the marauders- an inseparable bond

[11] brothers

Lily was lying on her bed. She was so bored. She had finished all her work for the break, and now she had nothing to do. Cautiously, she got up and went down the hall, pausing for a second before giving a soft tap on the pale pink door.

"Who is it?"

"It's- it's Lily."

Her sister's tone suddenly became sour.

"Oh. What do you want?"

"I just wanted to talk."

"Talk?" asked Petunia incredulously, reminding Lily of when she'd brushed off Potter on the Hogwarts express. Oh, Hogwarts! She missed it so badly, it practically hurt.

"Yes, talk. Please let me in."

There was a pregnant pause, and the door opened the tiniest crack. She saw Petunia's eye, laden with too much makeup peer out at her suspiciously.

"Why don't you talk to your freak friend?"

"We're not friends anymore." said Lily, managing to get the words out without her voice shaking. Before Petunia could respond however, the door bell rang. The two sisters stared at each other.

"Um... are you expecting anyone?" Lily asked.

"No... unless... Oh my god, what if it's Vernon?" she gave a giggly squeal similar to the noises Lily's friends had made when James had come into their compartment. There she was, thinking about Hogwarts again. Everything reminded her of it.

"Who's Vernon?"

Petunia's eyes drooped back down to Lily, reminded that she was still there.

"He's a very cute boy who told me he'd probably stop by sometime. Now, he'll be disgusted if he sees a freak like you, so you'd better stay up in your room."

She said this in a bossy tone while adding some more makeup, fixing her hair and checking her appearance in a full-length mirror that sat against the far wall of her room.

"Lily," called her mother's voice from downstairs, "Lily, it's Severus."

Eyes wide with anger that it was not Vernon at the door, Petunia said,

"I thought you weren't friends." and shut the door in Lily's face.

Dreading seeing him, she clambered down the staircase. He stood in the doorway, in his over-sized muggle clothes, looking quite terrified. Lily's mother was smiling and babbling away:

"It is so nice to see you Severus, we haven't see you in so long, where have you been? You've grown so much... Oh do come in, would you like a cup of tea?"

"Mom." said Lily icily, cutting her parent off. "Sev and I are going to go outside."

"Okay!" her mother said merrily, un-noticing of her daughter's mood. "Be back in time for supper!"

Lily slipped out into the summer heat with the boy she had not uttered a word to in a month.

"Hi." said Severus, breaking the silence.

"Hi? HI? How dare you come to my door? I told you I never wanted to see you again, you foul-" (she swore loudly)

"I wanted to say sorr-"

"Why the hell are you saying sorry to me? It's Camilla you should apologize to."

"Well you haven't spoken to me in a month so..."

They walked a little farther in silence, till she abruptly said:

"Why were you friends with me?"