Author's Notes: Well... I'm back. After my severe case of writers' block, my sister deleting my chapter, and then backspacing everything I had written for this chapter, I have decided to get the ball in motion, get my butt in gear. In other words, I'm writing this chapter, whether you want me to or not.

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Sunlight flittered in through the closed window, causing soft semi-circles to dance all over the sleeping Lily Evans' face. Her red curls blended in with the maroon pillow-covering, and her face was the perfect picture of serenity. There was no fire dancing in her emerald eyes for once, as they were closed, not trying to fight the pestilence that was sleep.

It really was too bad that it was so sorely interrupted by the ringing of her alarm clock. Groaning against the light that, not moments before, made her look so ethereal and otherworldly, she slammed her hand down upon the timepiece. After blinking a few minutes to get the drowsiness out of her system, Lily lightly scrapped her feet on the floor, searching silently for her slippers. Once her feet were them, she slowly made her way towards the bathroom.

Something struck her as odd about the routine, and it wasn't until she was a few feet away from the bathroom door that she realized what it was. No one else in her dorm was here. No soft snores from Bekki's bed, no tossing and turning from Melissa's. Tasha's quiet was quieter than usual.

This struck Lily as odd. No one was ever up before Lily, since she usually got up early to finish any of her Head Girl duties. It was certainly something when all of her dorm mates were up and ready before her, even counting the elusive Isley Doman who was rarely up before breakfast was over. She was reminded of something Melissa had said their first night at Hogwarts.

"I'm not going to make it at this bloody school," Melissa moaned. "I never wake up before ten on normal days. How do they expect me to wake up at eight?"

Suddenly, Lily had a horrible thought. Maybe James went up into her dormroom¹ and set her clock back an hour or two. She knew that any one of her friends would have covered for her, even the still upset Bekki. They stuck together, Lily's little posé, even if they weren't on the best of terms. But Lily prided herself in having not missed on day of school thus yet of the year; it was now the middle of December.

Lily was able to convince herself that somehow, James had tampered with her alarm clock, or had kept her sleeping for longer than she normally had. "That bastard," she growled to no one in particular. It took her no longer than five seconds to realize that she had to run down those stairs and just make sure that she hadn't missed any of her classes due to James Potter's insufferableness.

In the state that she was, Lily didn't even realize that she was heading down the stairs in nothing more than her pajamas. She hadn't taken a shower yet, and her red curls were plastered to odd places on her head. The only thing on her mind was the possibility that she had sullied her record of absences.

As she whirled down the steps that led to the Common Room, her night-gown flaring out behind her, Lily's mind was on a one way track. Oh, that insufferable Potter! Couldn't he just leave her alone? It wasn't long until she was standing in the middle of the Gryffindor Common Room.

If she had thought that everyone being missing from her dorm was an odd thing, then she was in for a big shock, for every member of Gryffindor was in the Common Room. James and his pals sat on one of the couches, a few of their followers stationed around them. The first years were huddled up over by the tables, and the rest of the years milled around the room. Lily's friends were sitting on the window seat, all looking very disoriented. Lily rushed over to them.

"What happened?" She asked as soon as she stopped in front of them. It wasn't everyday that all of Gryffindor Tower got together. Unless of course there was a tremendous win in Quidditch, but there hadn't been a match that they had been in for over a month. Celebration was ruled out.

"I dunno," Bekki said, looking up from her hand. She had stifled a yawn before she had spoken.

Next to her, Melissa nodded. "Yea. Professor McGonagall just came into our rooms and ordered us to get up. She tried to get you up, but you were dead to the world."

That last thing shocked her. Normally she was a light sleeper, always waking up even at the drop of a pin. What had happened? Once again her mind wandered over to James Potter, who was, at the moment, flirting with a fifth year student.

"That ass," she grumbled. "Obviously there is an emergency and all he can think of is se-" She was cut off by Tasha's joking tone.

"Are you jealous, Lily? You did, after all, sleep with him." She gave her a little wink.

Hearing the words, Lily blew up at her. "Merlin's beard!" She yelled. "I wish everyone would just stop this nonsense! Nothing happened!"

"But that doesn't really account for the fact that you're pregnant."

Lily spun around to see who had dared utter those words. It was Edana Neward, Lily's only female nemesis. Edana was in the sixth year, and looked almost exactly the same as Lily. It was said that she was jealous of Lily and her good grades, and the fact that she was on the Quidditch team (she had wanted to be on ever since her second year). But perhaps the thing that Edana was most envious of was the attention that James gave Lily.

Lily glared at her. "Yes, pregnant. You know it's true. But how in the Hell did I get pregnant when I didn't have bloody sex with James Potter?"

Edana in turn glared at her. "Well it sure wasn't immaculate conception."

Lily opened her mouth to retort but was interrupted by the portrait hole flying open to reveal Professor McGonagall. She and Edana both turned their heads quickly to see the very flustered professor make her way towards the fireplace to stand in front of all the students.

From all the way across the room Lily could see that her favorite teacher was looking very upset. Her normally tight bun looked hurried and unfinished and was loose around the base of her neck. Her clothes looked rumbled and slept in, and she had bag under her eyes. She looked like she hadn't slept all night.

"I have some very bad news, children," she said, starting her sermon. She started to ring her hands. "It has come to my attention, and that of all the other professors that one of our very best has been murdered." She swallowed. "Professor Mazur was found murdered in his office today. He was decapitated."

A gasp went up around the tower, and more than one of the female students fainted. Edana looked like she was about to be sick. "This was brought to our attention earlier this morning by a wandering seventh year student." Her eyes darkened and Lily suddenly knew that it was a Slytherin.

"We still haven't found the culprit, and until we do, there will be no classes." There were mixed emotions through all of the Gryffindors, and, sensing that she had best finish her speech, Professor McGonagall sought out Lily and James. "Will the Heads and Prefects please come to Professor Dumbledore office once they are ready?"

And so it was finished. Their Transfiguration teacher walked across the Common Room and swiftly existed the room. As soon as the portrait swung shut the entire population of Gryffindor went up in an uproar. Many of the girls started crying, most of the boys swore, and a few of the girls that hadn't fainted before promptly did so. Only Lily was different; she made her way over to James.

At first he didn't see her. He was busy telling everyone around him that he was going to find out whoever kill their professor and "make them pay". In fact, it took a hearty shove from Sirius to let James know that she was standing above them. Seeing her, he groaned. "What the Hell do you want, Evans?"

Instead of answering, she baled up her fist and jabbed it into James's chin. Once again, Gryffindor Common Room was silent. "You are the biggest ass known to man kind, James Potter. And I hope you rot in Hell!" With those words she stormed out of the Common Room much like she had that morning when she had awoken to find herself tied to a chair. All was perfectly still until they heard the tell-tale slam of the Girls' Dormitory door.

For a second James wasn't sure how to respond, but he finally decided to continue talking about his plans at condemnation for the culprit. After a few seconds, everyone followed suit and continued what they had been doing as well.

Upstairs on her bed, Lily cried and dragged the covers over her head. Just what was the world coming to?

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Ok yea, cool. Another chapter. It's extremely short, yes I know. But I just wanted to get it up in time for Christmas, and I wont be here tomorrow so.. yea.. Today was the day to write!

Plus, I had to leave a good place for me to start up the next chapter. So yea.. What did ya think!? Tell me in a review!

Oh, and if anyone can tell me how to fix my Author Alert so that I can.. alert you when I have a new chappy up I will dedicate my next chapter to you. Yes, I am bribing you. Heh!

Thank a bunch for reading and reviewing!

Melissa