AN: Sorry for the wait (is anybody actually reading this? Oh well.) but things have been crazy lately. I've been packing up to go to college so, there's that. I hope you like this chapter, it offers a bit of insight to why Lily left London (as per request by a reader) and some further introduction of one of my OC's. I hope you like him right now, because you might hate him soon enough...

It takes a month, but Lily is settling into Durmstrang with ease. When spring comes, it's a bit warmer, but the snow turns into rain and the sky is as grey as ever. Most importantly of all she finally has peace and a chance to be by herself.

By some miracle, the students seem to like her, and not just in she's-a-teacher-I-can-take –advantage-of way. Wednesday tutoring nights aren't dreaded anymore, they are becoming a popularity. That's why she finds herself in her room after dinner, sitting beside a first year struggling with astronomy. She let it slip that it was one of her favorite subjects, and the next thing she knows there's this girl with an impossibly large book in her hand and a half finished worksheet standing in the doorway. Lily doesn't have the heart to tell her to leave, that this is mainly for advanced potions students that need help not blowing things up, so she sits beside her and teaches her little tricks.

In the corner, Nikolas is working with Emma and Jakob has his feet up on the desk, making rude comments in what she learned was Russian. None of the teachers have a very good grasp on it, which might be way he uses it, but she suspects that it is one of Nikolas' first languages and their thick as thieves.

"Where's the Professor?" she hears a voice ask. Granted, she does blend in with the students when she's sitting at a desk. She also doesn't make matters any better with a messy braid slung over her shoulder and an outfit that would give the Headmaster a heart attack. The kids seem to be more relaxed if she is, so she takes to wearing her flannel shirt and worn jeans combo again.

"Over here, Krum," she calls. "You good?" she asks the girl to receive a nod.

"That doesn't look like potions," he murmurs as he follows her back to the desk.

"It isn't, but I'm a sucker for astronomy." She shrugs and waves her hand to bring another chair to her desk. "Did you injure yourself or is this personal business?"

"I need a favor. I have to be gone for a few days and I need one of my flying classes covered."

Lily had found that David only works part time at the school. The other half of the time he does freelance journalism, mostly doing sport's stories. It was the only job he could get after he was badly injured at the age of 19. He was too young for coaching jobs, too inexperienced for much else unless he was willing to go back to school.

"Why me?"

"You're the only one I trust with my class," he whispered, voice dropping so low she could barely make it out. "Most of the time, the other teachers that cover it shuttle them off to the study hall. My class is the only time that some of these kids get out of the castle walls during the day."

"Fine," she huffed. "Just this once, but you owe me."

"Natürlich meine schöne Lilie," he responded with a smirk.

"Was that Bulgarian?"

"German." The smirk hadn't left his lips when he sauntered out of the room. Lily told herself that she had to concentrate. She was here for a fresh start, that was something she had to keep in mind.

For some reason, being at Durmstrang helped stave off the visions. Of course, it did help that she took a mild draught before she went to sleep and did every technique possible to keep them away. Despite being with rambunctious teenagers and having to deal with a mound of paperwork every night she is remarkably less stressed. She missed her family that much was true. This job forced her to go the longest time since seeing them. Even at Hogwarts she always had at least 2 of her cousins along with her Uncle Neville.

Still, she didn't expect it when during her last class of the day she became lightheaded. "Are you alright, Professor?" he asked. The boy was a seventh year, rather quiet, but was a prefect for his dorm.

"Fine, is there something you need?" She gave him a brittle smile as she placed one hand on the desk, focusing on her breathing.

"I just have some questions about the notes were supposed to take."

"What about them?" She forced herself to focus. Visions had not bothered her in weeks, maybe she was sick.

"We've done notes before, but this format is confusing."

"It's called a formal write-up. It's too see for yourself how changing one ingredient or how an ingredient is prepared can affect the potion." She held out one hand for his paper and skimmed through it. "The explanation leading up to the experiment, as your observations are correct. You just need to analyze it now. Tell the importance of the exact amount, and if any variations would be useful."

"So, for example, you can dilute a potent sleeping draught in order to calm a person with anxiety."

"Exactly. Figure out how to translate it to your specific potion and you're all set."

Lily managed to calm herself down to the point where she was able to imagine a wall around her mind, putting up a barrier around it to keep the visions out. It works for a bit, but after all her classes are done she doesn't want to head to dinner. She doesn't need to, she doesn't have dining hall duty tonight.

Sleeping isn't an option, or at least doesn't feel like one for her. Her entire head is buzzing and she knows the mild draught she normally takes won't do a single thing for her. The next best thing is to stave off sleep naturally and distract herself. After brewing a large pot of tea, she sits down at her desk and begins to grade a pile of first year papers. About half way through dinner's normal hours, there's a knock at the door. Furrowing her eyebrows she lifts her hands and absentmindedly opens it. David is standing in the doorway with a concerned look on his face.

"Professor Hoffman said that you switched the night dining hall shift with him." He shut the door behind him as he walked forward. "Are you hungry?"

"I'm working," she says slowly. The words feel strange in her mouth, but she knows it's because her ears feel as though they are shoved with cotton. "I have a lot of papers to grade, especially since I used one of my prep periods to cover your class."

"You could have told me no." He studies her as he props himself against the table in the front row. "What is that?"

"Project proposals from seventh years," she replies, but the words are dancing in front of her eyes. She really should sleep, she only got a few hours the night before.

"Tomorrow is Saturday, you don't need to be doing that."
She slams her hand down on the table, looking up at him. "Is there a point to you being here?"
"I was going to invite you to get dinner. You look like you could use some time to relax."

"I'd rather not."

David sighed. "Come on, you'd be doing me a favor. I'm either alone or with people that are fifteen years older than me. I want to be with someone that's remotely my age."

Lily pushed away the papers. How easy would it be to just shut him? Push him away too. "I should just go to bed." When she gets up, she doesn't realize how badly the oncoming vision is affecting her. She walks a few steps forward and then fumbles. David jumps off the table and catches her arm.

"Are you sure you don't want something to eat?"

"Merlin, Krum," she mutters. "I'm a bloody healer, my blood sugar isn't low." Her shoulders slump. "Really, it's just been a long day."

"Change of scenery always helps me," he replied.

Lily decided to relent and when he held out his arm, she took it, surprised when she apparated. They must be able to lift the regulations for certain people. Still, when the arrived at the cottage she looked at, surprised that something like this was on the property. The castle could be seen in the distance, dim lights coming from the windows. "Why don't you take one of the rooms in the castle?" she asked as he led her into the small house.

"I'm gone off and on. I also wanted more privacy since teaching her isn't my only job. I have to pay for this, though. There are a few others that they're willing to rent out."
"I don't plan on staying very long." She followed him through the short hallways to the kitchen and sat down at the table as he immediately put a kettle on before leaning back against a counter.

"When I took the job as a freelance sport's writer, I tolerated it because it was Quidditch, but I still wanted something else. I couldn't play anymore and I was too inexperienced to be a coach. Durmstrang was basically my home for seven years, that's why I came here." He crossed his arms over his chest. "Why did you come?"
"Oh, it's…There's a lot of reasons and…it's a long story." She shrugged, wrapping her arms around her frame. The real reason was that she wanted to run, that she had an urge to do it again. It felt like she'd always been running from something ever since she broke up with Scorpius.

"I'm not good in the kitchen," he admits after the tea is finished. As he carries the mugs over, a container of milk and sugar floats to the table.

"I'm not very hungry." Lily wraps her hands around it, letting the warmth seep into her hands.

"We have time, there's no curfew," he teases, referencing when they first met.

Lily bit back a smile. David was detached enough from her that he wasn't a trigger, and put her at ease. "Why I came was many a result of politics and personal issues. Here you don't get that much of it, but there's a lot of controversy around integration with muggles and whether or not it should happen. My dad was raised my muggles and my mum's family embraces them with open arms. It was natural for me to find an apartment in muggle London, the land lord was a squib so I didn't have to worry about hiding from him and he could cover with the other residents…" She sighed shrinking into herself a bit. "I met this man, his name was Michael and he was…Uggh…" A smile crossed her face. "Infuriating, but I could hold my own with him."

"Was Michael a muggle?"

"Yeah, a police officer, it was kind of ironic?"

"The muggle part or the police officer?"

"Police officer, but that's a different story…Anyway, I genuinely liked him. He made me feel…content. But he kept on asking questions, and he kept on noticing things, it didn't help that my family drops in or likes to frequent muggle places."

"Did he find out?"

"No, but I went with him to a fundraiser and Paisley Wells caught us. She took pictures and published this article, called it Politics of Love. Made it out to be this dramatic story…"

"So you told him?"

"I couldn't. I wanted him so badly, but one of the reasons I liked him was because he didn't know anything. To him I was just Lily and Potter was any old surname. I wasn't Potter's Princess or James' little sister or Ginny and Harry's daughter…I was just me." She took a drink, and calmed herself down a bit. "I broke up with him the day the article was published"

"You came here because you broke up with someone?" David face was one of disgust and bewilderment all rolled together. It looked like he was about to launch into an empowered woman argument that would give her aunt Hermione a run for her money.

"No, but it was part of it." She clenched the mug tightly. How many years did she keep people in the dark with her visions? She still doesn't speak to her mother about them. "When I was working a few days later there was a terrible incident with an auror. It was my cousin, she was shot by a muggle."

"Oh, I'm sorry…"

"I wasn't the closest to her, but she's family, you know?" Lily shrugged her shoulders. "After that I just didn't want to deal with the media anymore and…When you're a Healer people look at you and think you hold all the answers in the world. I can help you if you have a hex or a curse or took a bad potion, when it's a gunshot wound…It makes you feel helpless."

Lily didn't relax, her body curled in further as she took a drink. In her mind, leaving London was justified. She might have liked her job for the most part, and loved being around her family, but she needed to move forward. Her entire life, she let other people define who she by her name. When she was dating Scorpius, people always thought she loved him in spite of the fact he was a Malfoy. She loved him because of the fact, because he knew exactly what she went through. What she didn't-but should have-anticipate was being thrust into the spotlight. Here at Durmstrang she was free from that and had time to think about her next move as a Healer.

"I can't tell you that I know exactly what you are talking about, but keep in mind I have lived through some similar experiences in regards to the media. I loved Quidditch, so very much, but the papers made it out like my father was forcing me to pursue it. When I got injured..." He shrugged. "People thought I was hiding out at Durmstrang because it was a safe place for me. It is, being here is like being at my second home, but I know I need to leave eventually."

"I guess we are in the same boat."

"Same boat?" He looked up at her with furrowed eyebrows. "I'm not good with English sayings quite yet."

"A similar situation," she explained, a smile pulling at her lips. "I'm actually getting hungry, do you want some help making something."

"Are you feeling better?"

The funny thing was, that Lily felt…different. Visions weren't pulling at her mind anymore…everything was quiet inside of her head.