Another fic put up by Stef and Chloe!!! (notice which name comes up first :D ) As usual… nothing belongs to us, everything belongs to someone else (J.K. Rowling) etc. etc. I know it's the same old boring stuff, but if you don't like it, THEN WHY DID YOU READ IT??? Otherwise, enjoy. Please, review!!! Flames are accepted, if they're interesting, and if you don't mind being forwarded loads and loads and loads of junk mail from now on. We're very, very good at revenge. So be warned. Otherwise, relax, read, and review. I'll shut up now, before this gets to be longer than the story. (No I won't. One last thing, if you think this is way too long and should be chaptered, tell us in a review (hint hint hint). NOW, I'll go :D )

Second A/N, over a year after we first wrote and posted the story:  It appears ff.net has screwed up our punctuation, so the fic is reposted, hopefully in a readable format.  It's revised quite a lot (I hope Chloë doesn't mind…) and I've dealt with the issue of Lily's parents being both alive and dead.  Oops.  But anyway, they're… well, I guess you can read to find out.  Chloë and I probably won't be writing anything more for a while, due to the large expanse of ocean between us and both of us having lives.  Anyway, two and a half more years and we'll both be on the same continent again (probably) so if you can wait that long… *grin*   Well, that's enough.  R/R!

Under the Mistletoe

Autumn leaves swirled stubbornly around the Hogwarts grounds. The water of the lake was a dim grey, swirling in little whirlpools where the squid stirred.

Lily Evans shivered. Winter was cold; she was alone, except for a Ravenclaw, two Slytherins, a Hufflepuff, and two Gryffindors. But it counted as alone. She had stayed at Hogwarts instead of going home after the disastrous incident three years ago when she had turned the teacup into a rat. Petunia, her sister, had screamed, her father had tried to shoot it, her mother had fainted, and the rat had escaped, leaving the pink tea set (the best one) minus one teacup.  Petunia still hadn't forgotten, and did not want Lily coming back to the house they shared until the summer; a fact which didn't bother Lily as much as it probably ought to.

She heard a shout, and an answer. Lily wheeled around. She saw someone duelling with a Slytherin sixth year. It was a Gryffindor that had shouted, a first year boy, watching the fight with wide eyes. Lily ran over. The Gryffindor was unsure of what to do, and Lily pushed him aside as she ran up to the two duellers. She, however, did know what to do.

"Petrificus Totalus!" she shouted, directing her wand at both of the boys in turn. Then she moved over to the boys to see who it was she had placed the full body bind on. The boys were Severus Snape and James Potter. Lily wasn't really surprised to see Potter fighting Snape, because he hated the Slytherin. In fact, Lily also hated Snape, maybe even more than she hated James. Lily surveyed the damage to the two boys, both of them showing conflicting emotions through their eyes, their only body parts that her curse didn't affect.

James had green warts sprouting on his face, and his ears were full of onions. Snape looked worse, much worse. Lily sighed. She undid the spell on James first. Before he could even get to his feet, she began lecturing him.

"What do you think you are doing?" she asked. "You are a prefect! You're meant to be setting a good example, not fighting with him!" Lily spat the last word with venom. James glared right back at her as he began counter-arguing.

"And you are not supposed to be supporting Slytherin! What are you, some freak the Sorting Hat missed? And he started it! You would be glad, too, if you knew what he said!"

"What did he say, then?

He ran a hand through his hair, dislodging… carrots?

"Called a couple of you mudbloods," he told her dryly

"And you fought with him over me? I'm touched."

"Touched in the head. Don't be crazy, I just enjoy fighting with him. And it's not like you don't."

She grinned, remembering the incident with the singing Valentine. It had been funny.

"Well? Are you going to free him? He's a Sixth Year too, you know."

She undid the spell, and stifled her giggles. Steam poured from his ears, his nose had become even longer and cabbages tumbled from his ears. When he spoke, slugs and toadstools slithered from his pale lips to the ground.

"I'll get you for that, Potter."

"How original," James told him tartly, "Brought 'Fifty Clichéd Quotes' along with you, then?"

"Shut up."

"Shut up."

"Stop imitating me."

"Stop imitating me."

Lily ran her fingers under her eyes.

"Shut up, both of you, before I turn you both into…fish eggs and feed you to the giant squid."

James grinned evilly, and she wondered why she had mentioned such a diabolical plan to the only boy in the school who was good enough at Transfiguration to actually do it.

Snape glared at both of them, and stormed off. As soon as he'd left, James started arguing with Lily again. He didn't seem to want to do that in front of Snape.

"You're not good enough at Transfiguration to do that, anyway. And you hate Snape just as much as I do."

"But I'm not undignified enough to do fight with him in front of everyone. That's a Gryffindor first year over there, you should be setting a good example, not fighting!"

"A good example? What are you, mad? You actually expect me to ignore Snape? Besides, you're just a goody two-shoes. You wouldn't have the guts to do anything really serious." Lily was absolutely furious.

"Oh, wouldn't I?" Her voice was perfectly calm and controlled as she spoke. That made James worried. "Well, we'll have to see about that. Wingardium Leviosa!" James rose up into the air. Lily moved her wand, and pointed at the top of a tree near the lake. James slowly drifted towards the tree, a look of absolute horror on his face. With a sharp flick of her wrist, Lily freed James from the spell, leaving him in the top of the tree.

"I may not be the best in Transfiguration, James Potter, but I am good at Charms. That was one of the simplest in our first year book. But maybe you already know that?" Lily knew full well that James had never mastered that spell properly. She grinned at him, and walked off. The first year was staring at her like she'd sprouted horns.

James stormed into the Gryffindor common room, looking, as Lily put it, like 'death warmed over'.

"Not really that warm, actually," he quipped, shivering, "Just an everyday thing, you know, fall into the lake-"

"You didn't!"

"Did so. So I fall into the lake, but fortunately I managed to transfigure something into a boat. However, I never learned to row. So I had to wait and be cold and wonder why I didn't learn that stupid charm to make us travel, and then I had an idea, and I did the Accio charm and got my broomstick. But I'm cold. And it's your fault if I-" he sneezed suddenly, "- do that."

"You did not fall into the lake," she told him firmly, following him up the stairs.

"Did so. Please don't follow me into this room, it's off limits."

"I know that," she told him, going into the girls' dormitory.

"And he did not fall into the lake," she told her mirror firmly, "But I will make sure," she flicked her wand at the mirror, "Ripplasio!"

The surface of the mirror rippled, and her reflection disappeared, showing instead a tree with a tall boy in it…

Lily laughed after the mirror had finished. James hadn't been exaggerating. He had sat there staring after her as she walked off and then looked down at the huge tree he was in. He had began to cautiously climb down, but halfway there he had missed his footing, and he fell into the lake. He was floundering in the water, but he pulled out his wand and transfigured a lily pad into a boat. Lily sighed as she watched that. She would never be as good at Transfiguration as James. He then sat there for ages, before he whipped out his wand and muttered what Lily guessed was "Accio Broomstick."

But, according to James's bad performance in charms, it didn't work. Instead, the oars on both sides of the boat went shooting away from him at top speed. She watched in interest as he tried the spell again. All of the leaves on the tree he had been stuck in came shooting at him, and in a moment his boat was overflowing with leaves. James finally got the spell right, but by the time the mirror showed that, Lily was literally rolling around on the floor laughing.

James hadn't told her about that! Oh, she would have fun teasing him about that later on tonight. There was a knock on the door, but before she could reply, James walked in.

"Oh, so your dorm's off limits but mine isn't, is that right?" she asked him.

"Actually, I just came to tell you that dinner is going to be an hour early, starting in ten minutes from now. McGonagall asked me to tell you."

"Oh." Lily replied. Then, very innocently, she added, "You didn't say anything to me about the other affects of your Accio charm." James turned bright red.

"How did you know?" he spluttered.

"Well, charms have their uses, do they not?" Lily grinned, enjoying his discomfort. "I wanted to check your story about falling into the lake." Then, as he still looked embarrassed, she added, "But that was a nice bit of Transfiguration." That last part came out almost wistfully. Lily was just as bad at Transfiguration as James was at Charms.

He ran his hands through his hair and walked out briskly. As he reached the door, he wheeled around and muttered something. Lily's mirror turned into a white rabbit.

"Transfiguration isn't all that useless, either," he told her, grinning, then running out before she could charm his hair pink again.

She glared at him before taking up her hairbrush.

The different houses had all congregated around the single table. The teachers were on it, too, all of them, filling some of the gaps. The Hufflepuffs, Ravenclaws and Gryffindors were all on one side, while Snape and several teachers were on the other. To her annoyance, Lily found herself next to James.

She knew from past experience what could happen being next to James in meals, so she was extremely cautious of what she ate. She waited to serve herself from each platter until someone had already eaten off of it. Halfway through the meal, the other Gryffindor beside her accidentally jogged her elbow, sending her fork clattering to the floor. Lily bent down to pick it up, and used a new charm that she had just learned to clean it. McGonagall smiled approvingly at her. Lily smiled back; it wasn't often she got praise or smiles from McGonagall, as she was the Transfiguration teacher. Lily went back to eating.

She was chewing her turkey when Snape, seated across from her, choked. She looked up at that, and noticed that McGonagall was staring at her strangely. The Hufflepuff looked mortified, and both the first year Gryffindor and Professor Dumbledore had very strange looks on their faces, like they were trying desperately to keep from laughing. Slowly, Lily turned and looked at James.

"Give. Me. A. Mirror," she hissed before awkwardly transfiguring her fork.

Carefully she held it up, trembling. It wasn't the best mirror in the world; her reflection was wobbly and blurred and the mirror kept flipping back to a fork then back to a mirror. Yet she could see, vaguely.

Her red hair, one of the only things she liked about herself, had gone purple, electric purple. Her nose was orange, and, there was no way to ignore it, piggish. Whiskers had sprouted from her cheeks, which were a patchy frog green.

"You. Are. Dead," she told an innocent looking James, "Change it."

"Change what?" he said, chewing his turkey calmly, as if transfiguring the pretty prefect was perfectly natural, "You look perfectly normal to me."

She pulled out her wand violently.

"Temper, temper, Lilium," he said, eating, "Unbefitting for- ow!"

He grabbed his forehead. Lily had cursed him with the 'itching charm'. That meant that his forehead would itch unbearably, but whenever he touched it, he would feel pain.

"Now." Lily said. "Take it off. Before I do something you will really regret." James nodded obediently, and immediately Lily felt her face change. She looked back into the mirror. And then back at James.

"IF YOU DON'T CHANGE ME BACK NORMAL RIGHT THIS INSTANT I WILL MAKE YOUR LIFE A LIVING HELL FROM THIS MOMENT ONWARDS!" she yelled at him. He had left her hair purple, and her face receded to a sickly yellow.

"Alright, alright." He muttered, and changed her face back. Lily looked back into the mirror, and her face appeared to be back to normal. Then, remembering where she was, she glanced at the other people at the table. The other students were studiously looking at their plates. Dumbledore was grinning openly, and the other teachers were also smiling.

"Since this is Christmas, this incident will go unpunished. However, please try to refrain from doing anything…else." Dumbledore said this with complete composure, but there was a glint of humour in his eyes. Both Lily and James nodded, and then Lily rose her fork to her mouth. She stopped just before eating it, however. Smiling slightly, she swapped her plate with James's, and began to eat his food. He glared at her, and then got a new plate, and refilled it with food. The rest of the meal passed uneventfully, until the end. Dumbledore, in his red and green jester's hat, had something to say.

"Now, the teachers and I have been thinking. We have decided that we will have a ball, a masquerade for the students on the Friday of their second week back. All of the details need to be arranged, and I think that this can be left to the two prefects who have decided to stay at Hogwarts for these holidays."

Lily's heart sank about three feet. Damn! She and James were the only prefects at Hogwarts this Christmas. Dumbledore continued, addressing James and Lily,

"I believe that this might also teach you two to get along better. Would you mind showing me your plans for this ball in about a week from now? That is, let me see, next Thursday. Then that gives us three days before lessons start again to decorate the hall and buy everything you will need. I think that all of the students in fourth year and above will come. The school will be prepared to pay up to fifty galleons for whatever you decide will be necessary, but I want to see your planning before I give you the money. That is all."

The two students stared at each other, simmering.


"So, we can get the pumpkin juice from here so we save on less butterbeer, and then we can have more of this-" James jabbed his pen happily against the parchment, "And then we can have more money for decorations. And then-"

"Hold up, hold up," said Lily, staring at the neat rows of figures across the page, "For one thing, you're going too fast. For another, why are you doing it the muggle way?"

He pushed his glasses further along his nose.

"I like doing things this way," he told her sternly, "I can charm parchment, and I have."

She snorted.

"Okay, so I understand this, but why are you being so economical?"

He glared at her.

"Do you realise my calculations give us a reasonable margins for error and account for the market fluctuations?"

She blinked.

"Very practical."

"As always, Lilium."

She looked at the parchment again.

"All right, so I'll fill out the forms and we'll owl them to Dumbledore tonight, because he wanted them today, and he won't get them on time, otherwise."

She filled them in while James did his homework, and they walked to the Owlery. It was cold again, and Lily shivered grimly.

"Cold?"

"No," she snapped, "I just enjoy shivering."

He rolled his eyes and untied his owl, giving the parchment to it. Lily ignored him and went to her owl, Whisper.

"Let's go," he said. Lily nodded, and stroked her owl one last time. She then turned, and followed James down the stairs. It was very cold. She saw James look at her, look back in front of him, and then glance back at her shivering body again. Eventually, he sighed, and stopped walking. He turned to Lily.

"If you're cold, would you like my cloak? I'm not bothered by the temperature." Lily was tempted, but then she remembered that this was James she was talking to.

"No, thank you. I'm sure I'll survive on my own." Still, his intentions were good, so she softened her voice, and smiled at him as she said it. Then, increasing her smile to a grin, she removed her wand, and performed a complex charm, enchanting her cloak to make her completely warm. James rolled his eyes, and muttering about 'show-offs,' he led the way back to Gryffindor tower.

In the common room, Lily settled down with a book, and James sat in an armchair a little way away. After about half an hour, she looked up from her book. James was leaning over a muggle chess-board, and muttering to himself.

"What are you doing, James?" she called out. "Playing chess all by yourself?"

"Actually, I was working on my strategy, although it's really none of your business. I'll bet you don't even know how to play, let alone realise that strategy is needed to win a game of chess."

"I do too know how to play chess! And I'm probably better than you, for all that I don't sit playing against myself in the evenings!"

"The only reason I'm playing by myself is because there is nobody else here that I can play. That is, nobody I can't beat in two seconds."

"Well! I'll have you know that I am quite capable of playing chess, thank you very much. And I think it would do your ego a world of good if I beat you!"

"Go on then. Let's see you try!"

Without a word, Lily put down her book, and moved to the armchair opposite to where James was sitting.

"Do your best."

They set up their pieces, Lily taking white, James taking black. She made it a point of honour to set them up faster than he did.

She moved her pawn two squares, but he moved his knight. So did she. And the game went on.

"Check."

"Check."

"Check."

"Check."

The pieces moved across the board, each time less and less pieces.

James' King swept Lily's Queen aside, and they both looked up from the board. Lily was grateful to see respect in James' eyes.

"Stalemate. We've both got Kings," he told her.  Then, "That means neither of us can win."

"I do know how to play chess, you know."

She charmed the figures into a bag and sent them away with a brisk 'wingardium leviosa'.

"Good night."

He stood up and walked up the stairs. Lily leaned back into her armchair again and picked up her book sleepily.

Then there was the sound of someone running down the stairs, and she saw it was James.

"What's up?" she asked him.

"What? Oh, nothing. Nothing at all." He strode quickly across the room, and sank into an armchair at the other side of the room to her. Lily sighed and picked up her book again. But she couldn't concentrate. What was wrong with James? He was completely silent, and that worried her. And the expression she had seen on his face… 'I hate having a conscience,' she thought as she put her book down again, and walked softly over to James. His face was white, and he was staring at the wall in front of him. Although it was dark in that corner of the room, Lily could see that his face was chalk white, and he was biting his lip hard.

"Are you okay?" she asked James.

"I'm fine."

"No you're not."

"I said I'm fine!" Then James's face lost his blank expression, and he looked down at his knees. Lily stood in silence, unsure of what to do or say. Finally, James looked up at her. "It's Jenny."

There was another heavy silence, dark and ominous. Lily broke it.

"Who's Jenny?"

He was staring straight ahead, staring at the wall like it contained the hidden meaning of the universe.

"She's…"

An owl floated down the stairs, holding a piece of parchment in it's beak. James didn't notice it.

"She's nobody," he ran up the stairs, slamming the door to the boy's dormitory too fast to admit the owl.

"C'mere," Lily told it, "Come on, give me the parchment."

The owl stared at her as if she was crazy.

"Come on, give it to me. Give it to me, please," she added, more sternly.

The owl flew up to her, and she could see it wasn't James' tawny owl. This one was pure white and had bright beady eyes.

It dropped the parchment in her lap.

Lily picked it up.

'Dear Mr James Potter,

The family of the late Jennifer Ambrosia Craft wishes to inform you of her funeral, taking place on Thursday, the 8th of January. You are invited, as well as anyone you wish to accompany you. The funeral will take place at St. Catherine's Church, in the New Forest, at 4 o'clock pm. Please owl Christopher Craft to notify the family of your intentions; whether or not you will be able to attend the funeral.

Sincerely,

M Featherhead

Michael L. Featherhead (lawyer)

Lily still didn't know who Jenny was, but it was pretty obvious that James knew her, and he must have liked her because the state of shock he seemed to be in.  Lily took the letter up to James's dormitory, and knocked softly on the door. There was no answer, so Lily tried the door handle.

The door was unlocked, and she walked in. It was clear which bed was James', as the curtains were drawn around it. She knocked on the bed post and drew the curtains aside.

James wasn't there.

Lily jumped up and rapped sharply on the door leading to the bathrooms. When she opened it, he wasn't there either.

Frantically, the girl looked under every bed, swept aside every curtain, even looked by the window. He was not there.

"James! James!" she shouted, running into the girl's dormitory. She pulled on a coat and put proper shoes on her feet. She then ran out of the corridor.

The hallway was silent, lit with eerie squares of moonlight. She trotted down the corridor, asking any portraits if they had seen James. None had.

She ran faster and faster along the corridors when she heard a voice say,

"Lily!"

Lily turned and saw she was facing… a blank wall? The call came again, but from further away this time.

"Lily..." The voice sounded like James's, so, uncertainly, she followed it. Lily followed the sound of the voice along passages and up stairs. She was heading in the direction of Gryffindor tower. Then she heard footsteps up ahead. Suddenly, Lily felt a cloak being wrapped around her shoulders, and over her head. Before Lily could say anything, a voice was whispering in her ear.

"Ssh. It's McGonagall." By that, Lily became certain that the voice was James. But what was going on? Although she knew she had a cloak wrapped around her, she could still see. Someone's arm was around her shoulder, pinning her to the same person's side. Professor McGonagall came walking down the hall, and passed right by Lily without even looking at her. Lily felt the arm around her and the body at her side propelling her forward, and within two minutes, she was facing the fat lady. The voice called out the password, and the arm was finally removed from Lily's shoulder, taking the cloak with it. Lily stepped through the portrait hole, and she knew that James followed her in. It was definitely James, no one but a Gryffindor knew the password, and the arm that she had been under was too long to be the first-year's. James had a lot of explaining to do.

"What the HELL, James…"

He folded the silvery cloak and placed it on an armchair.

"I really didn't want to talk to you," he said angrily, "I don't need to explain myself to you."

She held up the parchment.

"Who is this Jenny? I know she's dead, but who is she?"

He stared at her and picked up the letter absently.

"I suppose I have to explain," he said, "Jennifer Ambrosia Craft is my sister."

Lily stared at him.

"But the letter…it was so….no way! It was too detached, it was too formal, and her name wasn't Potter!"

"Jen was married. Had a little girl, too. But Helen's dead, and so is Jen, now."

"It doesn't make sense. Nothing makes sense. I don't want to sleep on it, either. Tell me, now."

He sighed. He really, really did not want to go through Jen's death again.

"It all happened when Jen graduated from Hogwarts…Well, she was really clever and got a job at the Ministry of Magic, under the department of Magical Creatures. But she was more into the dangerous creatures, wiping them out, rehabilitation, menageries. She discovered the existence of a creature called the Humaneris…"

Lily gasped. She knew of the Humaneris, knew only too well of what it could do. Lily's parents were both dead, killed by the monster. That was why Lily had stayed at Hogwarts that Christmas, she had no family left. She didn't count Petunia as 'family.' Anyway, Petunia blamed Lily for the death, because her parents had met the creature while taking a portkey back from a meeting with the minister of magic. But that was in the past. She had James to deal with… to apologise to.

"Look, I'm sorry. I know how the Humaneris works; that was how my parents died. I can understand if you don't want to talk about it." Lily stood up to go, but James reached out and pulled her back down, the anger and grief on his face changing to sympathy and sorrow.

"Your parents died by the Humaneris?" Lily nodded numbly. Her parents had died two years ago, but their deaths still hurt. They would always hurt. "I understand. Look, I'm really, really sorry. Do you want to talk about it?"

Her eyes welled up with tears.

"No. No talking. I just don't want to go through it again. Don't tell me anything, don't remind me of anything. Don't tell me what happened to your sister. Don't make me tell you what happened to my parents," she found herself weeping

James stared at her. She was crying. Lily Evans was crying. Well, shouldn't he cry? Didn't he have something to cry about?

Images of Jen flashed through his mind, images of her wedding day, of her holding Helen, images he didn't want to remember. He realised Lily was talking.

"It all happened last summer, during the last weeks, when my parents were asked to come to a meeting with Mr Brownie, the Minister for Magic. They went by Portkey, and went to the meeting and were coming back…me and Petunia were waiting in Florian Fortescue's when we got a message to come over. We went by Portkey, and we were walking towards our parents when…when…" Lily stopped, and took a deep breath, visibly composing herself. "My parents saw us arrive, and they must've been a few hundred metres away. When they saw us, they both broke out into huge grins. We began walking to them, and they began walking to us. And then these people walked over to them. It looked like a teenage boy and girl, I guess about the age we are now. Anyway, they stopped my parents when we, my sister and I, were still quite a long way away.

"My parents said something to them, and they replied. Then this man came running out of the Ministry, screaming at them, his wand in his hand. My parents turned around fast, and while they were looking at the man, the Humaneris… it…it… well…" Lily stopped talking again. She had stopped crying while she talked, and she didn't start again now, although James could tell it took a great deal of effort on her part.

"Why am I telling you all this? I never told anyone this." Lily asked it softly, almost rhetorically.

"You needed to tell someone. You had to go through something similar to what I have just gone through, but worse. I guess… well, I can nearly understand." Both Lily and James sat in silence together, neither speaking or saying a word. After a while, the clock in the common room struck one. It was late.

"I guess we'd better go to bed." Lily said. She and James rose together, and walked to the staircase together. As they reached the section where they parted, James said,

"Lily, could you… would you mind going with me to this… funeral?" They had hated each other before now, and been rivals since they had first met. Each of them was always playing pranks on each other. If James had asked her the same question as much as a day before, she would've sent him to the hospital wing. But now, it seemed natural.

"Of course." She replied. "Goodnight, James."

"'night, Lily."

"Sirius! Remus! Peter! Over here!" James waved frantically to his friends.

Sirius Black sauntered over

"I hear you were stuck with that Hufflepuff, Fudge. But even WORSE-" he paused dramatically, "You were stuck with Lily Evans. HOW did you SURVIVE?"

"It was a true fight between good and evil, Transfiguration and Charms," he quipped, "Hey, did you hear about the masquerade?"

"Great! I'll ask Rochelle Andress!"

"No dates. It's a masquerade, Padfoot. You dance around in a costume and take the last dance with person you enjoyed dancing with most. Then you avoid-slash-desperately-search-for the mistletoe depending on who it is."

"Hope it's not a Slytherin. When is it?"

"Not on the full moon, Moony. On the tenth."

"All right."


Lily smiled at her friend Molly Patrickson.

"Hey, Mol. Did you learn anything about French muggles?"

"They spit," replied the redhead, "In the gutter. The wizards, on the other hand, are fascinating. When's the next Hogwarts trip?"

"I dunno."

"Oh, all right."

They went into the Great Hall.

Inside, the meal was delicious, and when they were finished, Dumbledore stood up.

"Before you go," he said, smiling, "I would like to speak to James Potter and Lily Evans, please."

There was a muted whispering, and the two teenagers stood and picked their way through the throng. Dumbledore escorted them to his office behind a leering gargoyle.

"Now, James," he said, exercising a subtle familiarity in the use of the first names, "I understand you have a funeral to go to on the eighth."

James nodded.

"And I also understand you asked Lily to accompany you?"

"I did, sir." James replied. He had to swallow before he said it, his voice threatened to choke when he thought about Jen's funeral.

"In that case, you may both have the day off school. And James, you have my condolences, and please give them to your family as well. I knew your sister."

James nodded, and both he and Lily left the office. Dumbledore stared thoughtfully after them.

Back in Gryffindor tower, both James and Lily had their friends badgering them.

"What did he want?"

"Why did he want both of you?"

"What did he say?"

"We're organising the masquerade. Dumbledore wanted to speak about that." James lied.

Lily nodded in confirmation. They didn't need their friends' pity, or their horror that James and Lily were going together. Both were famous for hating each other.

The next few days passed quickly, and before they knew it, Wednesday night came. James and Lily hadn't spoken to each other much since that night James found out about Jen.

He was standing beneath the portrait of the Fat Lady, wearing the customary plain black robes. Lily clambered out of the portrait hole, also wearing plain black.

They walked outside, and Lily noted that there was a black broomstick, a Comet Three Twenty Double Seater.

He sat in front, offering a hand to Lily, who got up with no problems. She saw there was a neat map with a red pointer on the front of the handle. The pointer pointed two 'Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry'.

"It's a auto-navigator," James said, pushing the pointer to 'New Forest,' "I don't know the way, myself, so we have to use this. It's quite fast, " he added

It was about ten in the morning, quite cool and shadowy. It was nice, in the clouds, thought Lily. The Comet was awfully smooth, and she lost track of time.

James was simply lost in his thoughts.

His sister had been one of the prettiest girls he had ever seen, with the same characteristic black hair of their family. It was always neat, however. Her eyes had been bright blue, and she had been quite petite and delicate. He remembered-with a stab of pain-how his father used to carefully monitor all of Jen's dates. He saw the same flashes of sweet, desperate memory, the pictures of Jen getting married, of her holding Helen, and one memory that was the most clear he had of her.

She was tending roses in the garden, the muggle way. A call had come for her, concerning a wild Hippogriff, and she was talking to the mirror (speaking spelled mirrors were fashionable then), telling the man precisely how to capture and tame the creature. Suddenly Helen had started bawling, and she had cut the conversation short. The memory of her scooping up her daughter and rocking her made bitterness explode over him. Jen was dead, Helen was dead.

Suddenly the broom stopped, and hovered slightly above the ground. James hopped off and helped Lily disentangle herself from the seat before taking up the broom and shivering.

They had arrived in the middle of the New Forest.  It was bitingly cold, and sky was a dull slate gray.  The perfect atmosphere, James thought bitterly. 

The funeral was one of the saddest places Lily had ever been, with the one exception of her own parents' funeral. Everyone was sombre, serious, and very sad. Although Lily didn't know Jenny personally, she cried at the funeral. The bodies of Jenny and Helen weren't there to be buried, nothing was ever left after a Humaneris had finished with a person. Instead, there was a photograph of both the mother and the daughter. Jen's husband was also there, James's brother in law. When the two met, Frank Craft gripped James's hand wordlessly, and a look was shared between the two, a look full of sorrow and grief. Lily was relieved when the finally mounted the broomstick and began in their way back to Hogwarts, but she didn't regret going to the funeral.

"That was very like my own parents funeral," Lily commented, but James didn't reply. He did seem to be listening, though, so Lily continued.

"My sister thought that it was my fault that our parents died, and she wouldn't talk to me after they did. The funeral was so sad, and the thing I hated most was the people who barely knew my parents coming up and telling me how sorry they were. I know they felt sympathy, but I felt like it was wrong. And then, one of my mother's best friends came up to me, Arabella Figg. She knew what we were going through, and she didn't even say that she was sorry, neither did she sympathise with us. She just sat down next to me, and silently supported me. I stayed with her that night, before I went back to Hogwarts. The last thing she said to me, before I left, was something that made me think. She said,

"'Lily, it's hard. You've lost your parents. I've lost the best friends I ever had. Many of the people at the funeral today lost friends and family the day your parents died. You can't change their deaths, no matter how hard you want to. But you can do something to prevent other innocent people from dying. They would want you to get on with your life. By studying hard, by working for what you want, by experiencing life, you can make them proud of you. And when you graduate, when you leave school, you can make sure your chosen profession is positive. Whether it saves lives directly or indirectly, whether it helps the magical or non-magical community, whatever your job does, if it is positive it will, no matter how indirectly, be helping people. People like your parents.'"

James didn't reply to Lily's speech, and she didn't say any more, but she knew that he had listened. James would recover, just as she had. He would never forget his sister, but with time, and enough support, he would recover.  Just as she had. Lily intended to support him, just as her friends had supported her.

When they arrived back at the Hogwarts grounds, James's hands had stopped trembling. The broom flew off when they got off - it had been rented.

Eyebrows were raised when the two 'enemies' clambered into the common room together. James went straight to his room, however. Sirius followed him, and returned minutes later. He grabbed Lily's arm and half dragged her outside. She barely had time to snatch up her cloak.

"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO TO HIM?" Sirius screeched violently once they were down by the lake, blowing clouds of steam into the air.

"Sirius, calm down."

"Calm down. She tells me to calm down. MY BEST FRIEND IS SITTING IN HIS BED AND HE IS CRYING. AND THAT IS ALL HE IS DOING. AND HE TOLD ME TO GO AWAY. THAT IS NOT NORMAL JAMES BEHAVIOUR."

"I said relax," Lily told him tightly, "Why do I suddenly have something to do with this?"

"You were with him the whole day. You went out together, came back together and you act like you have this secret, like you can hide it that you're going out-"

Lily choked suddenly.

"Excuse me?"

"What? Are you gonna deny it now? Cause it's really obvious, Lily, and if you just-"

She held her hands out.

"Sirius."

"Yes?"

"We. Are. Not. Going. Out."

"Where were you? Why is he crying?"

Lily suddenly ran back to the castle.

"What the-"

"Stop acting like it's a sin to cry, Sirius. Listen, I know what it's about, but it is not my place to tell."

"What?"

Lily ignored him and ran to the common room, running - albeit amid stares - to the boy's dormitory and rapping abruptly on James' bedpost.

"It's me, Lily," she said, "And maybe it's your turn to talk about it."

"I don't want to." The voice was muffled through the curtains. Lily sighed. She turned around, and finding a chair, she pulled it up next to the four-poster, with the curtains still closed. She performed a charm that would've made James go green with envy if he had seen it, by closing and locking the door to the boys dormitory.

"You do have to talk about it sometime, James. Do you know, Sirius is really worried about you? He thinks I've done something to you. I didn't tell him anything, but maybe it's time you did. Look, I know how it feels. It hurts, and it feels like it'll never stop hurting. Eventually, you'll realise that you have to get over it. Maybe it'll only take days for that feeling to go away, maybe it'll take weeks or months. But from what you've told me about Jenny, she sounded happy and full of life. Would she want the Humaneris that ended her life to end yours, too? Think about it."

Lily stood up to go. But then James's curtains finally drew back.

"Wait," he said. He stared at her, running his hands through his hair, "It hurts, you know, but you do know. I mean, when I got the letter-maybe I shouldn't even have been here. Maybe I should have just-maybe it-" he stopped, then started again, "Jenny died while she wasn't even on duty, and that's the thing that hurts. Maybe I wouldn't have minded so much if she had been working, if it had been her duty to die. But nooooo. She happened to die on a picnic with her husband and daughter. He got away," James added coldly and bitterly. His voice softened, "But I don't really blame him. Coming up to them was some person Jen knew from work, and Frank doesn't like him, so he went for a walk. Jen can never - could never - resist talking business."

He smiled at her dreamily, then pointed to a wizard photograph. Lily had seen what Jenny looked like, but she took it up. It was a family photograph, with James, his parents, Jennifer, Helen and Frank. She smiled wanly. The love could be seen in everything, in the smiles, the waves. It was pouring out of the photograph.

James continued speaking,

"He heard her screaming, and ran back, When he came - well, you know how the Humaneris works. It had practically eaten it's way to her heart by then. Frank grabbed his wand and tried to do something. Then Helen screamed, and the monster finished up on my sister and snatched up Helen. And Frank said some Ministry wizards found the Humaneris and killed it, just before it came after him."

He sighed and dropped back to the pillows. Lily undid the charm and went to her own dormitory. She had quite a bit to think about.


"So, what're you dressing up as?" asked Molly cheerfully the next day

"If I know you, you'll be going as a paella," Lily quipped.

"Very funny. How can I prevent myself from dying of laughter?" Lily rolled her eyes. "So, what are you going as?"

"I have no idea. None whatsoever. You?"

"Well… You know, I have no idea either! I was actually hoping you could help me."

"Hmm. Well, we have a week. I'll think it over during Transfiguration today."

"Lily! You can't afford not to pay attention in Transfiguration. McGonagall's already mad enough with you as it is. Remember your last Transfiguration test? You had to redo it!"

"Well, it's not like you're much better!"

"But I can do it, and I pass all the tests! You would too, if you paid attention."

"Thank you for that very interesting lecture on the importance of staying awake in class, Miss Patrickson. Next time, when I want your advice, I'll ask for it!" Molly shrugged. She wasn't mad at Lily, and Lily wasn't mad at her. They both knew that they would go through far bigger arguments than that, that wouldn't break their friendship.

It was Transfiguration, and Lily was deep in thought. Absentmindedly, she flicked her wand at the rat on her table. She had petrified it first, so it wouldn't be able to run away. Many people had, with the exception of James. He had just transfigured his straight away. His Charms wasn't up to petrification. Lily flicked her wand again and again, her mind on the upcoming masquerade. What on earth could she wear? Well, her plain school robes would do, she could charm them to appear a different colour, and even a different shape. As for a mask…

Lily thought's were broken by Professor McGonagall's icy voice.

"Lily Evans! What are you doing?" Lily looked down at her rat. It seemed she had absentmindedly turned it purple as she was thinking over the charms she would need to change her robe colour for the masquerade. She quickly turned it back.

"I'm sorry Professor, I, I, uh…"

"Wasn't paying attention? Well, I think that you really need to, Miss Evans. You're grades are absolutely atrocious. Mr Potter!" James jumped up and picked up his teacup.

"Yes, Professor McGonagall?"

"Mr Potter, could you please teach Miss Evans how to do this?"

He blinked a few times.

"She could do it if she paid attention," he remarked, "I mean, this is Transfiguration, not Charms."

Lily felt like punching him then and there. James grinned suddenly and picked up the frozen purple rat.

"For one thing, you hold your wand differently," he said, demonstrating

Professor McGonagall swept away, to shout at Peter Pettigrew, who had let his rat escape. Peter, Lily remembered, was good at neither Transfiguration nor Charms.

"All right, now hold the image in your mind. Point your wand to the rat. Rat, to teacup. Just see the teacup. Now…"

Lily pointed her wand to the rat, trying to hold the image of the pink tea service into her mind. Rat, into teacup - why oh why was it so much easier to turn things into animals than animals into things?

"Here you go," James handed her a pink teacup with a gold edge. It had whiskers, but it was still one of the best Transfigurations Lily had done in a long time. She charmed the whiskers off and smiled.

"I turned a teacup into a rat at home once," she said cheerily, "But it ran away. So we were minus one teacup. I'm sending this to Petunia. She just loves receiving mail by owl."

James grinned for the second time that lesson, and the second time since Jenny had died. "Now, I'll turn it back into a rat- with whiskers, and you can try the spell again. Without using charms to get rid of the whiskers or to keep the rat still. Here you go." James turned the teacup back into a rat- complete with whiskers intact. Lily pursed her lips and rolled her eyes, and tried to transfigure the rat squirming in James's hands. And she tried. And she tried. And she tried. Eventually, she got it into a sort of deformed teacup, and she brushed sweat out of her eyes. Boy, was that hard!

The teacup was pink, but of varying shades. It was kind of wonky, it bulged out on one side and in on another. The gold trimming around the top was uneven, but Lily couldn't have been prouder. She had done it all by herself, without using any charms at all! All James had done for this second rat was to hold it. She grinned at the whole class, and McGonagall came up to her and James.

"Well, it's an improvement, I suppose." Lily looked up, her grin fading. Improvement? It was the best thing Lily had ever done- without using any charms. James seemed to feel the same way.

"Professor, she did this all on her own, without using any charms. The rat wasn't petrified, in fact, it was squirming all over the place."

"In that case, very well done, Lily. If you actually try that hard from now on, you may come to be nearly as good as James. Five points for each of you."

McGonagall decided not to say anything about James's perfect white teacup. James, wisely, didn't say anything either.


"Where's my mask? Molly, d'you have my mask?"

"No, Catherine has it."

"I do not! That's libel, that is."

"I have it, Tracey. Here it is."

"Who arranged this, anyway?"

"Lily did."

"This is really annoying, having to wear masks, though it sounds like a cool idea."



"Sirius! This isn't a mask!"

"Yeah it is! It's a muggle one my dad got. It doesn't do anything, thought, Muggles are so-"

"Has anyone seen my mask?"

"It's there, Peter."

"Oh, right, thanks."

"It seems like a good idea, although we have no idea who we'll end up dancing with. We could guess, though."

"What if we end up with a Slytherin, though!"



There was a scuffling along the third corridor on the second floor.

"Malfoy! That's absolutely criminal!"

"A bet's a bet, Snape. You know what we agreed on."

"But-"

"No buts. D'you want me to call Crabbe and Goyle and McNair?"

"All right, all right, just give it to me. How did I get into this?"


Preparations for the masquerade were well under way. The first, second, and third years had already eaten in the hall, and it was decorated ready for the ball. James and Lily had been there to oversee the final preparations, but they had left to get ready, and now the hall was deserted. She was getting changed in her dorm, with her friends, listening to their bickering. Lily had a muggle mask, her school robes, and a pair of nice, black, high-heeled shoes. Molly surveyed her with distaste.

"Lily! Don't tell me you're actually going to wear that! The shoes are nice, but those are your school robes. And it's a muggle mask. It's boring. There is no way you're going to wear that!"

"Molly, calm down! By the time I'm finished, these will not look boring. Watch, and be amazed."

Lily concentrated, and, pulling out her wand, performed a complicated charm on the mask. Lily and the Charms teacher, Professor Levitz, had worked for almost an hour to come up with a charm that would make the mask presentable. Lily liked Professor Levitz; she was nice, and very friendly. Of course, Lily being the best Charms student helped a great deal.

The muggle mask was now magic. Lily had decided that her theme for the night would be purple. So, her mask was charmed to change from dark to light purple, and then back again, throughout the night. Lily then waited for her mask, which started out a dark purple, to turn lighter. After five minutes, it was the lightest lavender it would go, and Lily performed the same charm on her robes. Now, the robes and the mask would complement each other. When one was dark, the other should turn light. Lily's hair was loose for once, straight down her back, and the only jewellery she wore was a simple silver chain around her neck, with a tiny silver broomstick on the end. Lily was ready. She placed the mask in front of her face, and it stayed there. There were, after all, some advantages of magic. Lily looked around the dorm. All of the girls were staring at her with open mouths.

"What's wrong?" Lily asked them.

"Nothing, nothing." Molly replied after a minute. "Just, you look really, really good. Let's go."

The ball was about to begin.

James scuffled awkwardly into the ball. He had Transfigured his school robes into informal blue dress robes and he had bought a mask a few years ago. Transfiguring it had been easy.

He stood at the edge of the food table. He saw a few people. One person caught his eye, a witch wearing flashing purple robes. He smiled and went up to her. Her red hair was very straight over her back, and she wore a silver chain. He smiled at her, knowing that it was Lily.

"May I have this dance?" his voice sounded muffled and strange

"Sure!" Lily's voice was high under her purple mask.

He smiled, and held out his arm.



A boy in bright blue robes was talking to her. Lily smiled and played with her hair idly. It was James. No doubt that it was James.

"May I have this dance?"

She smiled beneath her mask.

"Sure!" she said merrily

After the third dance, James excused himself and danced with another girl, just to make Lily think she wasn't fooling him. It would be a great surprise at the last dance.

Lily smiled when James excused himself and danced with some other girls. He had Transfigured his mask and robes well. She accepted the dances of several other boys before James asked her again.

The night wore on. At the end, Dumbledore said,

"This will be the final dance, the unmasking. Will everyone please go to their favourite partners and dance one final time. After the dance, the partners will be unmasked."

James noticed Lily standing alone. He ran over to her.

"Will you be my partner for the last dance?" he asked

She nodded.

"All right, then."

James held Lily close at the last dance. He noticed they were standing under the mistletoe.

The song ended, and people were taking off their masks. James took his off and slid off Lily's.

"You know, I always knew it was you, Li- SNAPE! WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN A DRESS?"

"I uh… well… it was a dare…" He was uncertain. And then he looked up. Into the mistletoe. Whatever colour there was in his face drained out. Oh, S**T. James didn't normally pride himself on his fast thinking. In fact, he wasn't at all fast in thinking up excuses when he got into trouble – his first couple of detentions motivated him to come up with and memorise convenient excuses that he could use when he got in trouble. Avoiding trouble, of course, was simply not an option.  This time, however, James reacted with a speed he had never before thought himself capable of. Before anyone had any idea what was happening, James had transfigured the mistletoe into a rose, and deftly put it into the top button hole of his robes.  There was no way he would be kissing Snape tonight.



Lily was just as shocked. Her dance partner was Malfoy! She thought she had been dancing with James! She had recognised his voice, earlier! But this time, she had asked Malfoy, under the assumption that he was James, to dance. He hadn't spoken, just nodded. Oh, no. What had happened to James, then? She glanced around, and saw him with… oh God. Snape! As she was looking, she saw James look up wildly, and then she saw the mistletoe, too. Oh, poor, poor James. Even when she had disliked him, she wouldn't have made him kiss Snape if she'd had the power to. That was going way too far.

His arm practically a blur, James whipped out his wand, and a rose dropped from the air where the mistletoe was floating. It went into James's top button hole. She saw James look around, and they traded looks. Lily gave a glare so cold to Malfoy that she was surprised he didn't freeze solid on the spot. She hurried over to James.

"Nice," she whispered in his ear, before she began giving Snape the telling off of the century.

Meanwhile, the teachers were all very confused. Severus Snape was wearing a dress, Lily was shouting at him – was Snape wearing one of her dresses?  All of the mistletoe in the vicinity had also apparently disappeared. Lily and James didn't even notice the teachers' confusion; they were too busy shouting at Snape. After about half a minute, Snape lost his composure and fled. Lily took out her own wand, and changed her dress to a cream colour that wouldn't change shades. She didn't need anyone telling her she was dressed the same as Snape. It was then that McGonagall realised what had happened to the mistletoe. That one thing, at least, she could sort out.  She advanced towards James and Lily, who were both talking intensely, about Snape, although she didn't know it. Oh, were those two in trouble!

"WHAT DID YOU DO WITH THE MISTLETOE?" the teacher roared.  "THE DECORATIONS ARE NOT UP THERE FOR YOU TO PULL DOWN!"

Lily winced and James clapped his hands over his ears.

"Nothing, Professor," James pulled out the rose-which was now mistletoe again, from the air, "The charm just wore off," he handed the mistletoe to Lily, who charmed it to make it float once more.

Lily smiled innocently and locked her hands behind her back. James was staring at McGonagall like she was crazy but he was too polite to show it. The teacher snorted

"Hrmmph," she said, walking back to the others teachers.

Lily snickered.

"Should we tell her about Snape?"

He grinned evilly.

"I have a better idea."

He leaned over to whisper in her ear, and a grin spread over her face.

"You're sure? How can you get him there? All right."

James stood in the Slytherin common room. He had tricked the portrait into giving him the password by pretending to have a message for someone inside. Carefully, he spread out the Marauders' Map. Yes, Snape was inside the boy's dorm.

He heard Lily's voice, and he ran in, opening the portrait to admit her. She handed him the object, took out her wand and hissed,

"Accio Snape! Let's just hope he hasn't changed yet."

He hadn't. He was still wearing the flashing purple robes and the red wig, plus, James noticed, some badly applied make-up.

James raised the camera and clicked violently several times. The shutter clicked, and the film whirred. Snape tried to cover his face, but not before James had taken several photographs of him.

"GRYFFINDORS IN THE SLYTHERIN COMMON ROOM!" Snape shouted.

The Gryffindors scrambled out, Lily sending Snape back to his dorm with a returning charm.

Lily and James stood by the lake, Lily still occasionally erupting into giggles. The photographs, which James had sworn Remus could develop overnight, were a good idea.

"Everyone must be back by now."

"Yeah," James replied. He glanced up and laughed shortly, "Look up," he said, pointing

The trees were bare and empty. Only a green vine glistened against the black of the dead boughs. A plant with red berries-

"Mistletoe, Lily," James teased

She laughed and stepped an inch closer. He tilted her head forward-

"MR POTTER! MISS EVANS! WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING?"

Oh no. It was Professor Binns. He was the history of magic teacher. A more boring, fussy, conservative, person couldn't have been found even if they had put an ad in the Daily Prophet. They were in for it. Really in for it. Lily was good at making up excuses quickly for any occasion, and James knew lots of excuses that fitted pretty much any occasion. The trouble was, neither of them had been in this situation before.

"DETENTION, DETENTION, DETENTION! YOU BOTH GET A DETENTION! HOW COULD YOU DO SUCH A THING? IT IS ABSOLUTELY…" but what it was they never heard, because Lily had an idea.

"I'm sorry, Professor Binns. Did you want us for something?"

"OF COURSE! WHAT ON EARTH WERE YOU DOING?" he thundered.

"I'm sorry," Lily replied. "I wasn't aware that we were doing anything outside of the school rules. Could you please enlighten us?" James began to smile slightly. Lily knew how to get around teachers.

"Well… you… under the… but…you shouldn't….fine! But if I see anything, anything happening, and you two involved, well… you should know better. Prefects! Hmph." And with that, still muttering, he left. Lily grinned. They hadn't done anything outside the school rules, or at least, Binns had interrupted them before it got to that stage. Wait… what stage? Had that really nearly happened?

"I think we'd better be getting back." James told her. "It's late. If Binns hadn't been so embarrassed, he could've given us detention just for being out at this time." Lily nodded, and they walked back together.


Lily swung her legs over the edge of the red leather armchair. She was lazily reading on the Saturday afternoon. Most Griffindors were at Hogsmeade, the library, or were wandering the castle grounds. Lily had no homework herself, but had no plans to go to Hogsmeade. It was nice, sitting here on the armchair in a patch of sunlight. She heard whistling, and the portrait swung open. James climbed in, holding an armful of books. Clearly, he had been at the library.

"Oh, hello, Lily," he said, tossing his books on a table, "What're you reading?"

"I'm not really reading, just sitting."

"It's a nice day for sitting. Almost too nice to be indoors. It feels like spring, not winter. Want to go for a walk?"

Lily tossed her book on the chair, standing.

"A walk would be nice."

They left the common room, and by mutual agreement went far from the lake. At once, Lily questioned herself. She liked standing by the lake, liked watching the water. The only reason not to go there was that it was always so crowded. But why would she and James need privacy?

Neither of them stopped or attempted to stop until they had reached a very private place. It was just outside Hagrid's hut, a little to the right, just by a rather large holly bush. Neither from the hut, the main path or the towers could they be seen.

Lily played with her hair nervously.

"So…"

"So…"

James took her hands gently and smiled.

"Not going to Hogsmeade?" she asked.  Damn. Wrong thing to say in a potentially romantic moment. But it had just popped out of her mouth, like she was trying to avoid something.

"No. I prefer to stay here today."

Today. Why? Because today Lily Evans was staying.

"Oh."  She flirted self-consciously with a curl of her hair that was lying over her collarbone.

His hands touched the side of her face, very gently. She looked up - damn he had such nice eyes. What was she, under some psychotic love potion? If someone had told her in November, as late as that, that she would end up not minding James Potter kissing her, she would have recommended St Mungo's Department for the Mentally Insane and sent them to their Injuries ward personally. He kissed her gently then, on the lips.

"There's no mistletoe," he whispered.

She smiled

"I don't mind."

They stood there, the wind, the biting wind, whistling through the holly bush, scattering needles and russet leaves. The afternoon sun blazed red- gold-orange above them, around them.

"Do you want to go to the common room? It's a little cold."

They were sitting on the common room sofa together, in front of the fire. Their friends hadn't yet come back from Hogsmeade, and they just sat there enjoying being together. It was cold outside, but next to each other in front of the fire, it was cosily warm. Lily was sitting with her head on his shoulder, and he had his arm around her. Neither of them were talking, but they didn't need to. Lily felt more comfortable with James than she did even with her friends. They had been through a lot over Christmas; they went from enemies to friends, the best of friends, and if yesterday and today had been any example, they would go on to be more than friends. They had proved that together they could handle anything together, and Lily had a feeling that they would be together for a very long time.