Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter

When people are having mental conversations with themselves (not crazy type, you'll see what I mean) their brain will be bold, their conscience will be bold and italics and they will be italics.

Chapter 10-Piercings and my mom's new friend

Lily's POV

I did feel bad for James. I really did. But in a while he was back to himself and all of those feelings vanished to be replaced by the normal hate and anger.

Nothing else exciting happened in fourth year. Before we knew it, it was over. Megan and Miranda STILL weren't talking to each other. Seriously, it had been, like, half a year. They really had to grow up and get over it.

I didn't have anyone to talk to while packing my trunk. Tina had left already to go talk to her other friends, and on either side of me, Miranda and Megan were slamming their trunks shut. They had just had another fight and I was so annoyed with them, I wouldn't have wanted to talk to them anyway.

I got out of there as soon as I could. Immediately after I shut the door, they started shouting again. Apparently, Miranda tripped Megan down a couple of stairs. I leaned back against the wall.

"Oh, Merlin," I sighed. Suddenly two strong arms wrapped around me. I smiled and shifted over so I was completely in Jesse's embrace. I leaned back into him. Wait a minute…that doesn't smell like Jesse.

Yeah, it smells better.

No, it doesn't!

Anyway, who the hell was hugging me?

My eyes shot open and I let out a blood curdling scream. I whipped around and found myself staring not into Jesse's blue eyes but Potter's hazel ones.

"POTTER!"

He grinned.

"Oh, come on. You liked it! Admit it!"

I blushed.

"I thought you were Jesse!"

"Talking about me, are you?" came Jesse's voice.

Oh, no. Can this get any worse? I thought as James grinned. Apparently it could. Black came through the portrait at that moment.

"James, when the bloody hell are you gonna be ready?" He stopped when he saw what was going on. Only then did I realize James's hands were still on my waist.

Oh, shit. I blushed even more and pushed them off.

"Ok…what just happened?" asked Jesse.

"Nothing, I thought he was you. I had my eyes closed."

"Ok…" Jesse said again. "I'm going to believe you on this one...but I think I'll go now." He dragged his trunk across the common room and disappeared out of the portrait.

"I can't believe you!" I shouted at Potter.

"Sorry, couldn't help it. Come on, Sirius, I need to get my trunk." They left up the stairs but not before Sirius winked at me.

"That's what you say happened," he said. I growled and he ran up the stairs.

Fuming, I pulled my trunk through the halls and came to the entrance hall. Remus was standing alone (Peter was off somewhere with Janice) so I walked over to him.

"You ok?" he asked noticing my face being the same color as my hair.

"I'm just peachy," I grumbled. Peachy. What a funny word. Suddenly I smiled. Then I started giggling. Then I started laughing insanely. "Ahahahahaha! Peachy! Ahahahahaha" Remus looked at me strangely.

"Right…"

"What exactly did you do to my girlfriend, mate?" Jesse asked, coming over. I was on my knees on the floor, clutching my stomach.

"I asked her if she was all right, and she said she was peachy, and then she started laughing."

"Anybody need a straight jacket?" asked James wheeling his trunk over with Sirius behind him. They looked very amused. I suddenly stopped laughing.

"Say one more word, Potter, and I'll make you…look like James and the Giant Peach!" It was all I could think of. Wait a minute…peach, peachy, peach, peachy! A peachy peach! "Ahahahahaha! A peachy peach! Ahahahahaha!"

Soon Hagrid came inside and told us that the carriages were ready. I had gotten over the peachy thing and was walking with Jesse. We had left our trunks in the entrance hall for someone to come and take them onto the train.

I found a compartment with Jesse and his friends and ducked into it as soon as I saw Miranda coming. I wanted to avoid both her and Megan completely.

The train ride passed smoothly. I spent most of it cuddling with Jesse and making out with him. His friends left to see their own girlfriends, or just to go anywhere where Jesse and I weren't.

My parents met me at the platform and I introduced them to Jesse. They seemed to like him. After a couple of minutes of light conversation, he left, and I walked out with my parents.

When we came outside, I saw this beautiful car, which looked very expensive. I was admiring it when I noticed two people walked up to it. One of them was James and one was probably his mother. She was wearing a black skirt that stopped at the knees and a black blazer. She also had a black hat on with a black veil over her face. I suddenly felt so bad for the Potters. I turned away and walked to my family's car. I hadn't been able to see her face clearly because of the veil.

When I got home, my mom ran to the kitchen and brought a batch of hot chocolate chip cookies out of the oven. My favorite. She made them every year when I came home from school. Petunia still had a week left of school, for which I was grateful.

My parents and I sat around the table dipping our cookies into milk and catching up. I found out that my dad had been promoted (again) and he was now vice president of the company! It had happened two days ago. Miranda's dad was the position just under Dad's.

Soon my dad had to return to work (he was working from home today since I was coming home) and Mom proceeded to get back into the car and go grocery shopping. I, however, took the plate of cookies and a fresh glass of milk and walked into the living room where there was a big plasma TV.

"Well, this is new," I said and plopped down on the couch. I had three favorite shows. Friends, The Simpsons, and Just Shoot Me. Of course, being away at school for nine months meant missing a lot of the episodes. For the past couple of years, my dad had agreed to tape them every day (my dad rocks!). This year, when I walked in, I saw a couple of DVD cases on the coffee table. (A/n: pretend they had DVDs). I looked at them and saw that they were every season of those three shows! (A/n: Do they make those of Just Shoot me?) I squealed with delight. I had SO MUCH to watch in two and a half months.

I flipped channels for a while before going upstairs. When I logged on, I was instantly bombarded with IMs from friends I hadn't seen in years.

As I was talking in a chat room with Miranda and some other people form our old school, I heard a bus drive up. I looked out my window. Petunia came out of it, laughing at something someone said. She was wearing a mini skirt and a tank top. Maybe she was nasty to me, but I heard she wasn't unpopular.

The door opened and I heard her call out that she was home. I heard a thud and decided she had dropped her backpack. Soon I heard a grunt as she picked it back up and the squeak of the stairs as she walked by. She went into the room across from mine and I heard the sound of a door closing and her own instant messenger starting up. So much for a friendly hello.

By dinner time, Miranda and I had arranged a meeting with four of our best and oldest friends. It was next week.

I ran down the stairs and immediately knew what we were having, by the smell. It was my favorite meal. Spaghetti with meat balls. Yum. I took my place at the table and looked eagerly towards the kitchen. My dad was already there but Petunia wasn't. She came down soon though. As soon as she saw me she stopped dead in her tracks.

"You," she said.

"Hey, Petunia," I said. She sat down as my mom came out carrying a bowl of spaghetti. She went back in and then came out with a pan of sauce. She set it down on a wooden platform covered with a cloth, on the table. Then she sat down herself and we began eating. Dessert was chocolate cake, also my favorite.

After dinner, Dad went to his study to read, Petunia went upstairs saying something about homework and Mom went back to the kitchen. I watched an episode of The Simpsons and went up to my room. As soon as I signed back on, James started talking to me.

Quidditchstar23: Hey, Lily, Babe.

Emeraldeyes99: Hey, Potter, Loser.

Quidditchstar23: Ha.

Emeraldeyes99: What do you want?

Quidditchstar23: To talk to lovely emerald eyes.

I ignored everything else he said. Until another window popped up and a picture of James appeared. It was moving. He had a webcam. Great.

Emeraldeyes99: Webcam, huh?

Quidditchstar23: Yup. You like?

He started making all sorts of weird faces at me. He also did a lot of dance moves I had to admit were really funny.

Emeraldeyes99: Not really.

Suddenly another face popped out at me. It was grinning revealing perfectly straight white teeth. I almost screamed and jumped about a foot into the air.

Emeraldeyes99: SIRIUS?

I could see both of them laughing uncontrollably. I wish there was a smiley that was a death smiley. There wasn't (obviously) so I hooked up my own webcam and, when I saw them watching me, drew my finger across my throat. They kept laughing so I flipped them off and signed off. After a little bit of reading, I went to bed.

The next week was spent tanning and swimming. I might be a red head, but I have to say, a tan doesn't look all that bad on me.

On the Friday my sister got out of school I was supposed to meet my friends. They would only go to high school next year and got out earlier. I put on a black skirt and a blue v-necked, belly button, halter-top. I wore blue flip flops, and my hair was in a messy bun. I had a denim purse in which was my cell phone, money, makeup, and various other things. To top off the look, I had blue sunglasses and an anklet which was a black string with a blue lily hanging off of it.

I met Miranda outside between our houses and we walked to Coffee Island, where we would meet our friends.

When we walked in, we pushed up our sunglasses but couldn't see them anywhere. Our friends, I mean. But suddenly I saw a group of girls. They were sitting in the corner, and they didn't look like our friends, but I saw that they were all wearing charm bracelets. The year Miranda and I had left, our group had given each other charm bracelets and vowed never to take them off.

"I think that's them," I said, pointing and led Miranda over.

"Hey, guys!" she said when we came up. They looked at us blankly.

"Um. Hey," said the one with black hair who I instantly knew was Shannon.

"It's us!" I said. "Lily and Miranda!" They looked at us for a second and finally squealed. We exchanged hugs with everyone and sat down.

"I can't believe it! You guys are so…different!" said Carly.

"You too!" I suddenly noticed something. "Oh my God! You guys have nose rings!"

"And belly button rings," said Emily.

"We have to get you guys them!" said Shannon. I wasn't sure but Miranda decided for me.

"That'd be so cool!"

"I don't know, my mom would kill me," I said. But when I saw their belly button rings those thoughts were erased from my mind.

As soon as we were done with our drinks, they dragged us off to get the piercings.

"My aunt does it," said Carly, "so she'll do it for free." We stepped into the shop. Jewelry was displayed everywhere. A plump lady was standing behind the counter and looked up as the bell jingled. She saw us and smiled.

"Carly, Shannon, Emily, Jennifer! What are you doing here?" Then she noticed me and Miranda. "And who are these young ladies?"

"This is Lily and Miranda," said Carly. "They want piercings."

"Ah. Well, where?"

"Belly button and nose" I said. We had planned this all already. Miranda and I already had our ears pierced.

"All right. Well, wait five minutes, and I'll be with you," said Carly's aunt and walked away. We were talking when she came back. "Who's going first?" she asked. Miranda pushed me forward and I stood up so I wouldn't fall off. "All right, Lily," said Carly's aunt, not noticing I'd been pushed. Thanks A LOT Miranda.

She led me into a room with a chair like a dentist's chair in it. I sat down and she got her materials. I didn't want to look.

"I think it would be better for you to close your eyes," said Carly's aunt. I did. "Ok, one, two, three!" Suddenly there was a searing pain in my abdomen. Tears pricked at my eyes. Almost immediately something cold covered the painful spot, though, and it felt better. It still stung, though. "You feel ok?" asked Carly's aunt.

"Yeah," I said.

"Good. I'll let your rest a little bit while I do your friend." She led me back out where there was a recliner I could lie down in. "Don't touch the ring," she said before leading Miranda away. The girls crowded around and admired the stone. It looked like a diamond, but wasn't really. It looked great against my tanned belly.

"I love it," said Jennifer.

"Thanks," I said. "But I hope the other one won't be as painful. That's a lot of pain in one day for me."

They chuckled.

"Don't worry," said Shannon.

Soon Aunt Carly (that's what I call her now since she was Carly's aunt) came out with Miranda. I let her have the recliner as I was feeling normal now. She had gotten a baby blue stone and it looked wonderful.

Next was nose piercing. I sat in a high chair-type thing and Aunt Carly just used a piercing gun and put a stone through my nose. It was really small. (A/n: I actually have no idea how they do any of these piercings, not having any myself. Well I have ear piercings, but you know what I mean. Anyway, I read in a book that that's how they do belly button but I don't know about the other one. If I got it wrong, tell me.) Miranda was next. When I looked in a mirror, I had to say it looked pretty good. When I had just heard about doing it, I thought it might be too much, but it looked really good.

I also bought an emerald stone, a blue one, and a ruby red one. I got a choker I really liked. It was just a black string with a pale green heart hanging off but I loved it. I also got some bracelets and rings and toe rings. What a shopping spree. It was really fun.

When I got home it was almost dinner time. I came inside the house and kicked off my flip-flops when everyone was walking to dinner. They all stopped to stare. Finally my mom opened her mouth.

"You're…pierced," was all she said.

"In your…nose," added my dad.

"Belly button too," said Petunia, pointing at my stomach.

Stupid hag.

"Lily! Why didn't you at least ask us?" said my mother.

"Well…" I said. Wait a minute. I have no idea. "It was just a thing of the moment. But it looks good, doesn't it?" I asked hopefully. My parents sighed and looked me over.

"I suppose," said my father, looking at Mom. She nodded.

"But any sign of an infection and you're taking them out." I agreed happily and hurried up to my room to put my things away.

For the rest of the month I hung lazily around by the pool and watched TV. Of course I met with my friends a lot.

The first day of July, my mom came hurrying home from the supermarket.

"I have an announcement!" she said at dinner. We all watched her intently. "I met this woman at the store and she invited me to dinner! We're going tomorrow."

"Cool," I said and dug in.

"But be nice tomorrow, ok? Her husband died a couple of months ago." We all agreed and I found myself thinking about James and his mother. How were they doing? Sure, maybe I hated the guy, but I still felt terrible about what had happened to his father. Not terrible as in I-blame-myself-for-James'-dad-dying terrible but I-feel-so-bad-for-James-and-his-mother kind of terrible.

After dinner I shopped online for a bit and then went to bed.

The next evening we found ourselves in our family car. I was wearing a pale green slip dress and pale green high heel sandals. My hair was done up messily and I was wearing light green eye shadow. It wasn't possible to see my belly ring because of my dress, to my disappointment.

My dad was driving the car, and my mom was reading directions off of a slip of paper.

"Pine Wood Road," she said. Dad turned left. I looked out the window. On either side of us there were huge mansions. I bet they were two or three times bigger than our house, which wasn't all that small. We passed a beautiful house. It was the biggest one on the road. It was stone, but looked warm and welcoming. There were big gates with gold words I didn't have time to make out. There was also an intercom. The driveway curved in front of steps which would take you to two huge doors. There were fountains and specially cut bushes on either side of the house.

Suddenly my mom screamed "STOP!" and my dad slammed on the brakes. She was looking at the numbers on the houses. She told my dad to turn around and look for number 27.

"You too, girls," she said. Finally my dad found it. We all stared, wide-eyed, as he drove up to the biggest house. So this was where my mom's new friend lived.

"Are you sure, Marianne?" he asked.

"Yes," she said uncertainly. She clicked the intercom and a raspy voice asked us who it was. "Marianne's family," she said. The gates squeaked open and we drove through. We got out of the car and up to the doors. My mom was about to ring the doorbell when the door opened. A woman dressed in brown stood there. She had blond hair and hazel eyes.

"Marianne! It's so good to see you again. And this must be your family!"

"Yes, this is my husband, Richard, and my daughters, Lily and Petunia," said Mom.

"Wonderful," said the woman, but not in a mean or sarcastic way. "Come on in." We stepped inside. The entrance hall was HUGE. Almost as big as Hogwarts'. There was a marble staircase leading up to a landing and then separating in two directions. As I was looking around, I noticed a boy come down the stairs. He had familiar black framed glasses and even more familiar messy black hair. I gasped and then groaned. I had found my way into the house of James Potter.