Lily's Potters POV

I was in a dilemma.

I could either hex the kid and be done with it, or I could walk away. If I hexed him, there would be detention, points deducted from Gryffindor and not to mention my Mothers wrath. But if I walked away… my reputation as the feisty, I-can-look-after-myself girl was at stake.

Hmm. What to do, what to do…

My wand hand twitched.

I was saved by the bell. How irritatingly cliché, I thought.

I soothed my need for revenge by throwing the idiot a scathing look. I picked up my bag, swung my long, red hair over my shoulder, and stalked to charms class.

I was sure I hated that kid.

And why did I hate the poor, innocent, first-year boy?

Well, he may've been poor, but he certainly wasn't innocent. He was a nasty Crow. Crow with a capital "C" because it was they're last name: The clan of Crows.

They reminded me of the Pye's from "Anne of Green Gables"- a muggle book my cousin, Rose, had forced me to read.

Marian Crow had been spreading malicious lies about my family, and I wasn't the kind of person that let anyone get away with that.

"Lily Potter?" a shy, Hufflepuff girl asked.

"Huh? I mean, yes?" I asked, her voice startling me.

"I'm supposed to give this to you." She handed me a slip of rolled-up parchment.

"Thanks."

I opened the page to see narrow handwriting that looked vaguely familiar. It said simply:

Miss Lily Potter,

Your presence is required at the Headmasters office immediately.

The Headmaster

What on earth is this about?

I passed the charms classroom went directly to the Headmasters office.

My brothers were waiting there.

"So you got a note too, Lily," James remarked.

"Yes."

"Should we go in then?" asked Al.

"Have you been waiting for me?" I queried, looking from one brother to the other.

"Yeah, our notes said to go in all together."

"All right then."

James gave the password.

The stone gargoyle's let us in. Al knocked on the door and it swung open.

I saw an orange flash of light. Everything went dark and the air was knocked out of me.

Lily Evans POV

Oh, yippee! A trip to the Headmasters office… with Potter. Just Great.

Those were my sarcastic thoughts as I dragged my unwilling feet down the halls with none other than James Potter. This was one of those times where I wished I was somewhere else- Anywhere else. I would even take a Professor Binns lecture over this.

"What's the matter, Evans? You look like you've just seen … something gross."

I rolled my eyes.

"Look- Being called out of class to walk to the Headmasters office with you is not exactly my ideal way to spend the afternoon."

"Maybe if you went out with me, you'd get used to spending time with me, and it wouldn't be such a bother."

He stopped and looked into my eyes.

"Lily; you can't avoid the inevitable".

My eyes widened in surprise at his use of the word "inevitable".

"Inevitable? What's inevitable?"

"Me."

I raised an eyebrow.

He faced the gargoyles and said, "Blodwyn Bludd."

Neither James nor I said anything as we climbed the stairs.

I knocked on the door and it swung open immediately. That's strange.

There was a flash of purple light and then darkness. I fell with a thump to the floor of Dumbledore's office.

Ginny's POV

"Hellebore is so strong, that…" I let Professor Sprout's chipper voice become background.

I had broken up with Dean Thomas, and I felt an amazing sense of liberation. He was behind me.

But Harry's ahead- If I can get him to pay any attention to me. He still thinks of me as Ron's little sister.

I sighed.

I was lying to myself, though. I knew Harry was starting to like me. But I didn't know why I was so hesitant to actually believe it. Maybe I wasn't ready for him to like me. Maybe I thought it was too good to be true.

That was it. I did think it was too good to be true-- my eleven-year-old dream finally becoming reality.

I wished life was simple: that everything was set out ahead of me so that all I had to do was walk forward and I would be carried to where I was meant to be. That would be so much easier than real life -- this complicated journey that had me so confused.

I sighed again.

"Miss Weasley?" called Professor Sprout.

"Err, yes Professor?"

"Come up here, please."

I groaned. Herbology was not my favorite subject, and I hated being used as a demonstration.

"Ginny," Professor Sprout whispered when I reached her.

"Yes?" I whispered back, though I didn't know why we were whispering.

"The headmaster needs you in his office."

I nodded.

"He wants you now, please."

"All right," I said slowly.

I got my things, and then left the greenhouse.

I met Harry on my way. My stomach fluttered as I took in his adorable appearance.

"Hey, Ginny."

"Hi, Harry! Where're you off to?"

"Dumbledore's office. What about you?"

"I'm going to see Dumbledore, too…" My voice trailed off.

"What is it?"

"Oh, nothing. I just think it's funny that we should get called to Dumbledore's office- at the same time. For me it was, well, for no reason, really." I wonder if that sounded as idiotic to him as it did to me. Hmm.

"Oh."

Why is this awkward?! It shouldn't be awkward. It's never been awkward between us before! Why can't I think of anything interesting to say? Why?!

We continued walking in silence.

When we got there I realized I didn't know one vital thing.

"Harry, do you know the password?"

"Yeah, it's uh- I'm an imp."

"Only Dumbledore would have a password like that," I laughed.

Harry chuckled.

We climbed the spiral staircase. Harry opened the door, and he stopped breathing.

"Harry, what is it?"

He just shook his head weakly and kept staring into the office.

I gently pushed him aside, and gasped at the sight of Harry's 16-year-old parents.