Hey Lily,

How're your hols going? Do say hi to Petty from me, please.

I am having the worst holiday in the history of worst holidays. I bet when you read this you'll think I'm being melodramatic, but it's true. You see, Mike's come home. He's my older brother (you know that) and he's brought his fiancée home to meet my parents and I.

You wouldn't believe what a bitch she is, Lils! Literally the first moment I saw her I hated her. She's good-looking, I guess, (long blonde wavy hair, brown eyes and super-long eyelashes) but she's horrible.

I haven't even gotten to the worst part yet - she's a Hogwarts graduate and she's teaching DADA next year! Isn't this awful? She's going to fail me and tell all the teachers untrue shit about me, and I know it. I've tried talking to mum and dad about it, but they absolutely love her. I don't know what to do, so please help!

Wish we could catch up sometime, but you know how my folks are! (Holidays are family and non-magical friend's time)

Missing you,

Mel

Dear Lily, love of my life,

How's life over in the Muggle world? And by the way, Peter says to tell you hi from him.

Sirius and I have had a normal holiday - you know, Quidditch, pranks, catching up with Peter - the usual.

Anyway, we're worried about Remus. I don't know if you know that Kendra went into a coma during her sleep after he rescued her, but I definitely know that you don't know (does that make any sense at all to you?) that he's been sitting by her side in St Mungo's for the whole holidays so far. We've tried to make him leave the hospital, but he refuses. We can't contact his parents and they don't seem to be bothered by the fact that their son is rotting away in a hospital! We need your help, Lily. Can you floo over sometime?

Hi Lily!! James is an idiot - of course you can't floo over because you're muggleborn. How are your holidays?

Well she could drive over, Sirius! And I'm sure she will understand that I'm asking her to come over ASAP so we can sort out Remus. And Mel too, if you can contact her, please. I hear her parents are pretty strict about her meeting up with her magical friends outside of school.

Yeah, whatever…

Anyway, ignoring that idiot trying to get this parchment off me, I love you and I miss you heaps. Please get your parents to let you come over so that I can see you!

And so that she can help Remus!!

Sorry. That was Sirius. But it would really help if you could aid us with our furry little Remus.

Love,

James.

AND SIRIUS! Don't forget me, Lilyflower!

Lily,

Hi. Hope your holidays are going well. Mine aren't cause Kendra's still in a coma and I'm worried sick about her. The healers are saying there's a fifty-fifty chance she'll come out of it. I don't like to think of the other option.

Remus.

Lily stared at the letters scattered across her lap. Her brow was furrowed as she thought about what she should do to help her friends. She wanted to see James of course, but she needed to help Remus and Mel out of their depressed states. And she absolutely had to see Kendra.

Her friend was in a coma and no one had told her until now! It was the twentieth of October - she had only thirteen days left of the holidays in which to see all of her friends. She suspected Petunia had been keeping these letters from her, and possibly others too. There were no dates on them, but the parchment didn't look fresh.

It seemed it was a holiday for engagements, for Petunia had broken her news to her on her first evening back at home - her boyfriend, the foul-smelling fat Vernon Dursley, had proposed. Lily hated him, but that was to be expected. He resembled a whale and talked about drills and himself.

Quickly, she penned a reply to James and Sirius' letter and sent it off with her owl, Hestia. Then she moved on to Mel's and Remus' and did the same.

Hi James and Sirius!

My holiday's been good (apart from Tuney hiding my letters from me) and thanks for asking. I'm glad you're having fun at the Potter Mansion and if it's okay I'll be over tonight to see you two and talk about Remus.

I'm sorry my letter won't be nearly as entertaining as yours was, because I don't have anyone to snatch the parchment off me. Sorry. And I'll ask Mel, but you're right: her parents don't let her see her magical friends outside of school.

Sirius - hope you're not causing too much mayhem for James' Aunt and Uncle! And on a more serious note, Mel seems a bit depressed. Maybe you should write to her, if you're not doing so already? Are you two okay?

James - I love you too and I miss you like hell. Do you mind me coming over tonight? It might be a bit soon, but I have to see you!

By the way, Tuney's engaged! But more on that tonight…

See you boys,

Lily.

Dear Mel,

Oh you poor thing! What's her name? I bet it's something awful to match her personality, like Lucretia or Ethel. And she's our new DADA professor, is she? Oh well… this year will be interesting.

Have you heard about Kendra? She's in a coma and there's a fifty percent chance she won't come out of it. Isn't it awful? I feel terrible - if I'd gone and seen Professor Dumbledore about it, might she be fine right now? And apparently Remus is 'living' at St Mungo's and won't leave her bedside. We (James and Sirius and I) need your help to spring him out, so can't you convince your parents to let you help? I'm going over there tonight - so maybe you could come too? I'm sure mum could pick you up on the way.

Sorry for not replying before now. I think Petty withheld my letters from me just to be mean. She's still mad at me for laughing when she told me her news. She's engaged to Vernon Dursley, an older guy who smells like farts and looks like a whale. I just had to laugh - it was funny!

Reply ASAP (I got that one from James)

Bye,

Lily.

Oh my dear, poor, overworking Remus,

No, I hadn't heard about Kendra - that's why I didn't visit! Sorry about that - I'm pretty sure Petunia was keeping my letters from me until now. Grrr… I will be having words with her. It's awful that she's in a coma; especially after all she's been through. But that doesn't give you any excuse to live at St Mungo's for the whole holidays! You don't have to be brave, Rem. Admitting weakness is strength in itself.

So get out and have fun for the last few days of the holidays! See your family and us (your friends!!). Otherwise, we will come over and drag you out of hospital. It's your choice.

Missing your friendly face,

Lily.

She sent her letters off in turn with Hestia, and then began to pack for tonight at James' house. She had never been there before, and was nervous about meeting James and Sirius' guardians - James' aunt and uncle.

She was also a little worried because she hadn't received a letter from Peter. He usually sent her very small letters asking her about her holidays and saying that he was sorry but he couldn't hang out with her this time. She was confused because he hadn't even bothered to send her one of those. In fact, she was worried about Peter in general. Since Chloe's death he had become more and more distant from Mel and herself and even the other Marauders.

But she brushed her concerns aside now - he had seen James and Sirius hadn't he? - and finished her packing for her night at the Potter Mansion.

xXoXx

James opened the door for her just after she had rung the doorbell and invited her inside.

"Lily!" He pretended to scrutinize her face and body in great detail. "Is that really you? You've grown so much!"

She laughed easily. "Hi James!"

Then she took in her surroundings. She was standing at the end of a long hallway with portraits of all the various generations of Potters adorning the walls. Everything looked old, but it was still sophisticated and made for a grand and intimidating entrance to the Potter's home.

He turned around and called out loudly, "Sirius! Allison! Jake! She's here!"

At once she heard loud footsteps and in a few seconds, Sirius was dashing down the hallway and standing next to James.

"Lilyflower!" he shouted joyfully, throwing his arms around her in a friendly hug.

"Sirius!" she replied, equally happily. She turned to James. "Thanks for inviting me here. I'm sure I'll have a great time."

"I'm sure you will," replied a husky, adult voice from the other end of the hallway.

James jumped, startled, but as he recognized the body belonging to the voice that had answered Lily, he smiled.

"Hey Jake - didn't see you there," he explained, still beaming. "Lily?" he asked, turning back to face her. She nodded, and he swivelled back around. "This is Jake, my uncle. Jake, this is Lily, my girlfriend."

Jake's dark eyes flickered from James' face to hers, and he slowly nodded. He walked down to meet them and held out his hand for Lily to shake. She shook it, looking him in the eye levelly. She shivered suddenly, though it wasn't cold inside the house. Something about this man unnerved her, but she did not know what it was.

"It's nice to meet you, Lucy," he said, the words falling off his tongue with a posh drawl.

She opened her mouth to remind him of her name, but James got there first.

"It's Lily, not Lucy," he said quietly, with unusually narrowed eyes. Lily wondered vaguely why he was acting so rudely towards his uncle.

"My mistake," Jake rectified, "Lily, then."

"Where's Allison?" James demanded coolly, not acknowledging his uncle's apology.

"She was doing the laundry when I went near there ten minutes ago," Sirius offered, trying to defuse the mood.

"Okay." James was thinking about what to do now. "We'll go and introduce you to her. Bonky!" He called, and with a loud crack, a house elf apparated to James' side. "I want you to take Lily's bags up to her room, please."

"Yes, Master Potter," Bonky replied in a high-pitched voice.

James and Sirius led her down the long hall and turned right. There was another hall, but it was considerably shorter than the one she had seen in the entrance way. They walked right down the end, chattering away to her about their summers, and she chatted back and followed them through the door at the end of the hallway.

"Allison?" James yelled, cupping his hands around his mouth to amplify his voice.

"James, honey, there's no need to shout," reprimanded a short and curvy African woman, who Lily guessed was Allison. From James' sigh of relief and the change in his expression, it was clear to Lily that he much preferred his aunt to her husband. "And… oh! Who's this?"

Lily could see from the twinkle in Allison's eyes that she knew perfectly well who Lily was, but wanted to be introduced properly and she respected her for it.

"This is Lily Evans," James said proudly, grinning broadly, "My girlfriend."

"So this is Lily!" Allison exclaimed delightedly. She stepped forward and gave Lily a warm, comforting hug. "Pleased to meet you, darling. I'm Allison, James' aunt."

Lily blushed. "Hi Allison," she said shyly.

"Well, I hope you have an enjoyable stay here, Lily," Allison said, making Lily feel more at ease. She liked James' aunt a lot more than she liked his quiet, brooding uncle. "And Sirius! Look at your feet - you're tracking mud all through the house!"

Sirius looked down and shrugged, unabashed. "Sorry Allison," he said, flicking his wand and murmuring an incantation to clean up the mess.

Lily gasped and, feeling all three's curious eyes on her, explained. "You're using magic outside of school! You could get expelled!"

James laughed. "Yeah, but the thing is: the Ministry can't tell who used the magic, only in which house it was performed in."

"So they'll just think it was Allison or… Jake?" She queried.

He nodded, an approving smile on his lips. She would have kissed him then and there, but she did not want to make a bad first impression on James' aunt.

They talked with Allison for a while longer and then she shooed them away, saying that she needed to get the laundry done and that they were distracting her. James said he would show her to her room, and Sirius stayed downstairs in the Potters' big and sparkling clean kitchen to wait for them, tactfully giving them some time alone.

They talked about school, Remus and Kendra, their futures and other such topics until they reached her room. Once they were both inside, James locked the door magically and cast a silencing charm on the room. She did not understand the reason for this until he began talking.

"Lily," he began earnestly. "There's something I need to talk to you about privately."

She felt cold all over. What if he wanted to talk about sex? They hadn't come close, even, to making love, but what if he wanted to? What if he didn't want to wait? She had a secret fear that he would dump her when she told him that she wanted to wait. She wasn't ready for sex yet, not by a long shot.

"James, if this is about sex-" she cringed a little at the embarrassment of having to say that word "-then, well, I'm not quite…"

"No, Lily, it's not." He said, sinking down onto her bed slowly and deliberately. "But while we're on the subject, I am prepared to wait forever, if need be, for you. That doesn't mean to say that I don't want to make love to you."

On the contrary, he seemed quite comfortable talking about it.

"No, I need to talk to you about a different thing," he continued, looking seriously into her eyes and she sat down beside him. He placed his arm carefully around her waist and sighed. "Something more dangerous."

She shivered, and he noticed the goosebumps adorning her arms and legs and gave her his jacket.

"Thanks," she murmured, and then motioned for him to continue.

"You know how, back there, my uncle… Jake, called you Lucy?"

She nodded.

"Lucy was my cousin; his daughter. She is twenty-one now, but this happened seven years ago when she was fourteen. She got raped - well, we assume it was rape - and became pregnant, and was so traumatised by it that she became mute and couldn't, or wouldn't, tell anyone who the father was. I do have a theory, but I've never been able to prove… that he did it." He sighed. "Hence, the reason for the privacy spells. I can't take any chances, especially not with you."

"So you think that Jake-"

He grabbed her arm, suddenly fierce, and she had no choice but to look up into his blazing hazel eyes. He stroked her hair tenderly. "Promise- will you promise me to be careful? I'll have Bonky look out for you, and I'll try to make sure he's never alone with you… and of course I have the watch you gave me for Christmas."

"Thank you."

"Promise!" he insisted, his eyes meeting hers, his lips doing the same.

"Promise," she whispered in his ear.

They were silent for a moment, and then she spoke again. "Does Sirius know?"

"No, and please don't tell him. He adores Jake, absolutely loves him." His scorn was evident in the tone of his voice.

"I won't tell him," she said softly, "But did it ever occur to you that you might be… that you might not be…"

"Jake raped my Lucy, my first ever friend!" he roared, and she was suddenly very afraid of him in his angry mood. "That, I have never doubted."

"I'm sorry."

His expression changed and became repentant. "No, I'm sorry, Lily. I got too worked up. Ek is lief vir jou."

She frowned, "What does that mean?"

"It's Afrikaans. Allison has been teaching some to me." He explained enthusiastically. It was obvious that he was very passionate about his aunt's cultural background.

"Wow," she said, awed. "So what does it mean?"

"I means," he said slowly, leaning in towards her. "I love you."

And then his lips were pressing against hers, slowly, yet passionately.

Once again, I'd like to apologize for not updating in so long!! I hope it's not... "TOO LATE TO APOLOGIZE" by Akon. Hope you like this chapter - basically this is most of the holidays done, because I felt like the story was dragging a bit. Did anyone else think that?

Review please!! Reviews make my day :)

xx,

Baby seal