When Lily awoke in her four poster bed she pondered the events of the previous night wondering how a dream could seem so real. From the flirting with James Potter to traveling to the future but none of it had actually happened…right? "I really must have eaten too much treacle tart last night." She rolled out of bed noticing that she was dressed in yesterday's robes. "It couldn't… no. It had to be a dream!"

"Not so sure about that are you now? Check your pocket silly girl."

Deep in her pockets she felt the smooth glass vials tied with a ribbon, the ones given to her by the future professor. Carefully pulling them out Lily examined the shimmering liquids held within the glass, actual proof that last nights little adventure was in fact real.

"In the morning, you will take this one down to breakfast with you. When you are done eating you will approach the head table. When you reach the table go directly to the headmaster, do not make direct eye contact with any one, but do not make it obvious. You will tell Professor Dumbledore and only Dumbledore that you must speak to him urgently concerning Fawkes' disorder. At this point look him directly in the eye and nod."

Suddenly Lily realized she slept later then intended and as is often the reaction when one realizes they have overslept, she began to panic. There was still time for breakfast but not much clearly her morning shower and a fresh set of clothes wold have to be postponed till lunch hour. "Last nights robes will just have to do for now…"

Dashing through the halls with her book bag bouncing wildly against her hip and her hair whipping around as if it were struggling to keep up with her just barely managing to hold on for dear life, Lily made it to the Great Hall red faced and heaving but with time to spare.

Looks like toast will have to do.

Her plan to shove down some toast and a goblet of juice were foiled when a certain Gryffindor boy called her name. "Lily!" James Potter was practically beaming at the sight of her so despite wanting to get everything done with as fast as possible she went and sat in the spot he cleared for her by shoving Sirius over a few inches.

"Good morning boys." She greeted, dropping her bag down and reaching for food. "Are you feeling better this morning, clear head and all?" Inquired James as he passed the strawberry jam to her. "Oh yes very mush so. Nothing like a good ole bit of boring wandering to change things up." Assured Lily with a smile that made his heart beat just a bit faster. "Indeed wandering can be just the trick to fix a cluttered mind." he laughed

As nice as the chatter was Lily could not enjoy it, time was ticking and breakfast would soon be over. She had a mission to complete and James was standing in her way. If James noticed how anxious she was becoming he chose to ignore it or more likely considering that this was after all James Potter, he assumed that all that talking to him was making her nervous. "Just tell him to stuff or take that muffin there and shove it into his gob and make a run for it."

"I was rather surprised to see my cloak on my trunk this morning. Thank you for retuning it so promptly but what I mean to say is that I am not pleased to see that I or rather all four of us slept through someone sneaking in an-"

"I have to speak to the headmaster!" Lily suddenly announced completely cutting off what ever it was James had been rambling on about. Abruptly she stood up, grabbed her bag, and walked off, leaving the boy blinking after her baffled as to what just happened.

Stay nice and calm Lily it is just Dumbledore, no more then an old wizard. No need to fret, do exactly as Snape said. Don't make eye connect, tell him it is an urgent matter concerning Fawkes' disorder, then make eye contact and nod. Nothing life endangering you can do this.

For all the attempts she made to keep calm it couldn't stop her legs from shaking so badly she nearly had to grab onto something as she closed the gap between the row of tables set for the students and the one reserved for the faculty.

"Is something wrong Ms. Evans?" Asked Professor McGonagall noticing the usually well put together student was more disheveled then an unmade bed.

Keeping a steady gaze on the wall behind the table she responded "No Professor I am fine, thank you."

"Professor Dumbledore," Lily hesitated What was it I was supposed to say? I can't remember! "The urgent matter about fawk's disorder you nitwit! For Merlin's sake get it together." Noting that she held the wizard's attention and would look fool if she began babbling "May I speak to you? " She took another steady breath and spoke in a low but steady voice for only him to hear. "It is rather urgent information concerning Fawkes' disorder." Now look him in the eye, yes just like that. Good girl. Don't forget to nod. See quick and painless you silly girl.

If Dumbledore was at all alarmed or confused by her seemingly strange words he made no show of it other then turning to Professor McGonagall and stating that he would be borrowing Lily from her first lesson of the day which just so happened to be Transfiguration and that he was very well aware that it was the first lesson of the term but some things just couldn't wait and he had full confidence that Lily would not fall behind because she's meet with her during office hours to find out what she missed.

Until that morning Lily Evens had never seen the Headmaster's office and found it to be exactly what she expected.

"Do make your self comfortable Ms. Evans." The ancient man invited her in as he took his place behind his desk. Once she settled in the wizard set straight into business leaning slightly forward with his hands clasped together on the desk. "Now I must wonder if this newfound information has anything to do with your little adventure last night? I must agree with Mr. Potter, a good long walk does wonders for clearing one's mind I often find my self wandering about late at night." admitted the professor with a twinkle in his eyes. Ignoring her look of astonishment he continued. "So what was it you wished to talk to me about?"

"Once in the headmaster's office you will tell him… everything. Of the ending of our friendship, your plan, how you acquired the password to Slytherin and the invisibility cloak, ending up here-"

"Um-erm well I suppose you could say it began when I was nine years old. My sister and I went to play in the park and I showed her some magic, I could make flowers dance at my will. My sister proclaimed that I was some sort of freak but then this strange boy who must have seen what was going on, a wizard as it turned out to be declared that I was not a freak but rather a witch. Petunia deemed him unfit for association because of the way he looks but I wanted to know everything I could about this magic I could do and soon he became my best friend." She never told anyone about meeting Severus, it was almost uncomfortable like she was telling someone that she liked to look at dirty magazines late at night. She did NOT look at dirty magazines for the record thank you very much!

" We used to sit on the bank of the river with what ever one of his mother's old school books he managed to get his hands on and he'd tell me about all the stories of magical things his mother told him about when his father wasn't around. We couldn't wait to get here, what could be better then learning magic with your best friend? Nothing that we could think of, other then an endless supply of ice cream but we were only kids."

"Ahh well ice cream is a wonderful thing speaking of sweets would you like a licorice stick?"

"No thank you Sir. He promised me that no matter what houses we were sorted into that we would remain best friends and that me being a muggle born wouldn't matter. I should have known that things change after all he is in Slytherin. It worked for a long time we really were best friends but he isn't the boy I met in the park anymore. Last year during O.W.L.'s our friendship came to an end after he called me a rather nasty name. You see he had been hanging around the wanna be Death Eater kids and I couldn't condone such dark things and finally came the straw that broke the camel's back as they say."

"I don't actually have any friends at home the other children tended to avoid me because of the strange things always happening around me. So this summer was sort of boring for the most part and I decided I would make him change his mind about the whole Death Eater thing. I know its because he wants to show that he's more then Snivly the slime ball with a rotten muggle of the worst sort for a father. He has this idea that it will make him important but its stupid really because he has much more potential then he realizes." Lily felt that all this was rather ridiculous as she highly doubted that such an important man could actually care about her silly friendship drama but Professor Snape said tell him everything and that is what she was doing. Besides Dumbledore look as intrigued as could be but she suspected even if she was telling him about watching grass grow he would act as if it were a fascinating tale.

"I came up with a plan on the train ride last night and I guess this is where everything kinda of picks up. Originally I was just going to go talk some sense into him but things well they didn't go exactly as planed."

"Even the best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry."

Dumbledore chuckled, popping a small bright blue candy into his mouth.

Quite the sweet tooth he's got there!

Lily Evans had never gotten in much trouble during her time at school, rules were made to be followed and that was exactly what she did. Most of the time after all a girl has to have a little fun now and then. There was really a very big difference between skip homework assignment or a lesson and sneaking around after hours to break into another house. Panic was rising with in her.

"I broke an awful lot of rules! I'm so sorry please don't expel me I know it was wrong but I was only trying to help an old friend. Take my badge away give me detention for ever any thing but snapping my wand-" "That won't be necessary, now if you would calmly explain I'm sure everything will be just fine. No one's losing a badge or snapping any wands today Ms. Evans." Interjected the professor with a reassuring smile.

"Right um-okay." Lily mumbled feeling foolish for her out burst. "Alright well like I said my plan was to just go talk to him so during the prefects meeting I stole a peek at the slytherin's pass word. I knew that if I would have any success in getting across the castle undetected that there was only one person who could help me so I sough out James Potter on our way to the great hall. I know it was rather mean of me to do but I played on the fact he fancies me in order to get help from him and then forced him to pretend I caught him doing something wrong to explain why we were late to the feast last night." The night before she was incredibly smug over her ability to manipulate and sneak around but now in the light of day it was sounding rotten of her to use someone else to get what she wanted even if it was harmless. "He didn't do anything though in fact he didn't even actually know what I was sneaking around for!"

Never thought I'd see the day you'd be defending Potter's sorry ass.

Oh no now don't you go blaming me for all this, it was your idea I just helped you along the way. Yes I am very much aware that I am part of your conscious but no one said you had to listen to me so you have no one to blame but your self.

"I assumed as much. Although Mr. Potter is an accomplished trouble maker he typically waits till everything is all settled in before causing chaos. It takes more then a guilty look and a roll of the eyes to fool me."

"I have to warn you this story is about to sound a little crazy but I have proof that it is all real. I have something for you when I am done." She took a deep breath and plunged into her tale. "I headed off in the direction of Slytherin but somehow found my self lost despite knowing exactly how to get to the dungeons. Here's the thing though I didn't make a wrong turn I need up nineteen years into the future! I had no idea until I ran straight into a professor who I didn't recognize. I feel bad for any stunts who ever dare to cross him, nearly died of freight I did. Initially I assumed he was the new D.A.D.A which seemed to offend him for some reason but as it turned out he was the Potions master. After a frightful interrogation I discovered that this Potions master was none other then the very person I was looking for! It was all so strange you know, Severus kept insisting that this was his profession but not his job. A means to an end if you will. He went on about how dark the war will be and how naive everyone is as to how big this will be. It was absolutely crazy!" She figured probably sounded like a raving lunatic,at any moment she's be carted off to the looney bin but Professor Dumbledore listened with the same curiosity one might have when being told the latest gossip.

" Anyway before I came back to talk to Severus,the one who is sixteen, He gave me something to give to you. He told me it could be used to get me out of trouble for what I did last night and the it would help you. I really don't know how it could help your phoenix but he is or will be the potions expert so…" Lily trailed off while fumbling around in her pocket for the vial tied up in red ribbon.

Dumbledore's long thin fingers gently plucked the glass container out of her hand and examined it for a moment before sticking it into his own robes. "Ms. Evens if you wouldn't mind I'd also like to take a look at the other vial with the green ribbon. Quite clever of Professor Snape to color code them but well we both know Severus is exceptionally bright. I'm sure he wouldn't mind, and if would like to view its contents again I'll be glad to let him come take a look."

Reluctantly she handed over the other vial wondering how in the world that he knew of its existence.

"So you don't think I've lost my mind then, Professor?"

Dumbledore laughed. "Heavens no. Hogwarts is an ancient castle full of magic we do not know of. I think even in several lifetimes one would not unlock all the secrets these walls hold. However I do think that you have just enough time to make it to class if you hurry. Good day Ms. Evens, and thank you"

That was easier then expected….