A/N: Well, here's an update for you! Thanks so much to all of my reviewers! I can't thank you guys enough! This chapter I actually liked a lot- so far this is coming out nicely in the timeline I've made :) And hopefully I've got it all to fit in before the publication of Deathly Hallows. So please read and review, and I'll see (well, you know what I mean) next update.
Disclaimer: JKR is my idol; if I owned anything here, I wouldn't be posting it online.
She was fifteen, and yet she had endured a tragedy no one should ever have to bear. It came in the form of a letter from a dusty brown owl that soared the air so prominently that all of Hogwarts watched with awe. She saw the bird first, not knowing what wretched news it bore, and smiled. For she knew this was her owl, Satyr, bringing home a letter for her from her family.
Lily Evans had not heard from her family in a few weeks. In fact, the last letter she had received was one of her sister Petunia's, telling her not to send owls to befoul the Evans's good name. Lily shrugged it off. She was used to her older sister complaining about her constantly as if she were a demon. In fact, she'd be quite alarmed if Petunia had sent her a nice letter at all.
Satyr swooped down on the Gryffindor table, dropping a letter tied to his foot in front of Lily. She reached out to pet the owl, but he had gracefully flown back to the Owlery at Hogwarts.
Prat, Lily thought. Thinks he's something wonderful, doesn't he? Wouldn't want to show any of the other owls that he belongs to an ordinary thing like me.
A certain, rather annoying black haired boy seemed to find the owl's behaviour alarmingly funny. "Hey, Evans, since your owl rejected you why don't you go out with me?" questioned James Potter, Lily's arch nemesis at Hogwarts. He was the worst, most horrible boy Lily had ever met. Potter thought that by being Captain of the Quidditch team he was something special; or so everyone else seemed to think so. Lily only thought it made him dorkier. She didn't understand why girls thought he was handsome, either. Messy black hair? He looked like he had just walked out of a rubbish bin, thank you very much, but Lily was not interested.
"At least the owl's slept in my room, something you'll never accomplish, Potter," Lily snapped back, which gained a few obnoxious "oohs" from onlookers, including Lily's best friend, Alice.
Lily took the letter in her hand and tore off the seal. Her name had been scrawled so messy that she would have never thought it was from her neat freak of a mother. Still, she pulled out the bit of parchment that was inside.
"Lillian," It began. Lily's heart sunk. Her mother never used the name "Lillian" unless something truly awful had happened. "I know we haven't written for a long time- we've all been doing well until a few days ago. Petunia and her new boyfriend, Vernon Dursley are thinking about getting an apartment in Surrey. Well, that should be exciting. But there is something I must tell you. We can't seem to find your father anywhere. He said he's just gone fishing on Tuesday, but we haven't heard from him since. Has he written you? We're worried. With all my love, Mum."
Lily had to read the letter twice. Dad was missing? That was strange. He never, ever slept anywhere but at home if he could help it. Even on business he'd always try to skive off of out of town trips. He wouldn't miss work, either. Something was not quite right.
"Alice, read this," Lily said, passing Alice the letter her mother had written her. "Does that sound like my mum at all?"
Alice had visited Lily's family last summer, in which she fully attained title of "Lily's Best Friend." Lily loved her. She was pale with long, silvery yellow hair and piercing blue eyes. Yet Alice had a horrible, wicked obsession with none other than Sirius Black- Potter's right hand man in treachery. Lily would tut in annoyance every time that Alice mentioned Sirius. Frank Longbottom was obsessed with Alice; when would she just give in and say yes to him? They were meant for each other. And Alice had been so complicated by refusing him every time that he'd politely ask her to Hogsmeade. Instead, she chose to chase after Black like every other girl at school.
"She's okay with Petunia moving into that Dursley's house randomly?" Alice asked, quite intrigued. "That doesn't sound like the Mrs. Evans I've known and come to love."
"I know," Lily agreed. "Something's not quite right. And what about Dad? Do you think something might have happened to him?"
"I don't know," admitted Alice. "I mean, he's a grown man, Lils. He can take care of himself. But with You- Know- Who on the rise, who knows what can happen? I hear he's got followers that worship at his feet. They'll do anything."
Lily gulped.
"Like attack an innocent Muggle? Why would they do that?"
"I don't know," Alice replied.
Lily sighed, packed up her stuff, and left the Great Hall for Potions class. She felt bad about leaving Alice there, but she knew Alice wouldn't mind- she'd finally get to flirt with Black, after all, without Lily complaining every step of the way. Lily stormed out into the corridor, kicking her feet.
I hate this, I hate this, I hate this, she thought, rather annoyed. Where is Daddy? I want to know that Daddy is okay!
Then, as if on cue to make her extremely sinister day worse, Potter appeared. He seemed to be without his usual henchmen this time- a group of four other boys, Black, the strangely nice Remus Lupin, and the scrawny, pathetic sample of a Gryffindor ever witnessed, Peter Pettigrew.
"The answer is no, Potter," Lily spat out. "It's always no. It's always going to be no. And if I ever catch you stalking me again, I will hex you into another universe and you'll be begging your mum for your pathetic little life-"
"Fine," James cut in. "I didn't know I was stalking you, Evans. I'll have you know, you're going in the same direction as the men's loo. So, unless little miss prefect is going to venture in there, I'm not following you."
Lily scoffed. Sure enough, ahead of her was the men's loo, which seemed to have a rather disastrous smell of something gone wrong.
"Raincheck on the stalking you, though, I'd love to do that any other time," Potter finished, as he walked right into the loo. Lily sighed again. She might as well tell Slughorn she was quitting potions if this day continued.
Lily finally reached Potions class about two minutes early. Alice had somehow managed to snag a seat next to Black, which the both of them seemed to be very happy about. She waved to Lily when she walked in, but Lily only felt anger. Traitor, she thought. Alice was normally Lily's potions partner.
Class started, and still no one was sitting next to Lily. She looked around the room and noticed everyone was paired up. Well, I don't need a partner to work with. I'm pretty dang good at Potions, if I might say. I might as well start. So Lily began to chop her ingredients into perfect specimens of what was required when Potter walked in.
"Sorry I'm late, Professor," Potter explained, "I got detained, you see. Professor Dumbledore was just congradulating me on being the best student Hogwarts has ever had!" He smiled, and Slughorn had just looked at him. Only Potter could pull off a stupid trick like that.
Lily put her potion over the fire when she noticed the seat next to her was no longer vacant. She looked at the occupier. Of course.
"Go away, Potter," Lily hissed. "I've already started, anyways."
"Find me a new place to sit then," James retorted. Lily glanced all around the room.
Nowhere. Everything was taken; and it was all Alice's fault. Everyone sat with their usual partners. Remus was with Peter, and Frank was with Giddeon Prewett. If only Alice had been with Lily; Potter would have gone to sit with Black!
"Fine. But don't mess up anything, unless it's your hair," snapped Lily.
Slughorn began passing by all the potions, making comments on all of them. "Nice colour, Longbottom," he remarked as he passed by Frank and Gideon. "You're a bit behind, Pettigrew." Yet when he reached Lily and James he only smiled.
"Oho!" Slughorn laughed. "I see that Mr. Potter has made a move on Miss Evans! And what a wonderful potion, too, see this nice mauve colour, class?"
Lily turned bright red.
"Potter here was being too much of a good student before class to be able to pick one of his friends to sit by, Professor, instead of the girl that refuses to go out with him every other week." She snapped back. The entire class laughed.
Once Potions was over, Lily quickly packed up her stuff once more and hurried out of the room. She was anxious to write a response to her dear mum back home, hoping that Dad was found so she could quit being such a worry rat. She raced to Gryffindor common room and took out a fresh piece of parchment and quill.
"Dear Mum," Lily began. "No, I haven't heard from Dad. Is he okay? Have you found him? Write back soon. Love, Lily." Lily ran to the Owlery and located Satyr. He was rather disgraced that she had come to find him at such an untimely hour (it was night time, anwyays, when all the other owls could see her command him) and tied a letter to his leg.
"Deliver to Mum," instructed Lily. "And go fast, please!"
Satyr pecked Lily's hand and flew off into the night. It seemed he was anxious to get away from the other owls, anyways, after Lily had embarrased him.
She was almost at the portrait of the Fat Lady when Alice raced up to her.
"Lily! Lily!" Alice yelled. She got up to her friend and gave her a big hug. "Have you heard the news?"
Lily shrugged. She wasn't really interested in anything more than finding her dad right now.
"Sirius and I! We're going to Hogsmeade next week together! We're an item! Now you and James and I can go double dating, won't that be great-?"
Lily burned red.
"James and I are not dating," she said. "And if anyone thinks we are, remind me to hex them until they get some common sense." With that, Lily scampered into the common room, slamming the Fat Lady's portrait in Alice's face.
"She could have been nice to me, you know," the Fat Lady remarked, a bit in pain, to Alice who was still in the corridor.
A/N: Well, although I liked this chapter- writing it wasn't fun. This is the third version of it I made. So please review, or else you'll have a very unhappy author. Thanks!