A/N – Hi! I'm pleased with the response for this here story. So here's the second chapter! Either expect the 3rd by December 6th, or the next time it'll be posted would be on...say... January the 2nd? Yeah, cause I'm going overseas for hols...

Other author notes at the bottom! On with the story...oh, but first:

Disclaimer: I own nothing, so pls don't sue me! I could only give youa hand full of coins. And my brother, if you want. The lyrics of the song belong to Staind, and the song name is It's Been Awhile

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And its,

Been awhile,

Since I could,

Hold my head up high.

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Lily sat on her bed in the dorm, curtains pulled tightly together, leaving her in darkness, wiping away the tears from her eyes with her thumb.

She knew she must have been looking a sight.

She could feel her hair tumbling out of its bun, and her eyes felt dirty and swollen. Her nose was runny, and she was hiccupping slightly.

But she couldn't help it.

What Potter had said had hit a nerve.

She reached out for under her mattress, and pulled out a thick photo album.

It was full of old and funny pictures of her family before she came to Hogwarts, before her parents were –

She stiffened and hurriedly shoved her trail of thought away from that particular area.

It had been more than three years, but it still hurt.

As if sensing her thought, the book tumbled out of her hands, and onto the mattress, flipping open to a page.

When she picked it up, she barely stifled a gasp.

The photograph looked worn and crinkled. It was dog-eared, and had smudges of what looked like chocolate. It was obvious that it had been looked at millions of times.

It was a picture situated in the Scottish hills.

Lily still remembered that day clearly; enough to make it seem as though it had happened just yesterday.

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"Lily dear, slow down!"

A 10-year-old Lily Evans laughed, filling the air with clear, ringing tones as she turned to look back at her mother, who was strolling leisurely down the path.

"Mother! Faster! I want to see the castle before the close for tea time!"

Marie Evans just shook her head in amusement at her exhilarated daughter. The girl sometimes was too active for her own good.

"Darling, the castle's not going anywhere! Teatime isn't for another hour or so! We have plenty of time. Come! Sit by me."

Marie settled down gracefully on the grass, under the shade of the great oak tree, just basking in the cool, refreshing breeze that swept along the hillside.

Lily flounced up to her mother, and plopped down next to her mother, with as much as grace as a rhino.

Her mother just smiled.

"Lily, you know, it won't kill you to be more lady like! Looking after your own looks won't hurt anyone."

"Mom!" whined Lily, "No one cares whether I look nice and pretty or not! Manners, I can understand, but looks? Nu-uh, it doesn't float my boat."

Marie looked wistfully at Lily, almost as if contemplating the future.

"I just hope Lily, that when one day someone decides that those wonderful brains of yours aren't enough, I will be there to hold you up and repair the shattered pieces of your broken and bruised heart. I hope I live to see that day."

"Mom!"

Lily looked sharply at her mother.

Marie seemed to shake out of her stupor, and smiled softly at her daughter.

"Just remember that I'll always be there."

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Lily choked back a sob as she lightly traced the outline of her mother's happy form in the picture.

This had been a mere 5 months before Lily received a letter, and a year before Voldermort decided her parents didn't deserve to live.

She grew aware of her surroundings as a door slammed shut in her dormitory.

"Oh my gosh, did you see?"

"Yeah, I know! I mean, who would have ……"

"All I know is that Evans had a breakdown!"

"Unbelievable!"

"Cor, I thought that girl's heart was made of stone!"

"Who cares?"

"Wasn't James looking hot while fighting?"

"Humph! More than I can say for Evans."

"Oh honestly, has she ever heard of a hairdresser?"

"Just as much as she's heard of the word fashion, I suppose!"

"Oh shush, she's right beyond those curtains!"

"Aah, leave it, she probably cried herself to sleep by now."

"Typical."

Lily bit her lip as the other Fourth Year Girls exited the dorms, slamming the doors again.

Tears slowly started to track down her face again.

She flung herself on her pillow and clung to it desperately.

'Mother, where are you now?'

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And it's,

Been awhile

Since I

First saw you

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James stared at the girls' staircase leading to the dormitory.

People were talking all around him now; tons of hands jostled his shoulder, vying for his attention.

"Good one Potter!"

"Ooh Jamie! That's showing the know – it – all!"

"Serves her right!"

"Good on you mate, we should have stood up to her earlier."

"JAMES! GO OUT WITH ME!"

"Back off slut! He's mine!"

He let the voices wash over him, a soothing background noise for his troubled mind.

He hadn't meant her to get hurt; cripes, how could he have known that Lily Evans would get hurt?

But looking back at the words they had spewed over the years, he was surprised that she hadn't broken down earlier.

The only time that James had seen Lily break down was during the Christmas Holidays in First Year, when they had been the only Gryffindors staying back.

Back then, they had been friends. They studied together, joked together and bickered together.

That was before the news of –

James throat tightened.

Though he had never known the Evans', if they were like anything that Lily was, they would have been the perfect family.

Lily never had the mask back then.

She shared secrets, smiled and joked around just as much as everyone did, and everyone seemed to want to be her best friend.

But maybe that had all been an act.

Had he really known her after all?

They had usually talked about him.

Lily had always steered the conversation away from her life. As though it not important where she had grown up. What were her favourite things were.

It had been awhile since James Potter had really seen Lily Evans.

And now he was determined to never let that happen again.

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And its,

Been awhile,

Since I've said

Sorry.

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Author Notes: So? How was it? I'm not writing more until I get a response...Let's set a limit, saaaaaaaaay...hmmmmmm, let's see, you make my review mark reach at LEAST 30/31, and I give you a humoungous chapter and two chapters before I leave on the 6th?

Review ppl!