WARNING: sap alert and this chapie is a little sad. By the way, there are going to be some more mature things being said from now on, so if you don't understand them, you're probably not old enough to be reading a T rated story.

Ch.17, Tragedy Strikes

After a few days of night visits, the group convinced the warden to release Melissa. Of course, Melissa made sure that she was an absolute pain. She gave the other patients candy, and as the other patients were all first years who had been trying spells, they got sugar high. She also taught them how to levitate the bed pans over to the wardens office. She also gave them several ideas from '101 Pranks for the Slytherins' by: The Marauders. Now that they were all out of the HW, they were pranking as much as the old Marauders used to. They seemed to have idolized James, Sirius and Remus, and the boys loved it. The teachers referred to them as The Junior Marauders.

Sirius got his revenge on Rodulphus by using a Permanent Sticking charm on his mouth. No matter how much he wanted to, he could not open his mouth, and had to be fed at the HW through a tube. Of course, he got a weeks worth of detentions for it, but he says it was all worth it. Melissa and Sirius had not been seen apart (aside from bathrooms) since she got out of the HW.

All the couples of the group were getting closer. Len and Remus were practically always within a few steps of each other. James and Lily kept falling asleep on the couch in each other's arms, and read the above to find out about Melissa and Sirius.

The group was on there way to charms, and got in the class. It was Friday, so they had their parchments with them.

As Professor Flitwick reviewed Protean Charms for the thousandth time, there was a knock on the door. The class looked up from snoozing to see McGonnagle had poked her head in the door. She had a grave expression.

"Sorry to disrupt Protean Charms Professor, but may I see Miss. Evans for the rest of the class?" she asked.

"Certainly, certainly. Of you go Evans." he replied.

Lily got up with a confused and worried expression. She then exited the class with Professor McGonnagle.

(I'm sick of telling you the fonts, so just look in the other chapies)

What do you suppose that was about?

I haven't a clue. But did you see the look on McGonnagle's face? Something happened.

I agree with Len. Something's up.

You are very smart Mel.

Thank you Sirius.

Stop flirting Sirius, it could be bad.

I just hope that she's okay.

As Lily walked to McGonnagle's office with her, she started to worry. It couldn't be head business, James hadn't been asked to come.

As she stepped into the office, McGonnagle turned to face her.

"A letter was received about fifteen minutes ago. It is from the Ministry of Magic." she explained as she gave Lily a black envelope.

With trembling fingers Lily opened the letter and peered inside.

Dear Miss Evans,

We regretfully inform you that there has been an attack by He Who Must Not Be Named. Mr. & Mrs. Evans were killed in this attack by the Avada Kedavera curse. We can confirm however, that your sister, Miss. Petunia Evans was not in the residence at this time. We offer you our greatest regret and wishes of comfort.

Madame Blah I-Can't-Think-of-a-Last-Name,

Death department, Ministry of Magic.

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After the day was over, Lily still had not come back. Rumors were flying like crazy, but the group knew that none of them were true. At five p.m., James couldn't take it anymore. He took out the Marauders Map, and found Lily to be sitting under a tree by the lake. He folded up the map, and put it away.

James decided to go to her alone. Something bad had happened, that was to obvious. As he neared the lake, he didn't see her. He consulted the map again, and found her at the other end of the lake. He walked down the lake, and saw her. What he didn't expect was to see her crying her eyes out.

"Lily! Lil, what's wrong?" James asked, very worried. Lily Evans cry? It was unheard of. Whatever had happened, was really bad.

The moment he got there, Lily flung her arms around his shoulders, and bawled her eyes out again. James couldn't get any words out of her, she was crying too much. He then saw, laying on the grass, a letter sticking out of a black envelope. He looked at the envelope in horror. Everybody from wizarding families knew what this was. It was a Ministry Death Notice. In gold letters, was Lily Evans.

"Oh Lily, I'm so sorry." James said, and pulled her closer to him.

"T-their dead." she whispered.

"Shhh shh. It's okay Lily." James comforted, with her still in his arms. They stayed there for a few minutes, then Lily spoke up again.

"My mum and dad. Their d-d-dead."

"I'm so sorry Lil. Just cry, you might feel a bit better." he replied. She did just that.

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About an hour later, the rest of the group was getting antsy. James had left, taken the Marauders Map, and not told them where he was going.

"That's it. I'm going to the owlery. Anyone coming?" Len announced as she stood up. The group all stood up immediately, knowing that that was where Len preferred to transform when going to spy. When they got there, Melissa insisted on going with her. Len obviously wasn't in the mood to argue, because she transformed and left.

The two birds flew around for a few minutes, then sighted what they wanted to see. Lily. They didn't want to fly too close, because she was with James. They returned to the owlery, and reported where they were.

As the other group members neared the spot, they froze. Lily was crying. Len and Melissa had only ever seen her cry once before, and she wasn't bawling like this time. Only in third year, when they asked her who had died. Now, she was crying like she had never cried before, on James' shoulder.

"Lil! What's wrong?" Len asked, hurrying to her friends' side. But as the other three neared, they saw the black envelope. Melissa gasped. Sirius and Remus stared. Of course, as a muggle born, Len didn't have the slightest clue what the envelope meant.

"Len, their dead. Both of them... dead." Lily said, very softly.

Len looked at James for a clue. He mouthed 'parents' at her. the rest of the evening was spent comforting the three girls, since Len and Melissa had known them very well.

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Over the next few days, Lily seemed very depressed. It was a rarer occasion to see her smile than Professor McGonnagle. She forgot about homework, and spent her evening either crying on James's shoulder, or looking at old photo albums, then crying. She somehow found a way to associate everything with her parents. Mashed potatoes at dinner used to be her dad's favourite. At breakfast, her mom usually had oatmeal. After a few days, McGonnagle came up to her, and told her when the funeral was, and that she would be given the day off. She could also bring someone. There was no doubt in her mind, James would come with her.

Lily's heart swelled at the thought of how much James had done to try and make her feel better. He had worked doubly hard at head's meetings, and tried to take as much work off her shoulders as possible. He took her patrolling shifts. He was there for her whenever she wanted to cry, which was often. Then, she realized that she had fallen in love with him.

As she entered the common room, she saw him sitting by the fire.

"James?"

He looked up. "Lily? You alright?"

She sat down beside him. "Yeah. I was just told that the funeral is this Thursday. I can take one person. Can you come with me?" she asked.

He hugged her. "You know I would do anything for you." he said, and he gave her a kiss on the lips.

"I know. You chased me for four years, remember?" she said, with a smile.

James smiled too. It was so nice to see her smile. The two stayed up, discussing Lily's family. It was pretty small, since her mother was an only child, and her father had been aswell.

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The day of the funeral, Lily and James dressed in black muggle clothing, and went to Dumbledore's office, where they would Floo to Lily's house, where Floo lines had been temporarily placed. There, Lily gave James a tour of her small house. They had stopped, or more like started, when a shriek was heard.

"Freak! Are you here or not?" Petunia called up.

James looked on as Lily sighed and shouted back "Yes, I'm here, and don't call me that!"

"Make sure the kitchen is clean! Grandpa will be here any minute, a normal way." Petunia shouted at Lily, not even looking in her sister's direction as she came down the stairs.

James was surprised. Her family didn't like magic? Or was it just this person?

"Lily, who is that?" he asked.

Petunia whipped around at the sound of another voice.

Lily sighed again. "James, it is your misfortune to meet my gorgeous sister, Petunia. Petunia, this is my boyfriend James."

Petunia spotted the wand in James's pocket. She snorted, and with a "Well, freaks belong with freaks." started to walk up the stairs.

"You let her get away with that?" James asked, astounded.

"My parents wouldn'tve wanted us to fight. I decided that by the end of today, I will no longer see her again, so I'm going to tell her that we shouldn't fight anymore. Come on, the rest of my family will be here any minute. You can meet them. They actually like magic." Lily explained, as she used her wand to clean the kitchen.

James did like Lily's grandparents, and found out that her maternal grandmother had died when she was thirteen. Lily had been with her, and he knew that that was why she could see Thresals.

During the service, James saw that Lily had tears running down her face. He grabbed her hand, and squeezed it. When everyone had gone, Lily left him and went to see Petunia. He could barely hear what she said.

"Petunia, let's get one thing straight. Mum and Dad wouldn'tve wanted us to fight, so what do you say we call a truce?" Lily said quickly, as she extended her hand.

"As long as I don't have to have the bad luck of seeing you again." she replied, and didn't shake Lily's hand, but just walked off. Lily came back to James, and explained what happened.

Before she left, when everyone had left, she took out her wand and muttered a little spell. A single flower appeared in her hand, a lily. She took it, and put it on top of her parent's shared grave. After that, she walked off with James to her house.

When they got back to the school, they found that absolutely nothing had changed. Len and Remus were studying and flirting at the same time, and Sirius and Melissa had disappeared for over an hour. The usual. And for the first time in days, Lily went to bed happy.

I was thinking of ending the chapie here, but I decided I wouldn't be that cruel. I mean, I already killed off Lily's parents in this chapie, why make it short? I also just realized that there are no disclaimers in any of the other chapies. So, here is the all-story disclaimer: not mine. Impressive, huh? Back to the story!

Many weeks later, NEWTs were coming up. Even Sirius studied. Lily and Len were quizzing each other in the girls dorms, when Melissa came through, very excited.

"Guys guess what?" she shrieked a few times.

"What?" Len asked.

"Uh uh, you have to guess first!" she said giddily. (I'm not sure if that's a word...)

"Uhhh... you did something smart?" Lily guessed. Ever since she had gotten closure from her parents, Lily had been much more cheerful.

Melissa scowled. "No, you all know that Sirius is getting his own house this summer, right? Well, he just asked me to move in with him!"

Both girls shrieked. Of course, it was heard loud and clear downstairs, where Sirius had just explained what he had asked. The boys headed down to the kitchen, to celebrate.

"So, I take it you said yes?" Len asked.

"No, I'm just excited because I turned him down. Of course I said yes!" Melissa said, with a very sarcastic first sentence.

"Good for you! Oh, and don't forget the probably-going-to-be-used-most piece of furniture!" Lily said, with an evil grin.

"Uhhh, a chair?" Melissa asked worriedly. They only acted like this when teasing.

Both Lily and Len were laughing their guts out by now. "She meant, the bed." Len explained.

Melissa blushed. Which only sent the girls into another fit of giggles. Melissa spent the rest of the afternoon chasing her best friends throughout the castle. Then she met up with Sirius, gave up hunting her friends, and they both disappeared for about half an hour.

Okay, now it's really the end of the chapie. R&R, please!