Officially Unengaged by Angel 737 Rating: PG13 Genres: Drama, Romance Relationships: Lily & James Book: Lily & James, Books 1 - 7 Published: 28/01/2008 Last Updated: 09/07/2008 Status: In Progress Lily is in for a BIG surprise when she gets home for the summer before sixth year. They used to be best friends and now he is her fiance! Lily turns to the only people who can help her... the Marauders! Mild language 1. Surprise! ------------ “We got a surprise for you!” said Mrs. Evans in a singsong voice. “Mum I hate surprises,” grumbled Lillian Evans. “Oh, I know honey, but I just know that you’ll love this one.” Lily rolled her eyes and mumbled under her breath, “Then it must be absolutely dreadful.” “Why aren’t you guessing? Your sister would be driving me crazy with questions” “In case you didn’t notice, I’m not Petunia.” “No, your not, but please try to guess.” “Is Petunia getting moving, getting married, dying?” “That wasn’t the surprise I was thinking about but yes, yes, and no! Why would you ask such a thing?” “I sounded like a pretty good surprise to me,” she mumbled. “Well, we are home now. Don’t go into the lounge, that is were your surprise is.” “Cant I just lock myself in my room?” “No your dad should be in the kitchen, go say hi.” Lily ran into the house like a bat out of hell. She threw her bag on the steps, and slid into the kitchen. She launched herself at her father. He caught her and spun her around. “Daddy, I missed you so much. You would never believe what happened this year. What did mum mean when she said that you guys have a surprise for me?” “I missed you too sweetheart. And as for that surprise, all I can say is that it was your mothers idea and I had absolutely nothing to do with it.” Lily gave him a pointed look that clearly stated that she knew he was lying. “How is it that you can always tell that I am lying? I can’t get away with anything!” Lily laughed, “What can I say, it’s a gift. Plus you are a really bad liar. I also know what you are feeling.” “Really? How does that work?” “Well if I’m by someone that is extremely happy or angry, I feel some of what they feel. For example, last week Severus was pissed-” “Language sweetie.” “Sorry. He was really mad. He said awful-” “Honey! Please come into the lounge. Your surprise is waiting.” Lily looked to her father with pleading eyes, silently asking if it was okay for her to run. He chuckled slightly and shook his head. She followed her father out of the kitchen, past the living room, and stopped in front of the lounge doors. Her mother peeked her head out. “Lily, listen to me. Petunia said that she thinks that you would be jealous because she would have a fiancé before you. And I happen to agree with her. We thought of the perfect person! Then your father and I went to talk to that Dumbledork person. He said it was a horrible idea and picked a different student for you to marry. But I refused; I knew you would like this one. After all you are best friends.” Lily’s eyes were huge, “I’m getting an arranged marriage?” “If you put it that way, yes.” “Why?” she whined. “Dad, you guys cant be serious. I have a boyfriend that I’m perfectly happy with.” “Oh, Ryan is taken care of honey. I sent him a letter. I’m sure he understands,” her mother stated. “WHAT?” “Pumpkin, there is no need to yell,” scolded Mrs. Evans. “Of course there is! You wrote a letter to my boyfriend saying that we had to break up because I’m going to get engaged!” Lily shouted outraged. “You had no right to do that! You had no right to get me an arranged marriage! Whoever that bloke is he better be pretty damn hot!” “Language dear. Petunia though that he was cute, so you should find him irresistible. Now come inside, I cant to see your reaction.” When Lily first entered the room her eyes were automatically drawn to her sister. Petunia was laughing her butt off; she had tears streaming down her egg shaped face. Lily felt sick, what ever made her sister act that way had to be horrible. Her eyes flew to her mother, who was making her way to the swivel chair. “Pumpkin, this is your fiancé.” Pose Evans spun the chair around. Lily let her eyes travel from his shoes up. She took in his scuffed shoes, ho\is worn and baggy pants, the long, torn, dirty black cloak, the long black hair and the cold black eyes. “NO!” she screamed. She turned around to run out the door but her father caught her around the waist. She struggled to break free, pushing at his chest and arms. Her fathers grip only got tighter. Finally Lily gave a frustrated scream and buried her face in her dad’s chest. “Sweetheart, what’s wrong? You guys are best friends.” Eric Evans mumbled. “We were best friends, until.. Until he called me a …” “He called you what?” asked her mother. “You wouldn’t understand. But there is no way in hell that I will marry that, that scumbag!” she screamed. Lily then turned her glare onto the boy sitting in her favorite chair. “Get out of my house! You are not welcome here. Why don’t you join your fellow Death Eaters and have a grand old time killing mudbloods like me!” She turned to leave again but the pain that she could feel flowing off the boy was too much for her to bear. She grabbed her head in pain. She just about fell over, but her father caught her. The boy came up beside her and gently touched her arm. “Lily, are you okay?” Lily yanked her arm away as if burned. “Don’t touch me,” she hissed. She ran out the door, grabbed her bag off the steps, and ran up to her room. *** She had been pacing in her room for the past half an hour. Finally she sat on the edge of the bed. *‘What am I going to do? There is now ay I am going to marry that slime ball. Not after what he did to me. But what am I going to do? Mum will make me marry him, even if she found out how he acted and what he said. She doesn’t get that he is the reason that I’m miserable. She still believes we are the best of friends. How am I going to get her to see that I would rather die than marry him?’* Her eyes kit up, *‘Perfect.’* Lily grabbed a small trunk out of her bag and magically enlarged it. After shuffling through it for a couple of minutes, she found a piece of parchment and a quill. She sat at her desk and started writing. She was half way through the letter when a hoot came from the cage to her right. “Yes Taz, you’re going to have a job to do.” She reached over and pet her gray tawny owl. When she finished the letter she read it out loud: *Remus,* *I’d like to say that this is just a friendly letter asking how you are and wh at you plan to do this summer. But I am sorry to say that it is not anywhere near that kind of letter.* *I know that Sirius, Peter, and James are staying at your house. That is the main reason why I am writing this. I need help. No you are not going crazy. The always right and I don’t need you Lily Evans needs help. And from the Marauders no doubt.* *Oh, merlin, I think I am going insane! I called Potter by his first name! This day cant possible get any worse!* *But as I was saying before, HELP! I need help. My parents, they umm.. Made me.. Oh merlin how do I say this? I best just get it out. I have an arranged marriage.* *Your probably thinking ‘big deal, so what, why should we help the bitch.’ But you don’t know the rest of the story yet.* *It’s the person that I’m suppose to be marring that is driving me bonkers. You guys are the only people I know that can help me.* *Please, I will do anything as long as you help me.* *Oh I guess I forgot to mention who my fiancé is. Well, it’s Severus Snape.* *HELP!* *Love Lily.* **Hello Everyone! I am back! I know that I said that it might be a long break but I was so excited that I at least had to post the first chapter. I am currently working on the sixth chapter of this story.** **Christmas was very hard, my Grandmother past away. But other than that everything went well. I hope that everyone had a Happy New Year!** **I can’t wait to see some feedback from this story. You comments influence me so much! Please leave reviews, good or bad!** **Angel 737** 2. Machos and Nachos -------------------- **I feel completely retarded! I didn’t read through the last chapter till after I posted it and then I noticed all the mistakes that I made. For example: Pose instead of Rose. I can’t believe I made so many mistakes, but I was in a hurry so that probably explains it.** **I made a deal with myself. Every time that I write a new chapter I will update an old one. So you guessed it, I am on chapter 7 now!** **I was really surprised by the response that I got from last chapter! I was so happy!** **And if you don’t like this story, please tell me what you don’t like about it and how I can improve it!** **Thanks so much! Please read and review!** “I’m bored,” Sirius whined, “there is absolutely nothing to do here.” “I know my house isn’t as big or as fun as James’, but is it at least a little better than yours?” Remus asked. “It is a lot better, it’s just really boring.” “Then what, pray tell, do you suggest we do?” James questioned. “Quidditch.” “Fine. Remus and I against you and Peter.” “Not fair! Peter sucks.” “I do not!” Peter said indignantly. “Whatever,” Sirius said slightly annoyed. “Since it is two on two, I think that we should play with beaters and seekers.” “But I am a lot better at keeper than beater,” Peter grumbled. James sighed, “Think of it this way, if we don’t have chasers what is the point of having a keeper? If we have both chaser and keeper, how are we going to win the game? So the only logical explanation is to have seekers and beaters.” “Oh.” *** “He’s getting closer and closer. So close only a fingers length away. Oh no, it got away. Come on Potter, we got to win!” screamed Remus from atop his broom. “Shut up! I can’t concentrate,” James shrieked. Remus smirked, some things never changed. James always got agitated when someone was yelling while he was playing. It somehow made him feel self conscious, though you could never tell when they were competing in a tournament. Remus quietly continued his commentary, “They’re head to head, side by side, racing for that tiny golden object. This has got to be the fiercest competition. I would hate to see them fight over a girl. The poor girl would go mental in the first ten minutes. Oh, look at this; Potter is doing a nosedive! He must be hot on the trail. There it is, the golden little devil! With a little burst of speed we could win. Yippee! Potter caught the snitch! The Mighty Machos have defeated the Naughty Nachos!” “Remind me again why you are machos and we are nachos,” Sirius grumbled. “Because James and I have muscles,” Remus answered smiling. “Plus Peter ate all the nachos and they also rhymed!” “I’m thirsty,” Peter whined, “Remus does your mum still buy that soda stuff?” “Yes, Peter, she does. She knows you are addicted to it.” Peter smiled shyly and his cheeks turned slightly pink. “It’s not my fault, my parents won’t buy anything muggle.” “You poor baby,” Sirius said as he rolled his eyes. They made their way into the house. After Remus had gotten four sodas from out of the fridge, they sat at the table in silence. “It is only the first day of summer vacation and we are already bored out of our minds. What are we going to do for 3 more months?” James asked. “I told you guys that you wouldn’t want to stay here. You can still go home if you want to. I honestly don’t care.” Remus’ face was impassive, but his eyes still held the hope that they would not leave. “We told you already, there is no way that we are going to let you spend the full moon alone again!” Sirius cried. Remus’ eyes were now filled with happiness. “You guys are the best mates a guy could have.” “You don’t have to tell us that.” James smirked. “Hey, guys, what is that?” Pete asked while looking out the window. “Gee, Peter, I don’t know, an owl.” Sirius said sarcastically. “It’s Lily’s owl!” James screamed with wide eyes. “How do you know that? Are you a stalker now?” Sirius said with a grin. James rolled his eyes, “I wonder what she wants.” “Whatever it is, it’s probably not about you,” said Remus as he took the letter off of Taz’s leg. *** “I want to write the letter!” Sirius cried. “She has to know what she is reading, Sirius,” Remus said calmly although you could tell that he was frustrated. “Exactly! That is why I should write it!” James yelled. “James, she won’t be able to read your scribble either. Plus there has to be more on there than ‘Lily, will you go out with me?’” “Ha! He can’t ask her anymore, because she is ENGAGED!” hollered Sirius. James scowled, crossed his arms, and plopped down onto the couch. “Fine, Remus can write it just as long as he says that Snivellus will die.” Remus smiled, nodded his head, and sat at his desk with Peter hovering over him. A half an hour later, Remus lifted his head. “I’m finished.” “Finally! Read it out loud.” James huffed. *Dearest Lily,* *I would say that that was not a friendly letter!* *Yes, James, Peter, and Sirius are here. They were quite surprised that you knew. Sirius laughed his bloody arse off when he read that you needed help. He had tears in his eyes from laughing so hard. Oh, I shouldn’t have put that in here, Peter said it might hurt your pride.* *James fell off of his chair and spilled coke all over himself when he saw that you wrote James instead of Potter. It was hilarious. I stunned him and took a picture. Remind me to show it to you sometime.* *An arranged marriage? I don’t want to sound mean, Lils, but could your parents be any weirder?* *Merlin, Severus Snape? This has to be horrible for you, especially after what he said to you. I don’t want to sound mean again, but why were you even friends with the git?* *We all feel really bad for you. I, being the great friend that I am, will try to do everything in my power to help you. Peter agreed after we explained it several times (4). Sirius laughed again when he first found out about the marriage, but then he saw whom your fiancé was. Let’s just say that Sirius turned serious. Hehe, sorry about the pun, just trying to lighten the mood, I don’t think that it is working. James, well, James’ face turned red with anger, or was it jealousy? Haha, just trying to lighten it again. Anyway, James said that Snivellus will die.* *I hope it doesn’t come down to death, but if that is what it takes for us to get him away from you, then it is something we must do.* *I would suggest that you spend the summer over here so we can think of ideas, but with my ‘Furry Little Problem,’ that might not work. I don’t want to put you in danger, Lily.* *Till we get a reply, we will be thinking of brilliant pranks!* *Love,* *Mighty Machos and Naughty Nachos! (Very funny story, I’ll tell you later!)* “Well, what do you think?” Remus asked. “What do I think?” James asked hysterically, “I think that you made me sound like a complete arse!” “I think that it sounded very well written and I believe that she will be able to understand and read it perfectly.” Peter said, trying to be a suck up. “I think that our boring summer just turned into an adventure!” Sirius screamed joyfully. **Can you tell that I don’t like Peter very much??** **All mistakes are mine and mine alone. If you found any that are really big please tell me! Oh, and I’m not real sure how long their summers are. I just followed my summer schedule.** **And one more thing. I don’t know if any of you noticed but they are using magic. They are going into sixth year and are using magic. I know that they are not suppose to but that is the way that it is in my story! I hope that you don’t mind** **I also hope that all that read, please review!** **Till next time,** **Angle 737** 3. The Explanation ------------------ **Sorry for the wait. Chapters are hard to write when your mind is in a different place! :] Okay, just wanted to let you all know that this story is slightly AU because of them using magic. I hope that you don’t mind!** There was a knock at her door. Lily rolled her eyes and screamed into her pillow for whom ever it was to go away. She heard Petunia giggle, oh how Lily hated that little wench right now. “Lillian Marie Evans!” her mother screamed as she came pounding up the steps. “You unlock this door.” “No.” “Lily…” “I want to talk to dad.” “Eric!” she wailed. Her father came running, breathing heavily he asked, “What is it, dear?” Rose Evans sniffed, “She wants to talk to you.” Lily could tell that she had hurt her mother, but that wasn’t her fault. If her mother had listened to her, then she would have known that she was perfectly happy. Her dad knew exactly what made her happy. If only her mother would act more like her dad. There was a soft knock at the door and with a wave of her wand it unlocked. Her father pocked his head through first then pulled the rest of his body inside. He sat down beside her on the bed. “Lily, honey, can you tell me what is wrong?” Eric asked quietly. “Daddy, you can’t make me marry him!” “We thought that you would want this! You guys are best friends.” “Were, we were best friends. Why would you think I would want to marry him? Don’t best friends stay best friends? I don’t have those kinds of feelings for him. You should know that.” “I’m sorry, I guess I wasn’t paying the best of attention to your relationship. Friendship can grow into so much more. What happened?” “It’s a long story.” “Well then, you better get started because I am no leaving until you tell me.” “Then make yourself comfortable,” she said as she laid back down on her bed. “We were friends at first. We did everything that we normally did. We took walks around the lake, had parties in the kitchen at the beginning of each month. We told each other everything! It was perfect. Then when Ryan and I started dating in January, he changed. He got so distant, I could feel his hatred every time he saw me with Ryan. I even thought that I saw Severus try to curse him. After that we kind of stopped talking. The only time when we would catch up would be our monthly parties.” She paused for a little bit, taking a breath and looking for a reaction on her father’s face. It was impassive. “I still stuck up for him. He was my first friend; I wasn’t going to turn my back on him. I cared for him; I couldn’t stand to see him hurt. He was okay with it; at least I thought that he was. He never yelled at me before. Oh, dad, he got so angry, I could feel it!” she sobbed. “Sshh, baby, it will be okay,” he said soothingly as he rubbed her back. “Why did he get so mad?” “R-Ryan, Kara, Leslie, Isabelle, and me were sitting by the lake after the Defense O.W.L. Ryan and I were sitting by each other, just sitting enjoying each others company. Remus and his friends Sirius Black, Peter Pettigrew, and James Potter were a little bit away from us.” “James Potter?” her father asked surprised. “Yeah, what about him?” “Oh, nothing.” Lily gave him another piercing glare. He had to be the worse liar in the world. Even a deaf man could tell the difference between the truth and a lie. “Fine, I’ll tell you when you finish your story.” “Okay, anyway, Remus and his friends were by us. Severus walked up, completely minding his own business when James and Sirius started making fun of him. I ran up to them and told them to stop. They finally did, but then Severus rounded on me. He said… he said that he didn’t need help from a filthy mudblood.” “Mudblood?” “Muggle born, dirty blood.” “Oh, honey, I’m sure he didn’t mean it.” “No, he did. I could feel it. I felt everything that he was feeling, pain, anger, and hatred. Not one once of remorse. Not one inch of regret. Nothing except loathing, and that hurt more that his words.” Tears were silently slipping out of her eyes. She angrily pushed them away and continued with her story. “He made it clear how he felt about me. I was a fool for thinking that not all Slytherins were evil. I was wrong, dead wrong. Daddy, I trusted him. I bared my soul to him. I loved him like a brother! When he said those words to me it felt like he threw my heart on the ground and stomped on it. Like he had told my secrets to the world. He took my trust and threw it out the window. How could he do that to me? How could he?” She was screaming by now and crying uncontrollably. Eric Evans stared wide-eyed at his youngest daughter. Never in his life had he heard Lily scream like that. That boy had hurt his little girl, he hurt her bad. There was no way he would let that monster hurt her again. He would put a stop to this marriage even if it killed him. He knew his wife would not budge, for he already tried every excuse in the book. Even if he had to go behind Rose’s back, he would not let Lily marry this awful man. He would swear on his life. By now Lily’s sobs were mere whimpers. Her eyes were slowly closing, she was exhausted. “Rest my flower, close those beautiful green eyes. I promise everything will be okay.” He softly kissed her forehead and turned to leave when Lily’s owl flew into the room with a letter attached to its leg. He carefully untied it and recognized the writing as Remus’. Making a quick decision he decided to open it. After Eric finished reading it a small smile graced his lips. Remus seemed to be some friend. He wanted to help her but also wanted to keep her safe. Oh, if there was someway that he could get those kids together. Then suddenly an idea popped into his head. It would be a perfect way to get rid of that git. His smile grew even bigger as he sat down at his daughter’s desk and began to write. *** Little did Lily or Mr. Evans know, but they had been watched the whole time. Severus Snape stood outside her door. It seemed that it somehow did not get all the way closed, maybe a foot had stopped it from closing. He had seen and heard everything. His heart ached; he had had no clue that Lily felt that way about him. He had thought that he had been the only one in pain, but man was he wrong. Lily hated his guts right now, not that he could blame her. But she would hate him even more when she found out what was on his left arm. He had gotten the mark because he needed an outlet for the pain in his heart. He talked to Lucious, his mother’s friends son. Lucious suggested that he join the Dark Lord, that way he would be able to get revenge on the girl that was causing him so much distress. He agreed in a heartbeat, but now all he felt was regret, and that was worse that the pain. **Dun dun dun. End of chapter three!! I hope that it wasn’t too bad or boring.** **Have you ever had a story completely written out and when you go to type it you just have to add stuff in. That was mostly what this chapter was about. It was not nearly this long.** **You are so lucky that I got this up. I feel like crap and my toes and nose are so cold I think that they might fall off!!** **Well, anyway, please leave your comments in a review!!** 4. Flirting! ------------ **I feel bad, really bad. I cannot believe that it has been 3 months since I have last updated. I feel horrible.** **Every time that I would sit down and write, I got called away to do something else. It doesn’t help matters that I got a brand new car. I love just driving it around. But with the price of gas, I’ve been trying to pick up extra hours at work. There go my weekends.** **This chapter I find horrible. I couldn’t think of anything else to put into it. You could say that it is a filler chapter. Next chapter we are back to Lily and then… well you will find out!** **I am really sorry that is so short too! Gosh this makes me feel worse!** **I really hope you all can forgive me. Maybe I’ll post another chapter in a couple of weeks… Will that make it all better?** **Please read and review!** “We could turn him into a toad,” Sirius suggested. “Yeah, and the only way he could be human again would be for someone to kiss him. Who would want to kiss an ugly toad?” Peter added. “Come on guys, think logically, not out of a fairytale,” Remus said slightly annoyed. “We gave you a good idea, but you decided against it,” James replied. “I will not attack him when I transform!” “You are such a party pooper. If our ideas are not good enough for you, then you think of one,” Sirius retorted. “Fine. If there was a way that we could get together with Lily and her family, then we could possibly have James and Lily flirt with each other.” “I like the sound of that!” James said smirking. “Whoa boy, control your hormones,” Sirius chuckled. “But how is that supposed to get Lily and Severus unengaged?” Peter asked. “Good question. As much as I would love to flirt with Lily and make Snape jealous, I would like to actually have a chance with her.” “Well, I was about to get there before I was rudely interrupted,” Remus said as her glared at James. “Anyway, James and Lily will flirt with each other. Hopefully her parents will see how well you guys are together. And if we are really lucky the flirting might drive Snape to violence.” Three pairs of eyes stared at Remus in shock. They knew that Remus was bright but evidently that was an understatement. James finally cleared his throat, “Remus, you have got to be the most brilliant best mate ever created!” Remus smirked and gave a little bow, “Why thank you, you kind sir.” Sirius and James started to laugh while Peter went to find a drink. “Now all that we need to do is get Lily’s parents to agree to let us come over.” “Four teenage boys hanging around with their little girl. Yeah, I don’t think that that will go over to well,” said a disappointed James. “Five, if you count Snape,” Remus added quietly. “Gross. Do you think we would have to share a room with that thing?” Sirius asked in disgust. “Who knows, we haven’t even gotten a reply back from Lily.” “Looks like we will have it soon,” Remus said as he looked out the front window. Lily’s bird was just as smart as she was. It dodged all of the trees, which made Peter’s owl look like a dimwit. When the owl finally reached the window, it stuck out its leg with the letter attached. Remus was the first one to notice that it was not Lily’s handwriting. “Who do you think it is from?” Peter asked with a mouthful of food. “Well it has to be someone from her family, because the used her owl,” Remus the smart one pointed out. “Let’s read it. Please!” Sirius begged. “Fine, but I want to read it out loud,” James said as he snatched the letter out of Remus’ hands. *Dear Remus,* *I believe that we have met a couple of times. My name is Eric Evans, Lily’s father.* *Lily is sleeping right now so she has no idea that I sent you this letter. Please keep it that way. I want what I have planned to be a surprise.* *My daughter has just finished telling me about what her former best friend did. I have never seen her so upset. She was screaming and crying so much that I had no idea what to do.* *I don’t want the monster anywhere near her, but unfortunately we made arrangements so he could be here all summer. Oh, and speaking of monsters, Remus I am very grateful that you are thinking of Lily’s safety above everything else. But in this case it is not necessary. We have and underground safe house that you can use when you transform.* *No, Lily did not tell me about your condition. It was just Lily has been reading lots of werewolf books and your ‘Furry Little Problem’ statement confirmed my suspicions. Please done be mad at her, and friends of Lily’s, no matter what they are, are friends of mine.* *Anyway, back to the point, I don’t want him near my daughter. My wife, Rose, will never change her mind unless we could find someone else that she would possible consider as a future son-in-law. The good thing is that we have till the beginning of your seventh year before Lily has to sign the contract.* *My idea to get Rose’s head on straight was for the four of you to come over for the summer.* *It would all be very simple. You should come over as soon as possible. We will be staying at the house for half of the summer and then we will go to our beach house for the rest.* *Don’t worry about my wife; I will take care of her. Just please do whatever you can to keep him away form Lily.* *Eric.* “Wow…” “That was…” “Totally unexpected!” Realization dawned on James and he jumped up and started to whoop. “I get to flirt with Lily!” 5. Nightmare ------------ **I told you I was hoping to get another one in this week! I hope it brightens your mood!** **Three more chapters after this one and then you are caught up to were I am stuck. I plan on writing tonight maybe some ideas might come to me!** **I tried adding a little more detail into this chapter. Does it make the story better or worse??** **All mistakes are mine.** **Please read and review!** Lily entered the kitchen the next morning in a pair of sweat pants and a tank top. Her hair was pulled up into a messy ponytail. Her rough night clearly evident in her face. “Dad, I had the worst dream last night,” she said. “Oh, really. What was it about?” Petunia question with a smirk. Her sister was sitting at the counter with her French toast only half eaten. For the past couple of years Lily had never seen Petunia finish a whole plate of food. Her body was definitely getting smaller. Trying to have a normal conversation with her sister, she answered, “It started out great. I was on my way home from school when Mum said I had a surprise.” “Sweetie,” Eric said with slight warning in his voice. Lily just waved her hand and continued on. “Mum was horrible, a real monster. I mean fangs and everything! Then you were getting married to the fat purple-faced guy. I mean seriously who would want to marry you?” Petunia’s blue eyes narrowed into slits. She tapped her slender fingers along the table, loud enough to draw Lily’s attention. On her finger sat a ring. An engagement ring. “No. No. This cannot be happening. It was a dream, just a dream,” she murmured to herself as she buried her face in her hands. “A dream that came true,” a deep voice said from behind her. She whirled around and came face to face with her former best friend. He looked the same as he always did, except that there were large purple circles under his eyes. Proof that he hadn’t slept in days. “Mum, he can’t stay here! If he is here then I’ll go to Izzy’s or Leslie’s. I will not live in the same house with a person who hates me and wants to kill me!” Her mother’s eyes grew dramatically. Her father began to rub his temples. Her sister’s pale face grew a smirk. “It seems to me that you want to kill him,” Petunia laughed. “I do. Oh, Merlin, I do. There is nothing that I would rather do!” “Lillian, you’re scaring me. Why are you acting this way? I have never seen you like this before. What’s wrong? Is it your time of the month?” Rose asked as she came toward her daughter. She moved to put her hands on Lily’s should but Lily smacked them away. “The only thing that is wrong is him.” Rose sighed, “What did he do?” Lily looked from her Mum’s slightly irritated face to her sister’s unusually happy face to her father’s emotionless face. She took a deep breath, “He hurt me.” “How?” “He said things that I never thought he would.” “What did he say? I love you? He worships you, a blind man could see it!” Petunia screeched. “Just forget it okay. You wouldn’t understand.” “Of course we don’t understand, you aren’t telling us anything!” Rose cried. Lily’s hands clenched into fists, the candle on the counter suddenly ignited. “You are trying to run my life! I don’t want to get married. I want to make that decision on my own, when I am not a teenager! I am fifteen, Mum, fifteen. I have the rest of my life ahead of me. I want to live, to have fun. I don’t want to constantly watch my back, making sure that my husband doesn’t mess up, risking my life in the process!” “Lily, I would never-” Severus finally spoke. He had been standing in the doorway watching the family fight. Evidently she didn’t inform her family about the upcoming war with Voldemort. “Shut up!” she hissed. Her eyes were quickly filling up with tears. He felt a burst of pain in his heart. He was the reason she was about to cry. “Lily, please,” Snape pleaded as he took a step towards her. “No, just don’t,” she whimpered as the tears started to fall. “You have done enough.” -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- “Eric, please go talk to her, she listens to you.” Rose begged. Her and her husband were sitting on the sofa. Her head was resting on Eric’s shoulder, as the tears began to fall. “What am I doing wrong?” “Nothing, darling, you just need to listen to her. She doesn’t want to do this and I don’t blame her. She is not happy.” “I want her to be happy.” “Then don’t make her do this.” “I wish I could. I just don’t think that there is a way for backing out. Do you remember what happened when we went to visit the Snapes?” Eric was silent. Now that he thought about it, the visit became a blur. He remembered being let inside by a big-eyed, pointy-eared elf type thing. Severus was the only one home. He had told them how much he loved their daughter. He poured them some tea. That’s were everything becomes fuzzy. “Honestly, no. Do you?” “I recall a contract that we had to sign,” Rose quietly said. Her eyes squinted shut in concentration. “It said something about punishment if we back out. *Vada Davra*? I don’t know, it’s all blurry.” “I know. The best thing you can do is to tell Lily why we decided to do this. She needs an explanation.” “Okay.” ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- “Pumpkin, can I come in?” “I guess.” Mrs. Evans opened the door and squeezed her petite form through the small opening. She saw Lily sitting in her chair reading a book. “Hun, I am so sorry about this. How about we go to town. Shop till we drop as I explain this mess.” “Mum…” “Lil, please, I want to make this right.” Lily looked into her mothers sparkling eyes for the first time that morning. Sorrow filled them, along with hope. Lily felt guilt creep upon her. “Of course, Mum, just let me grab my purse.” ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lily plopped herself down on her bed. Her mother really did mean that they would shop till they dropped. She was exhausted. Her mother had spoiled her like crazy. Everything that she looked at, her mother would pick up and put into the cart. Buying stuff was her Mum’s key to success. If Rose needed a stress reliever, she went shopping. If she needed some exercise, she would walk the mall. There argument this morning must have really bothered her if they had to go shopping for five hours straight. After staring at her ceiling for several minutes she began to hear hooting. Sticking her head out the window she saw her owl, Taz, flying towards her. She just stood there, leaning out the window. The wind was blowing her hair in all directions but it felt good. Suddenly purple slime was on her face. Screaming and looking around frantically, she saw the culprit. Little Scott Tucker, her neighbor, was hiding behind a bush, laughing his bum off. Grinning Lily yelled, “You little squirt, I am going to get you!” “Yeah right,” the boy squeaked as he ran into his house. Taz was sitting on her desk, letter in beak. She put the letter on her desk and grabbed a towel. She needed a shower before she did anything else. Twenty minutes later, Lily entered her room with just the towel wrapped around her. She screamed at the sight that greeted her. “What the hell are you doing here?” she snarled. 6. Friends ---------- Sirius dropped the bra he was holding in surprise. His face was turning the same color as Lily's hair. “Didn't you read the letter?” Remus asked as he looked anywhere but at her. “What letter?” “The letter that Pete is sitting on,” James said. He had been staring or glaring at Peter since Lily walked in. His friend was practically drooling over his girl. Of course any sane man would be watching her like a hawk, but this was one of his friends. He was trying to be respectful and not look at the girl of his dreams in a towel. And it wasn't his fault that there was a mirror behind Peter that showed the doorway perfectly. Everyone looked at Peter but he was dead to the world. He was focused on one thing and one thing only. Lily, noticing his gaze, started to shift from foot to foot. Getting uneasy, she grabbed her pajamas and ran out of the room. “Real nice guys, now she thinks that we are all perverts,” Remus stated. “Its Peter fault,” Sirius declared. “What did I do?” “You were staring at her like a piece of meat!” “No I wasn't. Plus you were the one that went through her panty drawer.” Sirius bent down to retrieve the pink lacy undergarment. He put it on over his clothes and looked in the mirror. “It's not like I did anything wrong, just a small amount of snooping. Good thing too otherwise I would have never know that they made these so big!” “Sirius you're so childish,” Remus exclaimed. “I'm childish? You were the one that wouldn't look at her.” “I'm not going to look at my friend when she is dressed like that!” “You look at us.” “That's different.” Sirius got a smirk on his face and screamed, “Oh Merlin, he's gay. Remus is gay!” “No I'm not!” he cried indignantly. “Then why do you look at us?” “The same reason you do,” Remus said with a grin, “sizing up the competition.” “Guys,” James finally spoke, “we came here to help her not ogle her… or talk about our sexuality.” With that being said he made his way to the door. “Wait.” “What?” “Aren't you going to yell at Pete for scaring your girl?” “If I yell at him, I'll have to yell at all three of you. Please guys, I want this to work, I need this to work. I can't let Snape win.” “Is it safe for me to come back in?” Lily called through the door. “Of course you can. It is your room after all,” Sirius replied. She popped her head through the door just to make sure. “I didn't want to walk in on you going through my clothes again.” “No, we straightened Sirius out,” Remus stated. Lily came all the way into her room and sat on the bed. “Do you mind telling me why you are here?” “I thought that you would have figured that out by now,” Sirius said grinning. “We couldn't stand being away from you.” Lily just raised an eyebrow, “Nice try.” “Your dad sent a letter, we got here as soon as we could,” Remus exclaimed. “Why would my dad send you a letter?” “He needs our amazing brains.” “Why?” ”So that we could help you.” “Does he know that you are here? Does he know that two of you are complete arseholes?” “Hey! Who are you calling an arse?” Remus cried. “Oh, not you, Black and Potter.” That got James' attention. His head whipped from the pictures on the wall to Lily herself. His anger was getting the better of him. “What is wrong with you? I only said one sentence to you. I came here to help you and you call me an arsehole! I have only tied to get your attention. I didn't realize that you actually hated me.” What Lily was feeling startled her. Sure she felt anger and pain before, but they were always from other people. She could never feel anything from James. It was almost like he didn't have any emotions. What surprised her most was that he was letting all of his feelings out and they were hitting her all at once. The one that was the strangest just happened to be hurt. James was pacing around the room, mumbling incoherently to himself. After his outburst, the shock on Lily's face scared him. As angry as he was, he never wanted her to be afraid. Lily was opening and closing her mouth like a fish out of water. She never thought that James could act that way. She had never seen him yell, and hearing him do just that made her see that he was normal after all. He actually seemed upset at what she said. He usually just passed it of as a joke. James was making her go bonkers. “I'm sorry,” James and Lily said together. Surprised, they looked at each other. Their eyes locked and for James nothing else existed. But for Lily, she saw the same emotions that she felt in his eyes. Feeling ashamed she looked away. The room was in complete silence for many minutes. With a sigh Sirius said, “I suggest that we just pretend that the last fifteen minutes never happened.” “Agreed,” everyone chorused. “We should probably go. We're in the guest bedroom if you need us,” Remus said. “But I have questions!” Lily cried. “Tomorrow, we'll answer them tomorrow.” **I feel horrible. My life is completely insane at the moment. And to top it all off I haven't been getting sleep lately. I'm to busy thinking of what is happening to actually sleep. Have you ever just wanted everything to disappear?** **Anyway, I finally got this typed up! Exciting right? I know that it has been forever and I'm really sorry about that.** **Blood and Chocolate readers, I am so sorry! I feel like crying for not updating!** **I would say that I would update it in a couple of weeks but I just can't promise anything right now. Please, oh please forgive me!** **Please leave you thoughts in a review!** **Angel 737** -->