A/N: Hello! Sorry this is probably going to take longer than I want it to as well, but my computer is being an ass (excuse my French). It works in short bursts, so I can only be on the internet for about an hour at a time and only when my computer feels like cooperating. A fanfic writer/reader's worst nightmare! Anyway, thank you to everyone who has reviewed! I only received two of them so far, but I have confidence that I have only gotten two reviews due to the fact that I have not been able to check my e-mail since the afternoon after I updated. I have complete confidence that I have more readers who have reviewed and I just haven't seen it yet!


Ch. 15 Family Matters.

When the exams were over, the air around Hogwarts seemed to breathe a collective sigh of relief. Most of their teachers had given up trying to teach the seventh years anything at all. The students didn't see the point as they had no already taken their exams, which would determine whether they would pass or fail their Seventh Year and what jobs they would be able to get in the magical world. James had turned eighteen only a week before exams, but Lily's birthday was not until the end of June. They had planned to wed in late July that very summer. This meant that there was a lot of planning to be done before they ever left Hogwarts.

"I'll have to spend a couple of weeks with my sister," Lily said, thoughtfully during Charms class on the last Friday of their school year.

"Why," Alice asked, scathingly, "would you want to spend the first couple of weeks of your adult life with that cow you call a sister?"

"Hey! Petunia may not be the nicest sister in the world, but she's the only biological family I have left," Lily replied. Lily's parents had died when she was in second year and her eighteen year old sister, Petunia had been given custody of her until she was eighteen. Her sister had married when Lily was in fifth year, and she now lived in a small house in Little Whinging in Surrey. In Lily's opinion, number four Privet Drive was the most boring and uninteresting place on Earth. She was quite glad that she had bought herself an owl as a Christmas present that year, so that she and James could exchange letters while she was still under her sister's care.

Magic was highly looked down upon by Petunia and her husband, Vernon Dursley. They both regarded Lily as a sort of freak. Neither enjoyed having her at the house, but Petunia felt it was her duty to honor her parent's wish in that matter. Vernon was truly afraid of magic. Petunia had not even told him of her sister's "abnormality" until after their wedding. Lily didn't want to go back to her sister's house, but, under muggle law, she was required to live with her sister until she reached the age of eighteen. Lily had not told Petunia anything about James. She was sure that her sister would not be thrilled at the idea of her marrying a wizard.Lily had already told Alice that she wanted her as a maid of honor instead of Petunia. It wouldn't have felt right to have the sister she barely knew instead of the girl who had been her best friend for seven years as he maid of honor.


"I'm gonna miss you the first couple of weeks," James whispered in Lily's ear so that the rest of her friends, who were now engaged in a conversation about flavors for a Groom's cake, would not overhear. Lily couldn't help but blush as his lips brushed against her earlobe.

"Ms. Evans?" Their Professor had obviously just asked her a question. And she had no idea what he was even talking about.

"Sorry?" she said.

"What is the incantation, Ms. Evans?" Professor Clarqsky asked, now sounding more than a little impatient.

"Reductusio relamus," James said, as if the question had been directed at him.

"Thank you, Mr. Potter, but I was speaking to Ms. Evans."

"Sorry, Professor, but it's such a rare occurrence for me to actually know the answer to a question in your class, I couldn't help but snatch the opportunity up," James replied, smartly. Professor Clarqsky sighed in a long-suffering sort of way. Luckily for Lily and James, the bell rang just as he as about to take points away from them for not paying attention. He was one of very few teachers who would even have tried on the very last day of school.

"How on Earth did you know the answer to that question?" Lily asked James as they walked out onto grounds to enjoy their last afternoon of Hogwarts sunshine.

"I saw Alice writing it down in her notes." Lily rolled her eyes.

"Listen, I'm going to go work on my speech as valedictorian," she said, standing on tiptoe to kiss him on the cheek. "Go do something with Sirius and Remus. I'm sure you've got some sort of end-of-the-year prank to work on together." James laughed. "I'll see you later." Lily ran off in the direction of the castle, leaving James to find his friends for a last game of Quidditch before the end of the year.


James entered Gryfindor Tower alone several hours later. Sirius and Remus had decided to run down to the kitchens and get themselves a snack before coming up. The Common Room was completely empty, spare Lily, who was sitting by the fireplace, crying silently into her hands. It was quite unlike Lily to cry when she wasn't under the influence of terrible potions, and James was worried.

"Lily?" he said softly as he walked over to the chair in which she sat. Lily jumped and looked up at him. Her eyes were bloodshot and puffy. Her cheeks were red and tear-stained. She had obviously been crying for a long time.

"You scared me," she said tearfully.

"Have you been sitting up here alone all this time?" James asked, coming over and hugging her tightly.

"I-I was writing m-my speech and I w-was saying how Hogwarts is like a f-family to all of us and I realized, I'm n-not going t-to have any family with me tomorrow for Graduation," Lily wailed into his shoulder.

"But isn't your sister coming, Lilyflower?"

"N-no. Dumbledore sent her a l-letter but she never responded. Sh-she doesn't like that I'm a witch."

"Lils, it's going to be ok," James said, rubbing her back, soothingly. "You and I are going to be married, and in about two weeks you're going to come to stay at my house, and you're not ever going to have to see her again if you don't want to." Lily only cried harder at his words.

"That's j-just it, James. W-why can't she j-just accept that I'm a w-witch and we can j-just be sisters again? That's all I w-want. She's the only f-family I-I have," Lily sobbed hopelessly into James' chest.

"Shhh, it's going to be ok, Lils. Stop crying, come on now. Shhh, it's ok," James rocked her back and forth and continued to pat her back in an attempt to soothe her. James loved Lily very much, but he knew that there was absolutely no substitution for her not being able to have her sister at graduation or at their wedding. They stayed together for a long time, James trying desperately to comfort Lily, but having absolutely no success.

About an hour later, Sirius and Remus came in from the kitchens, both laughing jovially. Remus noticed Lily and James first.

"So then," Padfoot continued completely oblivious to the fact that his best mate and his best mates' girlfriend were sitting on the couch, one crying into the other's shoulder. "Then, she says, 'But aren't I the only girl you're with right now, Sirius?' Barking mad she must have been!" He was still laughing until Remus jabbed him in the side with his elbow. "Oy! What the-" he broke off, finally noticing Lily and James. "Oh, bloody hell! Didn't see you there mates. We'll, uh, we'll just be going back downstairs then. Studying to do right, right Remus? You've, uh, got to write that Head Boy speechy thing, right?" Remus nodded and turned, giving Lily a sympathetic smile and James a curious look as he went. He knew better than to ask what was wrong, because that was a sure way to get Lily even more upset about it, whatever it was. James would tell them later if it was anything to worry about.

James shook his head as his two best friends walked out of the portrait hole once more. Lily gave a slight sniffle. She wasn't crying quite so hard anymore, the interruption of the other Maurauders having startled her out of it.

"Listen, Lily, sweetie-" James began.

"No, James. I've been being silly. Over-reacting I guess." Her face was still very red, but she seemed to be calming down considerably.

"Ni, Lils. It's completely understandable that you would your family at graduation. I get that, ok? I understand completely and I don't blame you a bit. Not in the slightest. But you have to make me a promise."

"What?" A hint of a smile played around Lilly's face as she spoke.

"You have to promise me that, tomorrow, at graduation, you are not going o dwell on this. Try not to think about it. Hey, you know what?" Lily looked at him curiously. "You are going to have family there. You'll have Sirius and Remus and Alice. And me." He added as an after thought. "So tears I want to see tomorrow are going to be happy tears. Don't think about that bitch of a sister-"

"James! Don't, she's still my sister!" Lily looked like she was about to cry again.

"I know, love. I'm sorry. But I don't want you to dwell on the fact that she's not there. And don't think I'm going to let you slip away from the after party either. Promise?" Lily sighed and nodded. " Now give me a kiss and stop crying." Lily leaned up to kiss him softly. They lie together on the couch for a long while.

"You want to go down to the kitchens and get something to eat? We've missed dinner," James said as people began to file back into the common room.

"Ok," Lily replied, standing.


"You know," Lily said, thoughtfully as they walked hand-in-hand down the hallway, "After we're married, you'll be the only real family I have." She smiled sadly and they walked the rest of the way down to the kitchens in silence.