"Happiness can be found even in the darkest of times, when one only remembers to turn on the light."
A story of how Lily and James found happiness in each other and their friends as the wizarding world entered into its first war.
Dark time had fallen upon the wizarding world as a new dark wizard rose to power. Lord Voldemort, as he called himself believed that the population of witches and wizards should only include those with pureblood and all others should be killed. His followers were committing heinous crimes against those who were not considered to be purebloods. Those with less than pureblood such as halfbloods and muggleborns were not worthy enough to use magic.
The Daily Prophet only touched upon the horrors that were happening. Occasionally a short story would make the front page of the news as a mysterious death or disappearance happened. Generally these stories only occurred when the name could be linked to a prominent member of the wizarding society. Most of the deaths and disappearances went unreported. On occasion a story would end up buried deep within the Daily Prophet where it most likely was overlooked and less likely to cause a panic. It was under the minister's direct orders that a panic was not to be started and the Daily Prophet mustn't report anything that was not approved by the ministry regarding any attacks. Minister Almyn Bentham felt that these happenings could be dealt with quietly. Why cause a panic? Minister Bentham believed he had a capable staff of aurors who could eliminate the threat to society and no one would be the wiser.
Many of the aurors tried to reason with the minister to no avail. The head of the auror department was Charlus Potter, a man of approximately sixty years old, with almost completely grey hair and a face which showed his years. He had led the department for years now and had seen his fair share of evil but he had never witnessed a more crazed lunatic. He had been fairly young during Grindewald's time but did remember it but it had never escalated at the rate of this new movement led by Lord Voldemort. Potter insisted that the public be informed of the dangers immediately but the minister would not hear of such a thing.
"Minister, their numbers are growing at an alarming rate and we don't have enough aurors to combat the attacks," Charlus told the minister frantically. "The public must be informed so that they may prepare themselves for possible attacks."
"Nonsense. The aurors are handling the situation just fine. Causing a panic would do nothing to help and people would only be scared of something that most likely will never even affect them. This is a matter that the ministry, and the ministry alone, must deal with."
Charlus Potter thought that the minister must surely be in denial of how horribly wrong things were going. The few death eaters that they had managed to capture all claimed that they had been under the imperius curse and therefore were not responsible for their actions. The ministry could only verify this through the use of Veritaserum which called for too much paperwork and approval and ultimately it was never used.
After a long day at work Charlus made his way home to his family. His only son was about to start his final year at Hogwarts before venturing out into the real world. His son, James, would remain safe while at Hogwarts but Charlus knew that once he graduated that he wanted to fight in this war. It worried Charlus greatly that his son was barely of age and wanted to fight but there was little that Charlus could do to stop him. He was proud of his son for taking a stance against this pureblood mania and wanting to stop it but like any parent he wished that his child would be immune from the dangers of the world. Sirius was like a son to Charlus and his wife although he was not related by blood he may as well have been based on how close they were. After escaping from his family's dark arts obsession and pureblood craze he found refuge at the Potter's. Anyone who saw the interactions of the family would never know that Sirius was not their biological son. The family had only been strengthened by the addition of another son. Charlus had similar worries about Sirius and sometimes he worried a little more about him. After he left the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black, Charlus felt that Sirius may become a target for possible recruitment into the Death Eaters or as a blood traitor. The Potters had been labeled as blood traitors for years. The idea of purity within the magical community was not a new one and had surges of popularity in the past. There was never a violent approach to the matter in the past which was the most concerning part to Charlus. Of course he had heard all of the arguments which never changed his mind. Some of the arguments were absolutely absurd and he always tried to argue that blood purity had no bearing on magical ability or if a couple would have a squib child. It felt hopeless trying to convince someone to change their ways but at least Charlus knew he tried and that he was actively fighting for the light.
As soon as Charlus entered the kitchen he found his two sons and wife. James and Sirius were seated at the island in the kitchen while his wife, Dorea, was preparing supper alongside the house elves. The boys were chatting with Dorea occasionally chiming in. No doubt the topic of conversation was the upcoming school year. James had unexpectedly been chosen as the Head Boy even though he had never been a prefect.
The scarlet red train had just started to pull away from King's Cross Station when Lily was finally settled into the compartment she shared with her three friends. She tied her bright auburn hair up into a ponytail and stared out the window. The train was still going through the urban area but it was slowly growing less and less city like as they headed toward Hogwarts. Lily looked over to her friends, Alice, and Marlene with a worried look.
"Do you think it will get worse? The war, I mean." Lily's voice was quiet as she uttered the questions. She already knew the answer to her question. This was only the beginning. This new purist group had started a couple years ago. She read about the small things they had done in the Daily Prophet. A muggle tortured, a muggleborn who suddenly went missing. Time passed between the incidents and it seemed like it was almost random, not the work of a group. This group grew in number though and they became more organized. They had a leader and an objective. The time in between the killings and disappearances were becoming increasingly shorter and the number of people that were killed was astounding to Lily.
"I don't think that this is anything compared to what they want to do," Alice started. "I overheard mum talking to her friend and she thinks things are going to get worse. Much worse. Mrs. Potter came over a couple weeks ago and she said that the Daily Prophet wasn't even reporting all of the disappearances anymore. They don't want to cause a panic." Her voice shook over some parts but she clearly grew angrier as she went on.
Alice was a pureblood and was surrounded by witches and wizards during the summer. Her mother often had her friends over for tea or dinner. Alice regularly heard tidbits of information pertaining to current events and of course gossip.
"I haven't told my parents yet," Lily confided in her friends.
"What do you mean you haven't told them? We're on the verge of a war, Lily! This is our last year at Hogwarts and after this we are all going to be out there in the real. You won't be able to keep it a secret much longer. The muggle papers are bound to start reporting attacks and anything odd. Don't you think your parents deserve to know that their youngest daughter is in danger?" Alice's blue eyes flashed with a rare showing of anger and she flipped her hair so that it fell behind her. Even though Alice was petite she could be quite scary.
"This isn't what it was like last year. Its worse, Lily. What Alice said doesn't even cover it from what I've heard. My dad is out in the field constantly now. I can't remember him ever being out so much. The ministry doesn't have this under control and this group is just getting started." Marlene was opinionated and loud, especially around her friends and most of all she was protective of her friends and family.
Lily knew that hiding it from her parents was wrong but she thought that her parents wouldn't have understood. They would have kept her home and try to convince her to get a muggle job and eventually marry someone from the muggle world.
She as a muggleborn was a target. Not only was she a muggleborn but she was also Head Girl this year. "Merlin! I need to go to talk to the prefects. I'll be back in a bit." Lily hurried to the compartment and as she was walking it dawned on her that the Head Boy to her Head Girl was James Potter. She was not thrilled at the idea of working with him however she was in a somber and serious mood and decided to put aside her negative feelings toward him so they could get this meeting over with. She had been attending the prefect meetings since she became one when she was a fifth year. They were brief and to the point, prefects needed to occasionally patrol the train and to tell them they would have another meeting to discuss patrol schedules at the end of the week with Professor McGonagall.
She walked into the compartment with a couple minutes to spare. The meeting would begin shortly, as soon as the rest of the prefects had arrived. She noticed that James had gotten there before her. He looked up at her and said, "Hullo, Lily." His attitude was quite serious and lacked the usual spark that he always seemed to have. "I don't really know what to say to them. I never had to come to these meetings."
Lily was slightly shocked at the modesty that James had shown but attributed it to the affect the upcoming war seemed to be having on everyone. It seemed like the war was sucking the life out everyone. "We just need to let them know that they are required to patrol occasionally until we get to Hogwarts and that we'll have another meeting to go over the patrol schedules probably in a week."
"Well that seems easy enough." A small smile appeared on his face.
The meeting was over quickly and Lily went back to her compartment. The girls gossiped idly until suddenly four young men were in there with them. James had entered with his best friends Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettrigrew.
"Sorry, ladies. We'll be out of here in just a moment," Sirius said charmingly. "Oh, are those Bertie Bott's?" He reached for the box and examined the contents trying to decide which bean to try first. He picked one that was oddly colored. It was a tan color with a light orange tint. He popped it into his mouth and made a face. "That was disgusting."
Alice asked him what flavor he had picked. Sirius thought carefully before responding, "I honestly have no idea." The compartment chuckled a bit.
"So who are you guys hiding from?" Marlene asked bluntly. At this point the girls had learned that asking was not always the best idea. Generally, it was better to be left in blissful ignorance.
"Oh, you know. Just some people," James spoke this time. By now the boys had sat down in the compartment and had made themselves quite at home.
"You do realize that your Head Boy now, Potter? This is more than just getting a couple detentions and laughing it off you could get your badge taken away. How would that look?" Lily had snapped out of her mood and was scolding Potter for the first time that year. It was almost a record for how long she had lasted before criticizing him. Her emerald eyes darkened as she glared at him until he looked down feeling slightly guilty.
The boys had stayed with the girls for the rest of the train ride. Thankfully, whoever they were hiding from had either given up or never found them. For the most part Alice and Marlene were good friends with James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter. The only exception was the occasional fighting between Marlene and Sirius. They were far too similar for their own goods and they often clashed over it. Alice however was great friends with all of the boys and enjoyed their company.
Marlene was similar to Lily as well which occasionally caused tension in their foursome. Lily could be very opinionated, loud, and sarcastic at times. She was one of the few people who was willing to argue a point with Marlene until she was blue in the face. Like Lily, Marlene was also incredibly stubborn. She had the bad habit of sometimes offending others. Mar, as her friends often called her and she was gorgeous. There was no other way to describe her beauty. She had boys constantly following her around hoping that they might be one of her conquests. They loved her long flowing dark hair, chestnut eyes, and perfect complexion. In many ways she was the male version of Sirius. They both had dark features and were quite promiscuous.
Alice on the other hand was a bit plainer than her friends. She was pretty in her own right. Her hair was a medium brown which fell to her shoulders with a round face. She had been seeing her boyfriend Frank for almost two years now. Unfortunately for her, he had graduated last spring and she was still at Hogwarts for one more year.
The train ride seemed to have flown by for all of the friends. They were suddenly at Hogwarts, arriving there for the last time. After riding the carriages up they were seated at the Gryffindor table waiting for the new first years to be sorted. They all seemed to blur together to Lily. When she heard the Sorting Hat declare a person had been sorted into Gryffindor she automatically clapped along with the rest of her house.
Her friends were chatting amongst themselves and occasionally Lily would give a curt answer or nod as if she were fully listening. This year felt different to her. Something was off and she could not seem to put her finger on it. Marlene and Alice didn't seem to notice anything. While they had acknowledged the dangers going on in the wizarding world it didn't seem to affect them like it was affecting Lily. Both of them however are purebloods, she thought. Their blood alone made them less of a target. That is it, Lily realized. She felt as though she had suddenly become a target. She had always been called a mudblood by certain people in Slytherin, even once by Severus who she once thought of as her best friend. It had never bothered her before. She was always able to brush it off and move forward. Now that it was Lily's last year it was different. While those who called her names would never hold power over her because they were at Hogwarts where she was safe, once she entered the real world in less than a year that protection was gone. The war was suddenly all too real.
She found herself in almost a trance like state throughout dinner. The night seemed to have flown by. It seemed like just an hour ago she was still on the platform and now she was at the feast and about to start her seventh and final year at Hogwarts. The feast ended and Lily noticed that Professor McGonagall was walking toward the Gryffindor table.
"I wanted to congratulate both of you on your Head positions. The positions come with many responsibilities but it also has its privileges. As you both may know the Head Dormitory is one of those. If you will follow me I will show you where you can access it from. I will show you how to enter only once so please listen carefully." She looked at both of them sternly. "This dormitory is a privilege which can be taken away at any time should either of you misuse it."
James and Lily followed McGonagall down a corridor near the Gryffindor tower. They approached a portrait of an elderly looking wizard sitting behind a desk in what seemed to be a classroom. He had white hair and spectacles perched on his nose and he seemed to be engrossed in a very interesting book.
"Hello, Professor Clearing, these are the new Head students, Lily Evans and James Potter."
"My, is it that time of year all ready?" Professor Clearing asked. He pushed his glasses up higher on the bridge of his nose. "Well then, congratulations to you Miss Evans and Mr. Potter."
Professor McGonagall turned to the Head students and said, "The password is tenet lucis. I trust you will find everything in the room satisfactory. I will see you in class tomorrow." She turned and walked away.
"Tenet lucis," James said to the portrait. Suddenly the portrait opened to a large common room. It wasn't nearly as big as the Gryffindor common room but it was big for just two people. "I wonder what tenet lucis means?" James asked almost to himself.
"It means light will prevail," she answered quietly as she continued to look around the room.
"Well I guess that's appropriate with all that's going on."
The common room had two small sofas and an armchair situated in front of the lit fire place and it was decorated much like the Gryffindor common room in deep reds and golds. A table was situated near the large window and next to it was a quite comfy looking chair that faced the window which looked out over the grounds.
Upstairs Lily and James found their individual rooms, which too were decorated with red and gold. The beds were slightly larger and there was more storage than the normal dormitory. Lily noticed a door on the wall next to her. She opened it to find a private bathroom. Being Head Girl was definitely worth it just for the privacy she would get in this room.
It was getting late and Lily got ready to go to bed. It had been a long day and her new bed was incredibly comfortable. Unfortunately, no matter how comfortable her new bed seemed to be, Lily could not fall asleep. Her thoughts kept going and she couldn't seem to put a stop to all of the horrible things going through her mind. She had been watching the news with her parents while she was at home for the summer. She had noticed that some stories seemed strange. They never made sense. How could a brand new bridge collapse? How was it possible that there were three explosions due to faulty gas lines three days in a row? What about that mysterious car crash down near Bath? The disappearances? Could those all have been caused by the war? Those things didn't just happen in the muggle world. Maybe one or two of the incidents may have been true but they couldn't all have been. Lily worried about her parents. The worry only seemed to overwhelm her.
How would she be able to protect them? Death Eaters seemed to be attacking everywhere. There was a possibility that somehow they might end up in the middle of it. Maybe even Petunia and her god awful boyfriend. She would always hate Vernon Dursley and how narrow minded and arrogant he was but she would never wish him ill. All of these thoughts only seemed to make her anxious and she didn't know what to do. She got out of bed and put on a light sweater. She had brought a couple of muggle novels from home and she hoped that if she read for a while she would be able to fall asleep.
Her bedroom didn't seem as inviting as the chair overlooking the window in the common room did. In her oversized sweater she made her way down to the common room to read the novel she had just begun. Over the past few years she had developed a liking to Jane Austen novels. She had just begun for the second time, Persuasion. It was the story of a woman who had found love but at the wrong time. Years later she is reunited with the man she once loved who still loves her. Now that he had proved himself worthy according to her family they were once again able to fall in love. The idea that a man could not marry a woman because he had not yet proved himself was dated but Lily loved the idea that even after many years apart they still loved each other. She was a romantic and loved to read books, especially those from the same time period as Jane Austen.
Lily had lost herself in the novel. The lives of Anne Elliot and Frederick Wentworth had consumed her and she had forgotten her own worries. The noise of a door opening distracted her from the book. She looked up to see a very tired looking James coming out of his room.
"Is everything alright?" Lily inquired.
"Couldn't fall asleep. I think I am going to head down to the kitchens for some tea. Would you like to come?" James had extended the offering thinking that it would be rejected. When it came to Lily he never expected her to accept any of his invitations whether it be to go on a date or just now when he asked her to join him for some tea.
"Sure." Lily was tired and thought that a cup of tea would help get her to fall asleep. She had lost track of time when she had come down here. "What time is it?"
"Nearly midnight." James was slightly in shock that she had agreed to accompany him to the kitchens.
"Merlin! I didn't realize how long I had been down here reading. Come on let's get going. I would like to be somewhat rested for tomorrow."
They left the common room and fell into a slightly awkward silence. James didn't know what to say. He wracked his brain for something to say. He had liked Lily for so long and this was really the first time they had ever spent any sort of time together without the presence of their friends. He had imagined almost every type of scenario that could happen and how Lily would finally fall for him. He always had the perfect line and knew exactly what to say. Now that he was faced with the reality of being alone with her he was lost.
The only thing that he could think of that came to his mind was the fact that she had said she was reading before he had come into the common room. "What were you reading?"
"Persuasion by Jane Austen. She was a muggle author," Lily answered.
"Oh, is it any good?" Once again James didn't know what to talk about and was trying as hard as he could to keep the conversation going. He just wanted her to talk.
"It's a really good book. It's one of my favorites, actually. I've read it before. It is about this woman, Anne, who is in love with Wentworth but her family disapproved because he was poor and didn't have any connections. Eight years later they meet again, this time he is a captain and he is wealthy. He is considered a very eligible bachelor. The rest of the book is them falling in love again. They were just two people who fell in love at the wrong time and had to wait so that they could finally be together."
James answered with a simple, "oh." They walked on in silence for a little bit longer. They finally reached the kitchen and they sat down to have their tea. The house elves hurried along as they prepared some tea and put a few biscuits on the table for the pair.
"Why couldn't you sleep?" Lily asked James.
"A lot on my mind, I guess. The war in getting worse by the day and I am worried about my father and everyone else who is affected." He didn't want to specify her. He constantly worried about her safety which was only intensified by what he heard from his father. "It's our last year here and it is scary to think that we'll be out in that next year."
"I haven't told my parents yet," Lily confided. She had only told Marlene and Alice about her decision to keep her parents in the dark regarding the war that has just started.
"What do you mean you haven't told your parents? What haven't you told them?" James was confused. She couldn't possibly mean that they had no idea that their daughter was about to be in the middle of a war and could very possibly get hurt or even killed just because she was a muggleborn.
"They don't know anything. The war. The murders. Nothing. I haven't told them about anything. I didn't want to worry them at first and then I just couldn't bring myself to tell them. I don't think they would have let me come back if they had known how bad it was. If I told them then I wouldn't be here right now. They would have found a way to keep me home and away from anything dangerous," revealed Lily.
"I'm sure they would have let you come back. They would be worried about you but they would have had to have let you come back."
"No. They aren't like that. They don't understand this world at all. My sister hates it. She calls me a freak and keeps asking when I will finally come to my senses and stop being a witch, as if I could just stop being a witch just like that. My parents were thrilled when I got my letter but since then we have just grown apart. I am away for so long and then to come home after living with magic here we have just grown distant. I think if I told them then they would have used it as an excuse to keep me away. I couldn't bear the thought of not coming back so I just didn't tell them."
All that James could think to say was, "I'm sorry." While the information that Lily had confided in him had been personal and not of a positive nature he was beyond happy that she had talked to him. It gave him hope that they may actually become friends. He didn't want to get his hopes up but he hoped that things between them would eventually go toward dating. He had never been able to picture another girl romantically. He had tried dating but every girl was compared to Lily. They were never enough in his eyes and he didn't want to string along a girl that he knew he could never love. No matter how many times Lily had turned him down he still held out hope that one day there would be something between them.
They walked in silence as they made their way back to the Head Dormitory. As they made their way into their dormitory and toward their respective rooms they bid each other goodnight. Lily entered her room and placed her sweater on the top of her trunk. She made her way back into bed. It was nearly one in the morning now and she needed to fall asleep soon if she wanted to be somewhat coherent in her classes tomorrow, it was after all the first day of classed for her seventh year and the year that she was set to take her NEWTS.
Her eyes were heavy with sleep but her thoughts had found a new subject to investigate. This subject was James Potter. She had noticed the change in him and their outing tonight had been an indicator of his newly found maturity. Only once on the train had she seen a glimpse of the old James, the immature and irresponsible James. Tonight she had seen a side of him that she had never seen before and it was something that she could get used to. Sleep came much easier to her now and she was soon sound asleep.
As Lily drifted off thinking about James, James was in his room overanalyzing the trip to the kitchens he had just taken with Lily. He couldn't believe his luck. She was Head Girl to his Head Boy, she had agreed to have tea with him and she had even confided in him about her personal life. James couldn't wipe the smile off of his face. He couldn't stop thinking about her. He wished that he was able to go back to the Gryffindor Tower so that he could talk to the rest of the Marauders about what had just happened. If he weren't so tired he would have snuck out of bed again to go but instead he fell into a blissful sleep with a lovely redhead on his mind.
A/N: Just a little project I've decided to start. I am rewriting another story I had started but deleted. Let me know what you think.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything.