Rating:
PG
House:
Schnoogle
Characters:
James Potter Lily Evans
Genres:
Action Romance
Era:
Multiple Eras
Stats:
Published: 06/07/2003
Updated: 01/08/2013
Words: 389,988
Chapters: 59
Hits: 80,010

Lily Evans: A History

Bethany

Story Summary:
A story of Lily's life from pre-Hogwarts to marrying James Potter. How she coped with growing up with Petunia to her friendship with the four boys that would change her life - and eventually the course of history - forever.

Chapter 24

Posted:
12/20/2003
Hits:
1,203
Author's Note:
And now for some quotes from this chapter that will hopefully peek your interest:

Lily Evans, A History
Chapter 24 - Through the Fireplace
By: Bethany
Rated: PG
-----------@
~*~*~*~*~

The response to Dumbledore's announcement was instantaneous. Whispers grew louder until the Great Hall was full of urgent talk from neighbor to neighbor. The Headmaster, however, didn't allow it to last long. By merely raising his hands, the Hall fell quiet once more. Lily felt herself stiffen, and she moved up to sit on the edge of her seat. "Please, do not panic. It is merely a safety measure placed for you and your families. The Ministry of Magic has received intelligence that Voldemort has plans to attack the train station, both magical and muggle, tomorrow as the Hogwarts Express arrives. In order to prevent a tragedy, we are working towards another way to send everyone home, safely."

He paused again, but this time no one spoke. Lily felt she could have heard a pin drop. She exchanged worried glances with Kassie, who looked rapt with attention to the front of the Hall. In fact, everywhere that Lily looked, students were watching Professor Dumbledore, their faces sober and serious. She swallowed as the wizard began again. "I ask that you all stay calm. Hopefully by mid-day tomorrow we will have worked out a plan to send you all home safely. Until then, please do not panic. You are now, and will remain, safe inside the walls of this castle. As long as there is a breath in my body."

The last sentence was so full of steadfast intensity that Lily felt her breath catch. Dumbledore looked as if he hadn't meant to say it aloud, but did nonetheless. Professor McGonagall was sitting to his right, staring at him with open shock for a split second. Every student in the room, from all houses, was silent. And Lily could feel the magic, like it was crackling in the air. A beautiful, yet intense wave of magic that swirled through the very room.

"Now that that is said. I do have some end of term announcements, but let's not concern ourselves with those until we have ate the wonderful looking feast." Suddenly the golden plates filled with food of every kind, like it did during all feasts, though Lily didn't feel nearly as hungry as she had half an hour earlier. With automatic movements she placed chicken on her plate. The noise level grew slightly as everyone began talking again. Most were serious faced, sober conversations, not those that normally filled the hall at the last feast of the year.

"It's so easy to forget there is a war out there," Kassie said suddenly. Dumbledore's announcement had been a hard slap in the face of reality. It was true, Lily had nearly forgotten that wizards and witches not in the school fought for the safety of their world. Lily happened to glance down the table. Almost as if he expected it, James' eyes flickered from Sirius to her at the same moment.

Shaking off the feeling that James had known she would be looking his way (after all, that was ridiculous) Lily turned her attention back to Gabrielle and Kathleen, who were discussing if this latest incident would affect their trip to the States.

After the dessert had disappeared from the tables, the Headmaster once more got to his feet. The hall fell silent in almost a tense way. Lily looked around, not sure what she was looking for, but her gaze landed on Severus Snape. He was sitting at the far end of the Slytherin House table, surrounded, as always, with other idiots from his house. Walden Macnair, Evan Rosier, Rodolphus Lestrange, Bellatrix Black and many others were also staring towards the front of the Great Hall. And each of them wore the same expression of loathing. Lily had heard Sirius say earlier that they should go ahead and send the Slytherins home, since their parents were most likely the Death Eaters attacking, and wouldn't attack their own kids. From the looks on their faces, the Slytherin's must have agreed (however unknowingly) to this statement. Lily shuttered and looked back up to Dumbledore as he once more began speaking.

"And so another year comes to an end at Hogwarts. And, as such, it is time to announce the winner of the House Cup." He consulted a piece of parchment that Professor McGonagall handed him, but Lily had a suspicion that he had the numbers memorized. "Standing in fourth place, with three hundred and sixty-three points, Hufflepuff house." Lily barely paid attention has they applauded Hufflepuff quickly. She couldn't remember who had the most points, she had barely paid that much attention. The last she heard Slytherin was out of favor because they had a fair Head of House this year. "In third place, with three hundred and ninety points, Slytherin House."

The staff applauded. A few from the other houses applauded, but it was hard to do so with the Slytherins sitting like statues, not moving to acknowledge they had quite a good number of points. To look at Dumbledore, one would never know he noticed the odd quietness. "In second place, with four hundred and sixteen points, Ravenclaw House--"

Dumbledore never really got to finish, though Lily was sure he had announced how many Gryffindor had. But no one could hear over the ear splitting screams, yelps and cheers that rose up around the Great Hall. Gryffindor, for the second year running, had won the House Cup. Professor McGonagall was accepting hand shakes from the other house heads, the Marauders were dancing around, proclaiming that their loss of points didn't hurt their chances after all, and everyone on the left side of the room was jumping up and down. Lily grinned and celebrated with everyone else, thankful for the change of atmosphere. However short lived it would be.

*******

That evening and that night the talk around the castle was centered on the pending trip home, and the acclaimed attack on King's Cross Station. Lily wondered if Voldemort would still attack, or if he knew that there would be no students there. She wondered if he cared. Professor McGonagall had said that this would be the closest Voldemort would ever come to attacking Hogwarts, and because he couldn't penetrate the castle grounds, he choose this way instead. Hopefully now that he would fail, Lily hoped he would give up. She sincerely doubted this would happen, though.

"This is mad, can't get my own trunk open," Kassie muttered, bringing Lily effectively out of her thoughts. Lily lifted her head and peered over the footboard to where Kassie was struggling with her trunk. She tapped her wand on it, pulled, yanked and glared. Still the trunk remained closed.

"Did you try the unlocking spell?" Madison suggested tentivly, perched on her own bed across from Lily and watching Kassie.

"Yes," Kassie replied shortly. She yanked her wand out, slammed it so hard down on the trunk that Lily feared it would snap and said, "Alohomora!" The trunk remained closed. "See? It's not working. Alohomora!" Suddenly there was a loud bang! followed by an explosion of clothing, quills, books and an array of other things Kassie owned as the trunk exploded open, sending her stuff flying every direction. Kassie watched all this with her mouth hanging open, her wand still held up. When it all had fallen to the floor, she sat on the edge of her bed and buried her face in her hands.

Lily chuckled as she sat up and walked around her four-poster bed to where Kassie was sitting amongst all her clothing, a quill in her hair. "Can I say I told you so?"

"You just did," replied Kassie from between her fingers.

Lily smiled brightly and gave Kassie a quick, one-armed hug. "Ok then." She took her wand from her belt and pointed it at Kassie's belongings. "Pack!" Everything (including the quill on Kassie's head) jumped up and arranged itself back in Kassie's trunk neatly. The black haired girl grumbled a nearly inaudible "Thanks" and yanked out a nightdress and changed into it. Lily smiled and winked at Madison, who was trying to stifle a giggle.

Lily climbed into her bed, the curtains open and staring at the red fabric above her. It was an odd night, a feeling of strangeness seemed to have settled over the room. It was awkward, the knowledge that she wouldn't be returning home on the Hogwarts Express tomorrow morning. That was normal, that was to be expected. But for the first time in many years, that train wouldn't run. But for Lily, it was more than awkward. She wondered, as she laid in bed listening to the other five girls in her room fall asleep, what would have happened if the Ministry hadn't received warning about the attack? What if Death Eaters had attacked the train station, with all the wizarding and Muggle families, waiting for their children? People would die; lots of people. And the Death Eaters surely didn't care whether they were attacking Muggles or wizards. What if her mother had been there, waiting for Lily, and got attacked? What if she had died, just because Lily was a witch?

The idea haunted Lily to the point that she couldn't fall asleep. She tossed and turned, but every time she closed her eyes, she saw wizards in black robes (their faces covered like the cowards they were) randomly killing people who stood in their way. Attacking the kids as they got off the Platform and came through the barrier, before they had a chance to defend themselves.

Finally unable to stand laying in bed, wide awake, Lily pulled on a robe and as quietly as she could left the bedroom she shared with her friends. Down the steps and into the common room she went, where, to her immense surprise, she found another person sitting. She couldn't see his profile, since his back was to her. But messy black hair sticking everywhere more or less gave away the identity of the person. He had his elbows on his knees, staring into the fire before him, the very last person Lily wanted to run into at the moment: James Potter.

He didn't seem to have realized she was there, so Lily turned and started back up the stair case as quietly as she came. She didn't feel like talking, or even being in company, really. But as she turned around a voice suddenly came from the other side of the room. "Don't go."

Lily spun around, her heart racing in her chest. She knew there was no way he seen her. His back had been to her the entire time she was in the room. It was like earlier, in the Great Hall, like he had sensed she was going to look his direction. But it was absurd, really. There wasn't anyway for him to predict what she would do. Right? "How did you know I was here?" she asked, her voice seemingly far off.

James turned around so that the fire played on his profile, making the shadows under his eyes seem sunken and deep. The glass in his spectacles reflected Lily's face, though from the opposite reflection of the fire, it seemed Lily's head was in the fire. She moved slightly to the left. Instead of answering Lily's question, James cocked his head slightly and studied her a moment. "Are you all right?"

Knowing she wouldn't get away, Lily walked further into the room, pulling her robe around her further and tightening the ropes into a knot. She sat across from James and looked into the fire. For several long moments, neither of them spoke. But sensing that James was still waiting for an answer, Lily replied, though she didn't turn to face him. "No, not really. I keep thinking about what could have happened to my parents -- to all of our parents -- had the Ministry not found out about that attack."

James snorted, as if he were sharing an inside joke with someone in the room. "The Ministry learn of that attack? Not likely. Perhaps the Order of the Phoenix told the Ministry."

"The Order of the what?" Lily asked, her eyes wide as she did turn to look at James.

"The Order of the Phoenix. A secret society that is working against Voldemort. They aren't part of the Ministry, per say. But without them, the wizarding world would be in bigger trouble than it is now."

"How do you know about this group?" Lily asked.

"Because my Mum and Dad are in it," James replied easily, leaning back against the sofa and pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. Lily noticed that he did that any time he didn't have something to do with his hands. He had done it three times since she sat down. "Mind you, they supposedly don't exist. No one knows, especially the Ministry."

"You know," Lily pointed out.

"And so do you, now," James added, grinning slightly. "Oh, there are plenty who do know. But more who don't, or don't believe in them. Dumbledore is in it. My parents are in it, Remus' parents are, Peter's dad is. A lot of kids know about it, because their parents are in it. But it's an unspoken rule not to discuss it."

"Oh," Lily replied, not sure what to say, really. Her parents couldn't be any help, since they were Muggles. The least she could do was to join the fight against Voldemort, when she was old enough. But that was much too far away, and the pressing matters in her mind were in the here and now. "At least someone knew about the attack. So no one got hurt."

"That won't stop Voldemort," James said. His voice had a steely edge to it that Lily hadn't heard in a long time. Not since James had last spoken of his father's work as an Auror. But then, if Harold Potter was also in this Order of the Phoenix, he was in much more danger than just being an Auror. "Nothing will stop him. Perhaps it would be easier to just give up before too many die."

"James, you don't mean that," Lily said sternly, her sharp green eyes focused on him. The lines of his face could have been etched in stone, he sat so still. Lily had never heard his voice so hard. "No matter what, we must always fight for the light side."

James said nothing for a very tense moment. Then, suddenly, he let out a deep breath and raked his hand through his hair. "I know," he muttered darkly. "But sometimes it just seems so pointless. People are dying out there, Lily. Everyday there is news of more deaths, more disappearances. Muggles, Wizards, children, it doesn't matter to them. A few years ago, when this started, it was suppose to be for the good of wizard kind." James laughed, short and bitterly. "The only good thing would be for someone to Avada Kadavera that bastard."

Lily was for a loss of words. James had never revealed this side of himself to her before, and it was breath taking how intense his feelings ran, and also very, very frightening. She didn't know how to respond, but he didn't seem to expect her to. He ran his hands through his hair again and threw her a slightly apologetic grin. "Sorry. I got a little carried away with myself, didn't I?"

Lily smiled slightly back, still unsure what, if anything, she should say. Instead she leaned back in her seat, enjoying the way the flames caused heat to spread over her body. She closed her eyes for a moment, relaxing. But suddenly her feeling of relaxation stirred and Lily peeked her eyes open to see James staring at her. His brown eyes were intense, yet not so much that Lily felt uncomfortable under their gaze. James, realizing what he was doing, moved his head aside. He yawned. "I think I'll head up to bed. You sure you don't want me to go nick you a dose of dreamless sleep potion or anything?"

Lily raised an eyebrow. James grinned at her. "I'm kidding... well, no, wait. Actually, I'm not. You sure?"

"I'm positive," Lily replied, a smile tugging at her lips.

"Ok then," James replied, shrugging. As he walked past Lily he placed his hand briefly atop her head. "Sleep well."

And then he was gone.

Lily stared for a few moments into the fire, the warmth traveling over her body in waves. Yawning, she, too, headed up to her bed. The other girls were still sleeping, unaware that Lily had even gotten up and left the room. The half full moon spilled light onto her bed as Lily pulled back the curtains and crawled under the blankets. Where she promptly fell asleep.

********

Every person in the school was packed into the entry hall, with their trunks. Lily had placed hers on its end and sat on it, looking at nothing in particular. The door to the Great Hall opened slightly, and a worried looking Professor McGonagall came out. The room fell silent almost at once. "When I call your house and year, you will come into the Great Hall. From there we will send you home." She consulted the parchment before her. "Hufflepuff, year seven!"

Kassie placed her trunk on the ground and sat atop it, looking for all the world like she was bored. But Lily knew Kassie was worried about getting home, just like she was. At breakfast the Headmaster had told everyone that they would be traveling home by Floo powder, beginning at eleven o'clock. All parents had been notified (how, he didn't say) and would be expecting their children to arrive home, not at the train station. He didn't say whether or not this had stopped Voldemort from attacking, or what, if anything, had been done on that front. Lily supposed it was being handled.

"Ravenclaw, year seven!"

"This is going to take forever," Kassie yawned. "Why didn't they start at first years?"

Lily shrugged. Alexis, who had also sat on her trunk, leaned towards them. "Probably because seventh years are allowed to do magic, aren't they? They're legal. So if something happens when they Floo home, they can warn Professor Dumbledore."

Lily and Kassie nodded. They didn't know how the seventh years would warn Dumbledore, just assumed they would be able to. Lily wished she was in seventh year, and able to do magic outside of school. She knew there was special cases outside of school when she could do magic, but unless it was life threatening, it was against the wizarding law.

"Gryffindor, year seven!"

Lily yawned, but covered her mouth with her hand. Randomly she glanced around at everyone in the hall. There really were a lot of students at Hogwarts. More than she would have estimated. Or maybe it looked like a lot since everyone was crowded into a smaller room than the Great Hall. It looked like, across from where her, Kassie, Alexis and Madison were sitting, that Allana and her friends were practicing repairing and levitating charms. A little further way, James and Remus were playing chess, and Sirius and Peter were next to them, playing exploding snap. Most students were talking, and only the Slytherins seem to be standing and doing nothing. Only staring ahead with usual hateful glares at everyone not in their own house, and some inside it.

"Slytherin, year seven!"

**********

"Hufflepuff, year three!"

Kassie was right in her estimation that this would take forever. Lily felt she had been sitting on her none-too-comfortable trunk for hours on end. Her bottom was sore, her head hurt and she itched for Professor McGonagall to call their year and house so she could get up.

The Marauders had tired of their games long ago, and were currently teasing Peeves the Poltergeist, who had thought he would come in and drop water balloons on everyone in the entry hall. Unfortunately for him, the water balloons were currently chasing him around and exploding on him every few minutes at the delight to the Marauders, as well as several other students.

"Ravenclaw, year three!"

"So, are you and your Mum still going to London for the weekend?" Kassie asked, popping up behind Lily suddenly. She had been over admiring Sirius and James' charm work as they controlled the water balloons chasing Peeves.

"Suppose so," Lily replied boredly. She really didn't care what she done after she got home, so long as she got there. Or somewhere.

"Gryffindor, year three!"

"Finally!" Lily moaned, getting up and grabbing the handle of her trunk. Kassie did the same and they slowly moved forward with the crowd of other years and into the Great Hall.

The Gryffindor House table, that had been nearest the fireplace, had been moved. Well, it was gone. Lily couldn't see where it had been moved to. Instead Professor Dumbledore, Professor Kittle and Professor McClure were standing at the large fireplace, observing those students from Ravenclaw who were still on their way home. Professor McGonagall was standing just inside the door, checking names off a piece of parchment as they entered the Great Hall. Lily and Kassie moved slowly through the line until they were finally standing before the large fireplace.

"Here," Professor Dumbledore said, taking Morgana's cage from Lily. "Let her go on, and I'll shrink her cage so you only have to carry your trunk."

Lily let Morgana out, instructed her to head home, and allowed the Headmaster to shrink the owl's cage to the size of a pea which she placed in her pocket. "Now, mind you take that out when you get home. The spell will wear off in an half an hours time and you don't want it in your pocket when that happens," Dumbledore advised, smiling. "In you go."

Lily stepped forward and into the green flames with her trunk handle in her hand. She turned around, waved to Kassie and Peter, who were next in line, and said; "Nine Hollis Drive!"

Everything began spinning at once. The flames tickled as Lily revolved around, her stomach giving a funny lurch. She hated traveling by Floo Powder, and decided, as she came to a jolting stop in her own fireplace, that she would never like it. Putting a hand on her chest in an attempt to calm her frantically beating heart, Lily stepped out of the fireplace, pulling her trunk with her. "Thank goodness you're home safe!" a voice suddenly cried out. Lily hadn't even paid attention to who had been in the room. Christine Evans ran across the room and swept Lily up in a tight hug that threatened to force Lily to loose all her breakfast.

When Christine finally let go, Lily gulped in a huge breath of air just before she was pulled down to hug her father. Petunia was nowhere to be seen. But this neither surprised, nor bothered Lily in the least. Christine was looking Lily over from top to bottom, searching, it seemed, for something to fuss about. "Mum, I'm fine. Really," Lily emphasized, brushing soot from her robes and hair.

"We got an owl from Professor Dumbledore, something about an attack at King's Cross Station. And that you would be coming home at some point through the fireplace. It didn't say what time, so I've been sitting here all day, waiting." Christine stopped to take in a huge amount of air before sitting wearily back on the love seat. "I'm just so glad you're home safe. All this nonsense about dark wizards and pointless attacks. They should put this Voldemort in prison, they should."

Lily couldn't help herself. Despite all the tension, and the weariness she felt in her body, she couldn't stop the giggle that escaped. Her mother was going to put Lord Voldemort, the most powerful dark wizard in many, many years, in prison. Christine shot Lily a queer look. "I'm sorry Mum," Lily explained, remembering to take the pea-sized cage out of her robe pocket before sitting down. "But a prison wouldn't hold Voldemort."

"And why not?" Christine demanded.

Lily jumped slightly as Morgana's cage suddenly grew back to it's normal size with a faint pop! Christine jumped as well, though harder than Lily, who had been expecting it. "A muggle prison wouldn't hold any witch or wizard. They'd just apparate out."

"Apparate?"

"Disappear from one place and appear in another."

"Freakish," a voice muttered. Lily turned to see Petunia walking past the living room doorway before she disappeared up the stairs, her footfalls loud enough to make the chandelier in the foyer shutter in response.

With the appearance of Petunia, Lily's thoughts were brought back to reality with a suddenly lurch. She glanced at the doorway, then back at her parents, who were still discussing the supposed planned attack at the train station. "Mum, are we still going to London, then?"

Christine's hazel eyes turned from Daniel in a moment, and homed in on her daughter. "If you still want to," she answered in a neutral voice that was much calmer than the one Lily had heard since she flooed home.

Lily shrugged. She wasn't going to force her mother to do anything. "It's up to you."

**********

Twenty-four hours later found Lily standing at the bar in the Leaky Cauldron waiting for Tom to take her and her mother to a room. As per her mother's wishes, they were going to spend time in Diagon Alley, as well as Muggle London. Lily, at least, felt this could turn out to be more fun than she had anticipated. Her mother, on the other hand, looked rather nervous about the whole thing, especially when they were finally showed to their room and the mirror called out a greeting.

"Hello ladies!" came a voice happily.

"Hello," Christine replied sheepishly, trying not to show her youngest daughter she had no absolutely no idea whom had spoken. She gave a confused smile around the seemingly empty room and laid her suitcase on the twin bed nearest the window.

"Good day," Lily replied to the mirror, grinning despite her resolve a few moments earlier to keep a straight face. She turned around, stifling a giggle as Christine shot her a queer look. "So, where to first?"

Christine pulled off her jumper and changed into something lighter. "Food, I think. I'm starving."

"Sounds good," Lily replied. She pulled on her cloak, put her wand in her belt and followed her mother into the hall. She realized that she had no reason for carrying her wand, since she wasn't allowed to do magic. But there was something about being in the wizarding world that made her feel better if she had it within her reach. They descended the stairs and re-entered the pub where they ordered their lunch.

Their food came by way of a tiny little witch with short gray hair that was combed back unevenly. She gave them a nearly toothless grin as she sat their plates down and then disappeared into a crowd of wizards that was passing by. Half of the meal was spent in silence, that Lily wondered awkwardly if she should break. But, then, she really didn't know where to begin. It seemed Christine was thinking the same thing, only she had found a place to begin.

Christine cleared her throat, taking a drink of her water as if she had a severely dry mouth. "Now that we can talk, we might as well get this part over with." Lily found herself worrying her cloak fabric between her fingers as she watched her mother. "I want you to tell me, in your own words, what happened."

Lily couldn't believe her good fortune. Not only was Petunia not here to add her knut in, but her mother was actually going to listen to her side? Lily hoped she was as willing to believe Lily, as she had been Petunia. "Since the first time Petunia brought Vernon home, he has always been..." Lily searched for a less graphic word than what she really wanted to say. She was sure that wouldn't go over too well, though Kassie had thought it was perfect. "Looking at me oddly," she finished, darting her eyes up to see her mother watching her intently. "And he's said some snide things. But I've just avoided him. Christmas night when he came into the kitchen, he said some suggestive things, and... well, he touched me." Christine's eyes shot wide open and Lily backtracked in a hurry. "No, no. I mean, he just, ran his hand down my arm and was getting really close to me. I panicked and, well, it's kind of like when I was younger and I'd use magic without meaning to. I hexed him, and that's when you came in."

Christine sat back, absorbing Lily's story as she studied her daughter. After what seemed like an eternity, she leaned forward again. "Lily, you've got to see this from my point of view. Petunia had been coming to me for, well, some time about how Vernon was complaining about you following him around. And then, when we walked in and saw him lying on the floor..."

"What?!" Lily spat, attracting the attention of several wizards and witches from surrounding tables. She gave them a brief apologetic smile and lowered her voice to nearly a hiss. "Petunia told you that? But Mum! She knew what he was doing. Surely you believe me?"

Christine looked as if she could have done with a memory charm right about then. Lily knew if she could erase all this from her mother's memory, then life could go back to being the way it was. Unfortunately for her, memory charms were out of the question. Instead Lily focused more on making her mother see reason. She had to. Unless Lily wanted to spend the rest of her life with the knowledge that her mother thought she had been chasing after that... that... beached whale with facial hair. "Look, Mum, I promise I wasn't doing nothing of the sort. First of all, no matter what Petunia thinks of me, I wouldn't do that to her. And second of all, well, Mum I'm only thirteen! What would I want with an eighteen year old?"

"Nineteen, Vernon just turned nineteen," Christine said off-handedly.

"Even more reason!" Lily continued. "I'd want someone more my age. Someone like, well, I don't know. Anyone! Sirius, even." Suddenly Lily bit her tongue, realizing that wasn't exactly who she meant. But before she could backtrack, Christine burst into laughter.

"Sirius? Now that's an... interesting choice, dear," Christine said, her eyes twinkling with laughter.

Lily couldn't help her own giggle as she shook her head. "No, not Sirius. But my point is that he's closer to my age. And he's... well, he's like me. You know?"

A shadow passed over Lily's mother's face and again Lily felt like she had said the wrong thing. But as soon as it had came, it was gone, and Christine was smiling again. "Yes, like you," she repeated. "You will marry a wizard, wouldn't you?"

"Yes," Lily replied earnestly. She reached across the table, placing her hand over her mother's. "Mum, I hate that Petunia has been lying to you. But she has. You know that she doesn't like me because I'm a witch. You do believe me, don't you?"

Christine stared into the astonishing emerald, almond shaped eyes of her youngest daughter and felt tears rise. Through the hazy line of her vision, she squeezed Lily's hand and felt a fool a million times over. But there was understanding, love, and something akin to relief in Lily's eyes. "I'm so sorry."

A brilliant smile rose on Lily's face. She felt like dancing, but refrained, barely. "It's ok, Mum. But really," she chastised lightly, giggling. "I'd have better taste, don't you think?"

Christine looked torn, for a second, about if she should laugh or not. But only for a second. Then both mother and daughter fell into a fit of giggles that was free of tension and heartache that lead the way for a proper mother and daughter relationship. Something Christine knew, with a clear certainty, that she would never have with her eldest daughter.

**********

Lily Evans had never been denied much in her short life time. Being the favorite of the two Evans children, anything she wanted was basically handed to her. Not that she was spoiled, in her eyes, only well pampered. And there was nothing wrong with that. Honestly. Well, again, only in her eyes.

But even Lily's eyes were bulging with the amount of bags her and her mother brought back to the Leaky Cauldron after a day full of shopping in Diagon Alley. And Lily half wondered if her mother's guilty conscience had anything to do with the obscene amount of money they spent that day. But in the end, it boiled down to that if Lily admired it, she got it. Of course, by the third store she had noticed this and had stopped openly admiring much. But that still left her with a huge amount of shopping bags when it was all said and done.

It took about an hour for her to rift through all their bags, Lily explaining a lot as she went. Especially as to why on Earth she would want to eat candy that made her levitate, breath fire, or have the sensation of something jumping in her stomach. And another thirty minutes was spent trying to explain to her mother about Quidditch before she decided that she really didn't care to go into detail to her mother about all seven hundred fouls that could be committed, and how they had all happened in a Quidditch World Cup in 1473.

"So, there's four balls, right?" Christine said, pointing to a picture provided in a booklet they had picked up in Quality Quidditch Supplies. Lily couldn't help but giggle at her mother, sitting next to her on the floor cross-legged, popping a Chocolate Frog in her mouth. She flipped the card over. "Ah, Morgana again. So, anyway. And what position does James play again?"

"Chaser," Lily supplied promptly, completely misunderstood as to why her mother smiled at her so knowingly. "He made more goals this year..."

"Than anyone in the Gryffindor house for ten years," Christine finished. "I remember you telling me that three or five times." She opened another Chocolate Frog. "Ah! Bertie Bott. Do you have him?" Christine asked.

"No," Lily said, really not as interested in the wizard trading cards as her mother. "But, yes, there are four balls in Quidditch. One Quaffle, two Bludgers and one Snitch."

"And what's this do?" Christine asked, obviously not very interested in Quidditch. She held a bottle of potion out and Lily took it.

"This is special potion to develop pictures in, so that they move."

"That's so fascinating!" Christine exclaimed in awe. "Like in these books? We'll have to develop some pictures to see if we can make it work. Oh! And look at this," she held up a roll of SpelloTape. "What does this do?"

"It's just like Sellotape," Lily explained. "Only used on magical objects. And really, I'm not sure why we have this."

"Because it looked interesting," Christine explained, opening a bag Lily hadn't noticed before. Just as Christine was about to put a sucker in her mouth, Lily realized what it was and grabbed it out of her hand. "Eh, Mum, I don't think you want that."

"But why not?" Christine gave her daughter a scandalized look, especially when Lily burst into giggles.

"Acid Pops, Mum. Burn a hole in your tongue. James and Sirius snuck one to Peter and Madam Pomfrey had a fit."

"Well," Christine replied, giving the Acid Pop an ugly sneer. Lily vaguely thought that she resembled Petunia when she did that, but it was gone quickly. "How about this?"

"A Sugar Quill? I think you're safe with that," Lily replied.

"Good, I half imagined that it would write on my tongue or something similar." Lily laughed with her mother, but in the back of her mind, she wondered if James or Sirius could make a Sugar Quill do exactly that. She'd have to ask them.

***********

Contrary to what Lily thought when they left Hollis Drive, she was sad to be back. Her and her mother had had a wonderful time in London and Diagon Alley. They had spent their second day in London, shopping, and spent hours pointing out different people and deciding if they were Muggles or wizards. Some people were easy to figure out, some a little harder. Lily swore this one woman was a Muggle until said woman overheard and smiled at Lily knowingly.

But now they were back, sitting in the drive at 9 Hollis Drive and staring at the house. It was quiet, which meant that either Petunia wasn't up yet, or had already left the house. Otherwise, Lily was sure she would be outside ranting and raving to Christine about something or another. Lily couldn't wait to see Petunia's face when she found out that Christine now knew the truth about what happened at Christmas. But, then again, that would be a fight if ever there was one. And she wasn't much looking forward to that.

"Well, we'll need to get inside, I suppose," Christine said, pulling the door handle on the car and stepping out. Lily followed reluctantly and tagged along after her mother to the rear of the car and began pulling out shopping bags and suitcases. After three trips into the house, all their belongings were piled up in the hall and Christine was off to find Daniel.

Lily dragged her belongings up the stairs as quietly as she could manage and piled them at the foot of her bed. From her owl perch near the open window, Morgana hooted in greeting. "Ah, Morgana. I picked up something for you," Lily said, shifting through one of the bags at her feet. "A whole bag of the owl treats you like so much." Morgana moved over to perch on the end of the bed, waiting. Lily kept going through bags. "Well, they must be downstairs still. I'll go get them."

Morgana hooted her agreement and Lily went back out of her room and down the stairs. She looked through two bags before finding what she was looking for. "There we go," she mumbled to herself, straightening up to head back upstairs. As she turned around, though, Petunia was standing just behind her, her bony hands on her hips. "OH! Petunia, you scared me!" Lily said, her heart hammering so loudly in her chest she feared that her sister could surely hear it.

Petunia said nothing, only continued to glare at Lily hatefully. Lily raised her chin up a bit so she could stare her sister in the eye. "Do you need something, Petunia?" Lily asked in her most nonchalant voice.

Petunia stood in silence, her only movement came as she pushed a piece of blonde hair from her face. Her hazel eyes leered at Lily. "Convinced her, did you?" she finally spat. Lily blinked, honestly unsure as to what she was talking about. Petunia continued. "You know," she said, her voice barely high enough to be considered a hiss. "I won't forgive you for this. Vernon would not stray from me--"

"Please," Lily drawled, rolling her eyes a bit. "Don't start on me. Both you and I know what happened. You're not that stupid, Petunia." Lily side stepped her older sister and started up the stairs, but stopped just after climbing two. "Just add this to the list of other things you won't forgive me for." And with her cloak fanning out behind her, Lily turned and continued climbing the stairs, tears in her eyes that Petunia would never see.

And never understand, if she did.

--End Chapter 24.

I want to start out by apologizing for how long this chapter took to get out. I know I said it would be three weeks, but I'm pushing four, I think. I could list my reasons (new job, sick, blah, blah) but the fact still remains that I said I would get it out and I didn't. And I apologize.

Now, with that out of the way I want to thank my wonderful editor and Brit-check, Kate for getting this back to me so quickly so I could post it today. And everyone on the Lily Update group for being so supportive, and of course to everyone who reads this story. Without you, I probably wouldn't write. *huggles everyone*

Replies to reviews, questions, etc:
I'm really happy that everyone loved the comedy edge in the last chapter. Hopefully the dramatic edge is going to leave for a few chapters, making way for more pranks etc. And, of course, entering Lily's fourth year also introduces some dating. Though not with James and Lily, but we are getting close for all of you wondering. I hope that all questions about why Christine believed Petunia was answered in this chapter. If not, let me know and I'll see what I can do. But I'd like to say that it's buried and done with.

And there is one review I want to address here. Sybel: I'm sorry if you feel the story is over dramatic. Because I'm the author, though, it's kinda my decision on how that goes. Yes, I understand that Harry is the hero. But without Lily and James, Harry wouldn't be around, would he? And would he be such a hero if Lily's love hadn't saved him? I think Lily is just as much of a hero, if not more, than a one year old child. Without her, he would be dead and Voldemort would have taken over the world. Right? The Seer thing, heck, who knows? It seemed like a good idea. About James and Lily being friends. This is a pre-OotP fic, and will continue to be so until the end. I started it six months before the fifth book was out and I'm not changing it now. And lastly, no, I won't change the fic. Again, sorry for all my short comings.

And now, if anyone is still down here and you are not part of the LilyUpdate Group (how dare you!! :D ) please join by sending an email to this address:
[email protected]
You'll get the normal, updates about the story, etc. And then the not so normal, spoilers for future chapters, story line discussions, HP in general discussions (I believe the latest question was if we always thought Sirius was cute, and how we came to the conclusion before OotP) and other such musings. So join and then talk afterwards :)

I know this is getting cold, but I still have no fanart. Please, please--I'd LOVE some fanart of this story. Or even if you're just good with computer images and want to brew up something that way. I'd be eternally grateful. Really. *gives puppy dog eyes* Think Sirius... :D

Next chapter is nearly done and should be up before the New Year. Please review, please drink lots of hot chocolate and enjoy the time out of school for the holidays.

Happy Christmas!

<3 Bethany
12.19.03