Author's Note: Wow, I feel so inspired I wrote the next chapter already. (You know you love me!)

I'm not sure when the next update will be due to a lot of stuff like; my work, my beta going away, the release of The Deathly Hallows, you know… life. But I've made a deadline for finishing this story, which would be around the 20th of august, which is when school starts again. And then I'll most certainly not have the time to be writing.

Yeah … enjoy.

Chapter 8: What doesn't kill you makes you stronger

"Shush," Lily whispered as she stroked Aurora's hair, "it'll be alright…"

"You're worth more," Elisabeth tried.

It was 2 AM and the three of them were seated in Aurora's bed. Their two dorm mates were since long asleep, and Lily had put a silencing charm around their beds so that they wouldn't be disturbed.

"What is wrong with me?!" Aurora wailed (Lily was slightly worried that the silencing charm around their dorm mates' beds wasn't enough, she ought to have silenced the dormitories above and underneath them as well). "Why can't I have a serious – don't you dare use that joke – relationship with anyone?!" She sobbed. "I'm going to end up like some old bachelorette! I'm never going to get married, I-"

"I'll be okay," Lily said. "You'll find someone-"

"No I won't! Guys only see me as a slut! That's apparently what he did!"

"No," Elisabeth said, "you-"

"You even said so yourself once!" Aurora pointed out.

"I didn't mean it," Elisabeth tried, "please, Aurora honey-"

Aurora said nothing, just continued sobbing.

"Why did he break up with you anyway?" Lily asked quietly.

"He's a complete idiot!" Aurora cried out. "He was all like, 'oh, Aurora, I think this is going too fast, you see, I'm not ready for a serious relationship' – I'm not ready for a serious relationship, that's the oldest excuse ever! How dare he! How dare he! How dare he!"

"Well," Elisabeth said, "you know, maybe it's true. Sirius Black has never been one for serious relationships, has he?"

"How dare you take his side!" Aurora wailed.

"I'm not taking his side!" Elisabeth exclaimed. "But if it's true, that'd prove that there's absolutely nothing wrong with you, and you'll probably find someone eventually."

"You think?" Aurora sobbed.

Lily and Elisabeth nodded. "You'll find someone," Elisabeth said. "I'm absolutely positive. You just gotta be patient."

"And remember," said Lily, "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger."

Dear Harry,

Being the one who sought contact through a personal advert in the lonely hearts column of the school's magazine, you'd think I know all about prejudices and wanted to get away from it. I suppose some would say I have had my fair share of prejudice, but only from those I don't care about anyway. But I'm afraid to say I might be very prejudicial myself. I often judge people based on their actions way back, or their reputations, and I'm often wrong. I had such a situation recently and I'm afraid it went quite out of hand and now it's all ruined.

But, what doesn't kill you only makes you stronger, right?

As for the two stereotypes you tried to make me choose between, I'm neither, though some people might see me as the exceptionally bright student – prejudices again, here we go. I see myself as an efficient and hard working girl, but naturally, you're right – we haven't really got any free time. I suppose I was referring to holidays or vacations, then?

I am truly sorry for disappointing you, but I'm not a big quidditch fan. I have never really gotten acquainted with the game myself, as I have never played it, due to my great fear of heights. I'm not much of a flyer; I prefer to keep myself grounded.

Normally, I would have tossed your letter away when I read about your quidditch obsession (or is it just healthy interest?), that would be my prejudices making my decisions once again. My experience tells me that quidditch players are shallow and self-centered. (I assume you play quidditch yourself? Are you perhaps on one of the house teams?) But I've already seen that there's more to you than the shallowness of quidditch players, so here I am, writing your response.

Hope you did get your beauty sleep – I certainly didn't get mine as I had to sit up until four AM comforting my best friend.

Love,

Me

Well this was awkward, Lily thought as she and James made their way back to the Gryffindor common room in the evening a few days later after having attended to some Head Boy and Girl duties. Normally on those occasions, one of them would dash off with some lousy excuse, or even without telling the other if he/she was exchanging a few words with one of the prefect or somebody else. But tonight, they both had finished at the exact same time, and neither one of them had seemed to be able to come up with some excuse. Therefore, they had began a dead quiet walk back towards the common room, which they now had been enjoying – er, enduring – for the past minutes.

Lily glanced at James, who seemed to be focused on the end of the corridor that they were walking through. Things were really screwed up.

Both of them seemed greatly relieved when they got to climb through the portrait hole and enter the warmth of the Gryffindor common room.

Lily scanned the room to see if her friends were there, and was a bit surprised to see Aurora sitting in Sirius's lap, laughing and whispering something into his ear. They were snuggling in one of the two couches facing each other by the fire. Next to the couple sat Remus Lupin, ignoring Sirius and Aurora's activities and instead engaging in a conversation with Peter Pettigrew, who was sitting opposite him. Next to Pettigrew sat Elisabeth, looking quite uncomfortable. As she spotted Lily, she immediately rose and headed over.

"What on earth happened?" Lily asked curiously and nodded towards Sirius and Aurora.

Elisabeth made big eyes. "I have no idea! We were just sitting there and I thought she was a bit distracted, and then she said that we were to sit next to them, and all of a sudden they were making out."

"So, did they make up or what?"

"Er, I guess? Or, not that I know. Oh I don't know. And I witnessed it. I don't get it."

"She's gifted," Lily mused.

Yes, Aurora sure was gifted when it came to boys (whether or not she thought so herself the previous night). In a month's time, she had managed to go out with Ernie Jefferson, let the relationship with Ernie Jefferson peter out, flirt with John Jones and a number of other boys, get acquainted with Sirius Black, get into a relationship with Sirius Black, break up with Sirius Black, and then get back together with Sirius Black.

What had Lily achieved in the same month? A penpal.

Had she had Aurora's gifts, she'd have achieved a dozen penpals, of which she'd have met and slept with half of them, she'd have had a relationship with Potter and broken up with him a dozen times, she'd have snuck out to Hogsmeade with that Ravenclaw boy… the list was long.

But no, she had achieved nothing of that. She just had her penpal. And she was desperate to get upstairs to see if he had found the time to reply yet.

And as she had hoped, there was a letter waiting for her when she arrived.

Dear you,

Surely that was your prejudices playing tricks again. You thought that I, only because I mentioned that I enjoy quidditch, am stupid enough to reveal whether or not I play on one of the house teams. I am not, and I cannot stress this enough, stupid; in fact, I'm very well aware of the fact that such a revelation would narrow the number of people who I could possibly be down to quite few.

Therefore, I will be leaving that question of yours unanswered.

As for prejudices in general, I've been the subject of a lot of those recently. Like you said, many people judge you on your precious actions. But truth is, people do change. They really do. Although, the saying 'once a thief, always a thief' might be true, as people don't switch from dark to good in just one night.

I'm rambling. Does what I say make any sense? I don't even seem to have a clear point.

That saying you mentioned, 'what doesn't kill you makes you stronger' has seemed to be very frequently applicable in my life recently. I won't go into details, but it's a good saying. I use it almost like a mantra.

If we ever do get to meet, I'll take you flying. When done properly, you'll realize that the height isn't scary at all, but in fact beautiful. Hogwarts with surroundings from above is one of the most beautiful scenes that I've ever seen.

So I assure you, you did not disappoint me with your dislike of flying and quidditch. That just means that I get the honour of showing you the greatness of both of those things.

Hope your friend is alright. And you too, of course.

Love,

Harry

Lily snatched out a piece of parchment and a quill from her trunk to start writing a reply, when the thought hit her.

She didn't want to write to 'Harry'. She wanted to snuggle with him.

How wonderful this whole getting-to-know-each-other-thing might be; she did long for the closeness of another person. She wanted to feel the warmth of his body, she wanted to get cozy with him in the common room – well, given he was a Gryffindor, but any place would do –, she wanted to have him walk her to her classes, she wanted to study with him in the library, and she even wanted him to take her flying.

No, wait, delete the last one. She wasn't really sure of the flying-thing, no matter how pretty the sight of the Hogwarts grounds at sunset might be. It wouldn't be so pretty anyway when she had thrown up all over him due to her problem with heights.

An idea started to form in her head. It was dangerous. Well, not maybe lethally dangerous, but it was scary. And not very Lily-ish at all.

But she was going to do it.

Author's Note: Mwahahahaha! What is Lily up to?! Those who guess correctly will have the next chapter dedicated to them.

I think we've gotten about half way through the story, my very rough outline includes 15 or so chapters, though that may change when stuff takes more chapters than I've estimated.

Review and guess, my lovely people!