Not as happy with this chapter as I could have hoped, but I promise it'll pick up, and Lily'll get much more of a personality, when she gets to school.

Again, tell me what I'm doing right/wrong. Constructive criticism is greatly appreciated. Hope you enjoy!

Also, Hogwarts and Voldy and Lily and so on and such forth are very much not mine.

Chapter 1

The stairs of the large mansion creaked loudly as Lily walked down them, tripping over her robes. She was exhausted beyond all means, and it showed on her face. Her once bright green eyes were dull, and large, dark bags sat under them, almost as if they were just holding her eyes up.

Her thin socks slid easily over the dark polished floor as she made her way to the kitchen, to see her father. Well, he wasn't really her father, she supposed, but when she was little he had insisted that she think of him as so. She never had a real family anyway, so it didn't make much of a difference.

"Ah, Lilith. Awake at last." Voldemort smiled at the girl as she shuffled in, pulling out the chair and gesturing for her to sit next to him. She sat down quietly, ignoring the rest of the people sitting around the table as she filled up her plate with various breakfast foods.

"My Lord," Druella Black, a plump woman with pale hair and heavy eyelids began, "the school year is beginning once again, and seeing as you have more... important matters to deal with, do you wish of me to bring Lily along with my daughters and I to acquire the necessary supplies?" A proud woman, Druella smiled largely at Voldemort, her eyelids crinkling at the edges. Her three daughters, Bellatrix, Narcissa, and Andromeda all sat at the table as well, across from Lily. Bellatrix had dark, wild hair and had inherited her mother's eyes, as well as her reverence for Voldemort. Narcissa had hair to the likes of her mother, but she had piercing eyes and sallow skin, though it didn't damage her good looks. Andromeda looked very much like Bellatrix, with her dark hair and eyes, though the air around her didn't seem filled with arrogance. Her hair was pulled back from her face, and she avoided looking at Voldemort. All three sisters were beautiful, each in their own way. Bellatrix was the oldest, in her seventh year at Hogwarts, then Andromeda, who was in the same year as Lily: their sixth. Then Narcissa, the youngest came up last as a fifth year.

"How generous of you," Voldemort answered, no emotion in his face. He simply nodded at Lily, implying that she was to go shopping with Druella when the time came. Lily didn't say anything, her eyes drooping. She would easily fall asleep at the table if she hadn't known what Voldemort would do to her if she did. "Lilith, open your eyes!" he snapped, and then turned to speak to Lucius Malfoy, a tall man with long pale hair who had graduated Hogwarts the year before, "Malfoy, what did you do to my daughter that has exhausted her so?"

"M-my Lord, I- she- last night, after we t-took care of that muggle family, she nearly gave our position away," Lucius stammered, looking at the floor, "I- I had to punish her, like you s-said to do." He winced, expecting a hex, or worse, to come flying in his direction. Instead, Voldemort just frowned and asked how badly he had punished her. Lucius told him that the curse only lasted a minute, and then he let Lily go on her way. Voldemort nodded and sent Lily back to her room without even touching her breakfast, telling her to stay up there and think about how to better her missions.

"Yes, father." Lily stiffly. She pushed her chair back and dumped her plate in the sink, then went up to her room and collapsed on the bed, falling asleep right away.

She dreamt colors. Not so much people, or words, or even shapes. Just colors. There was mostly a bright green flash, interrupting the other colors floating through her mind. She'd be dreaming purple, a nice, deep purple, when a green flash interrupts and causes her to murmur and turn over. The green flash would always return, no matter how nice of a sleep she was having.

This night, she dreamt baby blue. That was the color of the boy on the stairs, baby blue. The calming innocent color surrounded her as she slept, filling her with you and the feeling of safety. Right as Lily was truly calming down, falling into a deep sleep; green broke through the blue, flashing brightly in her mind.

She woke up with a loud, desperate gasp. The green had surrounded her, and felt like it was suffocating her.
She turned over and pulled her knees to her chest, lying on the large bed with her eyes wide open, their green reflective of her nightmares.

"Come on, Lils, time to go shopping." A soft hand nudged Lily awake. Andromeda stood smiling over her bed, a small pouch in hand. "Here's the money he told me to give to you. You're lucky he, or anyone else for that matter, didn't come to get you. If they saw you sleeping, you'd have worse than a small Crucio."

Lily sat up and rubbed her eyes. Her red hair was a mess, knotted up and falling in her face. It was obvious that she hadn't slept much, but Andromeda was too nice to say anything. She sat on the bed next to Lily and helped comb out her hair, talking to her as she brushed out the long locks.

Andromeda was different from most of her family. Though she definitely looked like she belonged, and she was sorted into Slytherin just as the rest of them had been (apart from Sirius, her cousin, but he was a different matter altogether), she was much kinder. Bellatrix was rude, and she would take whatever chance she could to hurt somebody. At least Narcissa was quiet, but it was obvious that she wanted to dispose of Muggles and Mudbloods as quickly as possible.

The rest of the day was a blur: Lily , Andromeda, and Bellatrix went together to get their supplies, while Narcissa went with Druella. Lily tried to ignore Bella as much as possible, but the older girl's distaste was obvious. Everybody knew that even though Voldemort had adopted Lily when she was a baby, she was still a filthy Mudblood, and they wouldn't let her forget it.

The final straw came when Bella hexed Lily's shoes so she couldn't move. After falling flat on her face, quite literally, Lily grabbed her wand and threw a curse at Bellatrix, hitting her right in the stomach. Bella grabbed at her ruined robes with a furious expression on her face, and a small duel ensued. By the time Druella showed up, both girls' robes were ruined, and Bella had a large rash on her skin.

"Girls! What on Earth? You- you should both be ashamed of yourselves! Especially you." Druella glared at Lily, and got to work on fixing her daughter's rash. Andromeda, who had wisely stayed out of the fight, grinned at Lily and mouthed the words, "you won." Lily smiled back, though a sinking feeling that had appeared in her gut never swayed. She turned to apologize to Bellatrix, but the glare she received instead made her mouth clamp shut.

The shopping trip over, the rest of the week passed by in a blur. Voldemort didn't give Lily any more missions; instead, she was in charge of assigning the missions, which she was used to. Three more muggle families down, and the beginning of her sixth school year staring her down from a day away, Lily closed her eyes and slept another restless night.