Lily was up at five o' clock in the morning. When James had asked her to do this a couple of days before, it had seemed like an impossible feat, but when she lay in her bed the night before, she had found sleep an impossible task, so getting up was easy. She crept out of bed and toward the bathroom to dress, not daring to turn on the lights in case it woke up one of the other girls.

It was the first time Lily had ever snuck out of the school. In some ways, she wished she wasn't doing it now, but she had to. How could she not go to her own father's funeral? Maybe she should have asked for permission from Dumbledore or McGonagall, but what if they had said no? What if they had reminded her of her looming deadlines, it might have been unlikely, but it was possible and it was not a risk Lily was willing to take. As well, telling them would mean admitting that she had a funeral to go to and she was doing her best to keep her family out of the gossip – especially as her muggle heritage was becoming very hated by certain people and she couldn't face them knowing about this. Of course, people might notice her disappearance from classes today, but they would just assume she was with James somewhere in the castle. They would never assume that they had snuck out, not prefect Lily Evans.

"James?" She whispered into the darkness of the common room. "Are you there?" There was no answer so Lily made her way over to the door; hiding slightly behind the notice board in case anyone else came down but making sure she could still see the stairs towards the boys' dormitory for when James finally appeared.

"Lily?" He asked. His voice was more confident than hers had been but was still only a little louder than a whisper.

"I'm by the door." She whispered back and soon James was behind her. He gave her a quick hug and kissed her on her forehead before removing the invisibility cloak from his bag and throwing it over the pair of them. He then took out a piece of parchment and used his wand to make the labelled map appear on it.

"Shall we be off?" He asked. Lily nodded and stood just in front of him so that they could both see the map as they navigated the corridors and back stairs, staying as far away from Filch and any other patrolling teachers as they could.

Less than ten minutes had passed before they were out in the lush grass of the Hogwarts grounds. It was cold, but bearable outside – although James still hugged her a little closer to keep them that little bit warmer – as they walked silently towards the quidditch pitch where the sun was just rising. Once there, the pair shed the cloak for a moment and James went off to pick up his broomstick from the cupboard at the back. When he returned, the pair mounted the broomstick, Lily's arms around James' waist as she clung on tight to him. James then took the cloak and covered them and the broomstick again, they would be able to take it off when they were a few miles from school, when they could be mistaken for any couple, but someone might notice them flying when they were still within the school grounds.

They flew in silence as they covered the few hundred miles back towards Cokeworth, flying over the mountains and rivers which glistened in the new day's sun. Whilst they had thought they would take the cloak off when they were far enough from the school, they decided not to bother when they realised that shedding the invisibility cloak would mean that muggles, however unobservant they may be, would be able to see them – and then they would be in even more trouble.

Finally, they landed in the middle of the woods around Lily's town and got off, both of their legs wobbling a little after the long flight.

"Thank you, James. Thank you so much." Lily whispered, throwing her arms around his neck. "I don't know what I would do without you." James tightened his arms around her waist and kissed her neck.

"I love you, Lily Evans and I would do anything for you, you know that, don't you?" Lily nodded.

"Of course, I love you, too. And any time you need anything… well, I'm not as good at sneaking around castles or breaking school rules, but I'll do my best." James laughed and took her hand in his, his broom in the other hand and the cloak carefully folded back into his bag.

"Come on, let's find a place to stash this and then let's go find your mum."

They hid the broomstick inside of a hollow tree and James used a stick to mark the floor to remind him where it was (although Lily promised she knew the woods so well that there was no chance of them losing it). They then walked along the dirt path, the leaves from last autumn still covering the floor with another layer of brown in some places, and found themselves on the edge of Lily's street fairly easily. This was when Lily stopped dead in her tracks and stared, tears welling in her eyes.

"I can't do it." She whispered. "I can't go in there when I know that my dad won't be waiting to hug me and welcome me home with a smile on his face." She breathed for a moment. "This was a mistake, come on, let's go back."

"Lily, I know it's hard. But… if you don't go then you'll regret it for the rest of your life. I'm right here by your side, we'll get through it together, ok? And we'll leave as soon as you need to, I promise." He squeezed her hand and Lily smiled in reply. She forced her feet forwards and knocked on her front door. It was a strange thing to do, since she lived there, but she didn't want to give her mother too much of a fright when she wasn't expecting her. After a moment, the door opened.

"Yes?" Her mother said without really looking at who it was. She was still wearing her dressing gown and her hair was in a towel, but she looked like she had slept about as well as Lily had. When she looked again at who was at her door at nine o' clock in the morning, her face lit up. "Lily?" She beamed and embraced her daughter. "I thought you said you weren't sure if you could get out of school? Why didn't you tell me you were coming?" Lily shrugged.

"I wasn't sure if we'd make it and I didn't want to get your hopes up and then I couldn't make it." Lily was released from the hug and Mrs Evans pulled James in for one instead.

"Thank you." She whispered into James' ear before pulling away. "Come in, come in." She opened the door wider to allow them both into the warm house.

The Living room was just like it always had been although the house felt emptier, and missing some of its warmth, Lily thought as she and James sat down on one of the old, over-stuffed couches. On the coffee table in front of them were a few plates with sandwiches covered in cling-film and a sponge cake that were for the wake that afternoon. On the wall was a picture from a holiday that the Evans had taken several years ago, before Lily had even gotten into Hogwarts. Little blonde Petunia sat next to ginger Lily on a bench, both smiling madly, and their parents stood proudly behind them. Lily remembered that day, the sun had been shining on the lake where they'd gone for a walk and they'd stopped for a moment to enjoy the view. Her father had asked a passer-by to take a picture of them all together before his two children got too big. Lily met Severus a month later and got her letter two months inviting her to Hogwarts two months after that, her sister had never sat beside her and smiled like that since.

Lily popped upstairs to get changed into a black dress that she had in her wardrobe – obviously, she hadn't taken anything that sombre to Hogwarts – and came back to find James and her mother having a chat over a cup of tea each. She smiled at them getting along so well, something that her mother and Vernon had never achieved. At some point, James had changed into a respectful suit with a tie. It was strange to see him dressed up like that, at school his tie was rarely done up properly and his shirt was never tucked into his trousers. Lily smiled, she loved this side of him that she'd only seen in the past few months. Yes, he was an obnoxious prick sometimes, but he also knew when he had to be mature and respectful; he knew when Lily needed him to be fun and light-hearted and make her laugh, and when she needed him to be a shoulder for him to cry on. She liked to think that she could do the same for him, but he needed a shoulder to cry on much less often than she seemed to.

An hour and a half later, the three of them drove down to the church where Lily's father was to be buried. Mrs Evans thanked them both so much for coming as she didn't think she could cope going down there on her own and Petunia had decided to make her own way there. Once at the church, James went and sat at the front near to Vernon who stiffened significantly as James greeted him warmly, and Lily, Petunia, and their mother stood by the doors, greeting all those who had come to the service before joining their partners in the front pew.

They all cried, except Vernon, Lily even caught James wiping away a tear as he said goodbye to the man he'd only met the once but had heard so much about from Lily that he felt like he knew him well. After the service, a lot of people from the church went back to the Evans' house to pay their last respects in a different way. They all spoke to Lily, as well, asking her about school and how she was coping with everything, but Lily just nodded and faked a smile. She could hardly get into the politics of the Wizarding world at her father's wake!

The pair were one of the first to leave, as well, as they needed to get back to Hogwarts before any of the teachers came looking for them. After they had both changed back into their uniforms, Lily hugged her mother and James went in for a handshake but was pulled into a hug before he could escape. They said goodbye to Petunia who hugged Lily, for some reason, and promised that she would try to write more often before returning to a glaring Vernon who grabbed Petunia by the shoulders as she returned and steered her towards some other people that he probably didn't know.

The broomstick was right where they left it in the woods and they easily navigated the slowly darkening skies in silence, back North to the castle in the mountains. They landed in Hogsmede and once again, covered themselves and the broomstick in the cloak before slowly walking towards Honeyduke's where James knew of a secret passage back into the castle. They used the map as they neared the opening of the passage and found that there was a group of first years standing nearby.

Lily took this as an opportunity to thank James properly for all he had done for her that day. She slipped her hand into his and pulled him back slightly so that his hands were on her waist and hers were around his neck.

"Thank you." She breathed before firmly pressing her lips against his; using them to open James slightly and pulling him closer into her. James reciprocated tightened his grip on Lily's hips, pushing her back slightly into the wall.

"I love you Lil, I love you more than anything in this world." He whispered into her neck and Lily moaned slightly.

"I love you, too, and I promise I always will." She smiled, combing her fingers through his hair that had been brushed and gelled a little for the funeral.

A few minutes later, they checked the map again and the gaggle of first-years had moved on towards the hall for dinner. James spotted Sirius, Remus, and Peter in Gryffindor Tower so they made their way towards them and then back down for dinner. Of course, they all knew where James and Lily had been – obvious as they helped to formulate the plan of exit and entry as well as covering for them in lessons – but none of them said a word in such a public place. Even in the common room later on, Sirius asked how it was (referring to the funeral as an 'it' rather than mentioning the actual words) and Lily merely smiled sadly and said that it was fine and thanked them all for their help.

By the time Lily went to bed that night, at what would usually be a normal time, she was so exhausted that she merely collapsed onto her bed after changing into her pyjamas and slept soundly until she was woken by the brightness of the next morning as the sunlight burst through the clouds of the overcast sky. It was a strange metaphor, Lily thought, as it described just how she was feeling. She was sad, of course, and would probably never 'get over' her father's death, but she knew that she had enough sunshine in her life that she could get through it; survive it, and that the sun would once again come out in her life.

Now that's more like it! That was actually a good length chapter! Hope you enjoyed it, please drop me a review either way so that I can improve and I will be back next time. Lots of love – chescaannie xx