Sorry I took so long to write this chapter. I was so busy and now I have exams (which I should be studying for) but I had to write this chapter. Read and REVIEW please!

Emma walked up the stairs, sat on her bed and lay there, staring at the ceiling. It had to be a lie. Sirius didn't go after girls like her. Sirius? Didn't she mean Black? When had she called him "Sirius"? Perhaps, when she started fancying him?

"Shut up!" she yelled out loud to no one.

It wouldn't bother you so much if you knew it wasn't true, a little voice said in her head. Well, thinking certainly wasn't helping anything.

"UGH!" she exclaimed at she punched her pillow, got out of bed and stormed out of the room, fuming. She was angry at herself but she was angrier at Sirius because he was gorgeous, nice to her, amazing, smart, a great quidditch player, charming, and a huge womanizer. But he couldn't be lying. You couldn't lie in the charm she and Katy had placed. Why was life so difficult? Why couldn't she fancy a nice, normal boy? He didn't have to be anything special. Not only did she hate Sirius, she hated all those girls who he had snogged or gone out with, those bimbos, because now she felt as stupid as them. Not to mention she was extraordinarily jealous. Suddenly she got an idea.

Her sister, Meggie, had always been a great advisor. She wasn't exactly the most responsible person herself, but she always gave great advice. Emma always felt like she had done the right thing when she listened to Meggie. Feeling much better, Emma practically skipped to the owlery. Like her Henry, her owl, was physic, she suddenly saw him flying toward her. Then she realized he was carrying a letter for her.

Duh, she thought. I need to focus. All of this talk about Sirius was making her crazy.

"Thanks, Henry! Come up to my room later. I have something for you," she said to her owl. He clicked his beak as a sign that he understood and flew off. As a Muggle born witch, Emma had always thought that it was awesome that owls could understand their owners. She smiled as she realized the letter was from the very person she had wanted to send a letter.

Emma opened the letter and quickly read it. Her smile quickly faded. This could not be true. It had to be a lie. In a state of unbelief, Emma walked back up to her room. This time instead of feeling angry or confused, Emma felt nothing at all.

Lily walked back up the stairs she had just walked down to go to breakfast. Her stomach was in knots; she didn't know what to expect when she met Potter. Was he going to be crying again? Angry? Screaming? Or worst of all, silent with façade of calmness? With a deep breath, Lily opened the door and walked in to see Potter sitting on the windowsill, staring out at the Hogwarts grounds beneath him. A light frost lay over all the green and dead trees. The sky was cold and bleak, a grayish hue. She couldn't even tell if the sun was out or not. The Great Lake had a thin layer of ice on it that was cracked in many places and had a giant hole near one of the sides. All together, the scene beneath Potter seemed cold, heartless and bitter.

"Em… er… are you alright, Potter?" Lily asked timidly.

"What?" he looked up, finally noticing her. "Oh well… you know…"

Well, he hadn't been crying. But he also didn't have a forced control feeling about him.

"I'm so sorry. I had no idea what was going to happen," Lily said softly, walking towards him. She sat down and he looked back down to the grounds.

James sighed. "It's just that I hade finally gotten over it. I mean, well, as best I could. I'll always remember them and that pain I felt loosing them. I just have to remember they're in a better place," he said, looking at Lily.

"I don't know what loosing someone is like, to tell you the truth," Lily confessed looking in his eyes.

"I hope you never do, Evans," he told her. He meant it, too. It was the worst feeling in the world to lose his family, and he never wanted Lily to feel like that. Unfortunately just then Lily jumped up.

"Oh, shit!" she exclaimed. James was surprised. He had never heard her curse before, he thought she was "above it" or something like that.

"Is something wrong?" he asked innocently.

"YES! THIS!" she yelled, thrusting a coin in his face. "FEEL THIS!"

He timidly touched the coin. "Ouch!" he said, as he yanked his hand back. The coin was burning and he hadn't been expecting that. "Why is that so hot?"

"There's something wrong. I gave another coin exactly like this to my mom and if something was wrong she was supposed to press her thumb on the figure's head," she explained. "I gave it to her during Christmas of my first year. She's never used it once. Potter, something's terribly wrong."

James looked into her eyes and could tell she was worried. "Come with me. Hurry!"

Suddenly Sirius burst into the room. "Merlin, James, I am so sorry. It was all my fault for pranking LeCompte and Rogers."

"It's fine, Sirius. Really, I'm over it. And obviously it was bad for you. It was your worst memory."

"Actually… well, I'll talk to you about that later."

Although James was mildly interested, he was much more concerned with Lily.

"Good, 'cause, Sirius, we have to go… Evans and me… it's really important. If anyone asks tell them I'm depressed and Evans is consoling me. Keep your mirror handy, I might need to talk to you. Got it," said James as he grabbed something from a chest and Lily's hand and rushed out the door. Sirius opened his mouth but, realizing the importance of the situation, shut it and nodded.

"Come on, Evans!" James told her and they began to run towards the doors outside the Great Hall. "Here, get in this cloak with me," James told Lily. Lily, too startled by all that was going on around her, hurried in the cloak with complete trust in James. "Now don't talk. We're invisible, but people can still hear and feel us." Lily silently nodded and they quickly walked out of Hogwarts to the Whomping Willow. Lily stared in amazement as James ran and quickly pressed a knot on the tree right before it hit him. The tree froze. Lily gasped. She didn't know the Willow did that. "Come on, Evans!" he said urgently. They both went into a tunnel and Lily, following James, ran towards the light. Lily didn't recognize where they came out.

"Where are we?" she asked.

"It doesn't matter. Hold my arm."

"Why?" she said, finally realizing how much she had been following Potter and wishing she could have lead some more.

"Before he did, my dad taught me apparition. He thought it would be important. You can do side-along apparition. Hold my arm."

Lily realized how urgent James was being. "You don't think it's too bad do you?" she asked with worried eyes.

James stopped for a second and answered truthfully. "I don't know, Lily. It could be."

The look in Lily's eyes suddenly changed from scared to aggressive and determined. She held onto his arm with both hands. "Well, what are you waiting for?"

She did not like apparition. It made her stomach queasy. And her head hurt. Everything was swirling before her eyes. Suddenly they stopped and she saw her house, her home, and above it was the Dark Mark.

James saw it at the same time. He whipped out a mirror from his pocket and said, "Sirius, hurry up!" Then, instead of James' face in the mirror, she saw Sirius'. "What? Are you ok?" "Go to Dumbledore and tell him to send Aurors to Lily Evans' house. NOW!" Sirius disappeared. Then James turned to Lily. "Stay here. I'm going inside."

"Shut up, Potter. They're my family," she said with a fierceness James had not expected.

"Fine. Take out your wand. And, Lily," he said. She turned to look at him, recognizing her first name, "be careful. Promise?"

"I promise," she answered with a cock of her head.

Right. 'Cause I'm trying to kill myself. Lily thought.

"Let's go," she said, glad to be in charge for once. "I'm going first." She opened the door. Surprisingly she didn't hear anything. Holding her wand in front of her, she turned to enter the living room. There she saw it. Her mom, dad and sister were standing in the middle of the room. Five Death Eaters with their frightening masks surrounded them with their wands pointed at them. One, seeing her, turned and pointed his wand at her,

"Cruc-" Lily cut him off. "PETRIFICUS TOTALUS!" she yelled. He fell flat as a board on the ground. The others all saw her at once and all wands pointed now at her, all except one that remained pointed at her family. She made a move to being fighting.

"Ah ah ah. Not so fast, young lady," said the mask that had its wand pointed at her family. "Make one move and they're all gone."

Lily froze. Well, no one was killing or torturing anyone quite yet.

"What do you want?" she asked, through gritted teeth.

"We want to show you what happens when you interfere with the Dark Lord, Miss Evans," said the same mask. Except it was no longer a mask. He had taken off his mask to reveal long, white-blond hair tied with a ribbon. It was the same wizard she had seen torture the centaur… Malfoy.

"Now the Dark Lord has decided to offer you a chance to redeem yourself."

"And why would I want to do that?" she spat.

"Oh, this might have something to do with it. You," he asked, pointing at Rhea, "step forward."

Lily's mother took a couple of steps forward, her head held high.

"Crucio!" Malfoy said, with what one might almost call carelessness.

Rhea collapsed on the ground. She screamed with pain, her body writhing on the ground. Tears were streaming down her face.

"STOP!! STOP!!" yelled Petunia.

Thomas just looked between Lily, his wife and Malfoy, helplessly. There was nothing he could do.

"I'LL DO IT! ANYTHING! STOP!" screamed Lily.

"That's what I thought," Malfoy sneered as the Curse lifted.

Rhea lay for a moment on the ground. Then, with the little pride she had left, she attempted to stand up but once she got to her knees she could go no further. She stopped on all fours, panting. A tear dropped down to the carpet. Thomas couldn't stand it any longer and jumped forward to help his love to her feet. And he picked her up and walked with her back to the middle of the room where he held her in his arms.

"I'm here, Rhea, I'm here," Thomas whispered comfortingly.

"I know," she answered. "I love you, Tom," she barely even whispered. She laid her head against his chest.

"How beautiful," Malfoy sneered. "So are you ready to hear the proposition?"

Lily stood still. She was unsure what to do. She looked at her family, frightened, in pain, her mum was possibly dying, Petunia looked like she was about to pass out, and her dad, her strong, protective father, looked for once in his life, utterly helpless and afraid. And what exactly had happened to Potter? Did he run away? Too much to handle?

"It's simple. Spy on Dumbledore."

"NO!" she immediately responded.

"Ah, well, that's unfortunate…"

The door suddenly burst open and in came two big men. They had their wands drawn and, once they had entered the living room, stood prepared to fight.

"Don't move!" warned Malfoy. "I'll kill them all!"

Gideon and Fabian Prewitt, the two Aurors that had just entered, froze. It seemed like the Death Eaters had full advantage. One of them had Lily at the end of their wand and both of the Prewitt brothers had a wand pointed at them, and Malfoy had the entire Evans family at his disposal.

Out of no where, they all heard a yell "PETRIFICUS TOTALUS!" Before anyone could react, Malfoy fell on the ground. No one could see where the jinx had come from but it was like the shot before a horse race; the fight immediately broke out. Thomas, although he had no wand, fought his way through with his unarmed wife and daughter through the door towards the kitchen. Lily dodged a Cruciatus curse but couldn't find the prescence of mind to fight back. She hadn't seen her family and was looking amid the chaos of spells, curses and jinxes now flying between the Prewitt brothers and their attackers. She only realized a moment later that the Death Eater attacking her had stopped. She looked behind her at him… her… whatever it was. James Potter had appeared from no where and was fighting for her. She felt that need for independence surge through her.

"I can fight!" she suddenly yelled at Potter.

"GET YOUR FAMILY!" he yelled, never taking his eyes off the Death Eater he was fighting. Lily stood still for a moment. Then she ran towards the door. She was back in the hallway.

"Mum?! Dad?! 'Tunia?!" she yelled. Hearing no answer, she moved on to the next room. There was her family again being held hostage. They were up against the window in the kitchen. The Death Eater Lily had earlier paralyzed was now mobile again and while no one had noticed him, he had slipped off following the Evans'.

"The Dark Lord is going to be so proud of me. I shall do what Malfoy could not. And further more I will do so in a way to torture you," he said nodding towards Lily. She raised her wand, but knew that it was useless.

"I'll do anything," she quietly begged.

"No, Lily, don't," said Rhea finally speaking.

"We don't know what's going on but its obviously an important and dangerous thing they have asked of you," Thomas added.

"We're not worth it!" Rhea finished.

"SHUT UP!" yelled the Death Eater.

"Yes, you are!" said Lily, ignoring his command, "you guys are the world to me!"

"It's too late," said the Death Eater. "You lost your chance to save them. It's going to be your fault when they die."

"It's not your fault!" yelled Thomas.

"Sweetheart, don't listen to him!" added Rhea. Petunia was still silent with fear.

"I have to," Lily whispered. Out of no where the Death Eater exclaimed, "THIS IS TAKING TOO LONG! CRUCIO!" He pointed his wand at Thomas. Lily closed her eyes. She couldn't see this.

"STOP!!! STOP!!!" she screamed on top of her father's screams of pain.

"Why should I do that?" And although Lily couldn't see his face, she could hear in his voice the Death Eater was smiling. Her body seemed to overflow with anger.

"CRUCIO!" she screamed. He stopped the Curse on Thomas with a small scream of surprise. But then she heard his smiling voice again,

"You're too young. You don't love causing pain. You can't cause pain. But this should be an interesting little lesson," he told her. "CRUCIO!" he yelled now pointing at Rhea. She fell on the ground again, screaming, crying. The only coherent word Lily heard was "THOMAS!!" She looked at her father, lying on the ground… motionless.

She felt the anger again. "CRUCIO!!!" she yelled. The pain she caused in the Death Eater lasted a fraction of a second longer this time. Her mother's screaming stopped.

"That was a better try, but not by much. There was more anger that time. But not enough hate. Better work on that. Well, we have one more to go. Maybe you'll be better this time," he sneered. Petunia whimpered.

Suddenly James burst in. "EXPELIARMUS!" he yelled. The Death Eater's wand flew from his hand. He was caught totally by surprise. "Stupid boy! I am highly skilled in wandless ma-" but he was cut off when Lily yelled, "STUPEFY!" He fell in a heap on the ground. Lily turned to Potter.

"What about the others?" she quickly asked.

"Unconscious or gone," he replied, quietly.

"Mum," Lily whispered breathlessly as she rushed to her mother's side. There was a blood dripping from her mother's open mouth. "I'm here, Mum. Don't worry." Lily wiped the blood away with her sleeve but it soon more returned.

"I'm... not… worried," she replied, taking deep breaths after each word.

"We can get you to St. Mungo's," Lily told her.

"No, sweetheart, I'm not going to last long enough," Rhea told her daughter, speaking so softly Lily had to lean closely to hear her. Lily grabbed her mother's hand and held on tight.

"I'm so sorry, Mum, it's all my fault," Lily started crying.

"No, shh… shh… You did the best you could. And, Lily, your father and I are so proud of you," Rhea whispered. "Speaking of you father, where is he?"

Lily looked across the room where Thomas was speaking softly with Potter who had tears in his eyes. Lily got an idea and she didn't know if it would work but it was worth a try.

"Wingardium Leviosa," she said calmly, pointing her wand at Thomas. He was lifted off the ground by an invisible force and she directed him towards her and her mother.

"Daddy," she whispered. The tears were streaming down her face by now. "Oh, Daddy. I'm so sorry. This is all my fault. It's… all… my…" she sobbed, shaking.

"Don't be silly, Lily. You've always been so intelligent, my smart, beautiful little flower."

Lily let out a little laugh and salty tears washed into her mouth.

"Lily, I love you. Don't ever forget that. Don't think for a minute this is your fault. That would only hurt me more. You fought so well. I'm so proud of you," Thomas whispered, smiling with much effort.

"Thomas?" Rhea said, turning to face him.

"Oh, Rhea, I'm so sorry. I should have been able to protect you!" he gasped.

"You sound like Lily, so silly. Be quiet. I love you…" she answered.

"I love you too…" Rhea grasped his hand and held on tight, her eyes closed and her chest stopped rising and falling. Lily noticed but Thomas was looking at his flower.

"Goodnight, Lily," he whispered.

"Oh, Daddy," she sobbed.

"Say it," he begged.

"Sleep tight, Daddy," she relented.

"Don't let the bed bugs bite…" and then his chest stopped moving as well and his eyes close and they were both gone. Lily grasped both of her parents hands, stayed there on her knees, and cried and cried. It seemed like the rivers flowing from her eyes would never stop. Then she remembered Petunia. She looked up. Petunia was lying on the ground, passed out from shear terror.

Depression over took Lily. Her parents were dead. Her sister wasn't even there to go through it with her. She was alone. The world around her started to spin. She stood up. The world was spinning faster and faster. Right before she fell, she felt two arms grab her fast but then everything went black.

"James, remember your promise. Remember to watch over Lily. Please. That's all I ask of you."

Those were the only words Thomas had said to James. He had been lifted away and James watched from where he stood as Lily grieved. She wouldn't want him right now, he was sure. But he finally saw her stand up, she started swaying and he ran and caught her. He picked her up. Where should they go? Could he Apparate with her like this? He was weak, as was she.

Thankfully, being the perfect timer he is, Dumbledore walked in on the scene.

"Oh my…" he whispered when he saw Lily in James' arms and her family lying on the ground.

"Sir, we need to get back to Hogwarts," James said firmly.

"Of course, of course," Dumbledore said after his initial shock had worn off. He pulled some floo powder out of his pocket and threw it into the fire which immediately turned green. "You know what to do," he added.

James stepped into the fire and said calmly, clearly, "Hogwarts."

They arrived in the Headmaster's office. James never put Lily down and carried her to the Hospital Wing.

"Not again," muttered Madam Pomfrey, "poor dear…"

She has no idea, thought James. He laid Lily out onto a bed and turned to leave. As much as he wanted to stay with Lily, he knew she would want Katy and Emma here and he had to go there.

As he walked toward the door, he stumbled and fell. He was so physically exhausted.

"I don't think so," Madam Pomfrey said, watching him walk away. "Get in this bed," she said pulling back the sheets of the bed next to Lily. Truthfully, he was grateful to fall into bed and tried to sleep away his troubles.

So what did you think? Please review. I don't want to write more if no one is reading/reviewing. Thanks!