I'll Never Let Anything Happen to You

written by: the young lady of legends

ChapterTwo:When You Need A Friend

Author's Notes: After I'd given this fic a title I remembered a wonderful quote from Finding Nemo: "Well that's a funny thing to promise. You can't promise to never let anything happen to him, then nothing would ever happen to him!"-----Dory to Marlin.

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Lily awoke to an empty dormitory. Glancing around she saw that the sun had risen considerably, and that the other girls' study things were gone. Which inevitably meant that today wasn't Saturday and also...she was most likely late.

She threw her blankets off, and tore around the room dressing herself. She grabbed her books and began to sprint towards the Great Hall. When she'd reached the third floor she noticed that classes had, indeed, begun and she kicked up the speed to the second floor. Thankfully the class she was late for was Charms so it wasn't as if she was going to miss anything. After all, she was ridiculously ahead, but it was the principle of the matter. She'd never been late before, and to wait until after she'd was appointed Head Girl... She cringed, knowing this was a terrible thing to be put on a résumé.

She burst through the door in a flurry of red hair and excuses. "So sorry...-overslept-...never happen again!" was a little of what was caught. Looking around for a seat she saw that the only one was placed right next to James Potter...Sirius' seat. She felt her cheeks burn as she walked toward that seat, and sat down trying not to look at James.

This did not go unnoticed, of course. James wracked his brain in utter confusion and knitted his eyebrows together.

And this did not go unnoticed by Lily. She decided she should be a little bit social, so she scribbled a quick note on some parchment and slid it at James.

James' heart lurched. "SHE'S WRITING ME A NOTE! WHAT'S IT SAY?! WHAT'S IT SAY?!" he thought inside his head. As an afterthought he added, "If my personality were an animal it would be a rabid Chihuahua."

-Hey, where's Sirius?

"WHERE'S SIRIUS?! THAT'S IT?! grrr..." he thought again. "Yes...most definitely a rabid Chihuahua."

-He's in the hospital wing...haha.

"Yeah...and these two are best friends. Right." she thought as she read his less than sympathetic note.

-He's okay isn't he?!

"Okay! What's with the concern for Sirius? Oh I'm going to claw his eyes out!" he thought, grateful that she couldn't hear what he was thinking,

-Oh yeah. He's fine. Or he will be. He's only swallowed a Snitch.

At this Lily laughed aloud and her fellow Gryffindors and the Slytherins looked at her as though she'd gone postal. Bellatrix Black, who was in her year in the Slytherin house, leaned up and hissed in her ear, "Something funny? You'd think since you'd missed half the class you'd pay attention."

Lily gripped the table in front of her, clutching it so that her knuckles turned white. "Don't rise..." she thought to herself. "She's nothing...don't think about what she has to say..." At least, she'd meant to just think it. But in her concentration her thoughts had become vocalized.

Bellatrix sneered. "Oh I'm nothing, am I? I'm not the little Mudblood running around pretending to be intelligent. You're disgusting-"

Lily stood up quickly so that her chair flipped over. James watched wide-eyed. He'd never seen anyone so angry before...but it wasn't his fight and Lily wouldn't want him to interfere, as she'd made so blatantly obvious in fifth year. "Don't EVER call me that again!" she shrieked.

Bellatrix tossed her long shiny hair. "I have no idea what you are talking about." she said in her most disgustingly sweet voice.

"YOU KNOW EXACTLY WHAT I MEAN! YOU CALLED ME A MUDBLOOD!" Lily cried to the top of her lungs. "AND I AM SO SICK OF BEING EVERYONE'S SCAPEGOAT! I'M NOT STANDING FOR THIS ANYMORE!"

Their professor, a tall lanky man with eyes like a rat, said, "Miss. Evans, if you would kindly sit down. I will not tolerate such language in my classroom."

Lily stared at him, outraged. "But she's the one who said it! She called me one!"

"Honestly, Professor. I have no idea what she's talking about. I'd never call her a - a you know what." Bellatrix explained.

"LIAR!" screeched Lily.

"10 points from Gryffindor!" their professor interjected. "I really had thought better of you Lily."

"BUT I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING!!" she screamed.

Their Charms professor stared at Lily intently before saying calmly, "Lily, please go see Professor McGonagoll. She will already have been informed of your misbehavior before you get there."

Tears welled up in Lily's eyes as she stared at the floor and made her way across the classroom and to the door. As she closed it she thought she heard a loud crash behind her but she didn't pay it any attention. She made her journey to her Head of House's classroom.

She knocked quietly on the door and heard McGonagoll's stern voice answer, "Come in."

In she walked. Her head was down in shame and hurt. Why did everyone have to call her that? A little voice in the back of her head told her, "Not everyone calls you that. You know James won't..."

She sat in front of McGonagoll's desk and braced herself. "Miss Evans... would you kindly tell me what happened?"

Lily couldn't believe this. Surely Professor McGonagoll wasn't asking for her side of the story. Or was she? "Er...well. It all started with my being late."

"Late? For class? Evans your record is spotless and I cannot possibly imagine you being late." she said in disbelief.

Lily nodded at the floor, her eyes transfixed on a spot of dirt. "I overslept."

Professor McGonagoll looked confused. "Surely one of your roommates would have woken you up."

Lily bit her lip and prayed that the tears filling her eyes would evaporate before they got the chance to slide down her cheeks. "I- I don't think they like me very much." she said, her voice audibly cracking.

"Because you're Muggle-born?"

"Yes Professor."

"None of them?" McGonagoll asked.

"None of them."

McGonagoll looked exasperated, "Is there no one outside of your dormitory who would have woken you up?"

"Professor...I'm not exactly known for an abundance of friends." she braved.

Professor McGonagoll's eyes went even softer than they had been. She looked sadly at Lily before finally asking, "But you do have one, right?"

At this question, Lily's eyes brimmed over. Her tears spilled out and onto her cheeks, into her hair and down her throat. She knew she couldn't answer her so she simply shook her head slowly from right to left in the answer, 'no'.

At this point James Potter burst through the door infuriated and accompanied by Professor Dumbledore himself. McGonagoll sighed, "Potter what have you gotten yourself into this time? I assume it's serious as you're being accompanied by our headmaster."

"It is quite serious, Minerva." Dumbledore answered for James. "He's accused Ms. Black of being a follower of Voldemort."

McGonagoll flinched slightly, and Lily's ears perked up. Had he been defending her? Dumbledore continued. "Apparently after Ms. Evans had been thrown out, wrongfully might I add as Ms. Black did call her the offending name, Mr. Potter here got a bit angry with Ms. Black."

James threw in, "She didn't just call her that! She was taunting Lily! Bellatrix deserved everything she got!"

Dumbledore inhaled, "Which brings me to my next point, Minerva. Mr. Potter has hexed Ms. Black severely."

Professor McGonagoll sighed in expectation. "What did he do to her?"

"Apparently, Ms. Black has been referring to Lily as 'trash and rubbish' so James performed quite a good bit of Transfiguration. Ms. Black is now a trash bin infested with bugs and I fear when she is transfigured back she'll still have...er...maggots." Professor Dumbledore explained. "Had he been in Transfiguration we might have had to award points."

"Really Dumbledore! Do you think that this is any time to be commending his actions?!" Professor McGonagoll demanded. "Award points, indeed!"

"Minerva...he was taking a stand for a friend. We may still be forced to award points out of sheer loyalty."

At these words Lily caught James' eye. Anger flooded from his expressions as he saw her tear-stained cheek and look of sympathy and compassion washed over his features. Slowly he stood and neared Lily. He knelt down beside her chair and took her hand. "I promise it'll all be okay."

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Upon further investigation

this button is not purple, nor

is it blue or lavender. It is

periwinkle. But rather it be

red, yellow, black or white...

CLICK IT!