"And I…" lips pressed to hers, blocking off the flow of speech. She looked into amused blue eyes. Cissa was like a whole different person than the girl she'd met in fourth year. She always said it was because of her. Because of Lily. That Lily had brought the sunlight itself into her life. She laughed, she smiled. Like right now, she was beaming. A light blush colored her pale skin, and Lily thought she could block out the sun, she shined so bright it almost hurt to look at. Cissa's joy burned behind her own eyelids as they kissed.

Six months later...

"I…You…" she couldn't speak. The knot in her throat was choking her. Cutting off her air, her words halted. The tears, however, did not. It had been years. Two and a half beautiful years since Lily Evans and Narcissa Black began a clandestine romance.

It changed so fast she didn't see it coming. Didn't think it could ever happen. That if they ran fast enough, laughed loud enough, kissed long enough-They'd outrun fate itself.

She should have known better. Nothing lasts forever.

"A prophecy? I…What kind of prophecy?" the room of requirement kept so many secrets. Their secrets, those before them, it didn't matter. Tonight it would keep heartbreak. It would keep sadness and misery and longing behind its walls, none outside the wiser.

"About James Potter and I. We…We have to…It's…If we don't do this, Cissa, everyone will die. He'll win."

"Do what? I don't understand. You're not making sense, petit fleur." Lily winced. She had to use her nickname right then? The tears started again. She could see Narcissa's panic growing in the dialating of her pupils and the way her chest rose and fell in quicker breaths. She was getting to the right conclusion.

"I can't tell you the specifics. Dumbledore said I can't tell anyone. All you need to know is…I…We can't…We can't do this anymore. I have to become someone else now. So do you. You have to, Cissa. You have to become her, or you'll die, too. So I…I need you to take it back. I need you to forget you ever loved me. Hate me, please. I can't live with myself if you don't hate me. Hurting you is beyond betrayal. I just…I can't put you in danger. By doing nothing, it would be as if I killed you myself. I can't do that, Cissy. I can't." she broke down, pulled at her own hair, biting her knuckles to stifle her sobs. Cissa just sat on the bed, frozen. A statue, for all Lily knew. The only thing that gave her away was the doubled shaking of the bed. When she looked up, she could scarcely believe her eyes. Narcissa Black was crying. Not the pretty crying most Pureblood girls did, but the kind someone did when they were truly hurting. When there was nothing more horrible to imagine then the fact that you had to go on alone. That your memories would be all you ever had. You'd have a last kiss, a goodbye, pass each other in the halls, hear about one another through rumors…But that was all. You'd just be…Something that used to be. A memory.

"I d-d-don't want to forget. I can't go back to being who I was, Lily…I can't. I'm not her anymore. I don't know how to be. Oh gods, please…I'm begging you. Tell them you can't do it. Tell them you're not strong enough. Tell them anything, just please don't leave me."

Narcissa was a Slytherin. Looking out for her own happiness, but right now; Lily could hardly stand the begging. She'd rarely heard her lover beg, and together with the sobbing it was wearing her down.

"Isn't there another way…?" she looked so pathetic, her long fingers brushing her tears away, her lower lip trembling. Lily reached out to brush a tear from her cheek and was rewarded with a stab in the heart when Cissa flinched away from her for the first time since they began this whole thing.

"I'm not sure…I…Cissa, I don't think there is. If there was, Dumbledore would have found it. He would have told us."

"So…What? I go back to Malfoy like nothing ever happened and go you shag James bloody Potter to save the world? Is that it? Fucking hell, Lily! That's not a choice, it's bullocks!" Narcissa shrieked in rage.

Lily almost ruined her own argument by laughing when Narcissa said 'bullocks'. Sirius had a bad influence on her.

"We are going to go see the Headmaster. Right now." Narcissa grabbed her hand and pulled her to her feet.

"What? Why?"

"I won't allow this. I can't let you get taken away from me. There is a way around everything, Prophecy be DAMNED. You're brilliant, beautiful, smart-Too damn smart to be wasted on the likes of that idiot James Potter….Not to mention you're mine."

The possessive tone in Narcissa's voice set Lily to aching with want in an instant.

They made it to the Headmaster's office in record time.

"Enter…Why, Miss Black. Miss Evans…back again?"

"Headmaster, I don't mean any disrespect, but…"

She was cut off by Narcissa.

"Lily can't marry James Potter. There has to be another way. I know you set a lot of store in prophecy, Professor…But you know as well as I do what can be done with a potion. Does this baby have to be Potter's?"

"…No, Miss Black…The prophecy just stated that the son of Lily Evans would be the one to defeat Lord Voldemort…."

"Mm. And it doesn't specify how she is to come about the son?"

"No…" the Headmaster was looking at her curiously, a half-smile and twinkling eyes. He had obviously put two and two together and Lily could feel herself blushing. She groaned, utterly humiliated for the time being.

"Is there a time limit?"

"Yes, the year 1980 is when he should be born."

"So…A few years? I can do that."

"Stop talking about me like I'm not here! Do what?" Lily shrieked.

"Oh, mon petit fleur you'll see. You'll see."

The handfasting of the youngest Black daughter to a Mudblood was not something that Cissa's parents attended. It was, however, the talk of Hogwarts and just about everyone else for weeks to come. A few years later, Narcissa and Lily Evans-Black had Harrison [Harry] Orion Evans-Black the same way that had been intended in that prophecy…Sort of.

And in case you're wondering? He grew up to save the world.

~fin.