Dear LilyFlower

Chapter 6- The House of Stars

She took Sirius's arm and pulled him into the clothes boutique. The two ducked behind one of the clothes racks, as Lily scanned the areas her eyes settled on a particular individual. Sirius, who was beyond confused, looked at her with wild eyes.

" Erm- Evans, your a great person and all but I don't think your my typ—"
" I didn't get you here to snog you, you idiot! I couldn't let him see you, and I don't want to see him either!" Exclaimed Lily getting more flustered by the minute.

It was then that Sirius almost shrieked after spotting Severus Snape lurking in a corner of the shop, his dramatic reaction earned him a glare from Lily.

" Marlene sent you here because she's under the impression that you'll make him shut up, and your girlish screams really aren't helping Black!" Stated Lily in a frustrated whisper.

It was very clear that Lily Evans was losing her courage by the second, her green eyes were clouded with fear and each word she spoke was laced with doubt and hurt. Every time Lily pictured this conversation with her ex-best friend it was always on her turf, and she spoke each scathing word with precision. She had even contemplated writing a speech back on the Hogwarts Express but that didn't seem right. She couldn't just throw away her most important friendship by saying some words written on paper. No, this was a matter of emotions.

So here she found herself, not in the dimly lit hallway of Hogwarts but in a muggle clothes boutique. She didn't have her squad of friends behind her, instead she had someone she had wholeheartedly despised for the majority of her schooling. The worst part of it was that all the confidence that had filled her was now gone. It was just him and her, her and him...and Sirius who was proving by the minute that he was quite useless in this situation.

After composing herself, Lily strided out from behind the clothes rack when she felt fingers encompassing her wrist. Within moments, Sirius had her ducked under the rack again. " What the heck Evans? You look like a phyco walking out like that!". Her emotions were once again running haywire, " I'm going to talk to him and settle this, so I don't give a damn how I look, Black!"

" Wait, you were actually going to go talk to him!?" Asked Sirius with genuine concern. " Great observation" came a reply soaked in sarcasm.

" Oh Evans, I thought you were smarter than the average Gryffindor." Said Sirius with what seemed to be disappointment. His condescending tone was the trigger for Lily, who was about the scream at him when he interrupted again. " You have an advantage, Evans. That git doesn't know you're here, so maybe try keeping it that way."

" I know you want to go and fight him, Lily, but trust me now is not a good time. You're a mess, and you don't know all the tricks he has up his sleeves." Stated Sirius with a very calm complexion. " So you want me to do nothing, and let Severus win!?" Exclaimed Lily, visibly taken aback by Sirius's somewhat mature advice.

" No. You're getting me wrong. What I'm saying is that we came here to shop, so let's do that..you only let him win if he gets under your skin, Evans. The moment you care about him is the moment you let him win. So, let's get out of here and shop"

In a way, Lily did agree with him. Severus should not have made her a mess, she should have ignored his disloyal arse and she planned to do just that. But one thing had shaken her to the core, she still cared about Severus. She wasn't ready to accept the fact that he could physically hurt her..so did that mean that he had won? Had she lost from the beginning? All she knew was that this wasn't over, a bad feeling was looming overhead...something was going to happen.

Sirius had taken Lily to the skirt section, he was expertly giving millions of amazing outfit selections but she couldn't keep her focus. All she was thinking about was, what she would say to Severus. Sensing her discomfort, Sirius had led her around the shop making jokes and trying to get her to warm up. But Lily didn't budge, she still had that face as pale as a sheet of paper and her huge emerald green eyes were still whirling with fear.