forgotten homework; there was none.

Annoyed, Lily stretched back on the chair she was sitting in and curled up. She tried to fall asleep for at least an hour, however the train rocking back and forth wasn't as effective as a rocking cradle you would fall asleep to as a baby.

Unsatisfied, Lily sat up and stared blankly at the wall, singing a song.

"Ninety-nine bottles of beer on the wall, ninety-nine bottles of beer…"

Petunia

"Vernon," Petunia cooed. "You're coming to my parents' funeral, right?"

Vernon Dursley, a large and short-necked man, nodded his head gruffly. Annoyed at the interruption, he adjusted his morning paper and continued reading.

"Vernon, why aren't you listening to me?" Petunia complained with a whiny voice.

"I am, darling. I just found a good article here…"

Petunia rolled her eyes as she read the title of the article Vernon was reading. "'Top Ten Favorite Fruits of the Year,'?"

"As a matter of fact, yes. Although I think the list is just ridiculous. After all, I think that apples should be number one – not oranges."

"Vernon, put the paper down. I can't believe you're ignoring me!"

"Petunia," he muttered, folding the paper up underneath his arms, "I'm listening to every word you're saying."

She scowled but continued talking anyway. "Vernon, I'm worried…"

"About what, dear?" he asked, sneaking a peak at the newspaper without Petunia seeing.

"Lily. You don't think she'll come home for my parents' funerals, do you? I mean, she probably feels really guilty about what she did and everything."

"What?" Vernon asked, confused. "What did she do?"

"Oh, yeah… Well, there's a little something about my sister you don't know. She's sort-of a witch."

"Of course, Petunia."

"No, Vernon, I mean a real witch! One that casts spells and makes potions! She doesn't really go to a private school somewhere in the middle of nowhere, she goes to a freak school!"

Vernon's scrunched up his face. "Petunia, what on earth are you talking about?"

"Vernon Dursley! Why do you not believe me? You have to trust me! She has bad blood in her veins, wizard blood, and it's all her fault that my parents were killed!" Petunia finally broke down and began to sob uncontrollably in one of the chairs in the Dursley's kitchen. "Those other freaks came to the house and killed mum and dad!"

Vernon got down on the floor and hugged Petunia who sobbed into his shoulder. "I'm sure she didn't mean to. It wasn't her fault."

"Yes it was!" Petunia shrieked.

"Alright, alright. Just calm down. I'll make sure you never have to bother with her ever again, then, if this is how you feel about her."

"Really?" Petunia asked with her eyes still filled with tears. "You mean that?"

"Absolutely."

Satisfied, Petunia gave Vernon a small kiss on the cheek and ran back home with a hurried good-bye.

|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+| Bella |+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|

Bella kept glancing at the clock in anticipation.

Ten minutes until midnight.

Five minutes until midnight.

Three minutes until midnight,

One minute until midnight.

The clock in the Common Room let out a small bell chime as the minute hand reached the top of the clock.

Bella looked at the boys' staircase expectantly. And then she heard the familiar creak of steps.

There was Sirius, creeping down the stairs as quietly as he could. Once he and Bella made eye contact, he allowed a grin.

"Hey," Bella mumbled, shyly.

"Er, hello." Sirius had reached the bottom of the stairs and now both were standing in front of each other.

"Um, you wanted to meet me here?"

"Yeah," Sirius said as he blushed furiously. "Happy Birthday, Bella."

"I'm just curious, Sirius. How did you know that it was birthday tomorrow - " Bella stopped herself and glanced at the clock. She chuckled. "Actually, how did you know that today was my birthday?"

Sirius shrugged. "I guess I'm just a good observer. You know, Lily and Breanna are always acting especially nice to you on this day, I guess."

Bella looked thoughtful. "You are a good observer," she pointed out, laughing.

Sirius chuckled along with Bella. He looked uncomfortable standing in front of Bella. He seemed to be at a loss of words.

"So… Why'd you bring me here?"

"I, uh, wanted to give you your birthday present."

Bella raised an eyebrow. "I thought that the picture you sent was your present?"

Sirius smiled. "That was your Christmas present. This is your birthday present," he said as he pulled out a velvet case and opened it for Bella to see.

Bella took a step away from Sirius, shocked.

"I hope you like it," he said, shyly. And out of the box he pulled out a small diamond attached to a silver chain.

"Like it?" Bella asked in shock. "I – I – I love it!"

Sirius' eyes glowed with happiness. Carefully, he wrapped the chain loosely around Bella's neck and clasped it shut.

She brought her hand to the diamond in the middle. It was plain and simple, but it was just right.

"Thank you so much!" Bella said as she threw her arms around his neck and gave him a hug. "It's perfect, Sirius."

And with much pride, Sirius' grin spread from cheek to cheek.

!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~Lily~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!

Lily climbed off of the train and onto the empty platform. She had changed into her funeral clothes on the train. She had thought that if there would be a funeral, it would be sometime that day. Even if it was four AM, already, she was prepared for whatever may come.

Unlike any other time she would have been standing here, there was no hustle or bustle from other students wanting to get home or wanting to get on the train. The platform was empty.

The barrier to get through to the other side was open. Lily ran straight through the magic wall and had to stop herself before she collided with any muggles on the other side.

Looking around automatically, Lily searched for the faces that belonged to her parents, but she knew that they wouldn't be found.

Quietly, so as not to bring any unwanted attention to herself, Lily walked out of the train station and around to the side where no one could see her. She opened the lid of her trunk and pulled out Sirius' broom. Lily put invisibility and tracking spells on her trunk. And silently, she climbed onto the broom and flew off with the weightless trunk following closely behind her.

It was nearly six in the morning before she arrived home. Lily raised her hand and knocked on the door of her own house twice.

And to her amazement, the lights turned on.

The door creaked open and a small eye peaked around the corner. "Lily!" the person shrieked. "What are you doing here?"

"Petunia, what are you talking about? Of course I'd be here! Why would I miss Mum and Dad's funerals?"

Petunia opened the door a little farther. "I thought that you would feel guilty about their deaths. You know how it was all your fault."

"What?" Lily asked, shocked. "I didn't kill them!"

"But it was that freak wizard Voldemort, though, wasn't it? One of your kind isn't he?!?" Petunia was beginning to grow hysteric from the pain that was ripping her up from inside.

"Petunia, relax! Voldemort's just a wizard gone bad!"

"Yes, but he's one of your kind still!"

"Petunia, listen to - "

"No!" she shrieked. "Go away! I don't want to see your ugly face ever again!" Petunia was beginning to cry. And then with as much strength as she could muster, Petunia slammed the door in Lily's face.

Lily stood on her doorstep, shocked. She began to ponder what Petunia had just said. Is it really my fault? I didn't kill my parents – did I?

"Petunia, who was that at the door?" a voice came from inside. Lily recognized it as one of their friends' voice.

"Oh, I just heard this noise outside – turns out it was a rat."

"Eew! I hate rats!" came a younger version of the voice.

"Yes," Petunia agreed. "Ok, now, Sylvia, you need to get in bed. Sharon, after I put your little sister to sleep, I'm going to head off to sleep as well. Wake me up around eight, ok?"

"Alright," Sharon agreed. Sylvia and Sharon were some family friends of the Evans' family. Their parents must be under the control of the house until Petunia and Lily grew old enough to have it themselves.

It's only a little longer until dawn, Lily thought miserably to herself. I'll just wander around for a bit…

She tucked her trunk underneath the bushes and climbed onto Sirius' broom again. She flew up onto the top of their house and sat down on the peak. She waited for the sun to rise. It would have seemed like a long wait to anyone else, but Lily had enough things to think about on her mind already.

Like if she really had murdered her parents or not.

*~^~*~^~*~^~*~^~*Time Change*~^~*~^~*~^~*~^~*

Lily felt that she had sat on the roof for only five minutes when she realized it was a quarter til nine.

Shit!

Lily climbed onto Sirius' broom and flew off of the house and into her own bedroom window. The funeral was in fifteen minutes. Hurriedly wiping her eyes from any sign of tears stains, Lily rushed around doing some last minute things.

She opened a drawer in her bedroom and began to brush out all of the knots in her hair. Considering she had been flying for a few hours earlier, her windswept hair took awhile to get every knot out and for her hair to lay down flat on her back.

She raced around her room trying to put her things away as well as trying to put up her hair all at once. It didn't work out so well, so Lily left her hair down and stuffed her things underneath the bed.

And, like before, Lily hopped on Sirius' broom and flew off to the gathering place where everyone met before the actual burial.

Nearly crashing to the ground behind the meeting place, Lily hid her broom in a bush and walked into the main room with two minutes left to spare. There were a few doors leading off to different areas where other "funeral parties" were meeting.

"Lily!"

Lily spun around at the sound of her name. It was Sharon and Sylvia with their parents behind them. They had just walked in through the main doors. The small eight-year-old ran into Lily's knees and nearly knocked her off of her feet.

"I missed you, Lily!"

Lily gave her a small smile and patted her on the back, now regaining the use of her legs. "I missed you too, Sylvia. Hello, Sharon. How are you?"

"Oh, dear!" Their mother, Deborah Anderson, seemed to go running for Lily once she saw her familiar red hair. "Lily, how are you holding up? Is there anything we can do for you?"

The thin girl seemed to be having trouble holding up the lady's weight after she had thrown herself on Lily in a huge hug. "I'm fine, Deborah. How are you Joe?" Lily asked over the lady's shoulder as Deborah's husband, Joe Anderson, came into view.

"I'm good, Lily. Come now, Deborah, let's go inside. Let the girl breathe."

"Oh, I'm sorry." The mother pulled herself off of Lily and walked into the the empty room.

Lily, waiting to walk inside, scanned the room for people she knew and saw several family friends and people her father had worked with. She, of course, did not have any cousins, only an aunt who wasn't even married. She was her father's sister, but they also had about ten years age difference between them and hardly ever talked. Therefore Lily did not know her aunt either. Lily would still never know why Aunt Rose even bothered to come to the funeral. She hadn't seen or heard from Aunt Rose since Lily was seven.

It was a fairly small crowd. It was hard to recognize most people since she usually only saw them suring the summer.

"Lily!"

And for the second time, Lily spun, but this time she noticed Petunia along with her boyfriend, Vernon, standing by the main doors.

"What are you doing here?!?" she hissed, venomously.

"I," Lily started, "am here for the funeral. You'd think I'd be allowed to come considering I'm their daughter, wouldn't you?" Lily said, smugly.

Petunia seemed to be at a loss for words. And finally, she pulled on her boyfriend's coat sleeve and dragged him into one of the doors. However, Lily could have sworn she heard a faint, "I thought you said I wouldn't have to deal with her anymore, Vernon," before they left.

Checking to make sure Vernon and Petunia were busy talking to other people inside, Lily slipped in. She walked to the other end of the room where there were two open caskets.

The silence was ringing in her ears. She could hear people talking, but their words didn't seem to be going through Lily's ears.

Her parents' hands were crossed over their stomach. Lily could see that make up had been placed on their faces to give them color, but she could still see the white emptiness on their hands.

Lily stood there, watching over her parents. She studied every part of their faces, tears welling up behind her eyes. Lily knew it was too much, but she kept imagining this all being a dream. Her parents' chests would start rising and falling in that steady pattern after you fall asleep and everything would be ok.

But they didn't move. Lily swallowed a large lump in her throat, holding in the tears.

Oh, Mother, why did you have to leave so early? I still need you! And, Dad, I could really do with some of your infamous jokes to lighten the mood right now. Don't leave me here all alone!

And then a voice came floating into the back of her mind. It was her mother's.

"Lily," her mother had told her, "I will always be worried about you. Always. But I also know that James is the right one. He is your light through the night, your beloved, your one and only: just like your father and I. As long as you are with him, my worries nearly leave me completely. He's yours, Lily. Keep him. Love him while you can. God knows what's going on in the world these days, honey, even your world! Stay with the light and he will bring you home."

Lily covered her face in her hands, though she didn't cry. I'm sorry! I didn't mean to lie to you! Lily thought, miserably. He's not my light, Mother! I'm lonely! I have no one here! You can't leave me all alone! I'm not ready yet.

Lily sat down onto one of the chairs, weakly. It was several minutes later until she felt she was ready to face the world again.

Lily saw friends from out of town and began chatting with them. Every now and then, someone would come up behind her and give her a hug with tears in their own eyes. "Oh, Lily, I'm so sorry," they would say. "I wish I could help you."

Not only did they have the gull to come up and say they could fix things, which they couldn't, but they also denied any thought of helping her before Lily said she was fine. What if she wasn't fine? Would they still continue to say they couldn't help when Lily knew of something they could help with?

Lily didn't think she could stand this anymore, so taking out the anger on someone else seemed the most logical answer at the time. She decided to snap at the next person who came along.

And finally she had her moment.

There came a tap on her right shoulder. Irritated, Lily spun and practically glared at the person behind her.

But it wasn't who she was expecting.

"James?!? What the hell are you doing here?!?" Lily asked, lowering her voice.

James, with his hair sticking out on every side of his head and glasses on the bridge of his nose, gave Lily a sympathetic smile. "I wanted to come to your parents' funeral too. They were good friends to me."

Lily glared at James who hardly flinched. "You barely knew them for over a day."

"But I was still friends with them."

Lily couldn't believe how uncaring he could be. Here Lily was, without any parents, and James was saying he wanted to come because he was friends with them. How is that a good reason?

"Out," Lily hissed, glaring at James.

"I'm staying."

"No you're - "

"Lily!" a voice shrieked.

Behind her, Petunia was stomping over to where James and Lily were standing, Vernon right at her heals.

"Lily, what on earth is he doing here?"

Lily couldn't stand her sister acting like this. Not on the day of her parents' funeral.

"Petunia, it's none of your business," Lily said, controlling her anger as best as she could.

"It's close friends only, Lily."

"So I'm guessing that he - " Lily pointed at Vernon – "is one of my close friends? I think not."

Vernon let out a quiet, "Humph," and stuck his nose in the air.

"James stays."

Petunia glared at Lily, realizing that this was the second battle that day she had lost. She stomped away with Vernon behind her and began to grumpily talk to another family.

Lily turned on her feet and looked James straight in the face. "You can stay – but only because I had to make a stupid point to my sister! That's it. And then when the funeral's over, you're gone. Is that clear?"

James gave her a small smile. "Crystal."

"Good." Lily sat down on the bench she had sat on earlier.

Once everyone seemed to be gathered, a man in a suit and tie walked to the front of the room. "It's time to go."

Lily, James, and everyone else in the room stood to leave. They entered the room behind it and each sat in a pew in the small church. A priest walked in and everyone said a few prayers for Lily's parents. A few people stood and talked about what they loved about Will and Christine Evans and what they would miss.

Lily didn't give a talk about her parents. She didn't cry, nor did she let out any sign of weakness.

James, sitting next to her, was shocked at Lily's behavior. She couldn't be a rock and hide her feelings all of the time. She's as human, as much as he'd hate to admit it, as anybody else here.

They all filed out of the church at the end of the service and left to go to the graveyard. This was what Lily had most been dreading; the actual burial; the closing of their caskets; the ceasing of their existence above ground.

Lily sneaked around to the back of the building and found Sirius' broom. But she also found another alongside it – James' broom.

"Here, Lily, can you hand my broom to me?" James asked from behind her.

Lily stood up and walked right past him, shoving his shoulder as she passed. She knew she was acting childish, she knew this would get her nowhere, but she did it anyway.

Climbing onto the broom, she flew in the direction of the graveyard, aware of James flying at a distance behind her. Good thing, too.

Normally the drive would have taken ten minutes, but it was about five minutes away when you got to fly up high in the clouds.

Lily landed her broom behind another bush and waited until she could see the familiar line of cars pull into the cemetery.

James landed with a small thud behind Lily and crashed into the ground.

"That probably wasn't one of your more graceful landings, was it?" Lily asked, smartly.

Sprawled on the ground, James gave her a sarcastic smile and let out a mumbled, "No."

Lily walked away, leaving James to catch up after her. They headed towards a green tent. Two of the sides were open for people to walk into while the others were closed off to block the fierce wind. Several of the families were already milled around the two caskets. Lily managed to squeeze in front of Mr. and Mrs. Anderson. She tried hiding from the torment of James next to her, but he had some sort of sensor for her. He just knew where she would be at all times.

There were two holes dug in the ground, side by side. After everyone had arrived, no one spoke.

Lily noticed Petunia, on the opposite side of the large circle, wasn't even speaking. In fact, Lily could see miniscule tears running down her face. Vernon, with his hands folded in front of him, forgot about his dignity and pride. He comforted Petunia by pulling out his "lucky" handkerchief and dabbing away the tears. And for once in their life, it looked, to Lily, as if they really cared for each other. She had thought Petunia only wanted Vernon's wealth and money, but now she saw that there must have been something more than that.

Sharon and Sylvia Anderson were down to the right of Lily. They had never been much of quiet people. In fact, they were almost worse than Petunia, but Lily thanked them for not speaking; just this one time.

A huge gust of wind blew by and Lily felt a ripple of wind pass through the circle. She pulled her cloak tighter around her shoulders and saw, out of the corner of her eye, James do the same.

"I welcome you all back again." Lily looked up from the ground and saw, standing next to the caskets, the priest, waving his arms about with a greeting motion. "We will now say good-bye to William and Christine Evans. But remember this; we are only saying good-bye to them through our mouths. But your heart will always keep William and Christine close by. They shall never truly leave us."

What a load of rubbish, Lily thought, miserably. They're already gone!

A few of the parents from close families walked up to the caskets and helped lower them into the ground.

Lily was already finding it hard to bear. Just the thought of covering their casket with dirt was already beginning to haunt her. The empty looks in their faces earlier swam into Lily's mind and she felt that familiar prickle behind her eyes.

Lily watched as the familiar gold of the caskets disappeared bit by bit. And then she heard that soft thump; the thump of one parting with another. It felt as if the caskets weren't the only thing that had been dropped to the ground. Part of Lily's heart seemed to fall off with them; the part that held her love for her parents.

And then Lily did something she didn't think she would ever do in public. Her shoulders began to tremble from the force of her sobs.

But to her amazement, a strong arm fell around her shoulder. Lily looked up, expecting to see Mr. Anderson playing the role of her missing father, but she didn't see those familiar brown eyes.

In fact, the blueness of the eyes seemed to take Lily in; take her inside some shield. And that's exactly what they did to her.

Lily crumbled into James' arms and felt him hold her close, feeling as if he were shielding her from what may come. James didn't care that after Lily was finished crying, his shirt would be soaked with tears; he didn't care that everyone was watching them; he didn't even care that he was supposed to be hating Lily when he felt he didn't right now. All that mattered now was the fact that Lily had no one to help her. She just needed a shoulder to cry on.

James pulled his cloak around Lily's small and delicate figure. He held her close to his chest, not letting anything or anyone near her.

Lily's sobs faded away, as did the crowd around her. No one said anything to Lily as they left for their drive home. No one bothered Lily either: not even Petunia.

It was nearly twenty minutes later when Lily tears had finally subsided and she had the strength to walk away from her parents' graves.

Lily climbed onto Sirius' broom, feeling slightly dizzy. James climbed onto his as well, although instead of flying several feet behind Lily, he held onto the handle of her broom as they flew. Who knew what would happen to her if she started to cry while flying?

It didn't take long to get back home. They let themselves in through Lily's window, like she had before, and entered the quiet house.

Lily let herself fall onto the bed, exhausted, and curl into a ball.

"James?" he heard Lily mutter. "Thank you."

"For what?" James remembered almost this exact moment happening the first time he had come to her house.

Lily gave him a weak smile. "Thanks for being there."

James smiled back as he gently pulled her hair behind her ears. "You're welcome."

Lily closed her eyes and let out a shuddering sigh, sinking deeper into her pillow.

She looks so beautiful. This time, James didn't try to contradict himself. Picking up a neatly folded blanket in the corner of Lily's room, James threw it over Lily's small frame. Lily mentally curled into an even smaller shape so that she could stay warm.

James watched Lily for several minutes as she started a steady breathing pattern. She fell into a deep slumber.

Lily looked like a small and fragile china doll. James reached across Lily's face and pulled back another strand of hair.

He stood inches from her face, taking every detail in; taking in every freckle on her nose; taking in every crease on her forehead.

And using up every ounce of courage James had in him, he leaned down and placed a soft kiss on Lily's cheek. She began to stir and James, panicking, grabbed his Shooting Star and leapt from the window, making sure to close it quickly and quietly behind him.

Lily opened one of her eyes and raised a hand to her cheek. What the…

She glanced around the silent room. James was no where to be found. Giving up on any suspicions, Lily laid her head back onto her pillow and fell asleep.

AUTHORS NOTE: Does this count as a cliffhanger? I hope not - but I know people will be thinking of it as one! :)

REVIEW SECTION:

Bic Papermate: I'm glad you like Sirius! Thanks for reviewing!!!

Kitty Prydew: Thanks! I've gotten a lot of comments about the wall. The BEST part about it all is it's from my OWN imagination!!! That's really unusual for me!!! Thanks for reviewing!!!

Shree: Thanks! But I will have some more Lily/Helen moments and they won't be mad at each other for much longer! Thanks for reading!!!

Amy: No, they won't be mad at each other for much longer now. And maybe you'll find out who the other person is later… Thanks for reviewing!!!

Hanna-Chan: Thanks! I'm glad you liked the wall! Thanks for reviewing!!!

BastsCleopatra: Thanks! I'm glad you like the wall idea! And I agree with you on the Sirius thing!!! :) Thanks for reviewing!!!

Sierra Black: I'm trying to add more Sirius into the story. I think the next chapter will have more Sirius/Bella but I'm not sure yet.

Fairypixie3: Thank you! And the wall thing - I was thinking that Lily needed a friend who she told everything to, but they couldn't tell anyone else, you know? I so I somehow came up with the idea of a talking wall - and even that I don't know how it came up! Thanks for reviewing!!!

Fairy Dust Jamie Lynn: Keep writing your story!!! I really like how it's going!!! And thanks for reviewing!!!

Plush Appeal: Well here you go! Next chapter's up! Thanks for reviewing!!!

Mooky: Whoa! "Personification." That's a LONG word!!! And as my teacher would say: "Good use of Vocabulary!" :) Thanks for reviewing!!!

Hermione101888: Yeah, she was just trying to bottle up all of her feelings. She thought that would be the easiest way to go about what happened, but, as you can see, that didn't really work in this chapter! :) Thanks for reviewing!!!

TriGemini: Thanks! And thanks for reviewing!!!

Buggy-such: Hey - I came up with a name for you!!! Sluggy Buggy! You know, you said that you were lazy and - oh, never mind! And yes, Lily will eventually apologize to the wall… I just have to figure out when that is… Thanks for reviewing!!!

Noelle: Hello to you too! One question - what's OOC? I'm guessing it has something to do with that wouldn't be true in the real Harry Potter series or something and I agree with you! I just added that because I thought it would be a little twist in events! :) Thanks for reviewing!!!

Hazelmist: Hmm… I don't think I should answer your first question… And I think I might have Breanna and Remus get together, but I'm still debating that. I actually thought about having them get together, you know, Breanna would meet Remus in the Prefects bathroom after Lily took her down there earlier in the chapter. But I think I just decided not to have too many love stuff going on in this chapter - though the next will probably be with the same love stuff. Thanks for reviewing!!!

Friendsfan723/TheLimeGreenQueen: Someone's getting a little touchy!!! But I hope you liked the Lily/James action here! But expect some more of Sirius in the next chapter!!! :) Thanks for reviewing!!!

Gryffindor Girl: Thank you!!! And thanks for reviewing!!!

Thank you EVERYONE for reviewing!!! I had a really long list of people this time!!! It took me about twenty minutes!!!

NEXT CHAPTER: All I know for sure is that there will be a bit of Sirius/Bella and I'm not even sure how much. I have a rough draft of what's going to happen in my head.

Nothing more to say here on my end - but I'm GLAD to hear from you!!! :)

Thank you!

Yours truly,
Amelia Bedelia