Lily was spending increasingly less time with her friends, and more time holed up in the library working on schoolwork. It was so easy to fall behind but she was determined to stay at head of the class. She didn't have any trouble in potions however, her and Severus, along with a Hufflepuff girl named Emmeline, were doing outstandingly well with little effort. But while she was doing quite well in her other classes, they required far more work on her part.

In fact, she had just recently received an invitation from Slughorn to go to a Christmas dinner party with some of his other students. To her delight, Severus had also been invited. When she was studying in the library he was almost always there, but it had become difficult to spend time with him otherwise, as neither of their friends, to put it lightly, enjoyed the company of the others.

But today Severus was not there next to her. Today she sat alone in the nearly empty library. She looked around for her friend again, who was supposed to meet her a half hour ago. Instead, she saw Remus Lupin walk in. Once he noticed that she was there, she waved him over. He seemed to hesitate for a moment, then sat next to her with his books in hand.

"Sirius and James are practicing their singing skills at the moment, a bit difficult to focus in the dorm. Are your roommates with you?"

"No, I was supposed to meet Severus but he hasn't shown up yet. Probably just got held up in the common room. Anyways, did you get an invitation to Slughorn's Christmas party?"

"Nope. I think he likes me fine but I'm definitely not one of his favorites, not like you. James got one though, apparently his father was very good at potions." Lily tried to look happy at this news. She may like Remus but she was not particularly fond of his friends, James especially. Remus didn't seem to believe her acting, however. "He's not a total prat, you know. When he's not acting he's actually pretty sweet."

Lily didn't know how to respond. To give James Potter a chance would be to renounce her friendship with the only person who was there for her for years. "And Severus isn't all bad either. I think he's acting too. With his friends, y'know?" Remus nodded and they both started writing on their parchment, neither of them appearing to want to continue on the subject.

After a stretched out silence, Lily finally spoke. "Are you staying for break?"

"Yeah, my dad wanted me home at first but we decided it best that I stay. You?"

"My parents want me back. I don't know though, I didn't leave things very well with my sister."

Remus thought for a moment. "Well, you have to see her at some point. What better time than the holidays? It's a short break in case it doesn't go well. Avoiding people only works for so long." Lily scrunched her eyebrows. "But if you decide to stay, I'll be here." A warm smile appeared on both of their faces and they silently returned to their work.

♡♡♡

The ice cream Slughorn was holding had long since melted, however he had been talking for so long he didn't seem to notice.

"Yes, yes, I knew Hector quite well. I only taught him for a year but I knew he had something special in him. Glad to see he proved me right!"

"Have you ever been wrong?" An older boy with freckles asked sycophantically.

Lily thought she saw a flicker of darkness on Slughorn's face, but that disappeared as soon as it had come. "Ah, there you are Waylen, my boy. This is Waylen Scamander, he is the son of Newt Scamander. If you don't know who that is, he is the author of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. How is your father, Waylen?"

Waylen looked like he'd rather be anywhere else than this party. In all fairness, Lily did not want to be there either. She liked Slughorn a lot, Potions was her favorite class, and she knew she was one of Slughorns favorites despite her not being well-known or famous, but being one of the only muggleborns and being a first year made many of her interactions uncomfortable. The majority of students invited seemed to be NEWT students, or students continuing potions after the required time, and only three out of the four first years that were invited came.

"Isn't that right, Lily?" Lily nodded politely, though about what she did not know. She fidgeted with her strappy emerald dress as she looked around the room.

"Pardon me, I'm just going to try and find Sev." She walked away, hearing the potions master start boasting about her and Severus' skills too.

She made her way through the crowd, spotting some familiar faces such as Frank Longbottom, a Gryffindor a few years older than her, and Slytherin prefect Lucius Malfoy next to his girlfriend Narcissa Black.

She spotted him next to a tall, sunken-eyed wizard. She waved to him and his face seemed to brighten. The wizard looked at her, seeming unimpressed, and excused himself to get a drink.

"Hey, Lily."

"Hey, you liking the party?" Lily asked with a smile.

"S'fine."

They stood in silence for a moment. Lily reached out and grabbed an hors d'oeuvre from a passing waiter, thanking him.

Severus began to say something, but was interrupted by a loud voice from behind her. "Evans! There you are!" She turned to see James Potter, whose hair somehow seemed less tame than usual. He was wearing scarlet dress robes that went nicely with the red and green of the room, including her dress and Severus' dark green robes. "Figured you were coming. I don't know anyone here. Did you see Kneen? He plays for England's quidditch team, he's really good! Supposed to come from a long line of players. What were you saying, Sn-" James looked at Lily, "Snape?"

Severus murmered something, but all Lily could make out were the words dress and eyes. Eyes on the floor, he pushed past James and made his way to the other side of the room.

"Yikes, what's with him?" James said.

"That's not really any of your business," She snapped back. James looked hurt momentarily, but it was possible Lily was seeing things.

"Well, Remus tells me you're going home for the holidays." Lily nodded, but didn't speak. "I am too. So is Peter. Remus and Sirius are staying though. You celebrate Christmas?" Lily nodded again. "Same." A silence fell, which James seemed uncomfortable with. "I'm, erm, I'm gonna go get some ice cream. Happy Christmas, Evans."

"Happy Christmas, James."

♡♡♡

Petunia's face was more sour than the cranberry sauce on her plate. She hadn't spoken more than a few words to Lily since she returned home, despite Lily's efforts to speak with her.

"So Lily, do you like the girls in your dorm?" Lily's mother said. Petunia didn't look happy with the conversation topic.

"We're really close. Other than Severus they're my best friends. Another boy is also my friend, but he's missing a lot. They say he's ill. I hope he doesn't get taken out of school, he's really sweet." Her parents gave short responses, but Petunia seemed even more upset. "Tuney, how are you liking your school?"

"Why do you care? It's nothing compared to your freak school." Lily fought tears from her eyes.

"Petunia!" Their mother scolded.

"You don't mean that, Tuney. I know you don't." Petunia just rolled her eyes and continued to poke at her food.

Lily saw behind her rudeness. She thought back to the letter she had uncovered, how much it must've hurt to find out she couldn't attend Hogwarts.

"I'm full." Petunia got up from her chair and stomped to the front door. Lily watched her sit on the porch swing through the window.

"She'll come around, honey," Her mother said.

"I'll talk to her." Her father got up and followed the path Petunia had taken.

Lily looked down at her food and felt no urge to eat it. She couldn't even bring herself to be upset with her sister, she was truly clueless as to what Petunia wanted from her. She wished for break to just be over now. It'd be less painful.

Petunia came back with a swollen, wet face and a slightly less bitter look on her face.

"School's fine." Lily's hope rose. This may not have been a nice thing to say from the perspective of anyone else? but if you know Petunia, this was her way of showing that she didn't want to argue anymore.

All throughout the two weeks of break she felt like she made some progress with her sister, but she still got a stab of pain every time she thought about how things were before she discovered her magic. It was like the closer she got to the magic world, the farther she became from her sister.

Eventually, the day she would return to Hogwarts arrived. She was both excited to go back and dreading it.

"Mum, I'm all packed!"

Her mother stood in her doorway. "It's just gonna be me and your father today, your sister's not feeling well."

Lily shrunk into herself. "Oh."

"Sorry, Lily." Her mom smiled sympathetically at her and made her way to the front door.

As Lily passed her sister's closed door, she decided to get one more thing from her room. She grabbed a pen and a sheet of paper from her room--she thought using the parchment from Hogwarts would be in poor taste--and scribbled a message: I'll write to you, Tuney.

"Lily! We're waiting for you!" She slid the message under the door and hurried towards her parents' car.

A/N
Thanks for reading! In case you couldn't tell, the main perspectives are James, Lily, Remus, and Sirius. However I will be writing several chapters from the point of views of Peter, Mary, Marlene, and more. They have their own important plots a little bit later in the story. Hope you're liking it so far!