"Lily…"

"Yes?"

James breathed deeply and clutched his hands together. How hard could it be? He just had to say it, just out with it! "I…"

Lily eyes wandered from her book to him, curiosity clear in her deep green eyes. She waited. This was ridiculous! He was going to marry her, for crying out loud. He had to tell her, he knew Padfoot was right when he said so, but still… Did she really need to know? She'd been fine not knowing this far, had she not? James knew he would have told her ages ago if he hadn't feared what she was going to say.

"James?"

"You see, there's this thing…" She nodded patiently. "That I've been meaning to tell you for some time now… A few years actually…"

"Oh? What is it?"

"It's about the Marauders. You see, in second grade, around Halloween when we –"

Lily put up her hands and laughed. "You don't have to apologize for that, James, I've forgotten and forgiven."

"What?"

She didn't know, did she? It was the only thing he'd been hesitant to tell her about him, and he'd thought she would never figure it out on her own.

"That Halloween when you lot put Dr. Filibuster's Fabulous Wet-Start, No Heat Fireworks inside all of the pumpkins and one of them just 'happened' to explode when I was standing less than a foot from it? I smelled pumpkin for a week, I'm telling you."

To James' surprise she chuckled at the memory. "Oh, that's… er… that's great Lils."

Lily looked suspicious at the sound of something else in his voice. James ran his fingers through his already messy hair and absentmindedly tapped his foot against the floor. His gaze glided past Lily's narrowed eyes and out the window. He was hiding something.

"Spill the beans Potter."

James looked back at her at the sound of his surname coming from her lips. "Fine, Evans." He took the deep breath. "At Halloween in our second year, Padfoot, Wormtail and I had figured out Moony's secret and confronted him about it. He said that he understood if we didn't want to be his friends anymore, but begged us not to tell anyone else."

"I know, you've told me this before."

"Not all of it." James avoided Lily's stare. "What I accidently forgot to tell you, however, was that after we'd convinced him we wanted to be his friends…"

"Yes?"

"We also… We wanted to help him, you know?"

"Naturally." Lily waited for the continuation.

"Well, it took some time, but after a few months of research, Sirius and I found a book about…" James ran his fingers through his hair a few times before Lily reached for his hands and held them in hers. She was staring to worry.

"James, whatever it is, you can tell me."

"I know, Lils, it's just that… What I tell you, you might not like."

"James Potter, I may not be Severus Snape, but I think I've had my fair share of the marauder's famous pranks thrown upon me. I still love you, don't I? Now tell me."

James nodded. "Okay, just remember what you said just now. Remember that you love me Lily."

Lily nodded insecurely. What could they possibly have found in a book that James decided to tell her the week before their wedding?

"We found a book… about Animagi."

James waited for Lily's reaction. He half expected her to throw the heavy book in her lap at him, but she just stared at him. "I don't understand, James, how could a book about Animagi be of any help to Remus?"

"It wasn't necessarily for him." James said quietly, looking down at their still intertwined fingers.

"You mean…" Lily's thoughts were spinning. It couldn't be… she thought. Surely he would have told her before? And she would've noticed, would she not? But if he was… How had he thought she would react? James seemed quite scared to tell her, he obviously feared her reaction. Lily thought this trough. If he actually was Animagi, she thought it was quite… cool, to be honest. And it seemed logical enough, too.

As humans, James, Sirius and Peter couldn't do anything to really help Remus during the full moon – Lily had always assumed that the tree friends had stood guard to make sure no curious student snuck into the Shrieking Shack during Remus' transformation. As animals, they could easily accompany him into the Sack without the risk of being bitten…

The only Animagus she'd ever met was Professor McGonagall, and even though Lily had always found that particular magic very fascinating, she had never dared to ask her strict professor about it.

"Wow, this wasn't what expected at all."

"What?" James asked, not sure if she'd fully understood.

"You being Animagi. That's…" Lily thought about scaring him a little, but he already looked so tense that she settled for the truth. "That's awesome."

James head snapped up and he looked surprised, almost shocked. "What did you say?"

"I said, that's awesome, James."

"Really?"

"Really. Though I wish you would've told me earlier, of cause."

James let go of her hands and hugged her tightly. "I'm so sorry about that, Lils, I wanted to tell you, but I didn't know how you would react." He sighed. "It's so nice to tell someone else."

"You haven't told anyone else?" Lily asked in surprise. Though it wasn't that surprising. After all, Sirius Black had been a part of it… "You mean to tell me that you're an unregistered Animagus?"

James hugged her even tighter. "Does it matter?"

"Yes, James, you have to register."

"Come on Lily, no one has figured it out yet!"

Not yet, no. Lily thought sourly. "James, you are going to register."

"No!"

"Yes, you are."

James released her from his hold and looked into her determined eyes. "Why?"

"You can't be serious." Lily shook her head in disbelief.

"I am!"

All had been going so well! Why, oh why, did Lily think he should register? He'd been an Animagus for almost five years already and no one – not Dumbledore, not even Lily – had ever found out.

"Come on, love, no one will ever find out!"

"This is absurd, Potter!" Oh no, James knew things weren't good when Lily went back to using his surname. She must be really upset. "Can't you understand why I want you to register?"

"No!"

"You could get caught!" Lily bellowed. "And then you'd get a cell in Azkaban for life, mark my words! An unregistered Animagus isn't lightly looked upon, and you know it!"

"Lily, I am not going to get caught!"

"You can't know that, Potter!" How could he be this thick? He didn't honestly believe that anyone finding out was an impossible thought, right? Remus's secret had been discovered, after all! Lily told him so.

"Well, I won't run around howling, now will I?"

"Urgh, stop!" James stared at her, panting. "Sit!" James sat at the small sofa they had bought just the day before. When, all she'd known, her fiancée hadn't been an unregistered Animagus.

"Lily, let me just explain –" he said calmly.

"Go ahead. Explain why you can't possibly register as the Ministry." Lily stood before him with her hands on her hips and glared at him. "Go on then." She added impatiently.

"Well, when we became Animagi, we didn't exactly think about what it would be like when I married you –" Lily snorted. "Or any other occasion when we'd need to tell someone about us. And now that I've told you… I mean, it's great that you know and I'm so happy I can share it with you, Lils, but I don't want to tell the rest of the Wizarding world."

"Why not?"

"Well, urgh, because!" James ran his hands through his dark hair. "It's just nice to have something that is just ours you know. Mine, Padfoot's, Moony's, Wormtail's and now yours."

"I understand." Lily didn't lie when she said so. With all the attention James and his friends had gotten in school, it wasn't hard to understand that he wanted something to remain private. What Lily couldn't understand however, was how he could take so lightly on the possibility of getting caught. Maybe he genuinely didn't think he would.

"You do?" James looked hopeful.

"Yes. But even if you can live with the risk of getting caught and even enjoy the thrill… I can't, James. I can't." He frowned. "I can accept that you and your mischievous friends run around in the form of animals in some forest, but not if you run into a Ministry-worker without a license. I just can't lose you to the dementors."

"Lily…" James rose from the sofa and put his arms around her.

"James. I won't put up with it." She said to his shoulder.

"No, Lily, if that's how you feel… I'll… I'll register. I will."

Lily took a step back and looked into his eyes. "Do you promise?"

James smiled and nodded. Lily stepped into the reach of his arms again and put her arms around James's neck. "I love you." He whispered.

"I love you too."

"So…" Lily said after a moment of silence. "What animal do you become?"

James smiled. "Guess."

"Ha! Okay, you asked for it… Hm…" Lily pretended to think very intensely, when really she knew that if she guessed right it would be pure luck. "A pig?"

James snorted. "Thanks."

Lily laughed at his expression. "You asked for it. A… a dog? An elephant? Really, James, I have no idea."

He smiled mischievously and pulled Lily towards the sofa, making her sit in case she was startled by his transformation. "Ready?" She nodded.

Alright, this was it. James closed his eyes and focused at his animal form, feeling the change run through his body. After just a second he felt the weight from his antlers upon his head and when he opened his eyes on a lower level than before. Lily looked fairly surprised at the sight of a large stag standing in their living room, right where her fiancée had been a moment ago.

The stag snorted and its eyes glittered. Lily laughed with him. "Wow." She said in amazement. "James?"

He looked at her and jerked playfully with his head. She looked amazed and shocked at the same time. Carefully not to scare her, James took a step forwards and sniffed at her shoulder. She smelled even better with the sensitive sense of smell that came with his animal form. Lily laughed and reached out to pat his neck. Before she could react, James stuck out his tongue and licked her face from chin to hairline.

Lily cringed away. "God! You're worse than the Giant Squid!"

James changed back into himself again, holding her close to him. "But you love me anyway."