Chapter 3

Scarred Secrets

I woke up the next morning to my friends screaming at me.

"Lily, get up, NOW!" Kristina screamed, shaking me violently. I rolled over and slowly pulled the covers off of me.

"What time is it?" I asked as I yawned and began to change to my school robes, slowly but surely.

"We have ten minutes to get to the Great Hall, or we'll miss breakfast!" yelled Bethany, rushing around the room, and trying to clean up a bit. It didn't do any good, but I must say that Kristina's bed was a tad bit better. She was the sporty one of the group; one of Gryffindor's Chasers and probably the messiest.

"Why didn't you wake me up!" I shouted right back at them and rushing everything. I pulled my hair into a sloppy bun on the top of my head, yet two pieces swished in front of my eyes. I didn't have time, so I left them, and went on with rushing around our dormitory.

"We tried, but you wouldn't budge," Shae said calmly, as she took a seat on her bed and just stared at us three who were running around like lunatics. I froze and looked at them in disbelief.

Last night, I had had a dream about my future, well I guess it was. I was gently setting down my son, in his crib and I heard a scream come from my 'husband'. I whipped around and found him lying dead on the floor with a hooded figure hovering over him with a wand in one hand. They had waken me up, just as I stared horrified at the man who was about to murder my son.

"Wh-wh-what?" I asked. I hadn't been able to wake up. Odd.

"You were muttering something in your sleep like…" Kristina went on. "Don't kill Harry, take me. You've already taken James." Then it struck me. It had been James lying dead on the floor. James had been my husband.

I chuckled a bit. Then it was only a dream. James Patrick Potter would never be my husband, so it obviously would never happen.

"What's so funny?" Bethany asked, halting from her attempts at cleaning and staring at me. I chuckled a bit more.

"Oh, nothing." I sure did have a weird dream, but there was no way I was going to tell them about it.

Moments later, we had arrived in the Great Hall and rushed to the only seats left. Unfortunately, they were right across from the Marauders. We started shoveling bacon, toast, and eggs onto our plates as they passed out the schedules.

"Alright! My favorite classes are today!" I exclaimed, still shoving food furiously into my mouth.

"And what would those be?" asked Shae.

"Muggle Studies, then Herbology, then Double Charms!" They all rolled their eyes as they searched for their Defense Against the Dark Arts class. James seemed to be the only other who had an odd favorite. It was, for some unknown reason, Transfiguration.

I felt someone wit down next to me, and I smiled. "Hey Lils," Brett said, and kissed my cheek. It was Brett Johnson of Hufflepuff., and we had been dating for about four months. Hey, it was a long time for me. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw James scowl, so I had to try and suppress my chuckles. He sure was a good actor; always pretending to fancy me. But I wasn't stupid; it was all an act that I had been aware of for the past six years.

I turned back to Brett. He had long golden blonde hair and light blue eyes. He was tall, also. I guess he was cute. The best part was, though, he was Ravenclaw's Quidditch Captain and Seeker. It was so wonderful because this just added to James's jealousy, since he's Gryffindor's Captain and Seeker.

"Sorry, I didn't see you yesterday. I was a bit wrapped up," Brett said. I smiled and replied.

"No problem." I only liked Brett as a friend, but I let him stick around to annoy James. It was funny… no, it was hilarious. For some reason, I always did love to make James mad and annoyed. It was just another thing on my daily schedule.

"Johnson, get away from Lily," James said forcefully. I rolled my eyes and leaned over to Shae who was sitting on the other side of me.

"Here we go again," I whispered. She nodded and gave me an exasperated look.

"Potter, how many times do I have to tell you?" Brett began. "Lily's mine." James jumped up and I looked him in the eye. I could see a fire burning inside of him.

"She's not an object that you can use at will. She's a person," James began. Before he could say anything else, I cut in.

"Potter, calm down. I'm going out with him, not you. Just get over it," I icily said. I stood up next to Brett and he wrapped his arm around my waist. Together, we walked from the hall.

Hours later, I was in my usual seat for Charms. I loved this subject, so I naturally grabbed a seat in the center, first row. I smiled up at the Professor as he began.

"Hello students!" he chimed.

"Hello, Professor Flitwick," everyone dully replied.

As he began to review from previous years, I took notes on every word he said. I was always like this; taking notes very animatedly.

Before I knew it, my mind was newly refreshed with Charms information and I had earned my house twenty more points. I slowly walked back to the Common Room in a daze with the rest of my friends vigorously chatting next to me.

The next week had just flown by and before I knew it, it was Saturday morning and I was sitting alone by the fireplace. I had my book in my lap and was reading quickly. I heard footsteps coming, and I looked up. From the boys' staircase, it was James Potter. I groaned and returned to my book.

"Hey Evans," he said, sitting next to me and ruffling his hair. I hated it when he did this! "What are you reading?"

"A book," I said, not even glancing from the pages.

"Ooh, being quite detailed today, aren't we?" His perfect smile flew across his face and his eyes lit up. He snatched the book from my hold and held it above his head. Not this again.

"Potter, you obviously don't know a way to a woman's heart if you think that this is going to get me to like you." His smile grew wider and his eyes glinted again.

I reached up to smack his cheek, once again, but this time, he was ready. He was a star Quidditch player, and had, unfortunately for me, wonderful reflexes. He grabbed my hand with one graceful stoke. I inwardly groaned and shut my eyes. I heard him gasp and my eyes jumped open. I ripped my hand from his.

"L-Lily?" he asked, staring me in the eye. "Lily, what happened to your hands?" I shoved my hands into my jean pockets and shook my head. "You can tell me." His eyes were pleading.

I shook my head again. "You wouldn't understand."

"Yes, I think I would." Everyone always says this, but they never do. Everything happens to me, and they always say the same thing, even though they have never confronted anything like it.

I leaned back farther into the deep sofa, and tried to hide my wincing. "What? Do you… do you have more scars?" I closed my eyes, not wanting him to see the tears welling up in them. "Lily, you should go to the Hospital Wing. I don't know what happened, but I know that you should go."

Who said that again? It was James. Why was he being so sweet? Beats me. Where else are my scars?

I shut my eyes and answered my own question. My back, the back of my neck, and my hands. "I guess I should go," I said. I stood up and began to the portrait hole.

"I'll take you," James offered. For some reason, I smiled weakly at him and walked next to him down the hallways. I had been planning to go to the Great Hall to get some food instead of doing what he asked, but I couldn't now that he was next to me.

We reached the doors of the Hospital Wing and James opened them for me. I issued one more fake smile.

A while later, I was sitting on one of the beds, with Essence of Murlap plastered all over my cuts. They had already been closed, but it was to get rid of the scars. James had left about a half hour before and I was to stay over night with the nurse, Madame Knapp, Bethany's aunt, and her trainee, Madame Pomfrey. Soon, I was fast asleep; drugged from all of the potions that I had been given.

I was sitting alone in the living room of my father's house, sorting through my new school supplies. The door opened, so I naturally looked to see who it was. My step-mother, Mary, had just walked in. She was scowling darkly at me.

I gulped and stared into her eyes, knowing what was about to happen. "You freak!" she screamed, throwing her bag at the door, with such a force that it shut. Petunia had gotten all of her disgust for me, from this evil woman. "You think you are so wonderful with your magic, but you're not. You're nothing but a freak."

"No, I'm not," I replied, trying to hide the fear in my voice, but failing miserably.

Her eyes glinted madly and before I knew it, she had thrown me to the wall. I slid down on the broken pieces of glass to the cold marble floor.

"Don't you dare back talk me," she spat, only inches from my face. With all her strength, she threw me out of the French doors that opened up to the tiny courtyard. I skid on my hands, trying to hoist myself up quickly. I put one hand on my back and it felt too warm. It was blood. I glared at the direction that I thought she was in, as the doors slammed shut, locking me out. My father was home.

I could hear her explaining to him that I had gone berserk and ruined everything. Pfft. I walked around to another side of the house and slowly crawled up the drain pipe, inching my way to my open window. I hopped in, finally, and just cried onto the floor of my bathroom.

I woke up, my eyes a little blurry. I saw two people hovering over me. I sat up and rubbed my eyes. Standing there, was Shaylene, and James. What was he doing here?

"How are you feeling?" Shae asked. I looked at my hands. The scars were gone, but some brown substance was caked on.

"Better," I replied, smiling at her. James had obviously told them about it.

"So… how'd you get the cuts?" she asked, making me a little too uncomfortable.

"I… um… fell… down the stairs… at my father's house," I lied, hoping they'd believe me. Shae just smiled, and didn't think anything of it, but James gave me a concerned look. Why did he care?

"Can I get out of here yet?" I asked casually. They both nodded and I jumped up. James went off to find the rest of the Marauders while Shae and I talked. Apparently only she, James, Kristina, Bethany, Sirius, and Remus had visited me, not even Brett. I shrugged it off, after all, it was only one night and not that big of a deal. We reached the Great Hall, moments later, for lunch.