Unreachable

Unreachable

Your love is out of reach

And I can't grab hold

No matter how hard I try

It's still too far

Now I'm drowning

Without your love

But No one can safe me

Except You

...I've spent forever searching for someone like you

Finally the end of forever has finally come...

Prologue

Love. Who needs it, right? Lily Evans was positive she could do without it. Love never got anyone anywhere. Her parents had 'claimed' to love one another, but that hadn't stopped them from divorce. Love never ended well. Lily was sure of that.

She wasn't going to let herself fall in love with some arrogant prince and be whisked off to a perfect life, only to discover years later that nothing was indeed perfect about her love and marriage. She had seen and heard of it happening too many times before to let it happen to her. She wasn't going to make that mistake of ever falling in love.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~

Love. Who needs it, right? James Potter was positive he couldn't do without it. Love saved the lost from their doom. His parents loved each other, and they were still very happily married with each other. Love always ended well. James was sure of that.

He was going to search through the whole planet if he needed to, to find his princess. And once he did, he would whisk her off to a perfect lifetime of nothing, but love and serenity. He had seen and heard of so many happy endings to not believe in it. He was going to do anything it took to have that fairy tale ending of falling in love.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~

This is a tale of love, tragedy, and sacrifice. Through the many heartbreaks and disasters, a very special bond is formed. Sacrifice is required, and in result tragedy is born. All the while, a new dark power is being born and no love is safe. Lives will be torn, bonds broken, fears confirmed. Some will suffer while others prosper. In the end, some souls will be unsalvageable and remote. Unreachable...

1 ~ Déjà vu

The fire was spreading in a blink of an eye. The only noise besides the crackling flames as they tore down the house, was the screams and wails coming from the home. Someone was trapped inside the burning building, begging for escape.

Nearby a masked stranger watched, mercilessly. Though the person was wearing a mask, the outline of a sinister grin could still be spotted. The person was enjoying the chaos, the screams, the pain. With a swoosh of the figure's cloak; they disappeared down the street, just as the building finally caved in and collapsed.

There was a final shriek of screams and moans, before silence plummeted onto the scene. The picture of the burnt and destroyed house grew further and further from view, the sound of nature like the bugs and the rustling trees, returned. The lives of the poor Evans had been put to an end, but the hurt was just beginning. It was just the very beginning of everything.

Lily Evans sprang upward from her bed, inhaling large amounts of air. She was out of breath for some odd reason, even though she had been in her bed all night. The dream she had just had had been the thing to get her distressed. Little beads of sweat were clinging to her forehead and sliding down her face. She felt so hot, like she had just run some sort of marathon. Her wavy, scarlet red hair was also irritating her. It seemed to be too clingy to her face.

She stood up from her bed, willing herself to regain calm. Her hands were shaking tremendously. It was a lucky thing she was the only one in her dormitory, because everyone else was downstairs celebrating the end of the O.W.L's. Lily started toward the window, deciding all she needed to feel better was a little air.

The dormitory door opened and her best friend Bethlyn Myers poked her head inside, a great big grin on her face and her hair a bit messy. "Hey, Lily! Why don't you come down? It's loads of fun! We've decided we're going to play a prank on the Slytherins tomorrow just before the Championship match. We have to do anything to make sure Gryffindor wins. Why don't you come downstairs? It'll be fun," she suggested.

"I'm...I'm fine, Beth" Lily whispered.

"Suit yourself, Lil." With that Bethlyn shut the door and her footsteps could be heard sprinting down the spiral staircase.

Lily sat down on the windowsill once she was sure no one else would be disturbing her. What she really needed to do at the moment was calm down and keep herself away from her peers.

None of them understood her. Most of them didn't even try. Bethlyn was the only one that actually attempted to actually care about her feelings. She was off of the mark most of the time, but her effort meant a lot to Lily.

All anyone seemed to care about with Lily was her appearance. Girl's years younger than her followed her around the hallways, hoping that an ounce of Lily's popularity would rub off onto them. Many gits around school dreamed of dating her, including James Potter, but why? Because, they assumed she was nothing, but a pretty face.

She didn't want to deal with that anymore. She was going to pull herself as far away from it as possible. The pressures and strains that she was facing just felt like too much. She didn't see what the point of going around the school with a lovely smile was. She didn't want to pretend nothing was wrong anymore, because something was wrong. Very wrong. She wasn't perfect. Lily just wished everyone would understand that firstly, before they judged and labeled her as the popularity queen of the school. There was so much more to her. So very much more.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~

"Can you do it, mate? Can you beat Cellerson and the rest of his bloody team?" Sirius Black asked. He picked up his best friend James Potter's plate and dropped a spoonful of porridge onto it. "This will give you more vitamins or something. I don't know, I don't remember," he said, shrugging, "just eat it, will you? It'll somehow help."

"Er...thanks" James said. He was staring at the plate of splattered porridge with a lopsided frown. His nerves were really starting to get to him. He was really starting to regret all of his bragging comments he had made the night before during the late night Gryffindor party. He picked up a spoon and started to eat it anyway.

"Oh, mate, guess who just entered the Great Hall?" Sirius Black asked. He was grinning charmingly; the way he grinned whenever he wanted a professor to forgive him or a girl to forget his lack of attentiveness toward her. The grin could charm anyone. "It's your dream girl, Lily Evans."

James looked up from his plate of porridge and watched as Lily walked their way toward the Gryffindor table. Of course, she was surrounded by her usual posse of friends, Bethlyn Myers at the very front, walking next to her. For a brief moment he thought he had made eye contact with her. The gaze of her emerald eyes sent chills down his spine, not doing much to improve his spirits.

"Did you see him?" Lily whispered to Bethlyn, excitedly, "Did you see how adorable he looked? Did you see that Remus Lupin?"

Bethlyn looked over to where Lily was staring. Indeed, Remus Lupin was sitting at the very middle of the Gryffindor table, right next to James Potter and Sirius Black, with a book propped open against a milk jug. Bethlyn looked back over at Lily, who had finally decided she was goggling at Remus for too long, and had decided to stare down at her feet, instead.

"Lil, I don't see why you like him so much" Bethlyn whispered, "he's nothing like James Potter or Sirius Black..."

"I know. That's why I like him," Lily answered in a whisper, "but it isn't as if I expect anything to happen between us. I just think he's a caring and sensitive person. He's a good friend."

"Friend?"

Oi, Lily, come over here!" called Paprika Washington. She was sitting not too far off from James Potter and his friends, and had apparently saved some seats for Lily and Bethlyn. She was waving her hands through the air, feverishly, her blue eyes lit up like electricity.

Lily walked over to the seats Paprika had saved her and sat down. Truth was, she didn't really want to be sitting next to someone like Paprika Washington, who felt the need to ask Lily if she needed something to drink every five minutes. Paprika was one of the many people in the school that only liked to talk to Lily, because she was hopeful of the popularity rubbing off onto her.

"Do you want some bacon, Lily? Or do you prefer sausage?" Paprika asked. She shrugged with a huge smile and said, "Here, have both." She filled Lily's plate with plenty of bacon and sausage and even gave Lily a few pieces of extra toast, too.

"I'm fine, Paprika" Lily said. "I'm never going to eat all of this. Erm...thanks, anyway, I suppose."

Paprika now looked nervous. She began fidgeting and her huge smile had turned into a huge frown. "I'm sorry, Lily, did I do something wrong? If you don't like bacon or sausage, I'm sorry. Here, have a muffin. There's blueberry, corn..."

"No, thank you" Lily interrupted, "I'm fine. Well, actually, I think I need a bit of fresh air." She stood up and stormed out of the Great Hall; she could hear Paprika subside into sobs and calling after her. She obviously thought she had failed Lily.

That made Lily so sick and annoyed. It was stuff like this that Lily hated. She had made it through the oak front doors and down the stone steps, and across the slippery lawn, before she noticed Bethlyn had come after her.

"Wait! Lily, wait!" Bethlyn panted. She gave to a dicey stop, almost falling over. Bethlyn placed her hands on her knees, bending over for a moment, trying to catch her breath. "Lil-ee" she wheezed, "what's...wrong?"

"What's wrong? Beth, I'll tell you what's wrong! Did you see Paprika in there? She was willing to get me anything! She was practically begging just to get me a blueberry or corn muffin! I had to turn her down" Lily ranted.

"Why, you'd rather have a raspberry muffin?" Bethlyn asked. She stood up straight, finally catching her breath.

"No! Beth, I'd rather have no muffins!"

"What's wrong with muffins? I've always thought you liked muffins," Bethlyn said, bemusedly. She scratched the top of her brown head. It was obvious she just didn't understand.

"Beth, it's not about muffins! It's about everyone treating me the way they do! They act as if I'm some sort of royalty or something! You just don't understand, all right? Your not the one they're mimicking and stalking" Lily said. She was feeling very upset, and the fact that even her best friend didn't understand how she was feeling, made her feel that much more isolated.

"Well, thanks, Lil, you're making me feel better, too. So what if I'm not like you," Bethlyn said. Her voice was defensive and her face read all too well, that she felt insulted.

"I'm sorry, Beth, I didn't mean to say it like that. I'm just trying to explain it and you don't understand. It's a bit frustrating. Let's just forget about it. This is all the more reason for me to avoid everyone and going out with boys like Sirius Black" Lily said.

"Yeah, Sirius Black" Bethlyn repeated.

Lily shrugged and started back toward the castle, watching her feet as she went. Bethlyn crossed her arms, sighing. Now she felt like the misunderstood one. She really did want to try and understand Lily's feelings and point of view, but it was just so hard. How could anyone be upset about that much attention? Especially, that much attention from boys like Sirius Black? It made Bethlyn resentful for Lily to feel this way. Why should she complain, because she had it all?

Bethlyn decided she better follow Lily back to the castle, before she got lost in her own rants.

By eleven o' clock the whole school was out on the Quidditch pitch. Everyone was either supporting Slytherin or Gryffindor, even the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws.

"He looks so handsome, doesn't he?" Raquel Dobson squealed. She had her eyes set on James Potter as he walked out onto the field, giving the crowd a flashy smile. "I just wish I could go out with him...even once."

James Potter looked up at the Gryffindor stands and gave everyone an assuring wink, as if saying he was sure to win the game and catch the snitch. It made the crowd scream wildly.

"Do you think he'll do it?" Penelope Patil asked, Lily. "I'm sure he will. And he'll look so handsome doing it, too." She flattened her hair, and ran her fingers through it, too. She wanted to make sure her hair looked perfect if James ever came face to face with her.

"I want Gryffindor to win, but not for James" Lily said, crossing her arms, "that's no reason to support something."

"Lily, calm down" Bethlyn urged, "your so upset today."

"I don't know, maybe I am. I'm sorry if I'm being such an annoyance to you. Look, I'll be right back. I need to use the lavatory" Lily lied. She stood up and left the stands, not bothering to see the start of the Quidditch game. She took a very long walk to the castle. Lily was practically the only one not at the Quidditch pitch.

She returned almost ten minutes later, not sorry that she hadn't bothered to watch the match. It had already ended by the time she had started up the steps to the stand.

"Where were you?" Bethlyn asked, "you disappeared for a long time and I was the one that had to save your seat!"

"I'm sorry" Lily apologized, "Gryffindor did win, right?"

"Yeah, James caught the snitch right under Cellerson's nose. It was a spectacular win. Do you know what this means? There's surely going to be a party tonight in Gryffindor tower. And don't tell me you don't want to come this time, Lily. You have to come." Bethlyn scolded.

"Evans! Hey, Evans!" James called, breaking away from the crowd of fans. He jogged over toward her, his Phoenix 390 broom in his left hand. His hair was thoroughly ruffled, making him look even more handsome than usual. "Did you see my catch?" he asked her. He was grinning impressively.

Lily crossed her arms. "No, actually I didn't. I had a lot of better things to do rather than watching you fly around the stadium like an idiot. Good job, though. I'm actually glad Slytherin won."

"So, your proud of me" James said slowly. His grin was slowly slipping off his face and his hair seemed to be weighing back down in disappointment.

"Not really" Lily answered. She turned around and started back toward the castle without another word. Bethlyn shrugged and followed her best friend, after giving James a flirty wink.

"What's wrong, mate?" Sirius asked from behind. He slapped his hand onto James back. "Is it a certain problem with a certain red head beauty? Or..."

"Sirius, what do you think I can do to get her to like me" James said sadly. "I just don't understand it. Acting the way I do impresses practically every other girl." At that moment Penelope Patil passed by giving James a huge wink and a huge grin with a chuckle. "You see it impresses her" James said, pointing after Penelope, "why can't it impress Lily, too?"

"Hmmm...that's a toughie, mate. Wait, wait...I have an idea" Sirius said, "why don't you try acting noble and good hearted and all of that good stuff. I'm betting Lily is just one of those girls that honor that rather than smugness. I know it probably sounds silly, but it just may work."

"Don't you think it's terrible that your trying to [I]make[/I] Lily Evans fall in love with you, rather than letting [I]it[/I] happen by itself?" Remus asked. He had finally taken his face out of the book he had been reading.

"No, not really" James said, "Sirius is right. I'll trick Evans into loving me. It's the perfect plan..."

"To go wrong," Remus whispered.

"No, it's the perfect plan to entertain" Peter cackled. "Hey! Wait up!" he shouted. James, Sirius, and Remus had started back toward the castle, leaving Peter alone. He used his stubby little legs to run and catch up to them.

"So it's decided," James was saying when he caught up with them, "I'm going to act like a perfectly polite git and have Evans fall for it. It really is perfect."

~ * ~ * ~ * ~

"What's wrong Lily?" Bethlyn asked. She had just stopped dancing with Roger Mena and had walked over to where Lily was sitting by the fire. "Are you okay? You look like something's wrong."

"No, I'm okay. I only want to go to bed, now. This party is terrible" Lily said.

"But Lily!" whined Beth.

"I know, I know...I'm such a party pooper. I'm sorry, Beth, I really am. I just don't feel much like partying" Lily mumbled. Lily rose from her chair and headed over toward the girls dormitory staircase.

"Hey, Ev-...I mean, hey, Lily!" James shouted.

"What do you want, Potter?"

"Care for a butterbeer?" James asked politely. He held up an unopened, ice-cold bottle of butterbeer and shook it tauntingly. "Come on, come have a drink."

Lily started her sentence, about to tell Potter off; when she noticed that Remus was sitting right next to James. She cut herself off in mid-sentence and smirked. "I suppose one butterbeer wouldn't hurt," she said fairly.

James beamed. "Excellent" he whispered, "It's working already..."

Lily sat down across from both James and Remus. She couldn't help, but look cheerful. She rarely got to carry a conversation with Remus and she was looking forward to finally getting to know him better.

"Your reading [I]The Ten Laws of Magical Evolution[/I] by Justice Percival...I love that book" Lily said, trying to strike up a conversation with him.

Remus looked up at her from the page he had been reading, and smiled. "You do? I thought I was the only one" Remus said. He shut the book and leaned forward more in interest. "What's your favorite law?"

"Number seven" Lily answered with a nod.

"Me, too!" Remus exclaimed.

James cleared his throat audibly. When both Lily and Remus turned their eyes onto him, he smiled. "I don't mean to break up the friendly little conversation, but..." James said stopping in mid-sentence. He raised his eyebrows at Remus.

"Oh, yeah, sorry...forgot. I have something I need to do" Remus said. He stood up and left the common room.

"So, Lily, your..." James began.

"Going to bed" Lily finished. She stood, too and set down her butterbeer. "I mean...look...I'm sorry, Potter, but I suddenly have a headache. Maybe we can have a butterbeer drink together again...with Remus, too!" She turned away from him and quickly disappeared.

"Yeah" James said miserably, "with Remus, too..."

~ * ~ * ~ * ~

[I]Lily was running. Running as fast as she could go. The thumping of her shoes hitting the floor and her breath's becoming deep pants rang all around. She had to reach the end of the hallway. It was an emergency.

If she didn't reach it in time, then someone would be in danger. Deep, deep danger. She sped up, pulling her wand out of her robes pocket. She was running so fast her silky red hair was floating behind her like a curtain in the wind did whenever it was particularly drafty.

"Almost there...almost there..." she panted.

It was true; she was almost there. She could see the end of the hallway with her emerald eyes. Lily knew she shouldn't have been running down the hallway when it was strictly forbidden, but everyone had to break the rules sometime.

She stopped finally, staring at nothing but the plain door with the golden letters across it. The door was right next to the suit of armor. Lily extended her hand, which was shaking a tad and let her fingers wrap around its handle. She turned the knob and entered...[/I]

CRASH! Lily sprang up from her bed, gasping severely. She felt like she couldn't breathe in any air and her eyes were filled with too much moisture, making her blink. She looked around her dark dormitory room for the cause of the noise.

There was Zora Zackerbee sprawled across the rug floor, and Bethlyn kneeling down next to her, laughing nonstop. Lily licked her lips. They were awfully dry.

"W-What's going on?" Lily stuttered.

"Zora tripped over her trunk...you should have seen it, Lily...it was so hilarious" laughed Bethlyn, clapping her hands together blissfully. "She was only walking, but then suddenly she fell...you should have seen the look on her fa - Lily! Where are you going?"

Lily had jumped out of her bed and dashed for the bathroom. She slammed the door shut and locked it, before crashing down onto the floor. She could hear Bethlyn calling after her outside in the dormitory. Lily wasn't coming out. She crawled over to the sink and used the porcelain exterior to lift herself onto her feet. Lily let her eyes travel up from her feet and onto the mirror, where her own face was staring back at her.

She quickly looked away. "It was just a dream...it was just a dream..." she chanted to herself, "just a silly little dream...nothing more..."

She looked back up at her own face in the mirror. She was so beautiful; so [I]disgustingly[/I] beautiful.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~

"The last day at last!" Sirius shouted, raising his arms into the air and stretching. He was grinning as he did this, making him look that much more handsome.

"Padfoot, you are coming over to my manor for the summer...right?" James asked. He let the snitch fly out of his hands; before he swiped at it so quickly it disappeared in a blur.

"Ooh" Peter gasped.

"Of course, I am, Prongs...what kind of a best friend would I be if I didn't accept your gracious offer to let me come and stay at your huge castle of a house" Sirius teased with a chuckle.

"I suppose not a very good one." James looked over at Remus, who was reading yet another huge book. "Moony, you have to come over, too. Will your parents let you considering...?"

"I think they will" Remus answered loudly, drowning out James voice. He had spotted Severus Snape coming down the lawn and didn't want him to overhear what they had been talking about.

"Look, Prongs, its Snivellus" Sirius said.

"Leave me alone, Potter, Black...I'm not in the mood" Severus Snape said; his words came out slowly, each word was dragged out.

"Aw...he's not in the mood. Boohoo" Sirius joked.

"Be careful, James, Evans may pass at any second and you'll almost break your neck turning it so quickly" Severus said.

"Enjoy having the sense of smell, Snivellus? Because, if you don't I'll be happy to break your nose for you...if you do, I'll still be happy to break your nose" James said, curling his hands into fists. He was so raged; he didn't bother pulling out his wand.

"Chill, Prongs. Leave the greasy slime ball they call a human, be..." Sirius said, holding James back.

"Yes, [I]Prongs[/I]" Snape whispered softly with a smug grin, "[I]chill[/I]..."

He started walking again, back toward the castle, making sure to bump into James purposely on his way. James watched him go, fire practically shooting from his nostrils.

"You know" Remus said reasonably, "you did start the argument..."

James shot Remus a dirty look, before he too began a walk toward the castle; Sirius followed him, still trying to calm him down. Remus shrugged and muttered, "it [I]was[/I] the truth..."

~ * ~ * ~ * ~

"Lily, hurry up! I can't believe you didn't think of turning in this book to Professor Rowan earlier! It's the last day of school and you choose now to do so!" Bethlyn snarled.

"Sorry, Beth...I didn't ask you to come, you know" Lily reminded. She gave her best friend a roll of the eyes and picked up her pace down the very long castle hallway.

"You know what, Lil, I don't know why you've been acting so..." Beth trailed off. She was searching for the right words to describe Lily's attitude lately. "So..."

"Obnoxious? Annoying? Mean? Well, if you feel that way, Beth, why don't you just stop talking to me? Leave me alone...I don't really care" Lily snapped. She had stopped walking down the hall and was giving Beth a stern gaze.

Bethlyn's jaw dropped. "Fine! I would think our friendship meant more to you than that, but I suppose I was wrong! All of your popularity is going to your head!" Beth yelled, stamping her feet in furiousness.

"No, it hasn't! I hate being the person I am and if you were any kind of a best friend, you would have known that! If you please excuse me I'm going now" Lily said.

"Fine! Go! See if I care!" Beth screeched. She turned around sharply and headed the opposite way Lily was going.

Lily rolled her eyes again and sighed. It hurt her to fight with Beth like this, but maybe it was time they declared their independence from one another. She stopped outside of Professor Rowan's door and rested her hand on the doorknob handle. She couldn't think straight now. She was angry. Lily was never able to think straight when she was angry. She leaned against the suit of armor nearby and exhaled.

"It's okay...she'll realize she's understanding me" Lily told herself. She stood up straight again, tossed her hair over her shoulder, and entered the office of Professor Rowan, the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher.

He was sitting at his desk, scribbling something very fast. He didn't look up when he entered, but continued writing. Lily couldn't help, but blush a bit. He was the handsomest teacher at Hogwarts, all the girls found him attractive. She let the door snap shut behind her.

Finally, he looked up. By the look in his eyes, he looked happy to see her. His blue eyes seemed to light up and he smiled. "Miss. Evans! What brings you here to my office?" Professor Rowan asked.

"Erm...uh...I borrowed this erm...book...from you not too long ago, Professor" Lily said with difficulty. She held up the old and dusty book to show him what she was talking about. "I'm here to re-return it..."

"Oh, swell. Set it down on one of those empty desks, thanks" Professor Rowan replied. He bent his head lower and began scribbling across the parchment again; Lily watched him for a moment. He looked back up at her. "Uh...yes, Miss. Evans? Is there something you need to speak with me about?"

"No, no, there's not" Lily said, nodding. "I'll just go now." She turned to leave, feeling oddly stupid. She left his office, breathing fast. "That was weird" she said, "that was terribly weird..."

~ * ~ * ~ * ~

"Wave goodbye to Hogwarts!" Rubeus Hagrid said to the students entering the carriages. He spotted James Potter and gave him a thump on the back. "Doing alright there, James? You're looking a bit down about something."

James' hazel eyes looked over at Lily for a second, as Rickman Colmes helped her into a carriage, and back at Hagrid. "Nothing, Hagrid, nothing really" James said.

"All right, James, but if there is something...on your mind" Hagrid said. He stopped abruptly and looked over at Lily Evans. "Then you can ask. I have a lot of experience with a lot of stuff...well, maybe not so much experience with school lessons, but I could try. O' course, my spelling isn't too well..."

"That's okay, Hagrid" James said. He hopped into the carriage Sirius, Remus, and Peter were already in, and waved goodbye to Hagrid. "I'll talk to you this fall, Hagrid, I swear."

"Bye, James" Hagrid said, "Sirius, Remus...Peter"

The carriages started down the path, and Hogsmeade came into view a tad bit more. Soon Hagrid was nothing, but a spec from far away. James rested his head against the carriage window, enjoying the cool feeling of the glass. It chilled his brain.

"Prongs, you okay?" Sirius wondered.

"I'm fine, Sirius" James said, "I'm fine..."

In the carriage Lily was sitting in, she still refused to talk to Bethlyn. Penelope Patil and Zora Zackerbee were trying to get the two to reconcile their friendship, but both were too stubborn to.

"Oh, come on, Lily!" Zora said.

"Beth!" Penelope groaned.

"No" Lily and Bethlyn answered in unison.

"You're going to have to talk to one another sooner or later. If you don't, then what kind of best friends were you?" Penelope rambled, "if you were truly true best friends you'd forget about the little scrabble and forgive one another, because friendship is much more im - LILY!"

Penelope had stopped in mid-sentence, because Lily had fallen off of her carriage seat. She had fainted.

"Oh my god, Lily!" Bethlyn screamed.

"Stop the carriages! Stop the carriages!" Zora shouted towards the front carriage where Professor Hanity and Auex were riding. "STOP THE CARRIAGES! THERE'S AN EMERGENCY!"

The carriages came to a screeching halt and the two Professors came running over to their carriages with faces of concern.

"What's going on, Miss. Zackerbee?" asked Professor Auex.

"Lily Evans fainted!" Zora bawled.

James looked back at the carriage behind him, which happened to be the carriage where Lily and her friends were, and frowned. "What's going on in that carriage? I heard Zackerbee shout about an emergency." He said.

"Maybe it has to do with Evans" Peter said with a satisfied cackle.

"Lily?" James repeated, his stomach dropping to the through the carriage floor. His heart was racing as if he were chasing after the golden snitch. He opened their carriage door and ran over to Lily's carriage. "What's wrong?" he yelled, "what's going on?"

"Lily fainted" Penelope answered. She flipped her hair over her shoulder and winked at James, trying to appear pretty; James ignored her, he was too worried about Lily.

"She fainted? Why? What's wrong with her? Will she be okay? WILL SHE?" he questioned so quickly he didn't have enough time to drawl in air.

"Calm down, Potter, or else you'll be passing out next, due to lack of air. Miss. Evans will be fine. It looks like heat exhaustion" Professor Hanity explained, "She should be waking up at any moment..."

It was true; Lily's eyes were starting to flutter a bit. She opened them, finally, and tried to sit up. She was out of breath, again, looking thoroughly baffled about something.

"Lily, are you okay?" James asked.

Her emerald green eyes landed on James and she did nothing but stare at him for a moment. Eventually, she pulled them off of him and turned to look around at her friends.

"I'm fine" she muttered, "everything's okay..."

"All right, Miss. Evans. Just be more careful and breathe through your mouth" Professor Auex warned. The two professors started back toward their carriage. James went, too, though reluctantly.

"Are you okay, Lil?" Bethlyn asked.

"What should you care? You're not talking to me anymore, right? I'm such a horrible friend," Lily said. She leaned her head against her seat and tried breathing through her mouth.

"Fine...whatever" Bethlyn mumbled, crossing her arms and turning away to look out the window.

Lily didn't feel like talking at the moment. The dream she had had was the same one from the night before. She had been running down an endless hallway toward a door, she didn't even know why she needed to get to the door, only that it was a real emergency. It stopped again when she had gone to open the door. That was where it always seemed to stop. Lily began to wonder if she would ever end the dream and find out what it was really about.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~

"Welcome home my darling!" Ms. Evans exclaimed, throwing her hands around her daughter and hugging her tightly. "I have missed you so much, Lily. The house is so dreadful without you."

"Yes, truly dreadful" Petunia Evans murmured, rolling her eyes.

"Thanks, mum. I've missed you so much during the school year, too. And dad." Lily said. She broke away from her mother, feeling disappointed her father couldn't be there.

"Oh, Lily" Ms. Evans began.

"No, it's all right. I'm going to go up to my room. I haven't been up there in ages. Good to see you, Petunia" Lily added, heading up the house stairs.

"Uh huh...good to see you" Petunia agreed, though her voice was rather untruthful.

"Petunia, why must you act this way?" Ms. Evans asked, "You always treat your sister so harshly. She's just returned home from being away for nine month's and you don't even bother giving her a hug!"

"She didn't give me a hug, either!"

"Petunia! You are older, aren't you?" Ms. Evans scolded, "I expected you to act more mature about this. I guess I expected [I]too[/I] much." She left the entrance hall and vanished into the kitchen, leaving Petunia alone.

"Yes, I'm sorry" Petunia apologized falsely, "I've been so wrong. I've acted so harshly. I've forgotten that little Miss. Lily Evans a.k.a. Queen of the Universe can't do any wrong. Oh, no, she's [I]perfect[/I]..."

~ * ~ * ~ * ~

"No...no...NO! I have to reach the door! I have to! He's going to be murdered! He's about to be murdered! A person in a black mask! The same person in the black mask that set the fire! NO!" Lily screamed. She was tossing and turning on her bed in the pitch dark of her bedroom.

Her window was open slightly, allowing wind to waft inside and create a chill around the room. Besides Lily's voice, the rustling of the curtain and of the leaves from the trees, were audible.

Suddenly, she stopped. She stopped tossing and turning and even speaking. Her eyes popped open and she sat up. She knew what she had to do. He was in trouble, now. If she didn't go, no one would. Lily had to stop the murder from happening.

She got out of her bed and hurried toward the window, not even bothering to put any shoes or socks on, or to change out of her nightgown. Lily tossed her leg over the windowsill and reached around for the branch of a tree as leverage. Once she found a sturdy enough one, she eased the rest of her body out of the window and climbed her way down onto the front grass. She knew exactly how she was going to get to Hogwarts.

Lily ran around the front side of her yard, until she was behind the house in the backyard. There she spotted the shed, where she kept her broom. She rarely flew it, but in this case she needed it.

A few minutes later, Lily had already kicked off into the night sky and was racing between the murky night clouds, the air splashing against her cheeks. It was freezing outside. She regretted not putting on any socks.

Lily flew and flew across the many houses, shops, and cars toward her destination. It took her nearly two and a half hours to reach the outskirts of where the castle was located. She decided it would be better to land on the very inside of Hogsmeade and walk her way to the castle. The thought was scary of walking around the castle grounds at night.

There was almost no one living there, but a few teachers...including Professor Rowan.

She landed, indeed, exactly where she wanted to. It was then that she realized one small problem. A steal metal gate was blocking her entry of Hogwarts. She had forgotten all about the gate. It had always been open when she had passed through it.

Lily got back onto her broom and flew up a few feet, over the gate. She was shivering intolerably, now. It was so cold for it being the night of July first. Once she was over the gate, her broom fell from her fingertips, unknowingly. She had started up the grassy slope, unaware of anything, but reaching Professor Rowan's office.

She ran faster and faster. Her feet had become dirty with a combination of mud and wet grass. She ignored it and continued. Lily pulled the huge oak doors open and entered the castle.

"He's here...I know he's here" she whispered, "He's here..."

Lily dashed up the marble staircase, skipping two steps at a time. She entered the very long hallway she was looking for, feeling a mounting anticipation. She was so close. She only had a few more seconds of running left until she reached the door.

Her legs were hurting, but she carried on. The determination she had built in her mind was incredible. She began to slow her footsteps. She had reached the door, at last.

Lily pushed it open, expecting to see Professor Rowan being attacked by the mysterious masked figure haunting her dreams, but she was wrong. No one was in the office. Lily frowned. Had Professor Rowan already been attacked?

"Miss. Evans?" came an uncertain voice, "what...what are you doing here?"

Lily turned around. There stood Professor Ferdelus Rowan, perfectly fine; unscathed completely. Lily's heart almost stopped beating. Her eyes had widened and she had finally woken up from her trance and realized what she had just done.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~