I hope you enjoy the new chapter!

"Miss Evans, please show us the proper way to perform the Protean charm," Professor Flitwick said, pulling me from my reverie. I had already performed the charm several times and had finally sat back in my seat to watch everyone else, but my mind had wandered to, unfortunately, James Potter.

I blinked rapidly and did as Flitwick asked, performing the charm perfectly.

"Well done, Miss Evans!" he squeaked, clapping rapidly. "Ten points for Gryffindor. Now, to those of you who have not mastered this charm, you will do it for homework and try again during our next class. Off you go!"

I gathered my things and stowed them into my bag before leaving the classroom, Alice and Marlene on my heels.

"Lily, you have to show us how to do that spell," Marlene said desperately as we headed to Potions. "I can't even get close!"

"It's simple, you guys," I said as we passed a group of fifth year Ravenclaws who seemed to be poring over their notes.

"Taking their O.W.L. year seriously, I see," Marlene noted as they passed.

"This year won't be unlike our fifth year," Alice pointed out. "We've got our N.E.W.T.s! That's worse! This determines if we graduate!"

Alice's eyes looked panicky and she seemed to have formed a slight twitch in her eye.

"Merlin's beard, Alice," I said in exasperation as we descended the stone steps to the dungeons, the air growing colder. "You'll do just fine! And besides," I added slyly, "we all know Frank will help you this year."

Alice blushed.

"Maybe James will help you," she shot back.

I snorted.

"James Potter? Help me?" I laughed. "As if! It's likely to be the other way around, if anything."

"Yes, well, I've seen you two, you know," Alice said as we took our usual seats in the Potions room. Slughorn was already there and seemed to be having an animated discussion with Severus. I averted my eyes back to Alice.

"What do you mean?" I asked quickly.

Alice and Marlene exchanged quick smiles before Marlene said, "We saw you talking to James the other day."

"I don't know what you're talking about," I said quickly.

"Oh, Lily, just tell us already!" Alice cried overdramatically. She clutched at my sleeve in mock desperation. "We need to know! Are you dating James? Lily, tell us!"

My eyes flicked to Severus, who seemed to have inclined his head slightly in our direction.

Turning back to my waiting friends, I said, "Fine. I told him yes."

Alice and Marlene gaped at me.

"Oh my gosh," Marlene whispered.

"What?" I asked.

"I never thought the day would come when Lily Evans said yes to James Potter," she said before her face broke into a wide smile.

I playfully slapped her on the arm.

"Oh, shush," I said, grinning in spite of myself

"Really, Marlene?" Alice asked, still watching me. "I knew she would give in eventually."

I rolled my eyes as Slughorn called the class to order, announcing the Potion we would be working on today. It was the Polyjuice Potion.

"This is going to be hard," Marlene grumbled as we gathered the needed ingredients. "The Polyjuice Potion? Doesn't that have to sit for a month?"

I nodded, frowning.

Why did Slughorn want us to brew Polyjuice Potion? That wasn't until later in the Advance Potions book. Maybe he just wanted a head start, I thought with a shrug as the three of us began working on our potions.

"Alice, pass me your scales," Marlene said as she chopped up her knotgrass. Alice handed them over and Marlene weighed her ingredients.

Two hours later, Slughorn called our attention back to him.

"Now, we will let our potions sit," he said, "for the designated time before we test out the potions. With any luck, the potions will work and, for an hour, you will look like someone else. There is a special prize to whoever brews the perfect Polyjuice Potion."

With that, the class was dismissed and Alice, Marlene and I trooped up to the Great Hall for dinner before going back to the Common Room to work on our homework.

I helped Marlene and Alice with Protean Charm until well past midnight when they finally perfected it.

"Fantastic!" Marlene cried as she performed the spell again. "Now Flitwick won't have to give me a T for this!"

"He's never given you a T," Alice said as sank into an armchair next to me. I had long ago picked up a Muggle book and fell into that world.

"He may have done," I said slowly from behind my book, "but she may never have told us."

Alice laughed. "That's true."

Marlene moved over to the chair on the other side of me and sat before leaning against the arm rest, her chin cupped in her hand, her eyes wide, watching me.

Peeking out from behind my book, I set it down.

"Yes?" I asked, an eyebrow raised.

"Tell us about Potter," Marlene said with a cheeky grin.

I pursed my lips.

"No." I didn't want to talk about him. I wasn't ready to tell them yet.

"We know you've said 'yes' to him," Alice said and Marlene nodded. "But what did you say yes to? A date, maybe? Or dating him in general? How long have you liked him? Have you been lying to us for years?"

With a sigh, I decided to come clean.

"Hogsmeade. Yes, a date. No. honestly, I'm not sure. No I have not."

Marlene and Alice exchanged glances before Marlene said, "The Halloween Hogsmeade trip?"

"Yes," I nodded.

She gave a small nod of her head.

"But we were going to go together," Alice pouted. "What are we going to do now?"

"What? Am I not good enough company for you?" Marlene asked. She put on a mask of fake hurt and Alice chuckled.

"No! But…Slughorn has a party that night," she said. "Remember?"

I bit my lip. I had completely forgotten about that.

"He gave us invitations weeks ago," Alice continued. "I was actually sort of looking forward to it."

"Isn't it a costume party?" Marlene asked and Alice nodded.

"I would love to go as…oh, I dunno," she said. She turned to me. "What do you think, Lily? What would you like to go as?"

"Maybe…a phoenix or something," I said thoughtfully.

"You'd dress as a bird?" Marlene asked dubiously.

I laughed.

"Not as a bird, but as the idea of the bird," I said. "You know? Red dress, red shoes, maybe fake wings."

"Ooh! And you could wear a feather mask," Alice said excitedly. She was on the edge of her seat, practically quivering in anticipation.

"And what do you suggest we go as?" Marlene asked.

I shrugged.

"Marlene, you could go as a dragon," I suggested. "You know, an idea similar to mine. And Alice, you could be a unicorn or something."

"You know, I think I might really like this idea," Marlene said with a smile. "Okay. It's a done deal!"

"Perfect," I said before yawning. "Well, I'm off to bed. You coming?"

The other two nodded and we headed up to our dorm, sure to be quiet so as not to wake Mary and Emmeline.

"You know, we should invite them," Marlene whispered from her bed.

"Invite who?" Alice whispered back.

"Mary and Emmeline," she replied. "They've never been invited to those kinds of things."

"I think they like it that way, though," I said as I snuggled deep in my blankets.

"But still," she said. "We should invite them. We hardly ever talk to them and they're our roommates!"

The three of us were silent for a moment before Alice said, "I think we should do it."

"Lovely," Marlene said.

After a while, I heard both Alice's and Marlene's breathing deepen, but I was still wide awake, my brain running in circles.

My thoughts were a jumbled mess, going from James to Severus, to Mum and Dad, to Petunia, and back again.

As my thoughts jumped back to my parents, an unknown fear struck in the pit of my stomach.

Would they be next? Would they be the next Muggles You-Know-Who kills? Would I have to be taken from class to be told my parents had been murdered?

I shuddered and rolled onto my side, looking out at the moonlit, starry sky. I blinked and felt a tear slide down my face.

What if I never see them again? What if the last time I see them was when I got onto the train? Would I see them for Christmas? For the Easter holiday? Would they be there to watch me come off the train for the last time?

Sitting up, I threw my blankets off me and crept down to the common room. I sat in the chair right in front of the fire and drew my feet up under me, watching as the fire died out.

Tears kept falling as I kept thinking about losing my parents – and even losing Petunia. She may be a pain in the ass, I thought with a grim smile, but she was still my sister and I loved her.

Memories played around in my mind of Petunia and I before we found out I was a witch.

"Tuney, come and see!" I cried as some unknown force made the fall leaves swirl around me.

"That's wicked!" Petunia said as she stepped beside me, the leaves swirling around her now as well.

"I wonder what's making them do that," I wondered aloud as the leaves continued to swirl.

The memory faded to another, one from the Christmas before I turned eleven.

"Oh, Lily, look at this!" Petunia cried happily, brandishing a book Mum and Dad had gotten her, one that she kept checking out of the library to read. "Oh, Mummy! Daddy! Thank you!"

"You're welcome, Tuney," Mum said as she hugged a dancing Petunia.

"Lily, you're turn," Dad said as Petunia dropped to the floor, opening her new book.

Mum handed me a tightly wrapped present and I ripped it open.

Inside lay a book and I felt slightly let down. While I loved books, they were more Petunia's things. But after I picked it up, I saw that it was a fairytale about wizards. I flipped open the cover and found that it was by my favorite author.

"Mum! Dad!" I cried happily, hugging them both. "Thank you!"

I'd always had a strange fascination for wizards and, the next year, I found out why: I was a witch.

I smiled a tiny smile as my eyelids drooped.

"Do you reckon we should wake her?" a familiar voice asked.

"We have to hurry up, Prongs," another answered. "We're cutting it close. Moony will have to go through it alone."

There was silence before a squeaky voice said, "Why don't we just leave her? I mean, Moony needs us, we shouldn't worry about her."

"I think that's the best advice I've ever heard you give, Wormtail," the second voice said, sounding mildly surprised. "Prongs, c'mon. we have to go. Just leave her. If she's here when we come back, then fine, we'll wake her. But we have to go."

There was a sigh. "Fine. Let's go."

There was the sound of feet moving away and the portrait door swung open and then it closed with a snap not five seconds later, bringing silence with it once more. I drifted back to sleep.

"Prongs, no," a voice whispered. "Just leave her! I'm tired and I want to get a few hours of sleep before we have to get up. She's obviously fine, sleeping in a chair in a very weird position." He laughed. "Must be why you like her, the weird positions."

There was the sound of a slap and the first voice let out a cry of pain.

"Piss off, Padfoot," another voice snapped. "I think we should wake her up so she can sleep in her bed."

"Well, fine," Padfoot snarled. "Wake her up. Make her cranky. It's four in the morning, Prongs. I don't fancy dealing with Evans at four in the morning when she's bound to be pissed that you woke her up. I say just leave her and let her deal with the consequence of falling asleep down in the common room."

"Padfoot?" Prongs said calmly.

"What?"

"You're an arse," Prongs said.

Footsteps neared me and my foot twitched. The footsteps hesitated before I felt a gentle nudge.

"Hey. Hey, Evans," James whispered, nudging me still. "Evans, wake up."

I groaned and tried to move away from James, but I was in a chair. I could only move so far.

"Evans, come on," James pressed, still nudging me.

"Prongs, give it up," Padfoot said. "She doesn't want to move. Leave her be."

"I think Padfoot's right, Prongs," the squeaky voice said.

"Shut up, Wormtail," James said with a weary sigh.

"Well I'm going to bed," Padfoot said. "Have fun."

"Me too," Wormtail said immediately after Padfoot.

James huffed a breath.

"Evans, wake up!" James whispered, nudging me again. But this time, it was one nudge too many.

My hand whipped out, cracking across his face.

James cried out in pain and I heard a clatter. I must have knocked off his glasses.

"What the hell, Evans?" James cried and I heard running feet.

"What happened?" Padfoot asked curiously.

"Evans slapped me!" James cried.

There was a moment of silence before Padfoot busted out in laughter.

"That's what you get," I yawned, stretching, finally done with trying to sleep, "for trying to wake me up."

The laughter stopped as I opened my eyes and stood, eyeing James. I saw, with some satisfaction, a red mark on his cheek and his once straight glasses looked crooked. I flashed a grin and brushed past him.

"Well done, Evans," Black said, holding up his hand for a high five.

I regarded the hand coldly before stalking past him and up to the dorm. I could hear the sound of Sirius's laugh and James's grumbling as they went to their own dorms.

Crawling into my bed, I smiled to myself as I remembered the look on James's face as I walked past him. but just as I was almost asleep, I wondered why they were out of bed in the first place.

Eyes snapping open, I sat up.

So if Prongs was James, and Sirius was Padfoot, and Peter was obviously Wormtail, then…Remus must be Moony. But why were they meeting him? Tonight was a full moon. I had long ago learned of Remus's secret, not that Potter or his friends besides Remus knew, and tonight, Remus should have changed. So why were James and the other two meeting him? Remus was dangerous, they should know that!

There was something I was missing, I knew, but what?

Frowning, I lay back down and, finally, drifted off to sleep, falling immediately into a strange dream.

A big, black dog bounded around a werewolf, nipping playfully at its heels while a stag watched on. There was a feeling of happiness surrounding the three animals and, as I watched, the dog and the werewolf began to wrestle playfully while the stag stamped its hooves eagerly, as if egging them on. A small rat darted out from behind the stag and sat near its hooves, careful to avoid them so as not to get trampled.

The werewolf howled and the dog joined in. Suddenly, the whole scene froze except for the stag which transformed into James Potter. He was smiling at me.

And then the whole scene changed, but James still stood in front of me. Except now he was holding a small, dark haired boy. The child laughed and I reached my arms out for him.

The small boy held out his hands eagerly, his little fists opening and closing as I took him in my arms, cradling him.

James watched the two of us for a moment before walking over and kissing my forehead.

"I love you, Lily Potter," he whispered.

I hope you liked the new chapter! Sorry for taking so long on new updates. I've been a little, ah, stressed these past few weeks and I doubt that'll change anytime soon. Although, hopefully, I'll be allowed to enter Pottermore soon. I need that Welcome email! Haha! I want to get in! Anyways, please review! I really love reading them! Have a lovely week!

~TheTragedyIs13~