Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, that would make me way too awesome.

Emma's P.O.V.

I knew I shouldn't be taking advantage of Sirius like this. I mean, sure, I definitely had feelings for the guy, other than the fact that he was completely fantastic in bed. But I was just so worried these, days, always scared that we were going to hear the news that Lily was dead. Lily's my best friend. I wouldn't ever admit this to Alice, but Lily has always been my best friend, more than Alice, and more than Mary. If Lily died, and it was only Alice and I left, I don't know how I would live, normally at least. She's just the kind of person that is just that, genuinely kind and actually cares. When she asks you how your day went, she actually cares how you think you did on your Astronomy exam. But I couldn't dwell on Lily now, or I'd start crying, and Sirius always held me when I cried, but he wasn't here.

I got out of bed slowly, wrapping a robe around myself lazily and walked into the kitchen. There was a note from Sirius on the table.

Got an owl from Dumbledore asking me to join him in his office. Figured I should go. See you later tonight. Love,

Sirius.

The love seemed to be mocking me, seemingly bigger than the rest of the letters. Why did he get to me so much? Men usually weren't my biggest concern. I mean sure, watching Alice and Frank get married was beautiful but tragically sad, since I was the only bridesmaid when there should have been two others standing next to me. But I was glad they were happy.

But I had no desire to be like them, to be like that with anyone. Being in love was never my interests, all through school, when the girls dreamed of their "perfect guy". It just wasn't appealing. But as I read Sirius' note, I didn't know what to think. Remus had warned me multiple times to not let him become attached because I was leading him on and bla bla bla.

But Merlin, Remus had never slept with the man! It was crazy. I don't know how he did it. He even taught me things, which was seriously saying something. But as that little love stared back at me, I just didn't know what to do.

But luckily, I didn't have to wait for long, because at that moment, Sirius strode through the front door.

"I thought you weren't getting back til-" but he interrupted my words with a kiss on the lips, long and happy. "What was that for?" I asked when we separated.

"Lily. She's back." he said, bouncing up and down with excitement.

"What?" I whispered with shock. "Are you serious?"

"As serious as only Sirius can be." he grinned and I bounded into his arms, crying with joy.

"Oh, oh my. Oh Merlin. We need to see her, immediately."

"That's what I need to talk to you about. Dumbledore has an idea of how to get her use to us all again, but it's going to take awhile. You see, they used polyjuice potion to make Lily think James was torturing her this whole time. She doesn't trust anyone apparently. So Dumbledore has a plan to help get her to trust at least one of us, so we can get her to realize James has been here the whole time." he said, shuffling from foot to foot, anxious to get back to Dumbledore.

"That's horrible. Poor Lily." I said, crying still, but now with sympathy.

"I know. Go get dressed, or we'll be late and not get to see her." he said and I nodded, going into my bedroom to get dressed, yearning to see my best friend.

Frank's P.O.V.

Alice's hand was warm against mine, her thigh pressing up against mine as we sat in a circle in Dumbledore's office. There were seven of us. All in a circle. Me, Alice, Sirius, Remus, Peter, Emma, and Petunia. I vaguely wondered why Petunia was here, or better, how Dumbledore managed to get her here, but I didn't say anything.

Dumbledore started to speak. "What we are trying to do, which is what the healers and I think is best, is to get Lily adjusted to see faces that she hasn't seen in the two and a half months she was imprisoned. Ranging from just friends to best friends, to family. She has convinced her mind that although she is not in captivity, she is still in very much danger, and that everyone she see's is something else entirely." He paused to take a deep breath.

"We're not exactly sure what she is seeing. But it has to do with Jo's death, because she recognized me when I first came across her at the building, it was only after the explosion where she didn't seem to remember me and was completely lucid. She only recognized Dean for who he was, but he's not in much better shape than she is." he checked his wristwatch quickly.

"Frank, you need to see her first. She needs to see a familiar face, but not one she would be expecting. Of course she knows you, and is friendly with you, but her main accordance with you is through Alice, and the healers are hoping that will open her to ask questions about Alice. Bring up your wedding. See if she remembers anything before the incident. We'll have healers monitoring the situation, just in case she lapses back into her panic mode, you will not get hurt."

I nodded in agreement to his terms and stood up, squeezing Alice's hand. "I'll be right back." I murmured and she nodded. I followed Dumbledore down a hallway, took a right, and stood in front of a red door that had a rather large lock on the door. "Why do we need the lock?"

"To prevent her from hurting herself. She also doesn't have a wand, which I don't think she's too happy about. We did recover it however. It was in a small room at the building, categorized in boxes of about a hundred others." he said, and pulled out his own wand. He waved it and the lock clicked. "Good luck, I'll be back in one hour."

And I walked into the room.

At first, I didn't see Lily. She was sitting at a desk in the back corner of the room, drawing on a piece of paper. She didn't seem to hear me when I closed the door, or she didn't care, but when I cleared my throat, she turned slowly, and peered at me with wide green eyes. She seemed to take in my appearance, and I stood at the door, not wanting to make her nervous by walking towards her.

She stood up from the chair, calmly turning her back to me, tucked in the chair under the desk, collected her drawings, put them in a folder, and slid them under the desk. She turned back around and looked at me again with the same wide, clear eyes.

"Hi Frank." she said quietly, almost a whisper. And I looked up, meeting her eyes for the first time. She walked towards me slowly and stopped right in front of me. She looked different. Her hair wasn't healthy anymore, but hung in chunks, with parts falling out. Her cheeks were so sunken in, I could almost see bone. She had lost a lot of weight, I doubt she had been eating. "Can I hug you? I promise I won't get glassy." I didn't know what that meant, but I nodded, and held my arms out to her slowly. She walked into me, her small frame fitting awkwardly into my tall frame. Her head sank into my lower chest, and she stood there for a moment before backing away.

"Please, have a seat." she said, and pulled out the desk chair and a chair by her bed and put them directly in front of me. I sat down and she did to, folding her legs underneath her. "I know what they've told you to do. Tell me everything's ok, but not everything's ok. They think I don't know. But I do. I'm just in another room, another mode of torture. I just wish you'd get on with it. It's getting rather boring just sitting in here day after day. I'd almost welcome the Cruciatus anytime now. Is that why you're here? You can talk to me, I promise I won't get glassy." There was that word again. I really needed to know what that meant.

"Hi Lily." I said, and she closed her eyes slightly when I talked. "How are you doing?" I asked.

"I'm fantastic thank you. I really love the accommodations you guys have provided. Much better than my old room. I'm not sure why they brought you here Frank. You wouldn't work for them, they've killed your family right? So you must have been tortured to torture me. That's right. Or else I wouldn't have hugged you. Right, hugs are for friends. So are you going to torture me?" The way she said it gave me the chills, it was just too bizarre. She didn't even seem to care about getting tortured.

"No Lily. I'm not here to torture you. I came here to apologize." I said slowly, watching as she digested each word carefully.

"Apologize about what Frank?"

"I got married, and you didn't come. See?" I said, and held out my hand to where a small golden ring was wrapped around my finger.

"Oh, your wedding, to Alice. I completely forgot that was this summer. How did it go? Did everyone look beautiful? I'm sure they did. Alice always looks beautiful."

"She was. She still is. Completely beautiful."

"Is she here too?" she asked.

"Yes, she's going to visit you, very soon." I said, but then the weirdest thing happened. Her eyes glazed over, and she stood up, knocking over the chair.

"NO! NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO. SHE CAN'T COME. I WON'T ALLOW IT." she started screaming and pulling her hair, knocking over things in the room. "ALICE HAS TO RUN, RUN FAR AND FAR AWAY AND NEVER EVER COME HERE. HERE IS WHERE BAD THINGS WILL HAPPEN. WHERE TORTURE AND DEAD CHILDREN AND TRICK WIRES-" but she screamed herself hoarse after continuing for another couple of minutes.

She was still moaning, grabbing her hair and I took a step back, going for the door when she noticed me for the first time. Her eyes were still glazed over when she looked at me. "AND WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU'RE GOING? DO YOU NOT WANT TO BE MY FRIEND ANYMORE? HUH? IS THAT IT?" and she lunged for me. Her nails barely missing my face. I ran to the door, slipped it open and slammed it shut as she banged on the other side with her fists, the booms echoing through the hallway. Well, at least I knew what glassy meant.

Alice's P.O.V.

Frank came back from the hallway after about thirty minutes, looking visibly shaken. He walked into the room and sank into a chair right away.

"What's happened? Are you alright?" I asked him, taking his hand.

"It's horrible in there." he stopped as we all gathered round to listen. "She seems normal, asking me about the wedding but then she went crazy. Her eyes glazed over and she wasn't making sense, screaming things and such. And then when I moved she ran at me, trying to attack me, I barely made it out of the door in time."

"Well, I guess I should probably go in." I said, and stood up.

"Yes, but you'll be the last one today Alice." a voice said from the door and we looked up to see Dumbledore. "I just checked on Lily, and she is not 'glassy' at the moment. But the healers don't want to push more than two people each day. Just be careful Alice, and if she gets glassy, then leave, immediately."

"Ok sir, I will." I gave Frank a quick kiss on the forehead and walked down the hallway, stopping at the red door. I pushed it open before I could convince myself otherwise and walked in the room. She was on me before I could even see where she was. I thought at first she was attacking me, but she was hugging me, sobbing and hugging me.

"Oh Alice! I'm so happy you're here. I was so nervous you'd been kidnapped too but had been taken somewhere else. Can you please tell Dumbledore I'm fine! I don't need to be in the loony bin!" she looked so convincing, I almost left to tell Dumbledore to get my best friend out, but I knew Frank wouldn't have lied.

"Lily, I'm so sorry you had to go through that. I don't know what it was like, but I promise you nothing like that is ever going to happen again. Do..do your remember everything?" I asked hesitantly, not wanting to experience glassy for myself.

"Oh, yes Alice I do. You have to tell someone, I don't think Dumbledore believed me. But James isn't really on our side. He's a spy for Voldemort. He's been a spy since fifth year. He never really loved me. He actually hated me. Still does. That's why I got kidnapped. He didn't want to pretend anymore. He tortured me everyday. And on days when I fell out of my chair, he would kick my bruises and compare them to each other. Want to see his favorite?" she asked and before I could say no she lifted up her shirt and I gasped.

On the right side of her side, near the ribs was a huge purpled bruise that extended from the bottom of her breast to her pointy hip bone jutting out from her skin. "Oh, Lily." I gasped.

"It's not as bad as it looked. James, Avery, and Dolohov had competitions who could get it to spread fastest. It didn't hurt after a while, nothing hurts after the Cruciatus. But it gave them entertainment, so that's good, it was always better when they were entertained, so they didn't come visit you at night." she said rapidly, poking at the edges of the bruise and giggling slightly.

"What do you mean visit you at night?" I asked, and she stopped poking abruptly and I stood up, because right before my eyes her green glowing eyes had turned a startling glazed color, like clouds covering up the sun.

"The Death Eaters liked to visit the girls at night. At least the pretty ones, that's what Jo said. We use to hear the girl next door scream almost every night. She must have been beautiful, like you Alice." she said, and stroked my hair, and I almost shuddered, but then her eyes faded, and they were back to her normal green.

"What was I saying?" she asked innocently. "Oh, Alice, how are you? Frank told me about your wedding. Congratulations! I'm sorry I couldn't have been there. I'm sure it was beautiful. Did you dance?" she giggled. "Remember I tried to teach you how to dance and we fell down the stairs?" she giggled some more. "Remember Alice? Remember? Remem-" and her voice trailed off, her eyes suddenly glazing over.

"NO, NO NO. I CAN'T REMEMBER. NO. JAMES NO. PLEASE NO, THIS ISN'T REAL. IT CAN'T BE. PLEASE, JUST TELL ME YOU LOVE ME AND EVERYTHINGS GOING TO BE OK. NO, DON'T RAISE THE WAND. NO JO, DON'T WALK. DEAN! I'M SO SORRY, I'M SO, SO SORRY. IT'S ALL MY FAULT." and she continued like that, repeating things and she sank to the ground, falling with her head in her hands.

I walked quietly out of the door, so she wouldn't hear me. And that's when I realized something. "Glassy" was the real Lily, how she was actually feeling, the rest wasn't real at all.

James' P.O.V.

I was struggling, big time. Dumbledore had sent me a detailed letter, explaining the progress that had happened today with Frank and Alice. How Lily had let the healers heal most of her external wounds. How these were all good signs that showed huge improvement.

But I didn't want improvement, I just wanted to see her, to talk to her. And I couldn't. All because of Voldemort's sick, twisted mind. Why did this have to happen. We were suppose to get married in two months, and now she probably wouldn't ever talk to me again.

And I just felt so horrible for her. Trapped in her own mind with no way out. She had been kidnapped for two months. What was she suppose to do but wrap herself hidden in her brain? There was really no other choice.

But now I didn't have a choice either. We were both trapped in our realities. I wouldn't ever get to see her until she was fully healed, and she wouldn't get to see me until she chose to, which would be never.

Never would I get to hold her, or kiss her. Never see her blush or stumble or grimace. Never wrinkle her nose, or bite her quill. Never laugh delicately, like tiny silver bells in the breeze. Never smell her beautiful scent of just her and her shampoo, which still clung to my pillows making me cry every night.

We didn't deserve this. Her more than ever. Lily was the kindest soul I'd ever met. The sweetest, most generous person I knew. And yet she had been kidnapped and tortured to the point of almost madness. It wasn't fair.

I would never get to see her again. So what was the point of seeing? Not seeing one, I closed my eyes, and sank back onto the bed, sinking into fitful dreams full of memories of Lily, healthy, alive, and with me, finally with me.

A/N: sorry for such the long wait, I just didn't really know where to go with this, but I've got a good idea where I'm going now, and get ready for a huge surprise next chapter. I hope you liked this and can't wait to read more. Reviews are always welcome!

Love,

Tibby09296