Chapter 2: Unbelievable

Lily woke up with a start. Every day since her fight with James, she had been waking up this way. She was getting tired of having the same nightmare over and over again. It had been a week since school ended and she desperately wanted to go back to get away from her sister and her obnoxious whale of a boyfriend.

She glanced at the clock on her wall and saw that it was only 7:30 in the morning. She groaned and tried to fall asleep again.

After twenty minutes of trying, she gave up and decided it was a lost cause. She got up and went to get ready for the day. For some reason she knew today was not going to be a good day. Her fears were confirmed when she went down for breakfast later that morning.

"Morning Mum and Dad"

"Morning Lily" her parents said at the same time. Over the years they got really good at doing that.

"What would you like for breakfast?" Mrs. Evans asked.

That morning Lily's mother had her slightly graying red hair pulled into a low bun. Not a hair was out of place and Lily always envied her for that. Lily shared her mother's face, with a slender nose and almond shaped eyes except her mother had blue eyes. Lily also inherited her mother's slightly curvy frame but got her height from her father. Her father's hair had gone completely gray already but his face hardly showed his age. He had a more pronounced chin and nose than Lily and you could see where Petunia had inherited more of his features. He had a thinner frame that it was clear Petunia had inherited. It looked much better on her father than her sister.

"Oh, I'll just have some cereal, Mum."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive Mum" Lily laughed.

Lily grabbed the necessary items and sat down at the table. A few minutes later her sister, Petunia, came skipping down the stairs with a stupid grin plastered on her face.

"Why so happy?" Lily asked Petunia.

"Well, it just so happens that Vernon is coming over for dinner tonight."

Lily about choked on her spoon. "What?!" she coughed.

"I knew it would make you happy" Petunia said oblivious to the fact that Lily about choked.

"Happy? Happy? Why would your stupid oaf of a boyfriend coming over make me happy?"

Petunia scowled at Lily. "He is not an OAF!"

"Okay fine, but you never denied that he isn't stupid." Lily laughed, stuck her tongue out at her and quickly dashed out of the room just as Petunia threw a bowl at her.

"PETUNIA! How dare you throw a bowl at Lily! Go apologize, Now!" their Mum shouted.

"But Mum, she insulted Vernon!" Petunia whined.

"Yes but those were just words. If that would have hit her, you could have really hurt her. Now go apologize or Vernon may not come over tonight" Mrs. Evans threatened.

"Fine" Petunia huffed.

Lily listened to this from around a corner, laughing at her victory. Just to be nice, Lily accepted Petunia's apology and went to her room until she had to come out. Lily wrote letters to her friends, read one of her muggle books, read some wizarding books, and twiddled with her wand. At five, her mother called her down to help with dinner.

"Where's Tuney? Shouldn't she help since it is her boyfriend?"

"Oh, well, she left earlier to spend the day with him and won't be back until it's time for dinner." Mrs. Evans said giving Lily an apologetic smile.

Her Mum already had most things done. So she had Lily make the salad and set the table. By the time she was done, it was five-thirty and Petunia and Vernon just arrived. Luckily, the meal was ready right then that way Lily wouldn't have to hear Vernon complain that he was hungry.

Lily can't really see how Petunia, a tall, thin blonde haired girl, could like Vernon, a fat, rude, stupid, purple-faced oaf, but in all fairness their personalities were very similar. Both thought they were better than others, they were mean to anyone remotely different, they were both selfish and were a lot of other things Lily never wanted to think about. But after their first year together, Lily stopped questioning herself about this. Petunia and Vernon had been going out for three years now.

Normally, dinner only lasted fifteen to twenty minutes because the Evans family wasn't heavy eaters. But with Vernon here, it lasted an hour! All of them were too kind to start clearing the table while Vernon stuffed his face, afraid their hand might be taken off. Lily thought that even Sirius Black didn't eat like that. And that says something.

All through dinner, Petunia looked at Vernon as though he was a god. She laughed at everything he said and clung to him like he was a life preserver. It made Lily want to vomit. Several times she bit her tongue so she wouldn't say something that she would later regret.

Lily was surprised that dinner had gone fairly smoothly. Vernon wasn't quite as rude as normal but it was still pretty early in the evening. Lily and her father cleaned up the kitchen and dining room while the rest went into the living room.

Once they were finished, they brought in dessert. A simple pound cake with honey drizzled on top. Lily knew that something was up because as she sat down she noticed an evil kind of gleam in Vernon's eyes and he had the same kind of evil grin on his fat, purple face.

This can't be good. Lily thought. And her suspicions proved to be true.

"So, Lily" Vernon sneered "you're on break from school."

Lily was startled a bit, he never addressed her directly.

"Yes" she said suspiciously.

"I forget what Petunia said. Where do you go to school?" Vernon smiled evilly.

Where is he going with this. Lily was about to answer when Petunia cut in.

"Oh Vernon, I told you silly. She goes away to a boarding school for special people" she said glaring at Lily.

"What do you mean 'special'?" Lily asked returning Petunia's glare.

Vernon laughed obnoxiously and Lily couldn't figure out why besides the obvious, he was rude.

"Oh Lily, don't tell me you don't know why we send you away. Remember, it hurts us every year when you have to go back but we all know it's for the best" Petunia said faking her sadness.

Lily was shocked. Her mouth fell open but she quickly shut it. She knew Petunia had told Vernon something about why she wasn't around except for during the summer but she never found out exactly what. Lily was furious that Petunia told Vernon she was "special" but the way she said it implied something completely different.

"Petunia, can I see you in the kitchen?" she asked through gritted teeth.

"Er…sure" Petunia said a little surprised. "Be right back Vernikins"

Once the kitchen door shut, Lily whipped around and stared mutinously at Petunia.

"How could you?" Lily shouted.

"What are you talking about?" Petunia sneered.

"Are you seriously that dumb? Were you not just in the room when you called me 'special'?"

"Oh get over it. Just be glad that I didn't tell him what you really are. Freak."

"So, what? He doesn't know the truth just so he won't leave you!"

"That's not why I did it!"

"Oh well, in that case, please enlighten me as to why you did it?" Lily asked sarcastically.

Petunia didn't say anything but to Lily, that said it all.

"Ha! Admit it! That is exactly why you didn't tell him. You're just as selfish as he is!"

"No I'm not!" Petunia screamed and then smiled viciously. "Well, fine then, I guess I will go and tell him the truth about the freak of a sister I have."

Petunia started to turn but Lily quickly blocked her path her.

"Oh no you won't! You don't know what will happen if you tell him. He could go and blab to everyone and then what will happen to me?"

"Honestly, I don't care. You never liked Vernon so why should you care what he does?"

"Because it will ruin me if people found out!"

"Why should I care?!" Petunia asked mockingly.

"Because not only am I your sister but it would also put a target over Mum and Dad and YOU! Your hopes to have a flourishing social life would disappear!"

Petunia stared at Lily. She hadn't thought of that.

"Fine, I won't tell him but this conversation is over, Freak!" and she pushed past Lily and left the room.

Lily let her go knowing that she hit the exact reason Petunia hated that her sister was a witch. When they were younger and Lily had just found out she was accepted to Hogwarts, Petunia was just jealous of her. But now that she had met Vernon and was desperate to be in the upper class of society she hated that Lily was a witch. If people found out, it would ruin her and Lily knew this.

After about ten minutes, Lily decided she was calm enough to go back in and suffer through the rest of the night. Just as she entered the room, Petunia let out an ear shattering squeal.

"Oh thank you Mummy! Thank you Daddy! You're the best!" Petunia squealed as she hugged her parents.

"What's going on?" Lily asked warily, looking at all four people.

"Well, it really is none of your business" Vernon mocked.

"Well, considering I live here, I think it is my business." Lily snapped.

"Oh Vernon, Lily, stop. You two should learn to get along." Petunia whined.

"Why should I?" Lily spit at Petunia.

"Because, Vernon's flat is being closed for a week due to mold or something or other, so I asked Mummy and Daddy if he could stay with us until next Sunday instead of with one of his friends and they said he could!" She squealed again which made Lily cover her ears.

"WHAT!?" Lily shouted. "Mum, Dad how could you? We don't even have an extra room for him! And letting a boy, no wait an oaf like him stay over! Unheard of! UGH!"

"Now, Lily dear, we were merely being polite" Mrs. Evans said. In a whisper, Mr. Evans said to Lily "It was the only way to get Tuney to stop whining."

Lily couldn't take it anymore. She wasn't in the mood to deal with this especially since she just got herself calmed down. She stormed from the room and stomped up to her bedroom.

Once she got there, she slammed the door, locked it, and flopped onto her bed. She grabbed her pillow and screamed as hard as she could until she had to stop for air. Luckily, her family was used to Lily doing this so no one followed after her.

"I thought they were on my side. They are unbelievable!" Lily said out loud, exasperated.

She laid there for ten minutes, trying to let it soak in and accept that there was no way she could get around this upcoming and horrific week.

And then, suddenly it hit her. She knew what she had to do.

In one flick of her wand, a bag flew onto her bed and with another two flicks clothes and other necessities flew into her bag. Thankfully she was seventeen otherwise this would have taken forever. She grabbed the bag and went to the window.

Lily loved the fact that her window was right next to the big tree in their yard and for the fact that the strongest branches almost touched the house. The only problem was that when it was extremely windy out the ends of the branches scratched up against the house which made it really hard to sleep sometimes.

Just as she opened the window she decided she should leave a note for her parents otherwise they would call the police and everything would get completely out of hand.

She grabbed some parchment and a quill and began a short note.

Dear Mum and Dad,

I'm sorry that I left this way but I really had no other choice. I promise that I will be back once Vernon leaves next Sunday. I know it is not fair that I have left you worried but I couldn't stand being with those two for the next week. I will be back. I'm not exactly sure where I will be but I WILL be safe, I promise. I love you with all my heart.

Love Always

Lily

She folded the note and wrote Mum and Dad on the outside and set it on her pillow knowing they would see it soon. She walked over to the window, picked up her bag, dropped it to the ground, and started to climb out before remembering that she locked the door. With a flick she heard the door unlock and proceeding to climb out onto the tree.

Even though it was getting dark out, she knew exactly what she needed to do. She had done this many times before. She liked to sit up in the tree in the middle of the night just to think or climb down it to read a book on the ground in the middle of the summer.

She thought to herself what she needed to do. Take five steps toward the trunk. Grab the branch to my right and swing until I feel the branch under my feet. Find my balance and let go. Squat down and hold onto the branch under my feet. Then swing a little bit and drop to the ground.

Success. She had made it safely to the ground. Lily picked up her bag that she had dropped down earlier and crept quietly toward the street so she wouldn't be noticed. Once she hit the street she turned away from her house and walked thinking about where she should go.

She couldn't go to Alice's because she and her family were on vacation with her boyfriend Frank and his family. They wouldn't be back for another two weeks and she had no idea where they had gone. Plus she didn't want to ruin their fun.

She also couldn't go to Mary's or Emily's because they were on vacation as well. Mary and her family went to Norway because her dad was there on Ministry business and she wouldn't be back for at least another week maybe more.

Emily had gone back to her home of Ireland. She had always gone to Hogwarts but shortly after she had gotten her letter to Hogwarts her parents decided to move to England. So every summer they went back to Ireland. She knew that she would be welcome at Emily's but she really had no idea where Emily lived. Plus she didn't want to be that far from home especially since it would only be for a week.

After thinking of about this, she realized she had been walking for ten minutes and couldn't figure out where she was. She knew the area around her house fairly well but she had never been this way before.

And then she realized where she could go. No it wasn't the Leaky Cauldron. She had stayed there one time and regretted it ever since.

She shivered a bit realizing she didn't put on a cloak. Even though it was almost July the evenings were still cold.

Lily made sure no one was around and Apparated to her destination. She knew where they lived because Alice lived fairly close and on one of their walks a couple summers ago, Alice had pointed it out to Lily.

Lily had to walk for a little bit to remember exactly where it was but when she saw it she recognized it at once.

There was a little gate in front that was connected to a beautiful stone fence. The house was made of the same stone as the fence complimenting the yard. There were flowers over flowing all over the yard and almost all of them were in full bloom. As she approached the gate, she could smell all the aromas coming from the flowers. They melded together very pleasantly and made Lily relax but only by a fraction.

She opened the gate noiselessly and continued up the path to the front step. She took a deep breath before knocking three times. She couldn't tell if anyone was home. After a few moments she decided no one was home and made to leave. Just as she turned her back she heard the door open and stopped. Afraid to see who it was, she kept her head down and turned back around. She took a deep breath and slowly looked up.

She was startled a bit when she saw who was at the door. But she had expected it.

Lily Evans was standing face to face with none other than James Potter.