A/N: Hello everybody! The usual disclaimer: I don't own the Harry Potter franchise, J K Rowling does. Thank you for the wonderful support, there really is no greater feeling than opening my inbox to find it flooded with reviews and encouragement. This chapter is a little rushed, I'm sorry about that but I hope you enjoy. This is technically still sixth year but I feel like this summer holiday would be significant (nudge, nudge, wink, wink). Does anybody even read these notes? Anyhow, enjoy!

SIXTH YEAR SUMMER HOLIDAY

LILY'S P.O.V

A Petunia-free holiday. That's not something you see very often, maybe I'm a terrible person for saying it, but I don't miss her at all. Well, I miss the old her. I miss my sister, I do not miss the new Petunia who is engaged to a man called Vernon.

"…engaged and she didn't even tell me, mum did. Not to mention the fact that when I got home, I discovered that she had taken the liberty of clearing out my room. All my memories – gone. She told mum she was just 'looking' after my stuff but in actual fact, she's got rid of it. That's not even the start of it; she's shoved all my magical books that I left at home in the broom cupboard. That sounds okay, but she knows I hate cupboards with all the spiders and claustrophobic space and the dust and the dark. Basically all the things I fear. Don't ask - I just hate dust and small spaces and spiders and the dark," that's an understatement, I'm terrified of those things.

"Furthermore, she redecorated my room as her own study. Not only did she clear all my stuff out, she put all her stuff in. On the door, she's put a sign saying 'no freaks allowed' which wasn't even the worst of it. No, the worst of it was that for her wedding next year, she's decided that I have to wear this hideous pink ruffle dress with a yellow and orange velvet cloak. And she's told everyone that I chose it. So I ran away, to Mar's house but she wasn't there. I was about to call the Knight Bus when my owl turned up and gave me a letter telling me to come to the Potter's. So, that's my story. How was your holiday, Remus?"

I sigh, it was good getting all of that off my chest. I can't remember the last time I talked to a magic being. I've missed Remus so much, it's unreal.

"That sounds awful. As for my holiday… not a lot happened. I went with Sirius to see his cousin Andromeda. That's Narcissa and Bellatrix's disowned sister. She and Sirius have had a bond since they both got disowned. Anyway, she's married now to Ted Tonks and she has a daughter, called Nymphadora. Nymphadora is about 3 or 4 years old now. Very pretty, lively and smart. She seems to have taken to me…"

I look at Remus intently, trying to decipher any messages in his eyes. There are none. Remus coughs.

"Yeah, so that was basically my first week. Five weeks to go and we get to spend them at the Potters!" he says cheerily.

I suspire, a little agitated by this.

"Don't worry about James, Sirius will be there as always and so will Peter and I. We'll stop him before he does anything bordering on creepy. And Marlene and Alice will be there, you've got nothing to worry about."

"Melanie Clearwater?" I ask.

"No," he shakes his head. "James got over her almost as quickly as he fancied her. No, but his girlfriend Lacy might be there. I wouldn't worry about her, though."

"Right," I mumble.

He looks at me, a slightly thoughtful expression on his face. He smiles a little.

"What?"

"Nothing, absolutely nothing at all."

"No, tell me."

"Fine, you and James, I think you like him more than you let on."

"Oh really?"

"Yes."

"Well, you're wrong."

"Are you sure about that?"

"Yes."

"Oh come on Lily, who are you kidding?"

"No one. I don't like him, he's an –"

"Arrogant toerag and you hate him, yeah, yeah."

"You don't believe me."

"Of course not."

"Why?"

"Because even you don't believe it yourself."

I scowl a little because I can't rebut a statement like that. Not when it's so unfairly true. I do like James but he still goes out with a load of girls, he's irresponsible, he still pulls pranks and makes trouble with the Marauders, he pushes me away every time I try and talk to him, he teases me and yet there's something about him which makes him so utterly perfect. I can't help loving him; despite everything he does which makes me hate him. God, it's so confusing.

Remus directs the Taxi driver down a road and he leaves us in a valley. I can see a building about a couple of miles away.

"It's quite a trek, I'm afraid. I would suggest magic but you're not seventeen yet and neither am I so… we'll just have to walk."

We walk for about five minutes in silence before I feel awkward.

"So… how's Severus?"

I pull a face because I spoke to him in the last week of term. He came to warn me about something and we slipped back into our old argument. Which went a little like this:

"I never meant to call you Mudblood, it just —"

"Slipped out? It's too late. I've made excuses for you for years. None of my friends can understand why I even talk to you. You and your precious little Death Eater friends... You've chosen your way, I've chosen mine."

For the whole year, I've been talking to him a little more and at first it feels fine, good even but then we always end up arguing. But because we're stupid, we keep trying to make it work because for a while, it did. If Severus hadn't called me a Mudblood… if he hadn't chosen the Dark side then maybe we could have stayed best friends. I hate to admit it, but Marlene was right about Severus. I wish I'd seen it earlier.

"He's fine," I say tightly.

"What is it, Lily?"

"Promise you won't say anything horrible?"

"I would never say anything horrible, Lily, not to you anyway."

"Good, because I've been talking to him an awful lot and when we start talking, it's all okay but after a while, it just feels wrong. He's not on my side anymore and he's not my friend and yet… I feel like he should be. I miss him in a crazy way, just like I miss my sister."

"It's not who you are underneath that defines you, it's what you do."

"That sounds wise, where's it from?"

"Batman," Remus says sheepishly.

"I didn't take you for a Superhero guy, Remus."

"Most people don't, but there it is. My secret has been revealed."

"Indeed it has."

"This is the part where you tell me a secret, just so you know."

"See if you can guess: 'I love talking about nothing, it's the only thing I know anything about'."

He looks at me blankly.

"He's a Muggle author. He also said this: 'experience is merely the name we give to our mistakes'. Or perhaps this one: 'always forgive your enemies, nothing annoys them so much'."

Remus just looks more perplexed.

"Oscar Wilde! For God's sake, are you sure you haven't heard of him?"

"No, I don't really read Muggle fiction, Lily."

"What do you read, then?"

"Comic books."

"Of course," I roll my eyes. "Your secret."

We get a full view of the Potter's house, or should I say mansion? His house is huge, not like eight bedrooms huge, huge as in eight floors huge. I feel my mouth fall open.

"Didn't he tell you where he lived?"

"He said he lived in a house."

"Oh, not like him to be so modest. Anyway, we better go in. It's getting chilly."

I shake my head in amazement as we walk inside. The furnishings are an odd mix of old and modern but it works surprisingly well. The mansion is also very light and spacious. A woman I can only describe as Potter's mother greets us. Whilst she is obviously female, she has James' eyes. Mrs Potter looks considerably older than most Wizarding parents but age hardly matters for witches and wizards as we live so much longer than Muggles. Mrs Potter is elegant and very beautiful, she has the air of someone important.

"Hello, Remus! Are you well? Have you had a good holiday so far? Oh and you must be Lily! James has told me all about you; he never mentioned how pretty you were, though. JAMES! GET DOWN HERE AND GREET YOUR GUESTS!"

Mrs Potter pulls me in a tight hug before fussing with our cases. James and Sirius hurtle down the stairs and Mar and Alice appear from one of the many doors with great big smiles on their faces.

"LILY!" Mar and Alice attack me with hugs.

Mrs Potter gets James and Sirius to carry our cases into the living room.

"It's great to finally meet you, Lily. Come on through, I'll introduce you to my husband."

We enter a ridiculously massive front room. Mrs Potter seems lovely, she rambles on about how glad she is to have Alice, Mar, Remus and I because hopefully we'll calm the boy's spirits. As for Mr Potter, he's a kind and gentle man with a spark in his eyes. He has James' unruly hair and seems to share the boisterous and rebellious nature James has. Finally, everybody calms down and I say hello to Sirius and then to James.

"All right, Evans?" he asks, flashing his outrageously provocative smirk.

"Fine thanks, you?"

"I'm fine, better now you're here," he winks at me and part of me explodes with fireworks.

"Now, now James, anyone would think you didn't have a girlfriend."

An outstandingly pretty girl with curly blonde hair, bright red lips and a perfect figure walks down the stairs, a glamourous smile plastered on her face. Despite been beautiful, something about her is very fake and ugly.

"I'm Lacy," she says.

"Lily."

"I know, I've heard a lot about you," she narrows her eyes at me, like I'm an annoying piece of rubbish she can't throw away.

"Be nice, Lace," Potter murmurs.

"Yes, we wouldn't want our guests to feel unwelcome, now would we? James, dear why don't you show Lily her room? Lacy, would you help me with this pie?"

Lacy starts to protest but Mrs Potter is quite insistent. She winks at me before turning her back on us. I blush before following James up the stairs. I mean Potter, Christ why can't I just call him Potter?

"This is your room…" Potter indicates to a white door with the name Lily engraved in gold. I notice there is one door for every friend he has.

"Do you often have guests?" I ask.

"Yes, before I was born, mum and dad were like a sort of free hotel. People always stopped by, they still do. It's a sort of tradition. Mum was ever so excited when she heard you were coming, she couldn't wait."

"You told her about me?"

He shrugs. "Yeah, she doesn't like Lacy but then again, I don't really either."

"Then why –"

"Why am I with her? I don't know, she's good-looking, available and I am also all those things," he smirks. "So it just sort of happened. It's dragging on way too long, though but she wants to stay together. Shall we go down?"

We walk down the stairs in silence, me pondering everything he just said. When we get down, Alice and Mar are in an animated discussion about Quidditch, Lacy and Potter are snogging in the corner, Remus is chattering away to Mr Potter and Sirius sits next to me. We share a look of repulsion toward Potter and Lacy.

"You don't like Lacy either?" I ask him.

"Is that her name? I long since stopped bothering learning their names; they come and go too fast. As you your question, no. I don't like her and I think he's a fool to mess around with girls like her but who am I to judge?"

"Potter has a lot of girlfriends?"

"Yeah, a fair few but it never lasts."

"How long do you give Lacy?"

"Honestly? A couple of hours."

"Is that all?"

"Now you're here, he doesn't need a distraction. He still loves you by the way."

"He has a funny way of showing it."

"That's Prongs for you."

We sit in silence for a while.

"What's it like living here?" I ask him.

"Great, actually. I'm never bored, Mr and Mrs Potter treat me just like their son. It's better than anything I'd originally planned when I ran away."

There's a sort of angry squeal from the corner and Lacy marches out the door. Sirius whistles.

"That's a record, there Prongs. She only lasted a day."

"Oh dear, that's such a shame that's she left," Mrs Potter says, although she doesn't appear all to upset.

Mrs Potter beckons us to sit outside for lunch. If I thought the Lightwood Manor had a big garden, then I had definitely not seen the Potter's garden. It stretched for miles and miles, an endless equilibrium of beauty. I am in complete and utter awe, how could anything be this beautiful? So many flowers, a perfect view of the sky and the fresh smell of grass and mint leaves. There was something in the air which made me feel at home. I could spend all day just looking at the garden, probably longer.

We eat our sandwiches with all of the Potter's guests which turns out just to be the Marauders plus Alice, Marlene and I. The lunch is mildly entertaining and I can't help thinking that this is the best day of my life. Here with my friends, without a care in the world. Of course my luck was just too good.

A Ministry owl flies over our heads and drops a letter in my lap. Everybody freezes because whatever is in this letter is definitely not good news.