When 11:55 came, E.J had already been on the porch, with her bags, waiting for her Thestral carriage to arrive for half an hour. As soon as she'd been a witness to the new union formed by Sirius Black and Emily, she packed her shit and started to wait for her ride out of that hellhole. As if by some form of clockwork, half of the party ended up on the porch at 11:56. And even crazier, Uncle Harry and Aunt Marilyn ended up on the porch too. So there they all were, looking at E.J, saying their goodbyes, and hugging her. And there she was, sitting on the porch like a statue, not moving and not saying anything. When Remus and Lily sat on either side of her, she leaned her head on Remus' shoulder and moaned slightly. No, not that type of moan. She gave that miserable ghost moan. And every few seconds, she would mutter how disgusting Emily and Sirius were.

"Lupe, am I ugly?" she asked, finally speaking to another human being. Remus stopped himself from chuckling as he looked at her.

"No. Why?" he asked, as he laid his hand on her shoulder.

"I don't know." E.J said softly, as she held his hand. And then, crazy as it sounds, once she let go, an insane gust of wind came and a carriage soared through the sky and landed right in front of the house. As E.J rose, so did Remus, and so did Lily. Remus carried three of E.J's gigantic bags and laid them next to the Thestral. As E.J walked to the carriage, it was as if the death march was started. When she reached the carriage, she turned and looked at the two standing before her. First she looked at Remus. And when she did, she smiled, and hugged him. And then, she pulled him down and kissed him. And I don't mean, smooch smooch two cheek kisses. I mean, top lip, bottom lip, frenching, in an innocent way. And it was hot. But it wasn't it. When she pulled back, Remus was flushed, making E.J laugh. "That was good. I really wonder why you don't have a girlfriend now." She said, ignoring the wolf whistles from the porch. And then, he leaned down and kissed her. And we're not talking about cheek kiss, cheek kiss, cheek kiss; we're talking about ultra hot frenching. And when they pulled back again, E.J nodded slowly. "Again, I still wonder."

"I love you too, E.J." Remus said, before they hugged.

"You're still the really sexy brother that I never had." Again, Remus was blushing, when they pulled back. "Write me. About anything- test scores, crushes, dates, series of freaky events. Including the loss of your virginity. Anything at all."

"Same here." Remus said, before he walked away. Slowly, E.J turned to look at Lily.

"You, Missy, can write me about the piece of gum that you step in on your way home- I don't care what. And… maybe you can come visit me over the summer, you know. We can test out our hypothesis about sun exposure. If Lily stays in sun, then she gets uncommon sunburn, and crazy freckles." E.J said to the tearing Lily. "So, don't cry. Because once I leave, you're gonna get a note from me, and by this time next year, you're gonna have a new best friend, and you'll forget all about me."

"Never." Lily said, sniffling.

"Okay, I have to say this to you before I leave. Remus tastes just like a strawberry." Lily laughed, while more tears poured down her face.

"I'll miss you."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever." E.J teased, before she looked at Mr. and Mrs. Potter. "I love you, Aunt Mary. And I love you, Uncle Harry!" Then she turned slowly, and sat in the carriage. "This is not goodbye. It's see you later." Then she smiled as Lily walked away. "See you later!" And again, by that sheer coincidence, once she sat down in the carriage, and Lily was back at the porch, James ran out of the house and to the carriage.

"H-how….can- how can… h." He stopped to catch his breath. "How can you leave without saying bye to me?"

"Very simply, actually." E.J said, laughing slightly. Then she got serious for a minute. "I'm gonna miss you, Prongsie." She whispered.

"I'm gonna miss you too, Ember." James whispered. Then they hugged. And when he pulled back, he looked at her. "Aren't you going to wait to say bye to Sirius?" E.J shook her head.

"No. Somehow, I don't think waiting to say bye to him will be good for anyone. Plus, he's busy." She said, making James look at her questioningly. "You don't know where he is? Well then." Then she smiled. "Write me… about your success in getting Lily, or… I don't know, some other freak occurrence."

"Whatever."

"I heart you, Jaime."

"Love you too, E.J." James said, before he walked away, passing his parents. When Uncle Harry got to her, he already had tears in his eyes.

"Come on, man, you're going to make me cry." E.J said, before she hugged him.

"If you ever need anything- anything at all, you can always write." Marilyn said, before she kissed E.J's cheek.

"Anything." Harry repeated, before he put the bags in next to her. And then, with one kiss on the forehead, he hit the top of the carriage, making the Thestral carriage fly away at the speed of light. And then it was true. She was gone. But her memory was far from distant.

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The next morning, when Sirius awoke, his first rising words were "E.J! I have to say bye to E.J." Then he started to run around like a chicken with its head cut off. Washing his face, brushing his teeth, putting on his clothes, then running down the stairs with his pants halfway down and ending up around his ankles. When he got downstairs, it was morning, and James, Remus, and Emily were having breakfast. "Where is everyone?"

"They went home this morning." James said kinda coldly.

"Oh." Sirius said.

"Sirius, sit down and have something to eat." Emily said, pouring another glass of Pumpkin juice.

"Where is she?" And with that question came Sirius' paranoid looks. He looked to his left and his right, behind him, and at one point, he looked under the table. To give the best description, Sirius had the look that a greedy dog has when he sees food in someone's hand. Only, the food was there to tease the dog that looked around rapidly, with a twitch that went at the speed of light.

"She left." Remus said. And then the doggy's face fell. How could she leave without saying bye to him? That was a question the brewed in Sirius' mind.

"Um… how was her leave?" he asked, still pondering the question with ferocious brainpower.

"Was she mad at you or something?" Remus asked.

"I don't think so. Why? Why would she be?" And while he thought, he couldn't come up with one reason. They'd had oodles of fun in Diagon Alley. Things between them were left perfectly and untouched.

"Because she couldn't wait to get the bloody hell out of here. She waited on the porch for a half hour for the carriage." James said. For a moment, Sirius looked thoughtful, before his eyes widened and he swore extremely loudly. Then he started to bang his head on the table, before he held his head and groaned loudly. He remembered some. Bits and pieces were coming back to him slowly.

"Sirius, what's wrong?" Emily asked.

"Emily, um… you have to leave." Sirius said, looking at his watch.

"What? Why?"

"We have to leave. And I have to get ready so that we can le-"

"Okay, well in that case, we should get together this week." Emily said, before she kissed his cheek and walked away to the in house apparition site. And once she got into the phonebooth like space, she popped away.

"You and she were attached to one another last night. It was disgusting." Remus said. "E.J and Lily thought so too." Sirius' eyes widened, and he looked at Remus, before he yelled,

"Why the bloody hell is this happening to me?!" at the top of his lungs, making them look at him. He remembered it all.

"What exactly is happening to you?" James asked, before he took a sip of his pumpkin juice.

"Last night, I snogged and shagged Emily…" Sirius said, before he laid his head down on the table.

"We know." Remus said. Sirius lifted his head weakly, before he groaned.

"After I snogged E.J." Silence.

"Excuse me?" James asked. Sirius inhaled deeply, and then wiped his mouth.

"Okay… I went into E.J's room to give her the present that I got her. And so, she smiled after I gave it to her… and I kissed her. And I kept kissing her. And we only stopped when Smith barged in and said that you needed me. And, that's when I got downstairs and couldn't find you. So, I had a drink with Emily. And another drink, and then another, until I was in a chair, snogging Emily, and eventually hanging her underwear up on the inside of my door. Sorted mate."

"So that's why." Remus said, nodding his head slightly, and looking relieved. "That's why she did it."

"Did what?"

"Snogged me." James and Sirius both looked at him, making Remus grin.

"E.J?" James said, before he opened his eyes widely.

"Yeah, but she was just joking." Remus said, before he noticed Sirius staring at him.

"You snogged E.J?" Sirius asked slowly.

"Not really. It was just a joke."

"For how long?"

"About two minute-"

"You and she snogged for two minutes. E.J. You snogged E.J- E.J?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"I don't know. She kissed me, and I didn't stop her. Actually, I'm probably the one who continued it. And then started it again." Remus said in deep thought. "She's good that way."

"Why-why-w-… But why would you do that? It's E.J."

"Probably because it's E.J." Remus said. "It was actually very fun."

"It's E.J." Sirius said, staring at him. "She's mine." Remus raised his eyebrows and smirked, and James finally snapped from his dead moment.

"E.J snogged someone. She doesn't snog people. She's the good one. She- she's going to stay away from good for nothing blokes forever." He said, still deep in thought.

"Prongs, will you shut up?" Sirius asked, before he looked at Remus again. "Now… you snogged E.J?"

"Merlin, Sirius, yes. Yes, I snogged E.J. E.J is the one that I snogged."

"But, you- E.J- I- E.J-"

"Just say it, Padfoot. 'I had her and I screwed it up.'" Remus coached.

"I was bloody sauced." Sirius growled.

"Nobody told you to get smashed." James said, finally escaping his trance fully. Then suddenly, he stood up. "I have to go."

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The summer passed by in flash for James. That's mostly because every weekend, he, Lily, Sirius, and Remus were getting together, going to movies, going for drinks, and just having fun with one another. For Lily and James, a best friendship had begun to build. And as the friendship built, it got exponentially stronger.

Lonely as hell, he was. His parents attended a benefit at the minister of magic's house, and no one who didn't have a job or a graduation stamp was invited. What could he do? It wasn't as if Sirius was there. Sirius was in his new apartment, shagging anything with legs, in a desperate attempt to get over E.J, and Remus was… well, believe it or not, on a date with a very leggy brunette. As soon as he thought to instant message Lily, the parchment in his front pocket started to burn him. When he opened the parchment, there was a cute smiley face with a tongue sticking out. An instant smile played at James's lips. And without thinking, he pulled out a quill and scribbled.

'Do you want to come over?' Huh… And once he'd written that, he wished he hadn't, because… it was hell waiting for her response. And when it finally came three hours later, it didn't come in the form of words. It came in the form of Lily, on James' doorstep, with a book bag in her hand.