Chapter 18: The Ones You Love

The world was silent.

James Potter was shocked and stunned but looked down to see a bobbing head of fiery red hair soaking his robes with tears of pain.

Even her sobs were quiet.

"Something terrible has happened," Dumbledore's voice echoed. He looked at the four of them with complete sadness and utter failure in his eyes.

Is this really Dumbledore? James thought, watching that silent tear fall down his cheek.

Our strong headmaster, crying?

"Remember what I told you James. Do not take her out of your sights."

"Yes," he whispered to the headmaster as Dumbledore left, robes swishing.

Then reality all of the sudden hit as Lily suddenly stopped crying.

Lily looked up to see shock on her four friend's faces.

She knew that she had almost died the night before and that James had saved her but that didn't matter anymore.

Her parents were dead.

Murdered.

In cold blood.

And the world didn't love her anymore.

She looked from face to face seeing their lips form words…are you ok…what happened…Lily tell us…

But nothing registered at all. Nothing.

And that's when she knew her purpose.

Glancing past them and down the hall, she began to run; hoping, to leave it all behind.

The door flung open to her room in the dormitory and the first thing she saw was her Malcentus.

"Oh how I've missed you," she whispered picking it up. It rattled at her touch as if shaking the dust away.

Even though things had been happening to her lately, Lily knew one thing for certain. The Holiday Quidditch game was going on right now and there was no way she was going to miss this.

"For you, mom and dad," she opened the window to a cool breeze, "I love you."

Closing her eyes, she dove out the window, broom following. A smile returning to her pale face.

"Um…what just happened?" Natalie asked dumbstruck.

"I don't know…" Alice pondered just as confused.

James stood there completely quiet.

"James? You ok?" Alice questioned.

"Yeah…fine." He muttered back.

"I would leave her be for now, whatever it is that is so upsetting she probably wants to just be alone…"

"Her parents are dead."

"What?" the girls answered in unison.

"Murdered. Voldemort." He looked up at them.

"How do you know?"

"Dumbledore informed me before I came down here to see her. I just didn't think she would react this way."

Dang it.

Lily's mind obviously wasn't as clear as she thought.

The Holiday Quidditch game wasn't today. Or was it?

Well there's no one here so I guess it's not today, she thought.

She sat on her broom high in the field scanning the snowy seats.

Oh well. It just feels so good to be free and out here.

With a little nudge of her leg her broom began to soar and it felt so good.

Sirius Black was confused.

"Why is there a flying person out there? It's freezing!"

"There's someone out there?" Remus got up from his comfy spot and joined him at the window.

"Jamesy, why do you do silly things like this?" Sirius laughed thinking his best mate was out there just goofing off.

"No, Sirius," Remus squinted, "that's LILY!"

James opened the door to see his two best friends scrunched up against the window.

"The blizzard can't be that interesting, can it?" he laughed.

"No, it's Lily," Remus turned, "Oh James; you look awful, what happened?"

"Lily?" he pushed passed them, ignoring Remus' question.

And there she was, out there in the blizzard laughing and having the time of her life.

After everything that's happened, she must be so hurt. James thought.

"I'm gonna go out there," he broke the silence with a laugh, "wanna come?"

Sirius and Remus looked at each other and then at James.

"Come on, she's been through a lot. It'd be nice if we could make her laugh or something."

"Well we are Marauders aren't we?" Sirius laughed, pushing James down and heading for the door.

Lily was falling as the snowflakes danced around her.

Even though it was freezing and pretty much a blizzard, the cold weather didn't affect her body. She was still wearing the jeans and bloody sweatshirt that she had been tied up in, but did that really matter? Life had gotten the worse it could possibly be. She was at her lowest point right now and on the inside, she was so upset that it seemed as if there was nothing there. And even though she felt this way, being outside with her broom was the best thing right now. She was free and…happy.

Wait…happy?

Yes, happy. She loved flying and winter so it was the perfect place for her right now.

And she fell down to earth. Her and her broom hadn't done any tricks in a long time so it was extremely exhilarating to be practicing them and anticipating the moment that it would catch her.

Then suddenly,

WHAM!

She was knocked off course by a very large snowball, sending the frantic broom scrambling to catch her.

"NO!" someone shrieked from the distance.

What the heck is going on? Lily turned her head to see five figures running towards her, when her broom caught her, inches from the frozen ground.

"Sirius! Was that really necessary? After all she's been through?" Alice scolded as the group ran to where Lily had stopped falling.

"Of course! Moving targets are the best!" he yelled back.

They all stopped running when they heard a sound that hadn't been heard for a while…

Lily's laughter.

James smiled. That was the most beautiful sound in the world.

Even though it seemed a little odd that she had just found out about her parents murder, he loved hearing that sound.

He looked over, catching Sirius watching him and winked.

Through all the hardship, all they really needed was each other.

"That was the most fun I've EVER had in the cold!" Natalie squealed, "Usually I'm more of a summer and tanning kind of girl, but that was so cool!"

Lily smirked at her friend's words. She was right, the snowball fight turned out to be quite fun and epic. Even if it meant that everyone was soaking wet. It was well worth it.

"Who's up for some hot cider in the common room?" Remus asked.

"ME!" everyone started running, but a tug on Lily's arm made her stop.

"We'll catch up with you in a sec," James said when Sirius looked back.

The last time Lily had been alone with James, she had felt like a wuss and a weakling.

Now, she was scared. What will he say? I bet he knows.

Trying to be strong and put on a good face was really hard, so it took a lot of courage to look up and meet those piercing hazel eyes.

"Hi," he whispered.

"Hi," she answered, awkwardly, looking around to see that they had stopped in an alcove and were very close.

"How are you doing?"

He knows. Lily closed her eyes and took a deep breath. After everything that's happened over this school year and in the past twenty four hours, she knew things were different between them. She may have hated his guts before, but now she could not even think of that hatred anymore. This person was her guardian angel and not only saved her life more than once, but was her friend too. So when she opened her eyes and met his, she had no problem telling him exactly how she felt at that moment.

"I'm alright," she coughed out, choking back tears, "being outside helped."

"You mean being on your broom helped?" he smiled.

"Well yes, but being with my friends without any sudden danger helped."

They fell silent for a bit. The calm quiet of the school was sort of soothing in a way. It was normal. There weren't any spells flying around or yelling curses or anything. Just quiet.

"Dumbledore gave me something that I think you would like to have," he fumbled in his robes and pulled out a piece of parchment.

Lily took it, seeing that James all of the sudden had become sad. She opened it, confused, and began to read:

Lily,

I know that if you are reading this, you are hopefully somewhere safe. I entrusted this letter to Dumbledore when I found out that Voldemort was after us. You are also probably reading this because we are dead.

The silent tears began to fall down her face.

Please don't cry my darling you need to be strong. This world has become so cold and dark that I need my Lily Flower to star strong and smile for me.

You mother and I are writing this for two reasons: one, we love you so much. I know it may feel like this world is so empty without us, but it's not. You have so many people who care and love you here, that you will not be alone, so don't think for one second that you are. We may not be there to comfort you, but I know someone will. We love you and please don't be sad.

The second part is crucial and you need to read every word carefully. Inside your mind is something so precious and so special that you must always keep it guarded. You are the key to changing this world around. You contain love, a quality that Voldemort knows nothing about and is threatened by. He has killed us because he believes that if he takes away the people and things you love most away, he will get rid of this powerful emotion in you and you will not be able to defeat him. That is the reason you are being targeted. He knows that your two futures are destined to meet and one will be defeated. The power you have over him is more that you know and will probably ever understand but, you have to listen to me now. Keep the ones you love close and trust no one. He has sent his follows out for you because he is threatened and his destiny wavers on the horizon. If you and your friends stay strong, he will not win, no matter who perishes in the end.

Just remember, your love will save us all.

We love you Lily,

Mom and Dad

It was silent after she finished reading, yet she continued to stare at the parchment.

James watched her face for any sign of emotion, but could pick out anything after the one tear had fallen and dried up.

And then suddenly she looked up, but a different emotion was etched on her face. It was a sense of knowing, knowing that there was hope in this world; not all was lost.

She looked at James' confused face and then buried herself under his chin in a warm hug.

"Are you with me?"

"Always," he answered, kissing the top of her head.

A/N: So sorry for the long wait, I have been so busy that this fell down the list of things to do. I hope the anticipation is relieved with this long chapter! I know it seems confusing, but I was a little tired of Lily always being the damsel in distress. She is not that whatsoever and I needed to emphasize that in this chapter. She is so strong and that's why she isn't being saved or almost dead in this chapter. It's the turning point in both her mind and her and James relationship. Hope you liked it! Please review, I love to hear your responses!