Lily had taken to studying in the Weasley living room, which was a risky decision on her part for one main reason. There are many distractions around as the house was quite colorful—something she adored.

She thought of a future with James as they moved past this dark time. That did not include beige walls—that's far too boring—maybe blue or purple walls would do. The house would be fun with the kind of character you don't get from plain walls.

Charlie was also somewhat of a distraction. Bill had taken to drawing more often, which he insisted was an activity he would do all by himself. This left Charlie with a few people to bother.

Molly or Arthur? This would surely not end well since his parents were always busy with some type of work.

Percy? Seeing as the kid wasn't even two yet, that would not be in the slightest bit entertaining.

The twins? They weren't even a month old and being far from doing anything remotely cool, they would not satisfy Charlie's need for fun.

Lily was the perfect candidate. She was capable of being entertaining and his mum trusted her.

"Whatcha readin?" Charlie sat down on the couch next to her.

"My transfiguration textbook, I'm studying for NEWTS," Lily replied dutifully.

"Do ya want to make a cake?" Charlie asked, bringing out his adorable puppy dog eyes.

"How do you plan on getting permission from your mum?" She raised a single eyebrow.

"I'll tell her you're sad and you miss your friends and a cake will cheer you up," Charlie responded grinning cheekily.

"Well, that's not technically a lie and I do love a good cake."

...

Moody did not even begin to express what the group of seventh-year Gryffindors looked like. They had received no more information about Lily's whereabouts and it seemed as though they were never going to.

So, there they sat brooding in the common room. No amount of confidence would have gotten one to walk up to them and ask what was going on. No amount of confidence except Annie's.

She made eye contact with Julia, who was having Mary take out the rest of her braids. Annie sat down right beside her and turned to look at James. He sat, completely defeated, and without his usual grin.

"So, what's really going on? The Daily Prophet-"

One mention of the faulty newspaper and James was out the portrait door. He even slammed it on his way out—which was not appreciated by The Fat Lady. Sirius sighed and followed him out.

"It's a bit of a sore subject, so you might want to be careful, Annie," Remus explained gently.

"We don't really have all that much information except that Lily's at a safe place that's not Hogwarts," Jules smiled weakly at her.

Annie immediately felt guilty for being insensitive and went to chase after Sirius and James. It turned out that she needn't go very far as the two boys hadn't either. She found them sitting on the floor cross-legged outside of the portrait. James looked up at her arrival.

"I'm sorry for storming out like that, love," James looked with apologetic eyes.

She softly smiled and shared the apologetic look in her hazel eyes.

"It's gonna be okay, Jay, I promise."

...

Neither of them knew their way through the kitchen, which meant after making the chocolate cake, the kitchen looked disastrous. Molly didn't mind though because as she flicked her wand once, the kitchen started to clean itself.

Charlie and Lily sat at the kitchen table giggling like children at the former's attempt of icing a dragon on the cake. The sight was heartwarming in the times of war.

"It looks like it's trying to bite off it's own leg!" Charlie near squealed in delight.

"I think it looks more like a chihuahua."

They both shared a questionable look before dissolving into another round of laughter that no one could hear over.

...

Holding a prefect meeting without Lily was like trying to round up cattle without cattle dogs. To be put quite frankly, it was not easy and James was not having any fun. People kept asking about Lily, which increased his horrible mood. He called it off about fifteen minutes later with an exhaustible sigh.

Groaning slightly, he sat down on the floor—despite there being a number of chairs around the room. His awaited silence was unbearably broken as someone walked into the room audibly.

"Go away," James said moodily with his eyes still closed.

"Well, if you want to tell Doodledorf that, fine by me, but he wants to see you," an American voice spoke amusedly.

James's eyes snapped open. He had been waiting for something like this as it meant the headmaster would give him more information that he desperately wanted.

"Thank! You! Craig! Say hi to Regulus for me!" James shouted at the boy on his way out the door.

Running up to the headmaster's office wasn't that difficult when you had been doing it for a considerable amount of years. James flew up the stairs in no time, making his anticipation increase as the office door was flung open.

"Mr Potter, please sit," Dumbles said in a glossy manner.

"When will she come back?" James responded, not bothering to sit down.

"We have set up for Miss Evans to take her NEWTS from the Order Safe House. In order to keep her safe, we think it's best to keep her there until after Hogwarts graduation."

"Who are you keeping her safe from? Death eaters? Wouldn't you say that if you can't keep her safe at Hogwarts, then this place has poor security?" James challenged.

"Are you challenging multiple awarded aurors' opinions on the matter, Mr Potter?" Dumbledore countered.

"If that's what you choose to call it, then yes, I am," James spoke hot and rashly.

"I can assure you that Hogwarts is one of the most secure places in the entire wizarding world, so it is not of a security issue. It's in her better interest she stays there until graduation."

"Good luck trying to keep her there for over an entire month," James responded before leaving the office.

...

The kids were in bed. The moon was shining. Every being was content, except Lily. This seemed to be a frequent headline as of right now considering what had happened. Yet, she spent another night fretting over her nagging thoughts.

Molly was currently trying her very best to teach Lily how to knit, but she was finding out quickly that the girl was just not made for it. Instead, she turned to conversation, which appeared to turn quite depressing rather quickly as well.

"Is there anything you need, dear?" Molly asked meaning food from the kitchen, not therapy.

"You know, with my mum gone—since my dad died in my fifth-year—that makes me an orphan," Lily spoke in a monotonous voice.

"You will find family lies wherever you are willing to find it," she answered wisely.

...

Slughorn found himself rather lucky that the student he was looking for was traipsing around the halls. However, who he found in company with him was quite the surprise—to him at least.

Craig found himself walking down the corridors beside Regulus, who was being eerily quiet that night like something was disturbing him. The scene itself was familiar to the boy as the moonlight shone on his shoes and there was a light rustle of the leaves on the trees as the wind brushed past outside.

"Potter says hi," Craig spoke with an amused grin.

"Golly gee, isn't that wonderful?" He responded, not sharing the grin.

They walked a few more steps down the corridor, dissolved into comfortable silence before turning to a new, much more serious topic.

"Do you think Evans is all right?" Regulus asked with worry strewn across his features.

Craig had put a lot of thought into the situation surrounding Lily Evans over the course of a few days since the Daily Prophet article came out with little information on it. He had been told by his aunt that the newspaper was being dictated by the ministry and he should take their words with a grain of salt. He wasn't sure how she knew this because she was a muggle, but it hadn't really mattered all that much at the time.

"I think that Doodles will make sure she's alright if she isn't right now."

Regulus didn't get to bring up what was making him quite anxious right away because one of his favorite teachers graced them with his presence. (Regulus also secretly liked McGonagall because of how many times she had publicly roasted Sirius.)

"Craig! Regulus, my boy!" Slugesnort spoke stridently, it appeared that he had been in access to some alcohol.

"Hello, professor!" They shared a discreet look of amusement.

"I wanted to inform you, Craig, that you need to brew amortentia before the final exams! There will be some questions on there regarding the smell. See me after the next class."

After polite pleasantries, the professor was on his way, presumably to go find some more alcohol to down into his system.

"My parents don't want me to return back to Hogwarts," Regulus said quite bluntly.

It didn't take Regulus by surprise that his parents wanted him to abandon his education for Voldemort's cause. Frankly, he was expecting it, but it made him freeze in place. Why did he not want to become a death eater?

As a Black, it was his duty to fulfill this wish of his parents. It was as if he was being pulled apart. One side was Bella and Cissy telling him that he should be honoured he was even being given the chance and on the other, he received pictures of Andromeda's baby girl and Sirius looking at him with pleading eyes.

"Do you want to return to Hogwarts next year?" Craig posed a difficult question.

"Yes, but it's not that easy," he replied hesitantly.

They had never really broached the topic of Regulus's family—excluding conversations about Sirius, of course—because it was a sensitive topic. Craig wasn't sure how much Reg actually wanted to talk about it, since he wasn't a particularly open guy, but he tried his luck.

"You need to live for you, Reg, and no one else."

"You say that like returning to Hogwarts won't get me blasted off the family tree. I've put off becoming a death eater for too long for them to handle and that would be the final straw," Regulus spoke in an emotional manner.

"What would you be losing if you get blasted off the tree?" Craig asked albeit a little worried he had escalated the conversation too far.

"Let's see... My parents, Kreacher, Cissy! I would say Bella too, but she's too far gone at this point..."

"You're going to be just like her if you go through with this! But, you will have Sirius, and the rest of the Potters would probably love you! And you would have me!"

They both were a bit surprised at Craig's words as he wasn't sure he was supposed to say that or feel the way he did. It was an unknown barrier they had had yet to cross, but crossing wasn't so bad. What if they broke more barriers?

"What are you going to do, Craig? How are you going to help me?" Reg responded, brushing off the wave of emotion that had hit him.

"You could move in with me if you wanted, until you had a space of your own, of course," he spoke quietly.

"Doesn't your aunt live there with you?" Regulus asked, not liking the way his suggestion made him feel.

"Only until after I graduate, then she's going to move back to Maryland," Craig explained.

"I might just take you up on that offer then," Reg smiled softly.

"Groovy."

...

Author's Note:

If you didn't already figure this out, Doodles is another nickname for Dumbledore!

There are four actual chapters left in this book before I start writing the sequel!

Lmao anyways thanks for reading
-teddy🍂

emoji courtesy of Galaxyblackbird