A New Beginning

(The End)

Contrary to popular belief, teachers (and headmasters) do notice if the entire school goes out on the grounds to watch three girls swim in a freezing lake and summoning a giant squid. In fact, said three girls and their six conspirators get in lots of trouble if this happens, and especially if a student is almost attacked by the squid.

The girls, conspirators, and student in question had been hauled into the headmaster`s study as soon as the rowboat carrying a conspirator, one of the girls, and the student was pulled ashore.

"Would anyone care to enlighten me on why exactly three reasonable girls would want to jump into a frigid lake and summon the giant squid?" Professor Dumbledore said, his eyes twinkling in amusement.

Melody spoke up, shivering under the towel that barely covered her sopping wet bathing suit. "Well, you see professor, there was a bet."

Mattie raised her eyebrows in shock, not expecting her friend to give it away so easily. Melody didn`t look away from Dumbledore as she continued. "I told Mary that if Gryffindor won the match last Saturday, then I would jump in the lake. Mattie and Lil got in on the bet too, and obviously we lost."

"Does this have anything to do with that ensemble you were sporting earlier?"

"Yes sir. That was part of the bet too."

Dumbledore nodded and turned to look at the Marauders over the rims of his half-moon spectacles. "I see. Who summoned the giant squid?"

"It was me, professor. I was trying to motivate them to swim faster, and it got out of control. I was trying to fend it off when I fell in." James said. Sirius had a date with Brenda Swan that he`d be late for if he ended up in detention, so it was his job as a best friend to take the fall for it.

"Do you understand the seriousness of what you have done, Mr. Potter? Students could have been severely injured if the teachers hadn't calmed the creature. You yourself would have been eaten had Miss Evans not been such an extraordinary swimmer."

Nobody made a serious Sirius joke at that grim topic.

"I understand, sir."

"I knew you would, James. Miss. Prewitt and McDonald and Mr. `s Black, Pettigrew, and Lupin, you are free to go if you have nothing more to add."

"What about us, professor?" Mattie asked nervously.

"Please don`t be too harsh on Lily and Mattie, the whole bet thing wasn`t their idea." Melody

"Considering the circumstances, I think Mr. Potter and Miss Evans have received punishment enough for their actions. A giant squid is much more terrifying than any detention, and I`m sure they have learned their lessons." Lily let a smile creep across her face for the first time since stepping into the office, her nervousness melting, and James silently celebrated. "However," Dumbledore continued, turning to Melody, "You and Miss Bell will receive an additional detention each to the detentions you`ve received earlier today, and you both loose forty points from Gryffindor."

The girls sighed. Melody had already lost fifty points that morning for not wearing her uniform. The other Gryffindors were not going to be happy with them when they got out of detention.

That evening while Melody and Mattie scrubbed the dungeon floors, James was taking the long way back from Quidditch practice.

Since he was in a melancholy mood, he'd made the team run ten extra laps around the pitch. This, plus the fact that James had refused to cut practice short even though it started hailing half way through made it dangerous for James to return to the common room right away. He decided to take a detour to the owlery while the Gryffindor team cooled off.

James didn`t really have anyone to write to, so he he`d just been planning on sitting in there and procrastinating for a few minutes.

That is, until he heard the sobs.

It was defiantly a girl. James stopped outside the door to the owlery and closed his eyes, wondering who it was and whether or not he should go in. The mental debate only lasted a minute before his bold and protective Gryffindor instincts kicked in.

"Are you okay?" he asked gently, turning into the room and seeing a figure huddled in the shadows.

There was a sniff and a muffled reply James couldn't make out.

"What?"

"Go away, Potter." Snapped the figure.

"Evans?" James` voice toughened. "What are you doing up here?"

"Crying my eyes out, if you don`t mind. Now leave me alone."

James, who as a general rule always did the opposite of what Lily wanted, sat down a few feet away from her.

"Potter, I`m really not in the mood."

God, Evans was annoying.

When she finally looked up, eyes puffy and bloodshot, she asked snippily, "Why are you still here?"

"Because, Evans, I know how it feels to be unbearably sad. The only thing worse than being unbearably sad is being unbearably sad all alone. Merlin knows you`re far from my favorite person at Hogwarts, but you`re friends with my friends, which by extension makes us sort-of friends. And I wouldn`t wish unbearable sadness alone on any sort-of friend."

"Oh." She sniffed quietly.

They sat two feet apart, just looking at each other (with occasional tears on Lily`s part) for several minutes in silence.

"Do you want to talk about it?" James said finally.

"Not particularly."

"Okay."

"….."

"….."

"Car accident." Lily said unexpectedly.

"What?"

"My dad was in a car accident this morning."

"Is he alright?" James could already see the answer in her eyes.

"He died. Not instantly, but before they could pull him out of his car."

"Take a deep breath."

"Who are you to tell me to take a deep breath?! I can regulate my own breathing, thanks! Just leave me alone, you`re not helping things. What do you know about death anyway, did your fish die or something?!"

"I`ve never had a fish."

Lily smiled, her expression saying everything.

"My mother passed away over the summer."

Lily gasped. "I`m so sorry. I never knew."

"Nobody knows except the teachers, Sirius, Pete, Lupin, and now you."

"What happened?"

"To my mum? She died one of the only ways magic couldn`t save her. Her heart stopped. Healers said it was from old age."

"Merlin, I`m sorry."

"No, it`s fine, you really couldn`t have known."

Lily was quiet before asking, "Does it get better?"

"Sort of. I mean, when I`m at Hogwarts I don`t exactly forget, but it hurts a lot less. It`s a lot worse when I`m home in the big empty house, just me and the house elves. My dad works all the time and is always away. I think he just can`t stand to be home anymore because it reminds him too much of her."

Lily sat up a bit thoughtfully. "Potter?"

"Yeah?"

"I`m sorry I called you a prat with an oversized head earlier."

An actual Lily Evans apology? It was entirely unheard of.

"I`m sorry I said you were a pretentious drama queen." He relied.

Lily looked up at the boy across from her for what seemed like the very first time. "Can we start over?"

"I think it`s too late for that, Evans. We know each other too well."

"True."

Lily leaned against the wall next to James, their hands inches apart.

"Lily?"

"Hmm?"

"I`m sorry about your dad."

She took a deep breath. "You were right."

"About what?"

"It helps to not be alone." She gazed over at him. "The weight of it isn`t crushing me anymore. Thank you." She whispered the last word.

The two of them sat in the owlery until the sun had gone down. Lily eventually fell asleep on James` shoulder, the letter about her dad crumpled on the ground.

James knew they couldn`t stay there all night, and that Filch would be making his rounds and find them eventually. He didn`t want to wake up Lily, though, and pull her out of whatever dream she was having back into the harsh world in which her father had died. He knew she`d eventually wake up by herself and remember, but at least for now she was at peace. When almost all the stars had come out, he picked up Lily, being careful not to wake her, and draping his invisibility cloak over them, carried her back to the common room.

Lily woke up early the next morning on a couch by the fire.

For a few seconds she was disoriented, and then the night before hit her like a Hippogriff. Her dad. Car accident. Owlery. James. She must have fallen asleep up there.

She quickly climbed up to her dorm and slid into bed. Luckily, none of her roommates were awake yet, so nobody saw her come in.

As she lay staring at the ceiling, the only human awake at Hogwarts, thought of all that had happened in the past week.

Melody had been right. Things had certainly gotten interesting in the wake of the bet.

Across the room, Mary stirred. Soon the school would be awake, and Lily couldn`t wait to see what the new day would bring.

In the mist of the misery and sadness, Lily couldn`t help but feel like she was a new person. A new day, a new Lily.

James had been right when he said it was too late to start over. Somehow though, Lily had achieved what she wanted when she asked that question. It was a new beginning for the two of them; she could feel it in the jittery sunlight of the dawn. Maybe she hadn`t changed that much, but she sure felt different.

She didn`t think about how she`d have to tell her roommates about her dad when they awoke, or how depressing the funeral was going to be, especially with Tuney not talking to her.

Instead, Lily Evans thought of the good things still to come. She might not be fine now, or the next day, but it would get better. James said it would.

And deep down, though she would never admit it to him in a million years, she believed that arrogant toerag.

TO BE CONTINUED...

A/N: Thanks everyone, I hope you enjoyed The Cliched Challenge! If you liked this, an upcoming sequel to this story will be published in September, so keep an eye out for that. In the mean time, I`d recommend checking out Heartless Affections, set before this in fourth year, about another bet under very different circumstances.