Please, for the love of Merlin, make me finish it this time.

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Somebody once said that comedy was tragedy plus time. Lily often thought that if this was true, the universe must be laughing down on all of them.

In growing up, there is a moment. A moment where years pass as quickly as days, days pass as hours, and the daunting realization comes that time is no longer infinite. In the past few weeks, they had been holding their breaths, waiting.

None of them could really remember what they'd been like - who they had really been - before the end of their time at Hogwarts. Lily could not remember what a good night's sleep felt like. Marlene could not remember that last time she enjoyed watching a game of Quidditch. Ambria could not remember the last time she had taken a swig of Firewhiskey, just for the fun of it.

They were different. They could have been considered older, wiser - perhaps even stronger; but that wasn't all that had changed. There was a significant lack of careless freedom in the air, desperation quickly taking its hold. At sixteen, they fancied themselves invincible.

Now, everything was measured by time.

When she saw him disappearing around the corner, she realized what little fraction of time she had left. This was not the first time she had watched him go, and she was sure it would not be the last. But, in that moment, she made a choice.

She rounded the corner after him, her legs moving at such as clumsy (yet determined) speed, that she nearly collided into his back. The boy turned to her, puzzled.

Staring up at him, she realized that in this moment, whatever she said would be set in stone. With a lack of time came a lack of wavering decisions. It was a turning point in history - in her own and in his.

Little did she know it, but it was a turning point in the history of the wizarding world itself.

His name left her lips, breathy but clear. As it did, she remembered that she was not the only one whose actions had the power to shift destinies.

And, for two people who were so terrible at timing, what could happen next terrified them both.