A/N: Hooray! Chapter 3...my Lily chapter. I'd like to give a big thank you to all who read the last two chapters. I'd also like to take this time to ask that you guys review. Like it...don't like it (not that I'm asking for flames, but constructive criticism is nice)...whatever. I'm not a very inwardly motivated person when it comes to things like this. I'll keep writing, but if I don't get any feedback, I'll stop posting. So if you like it and you want to read more, please let me know. Otherwise, you won't be seeing very much more of it. So that's that, and now...on to the story!

Chapter 3:

Lily opened her eyes and sat up in her bed. The summer sun shone brightly through the heavy slats of her window shade. She drew the shade up and opened the window. Outside, birds and bugs were chirping. Down the street, Lily could hear the laughter of the Wilson's children as they jumped over sprinklers and chased each other with hoses.

Lily grabbed her favorite sundress and a pair of sandals out of her closet and headed for the restroom, leaving the window open. She dressed quickly and examined her appearance critically. It suddenly struck her how much she had grown since she last wore the dress. It was faded tan with dark green trimming, and it used to reach her knees. Now it was somewhere near the middle of her thighs. Feeling a little self-conscious, she went back to her room and pulled on a pair of cutoff jeans underneath. Then, she headed downstairs to the kitchen. Inside she found her father sitting at the table, reading the newspaper.

"Good morning, Lily," he said cheerfully.

"Morning, Dad. Where's Mum and Tuney?" she said, helping herself to the porridge and rolls on the counter. Her father folded his newspaper and set it aside.

"She's working, and she brought Petunia with her. She said she needed help filing her logs. I was supposed to be off today, but I just got called in, so I'll have to leave you alone. Now I know that doesn't bother you, but you know your mother. She's a bit of a worrier. She said they'd be back around three, so I'll need you to cover for me. Say I went to the market for milk. Something like that," he replied as she sat down beside him.

"All right, but this time, try to remember to actually bring the milk," Lily said. Her father grinned and kissed her forehead.

"I'll try. See you tonight, sweetheart," he said, heading for the front door. She shouted good-bye and he closed the door behind him. She was alone. She put down her biscuit and stared out the window. The birds chirped and twittered happily outside.

Lily knew when she was alone, she was supposed to stay inside, but she hadn't seen her friend Severus in ages. And besides, she was going to bring him back to her house straight away. She'd only be gone for a moment.

She pushed back and got up out of her seat. Trying to hurry herself out before she changed her mind, she left her breakfast as it was and left. She felt the heat of the sun on her skin. It had been quite some time since she had traveled down this street. She passed by the playground where she and Petunia often occupied in summers before. Now, though, it seemed that Petunia wanted nothing to do with her.

She continued down the street and cut through an alley between what used to be a candy store and Old Man Wilkrye's house. From there she followed two streets down and one left until she reached Spinner's End.

To the rest of the neighborhood, it was considered the bad part of town. The houses were decrepit, the streets were cracked and worn, and the people who lived there generally weren't the type one would want to associate themselves with. Not quite the type of place a pretty little girl should be wondering around alone in.

However, this thought never really crossed Lily's mind. She was too busy figuring out how she was going to get Severus's attention to sneak him out of the house. When she reached Sev's house at the end of the street, she was still stumped. She sat down on the curb, racking her brain for a solution. The loud yells and crashes that were emanating from the house were a huge distraction.

She stared at a small piece of rubble down at her feet. And then, she had an idea. She gathered up a handful of rubble from a nearby pothole and scrambled across the yard to the bare oak tree. Now devoutly thankful she had grown over the summer, she stuffed the rocks in the pocket of her cutoffs and scaled the bark. She pulled herself up onto the great, twisted branch that was just half a meter short of Severus's bedroom window and slowly moved herself forward towards the edge.

Lily gathered a bit of gravel from her pocket and chucked it as hard as she could at Sev's window. The miniature rocks clacked against the glass and fell down to the ground. She waited. Nobody came. She tried again and again and again. And the result was the same. In a mixture of anxiety and fear for her friend, Lily grabbed the rest of the rocks in her pocket and launched them as hard as she could possibly muster at the window. In hindsight, she realized that this probably wasn't the best idea.

Instead of the clatter of pebbles against glass, there was a short 'ow!'. Lily looked up to see her friend Severus staring at her with several rocks still stuck to his forehead.

"I'm not sure what I did to deserve that," he said, brushing the debris from his face and hair, "but I'm sure there was a reason."

"Sev I am so sorry!" Lily whimpered.

"It's alright. Climb down, I'll meet you there." He said and closed the window behind him. She looked at the window questioningly for a moment; then, she shrugged and climbed down the twisted oak. She reached the last knot, hopped off, and turned around to see Severus standing inches away from her. "Sorry, I underestimated how close I was to the tree."

"How did you get down so fast?" she asked.

"The trellis that runs down the front of the house is right below my other window. Come on, let's get out of here before he realizes I'm gone." Severus grabbed her hand and pulled her quickly through an alley to a street that ran parallel to his. "So, where are we going?"

"My house," she replied. He raised an eyebrow at her. "Tuney went to work with my mum, and my dad left, and now I'm all by myself, and there is way too much breakfast for me to eat alone. So I guess what I'm getting at is, do you like porridge and biscuits?"

Severus smiled. "I love porridge."