Disclaimer: I don't own most of the characters or the things that go on in this story. All credit goes to the one and only J.K. Rowling.

A/N: This is the sequel to The Stars Were Rearranged. There may be a few references to it, but it shouldn't really confuse. Therefore, you don't need to have read TSWR to understand TFS.
Also, if you've read any of my previous fanfics, you will know I suck at fanfiction. But hey.

So their seventh-year at Hogwarts is finally over. Now they're off to explore the world and find war, pain, suffering, love, comfort and companionship. This story follows them through it all and as close to the real thing as I can get it. It's not a happy story and we all know how it's going to end. If you read this story, you can't complain about how it's all gloom and doom, because that basically was the First Wizarding War; horror, terror, lies, deceit, confusion, hurt, betrayal and death. You can't ask me to brighten things up, because back then there were, after all, precious few reasons to smile. Here we go …


- Chapter One -

~ A Day of Surprises ~

(Tuesday 8th August, 1978)

Stupid sweltering heat. Even in Britain, it wasn't normally this hot. The digital thermometer on the wall behind the till had gone into triple figures and all anyone felt like doing was lazing around, tanning, bathing – anything but working.

It wasn't like this for Lily Evans, though.

She was stuck inside a tiny supermarket working a few too many hours. The good thing about this was the aisle of frozen food – it was cool here. She felt there was little chance of her getting a heat stroke as she changed the price of some fish fingers. It was quite dead in the shop. Everyone was probably at the beach; it was the right day for beaching. At least she wasn't working outside in the sweltering heat.

'Lily, can you take over the till?' said the manager with an afro of curly dark hair.

'Sure, Bob,' said Lily kindly.

She turned around, feeling her long, thick, dark red hair sway behind her back. Her clear, grass-green eyes were on the fan behind the till. She was going to survive this heat wave, she was sure of it. When she was finally behind the till, she was scanning products for a customer and charging them.

'Thank you,' said Lily brightly when the customer walked away with a large smile on her face.

The next customer was a tall and thin hazel-eyed man with jet-black hair that stuck up at different angles. He had a mischievous twinkle in his eyes and was wearing a smirk.

'Whatever can I do for you?' said Lily, smirking as well as he approached her.

'I'm here to buy some time with the apple of my eye,' he said, before giving her a kiss on her lips. He pulled away too soon.

'I wasn't done,' Lily protested.

'Maybe if you weren't working in this Muggle store,' said James, 'you would get more of all of this.' He indicated to himself. When she sighed, he continued, 'I don't understand why you have to do this, Lil. You hate it. You shouldn't do something you hate so passionately. Life is far too short for those kinds of things.' He rubbed her arms soothingly.

'James, you don't get it,' she groaned. 'Now that Dad's … well, dead, I have to work and a supermarket job's the best I can get, having not gone to a Muggle school and gotten the right qualifications. It was either this or flipping burgers – and I don't particularly like the idea of smelling like that all the time. I don't come from money like you do, James, I have to work and I have bills and stuff to pay at home.'

'What about Petunia?' James asked.

'She hates me,' said Lily lowly, 'really hates me. All the money she gets from her job as a typist goes straight to her bank account, because she hates me. She wouldn't let me be a bridesmaid at her wedding purely because she was scared of me overshadowing her! You remember how much that upset me. And you've had the pleasure of meeting her and her husband.'

James shivered as he remembered the terrible night of their first meeting.

It was Petunia's idea to have a formal dinner at a restaurant. Vernon and James were to finally meet. Vernon arrived in an extremely classy car with Petunia at his arm, obviously out to impress James. When they had taken their seats in the restaurant, Vernon droned on and on about how flashy his car was.

'Do you drive a car, boy?' Vernon barked as he played around with his food.

'No,' said James politely. 'I have my own racing broom – it's a pretty awesome one, as well. It goes faster than your car and the steering's a lot easier, too.'

Lily and Petunia exchanged nervous glances.

'A broom?' Vernon repeated. 'Do you take me for an idiot?'

'Uh … no, sir,' said James blankly, not understanding what he had said wrong.

Lily squeezed his hand under the table.

'So you ride a broom?' said Vernon. 'Do you not have enough money to buy a car? Are you unemployed?

Anger flashed on James's face. How dare he make that suggestion? Lily squeezed his hand against and his calm composure was restored.

'My parents have lots of money, you see,' James explained, working hard to keep his temper under control. 'Money in our world's different to here. We have Galleons and Sickles and Knuts; gold coins, silver coins and bronze coins. I, personally, think it's better than paper, but that's just me.'

Vernon merely sneered at him, having nothing to say, but when James looked away, Lily saw Petunia and Vernon exchange confused looks, Vernon's tinted with anger.

The rest of the night continued with the men going on at each other about all the good they had. It only ended after an argument broke out between James and Vernon. Petunia and Vernon stormed out of the restaurant in a fit of rage. Lily, on the other hand, burst into tears, and the men went separate ways; James promised Lily he would make things up with Vernon and Vernon told Petunia he would stay away from him.

'I still can't believe she has an office job in London,' Lily said, bringing James back down to earth, 'and I'm stuck here in Cokeworth.'

'Why don't you accept some money from me?' said James exasperatedly, holding her delicate hands. 'The boys don't mind living off my income. We can change Galleons into, what, pounds?'

'Yeah,' said Lily softly, touched that he remembered the currency although she only mentioned it once. She knew he could remember anything as long as she was the one saying it. 'My mother used to tell me you'd never find a problem that doesn't have a solution. I thought the solution to this would be work. I'd get money and pay off the bills. Petunia and Vernon would never give me any money.'

'Cute,' said James. 'Quite the charmer your sister is. It's sweet you're doing all of this, but haven't you thought that maybe the solution is your amazingly perfect boyfriend and his money?'

Lily didn't look convinced.

'Lils,' James sighed, 'whether you like it or not, you're a huge part of my life. What's mine is yours, if it's not already. Your hurt, my hurt; your bills, my bills; my money, your money. If I were in your position and you were in mine, you would be the same as I am now. Come on. What would your parents want?'

'I wouldn't know,' said Lily lowly. 'They're both six feet under ground.'

'Lils,' James sighed again.

She wasn't up for an argument anymore. She pressed her lips against his briefly.

'Thanks, James,' she whispered. 'What I ever did to end up with someone as amazing as you, I will never understand. But don't feel like I'm just using you for money or anything, because, really, you know that I love you and –'

She was babbling now. James cut her off with a long, deep kiss. It was irritating how the counter was in the way. There was always something.

'I'm supposed to be working,' she muttered against his lips.

'There's no one here,' he said, grinning cheekily, 'but as you please.' He kept his distance from her, much to her displeasure, ironically.

A whistle came from nearby. It could only be Sirius Black. Sure enough, when the two turned their heads, they saw their handsome, grey-eyed friend with medium-length black hair that only made him look more gorgeous. He was accompanied by a less handsome but just as cute man. He was tall and had sandy hair. He smiled shyly at them, having walked in on an intimate scene. Next to Remus Lupin was, of course, Peter Pettigrew, a small and fat boy with watery blue eyes, mousey brown hair and a keen smile.

'You just had to comment on the lack of people,' said Lily dryly, but quietly to James.

'Lily Flower getting bored here?' said Sirius loudly, bouncing over to them.

'Not for much longer,' said Lily, 'now that the rest of the Marauders are here.'

'She knows,' grinned Sirius. 'Ah, just like a little Marauderette.'

'Marauderette?' Lily repeated sceptically. 'No thanks, I much prefer my name.'

'You can be my Marauder,' said James cheekily, before planting a soft kiss on her cheek.

'Ew!' Sirius shouted. 'That's gross! Get that image out of your head, Sirius, get it out of your head.'

Lily spotted Bob eyeing all of them nearby and said, 'I don't know what he's talking about. He must have forgotten to take his meds this morning … nothing new … move along, Bob.'

'Who are these people?' he asked in amazement, which confused Lily so much that all she could do was stare at him.

This wasn't the first time the Marauders visited her at work; the time before, Peter managed to draw attention to them all by knocking over a pyramid of tin cans. Apologising hastily, he pulled out his wand and was going to undo what he had done with Muggles in sight until Lily shouted, 'NO!' and ran over to fix things without her wand.

'I am the lovely James Potter,' said James, 'boyfriend of the even lovelier Lily Evans. And these psychopaths are my best buds, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew.'

'Right …' said Bob. 'Wait, you're in a relationship?' he asked Lily.

'Er … yeah,' said Lily sheepishly.

'You've been with someone for the short time I've known you and you never thought to tell me?'

'Er … I didn't think my relationship status mattered,' Lily stammered, puzzled. 'I mean, it doesn't interfere with my work … normally.'

'If I knew you already had someone,' snapped Bob, 'I wouldn't have paid you so many compliments, or indeed given you the job.'

'Say what?' said Lily. 'Is there a problem with having an employee who's in a relationship?'

'Flower, the man's obviously jealous,' said Sirius, laughing. Of course he would find every situation absolutely hilarious.

'Jealous?' Bob barked. 'Impertinence. Evans, you're fired. I want you out of here in no more than five minutes.'

He stomped off grumpily.

'Wait, Bob, can't I –?' Lily called, but James held onto her hand.

'Let it go, Lil,' he said softly.

'Padfoot,' she wailed. 'I really needed that job! I can't believe I got fired in the first week!'

Sirius sighed exhaustedly. 'And I can't believe I'm saying this, but … you can do so much better than this dump. You're a talented witch. You didn't go through seven years at Hogwarts with us irritating you all the way for nothing. You could work anywhere in the Wizarding world and get paid more – and your talents would be put to good use. Plus, your ex-manager's such a sleaze.'

'Yeah, Lily,' said Remus. 'Sirius's right. You used to always tell me everything happens for a reason, and I can think up plenty of reasons for this situation.'

'Sirius, Remus …' said Lily happily, extremely touched. 'Thanks. I find it hard to believe I spent most of my life avoiding you guys, minus Remus.'

James let out a little laugh. 'Come on,' he said, taking her hand and pulling her away lightly. 'We've got to go to Gringotts and change some Galleons to pounds.'

'What's a pound?' Peter asked curiously.

Lily and James exchanged looks for a moment before Lily quickly said, 'Don't worry, Pete.'

They had passed the automatic doors when Sirius suddenly slapped his forehead and said, 'I just remembered something! Wormy, come with me!'

Peter wasn't given an option; Sirius dragged him back into the shop.

'I don't really think they're up to any good …' she said worriedly, meaning to go back in. But James put an arm around her waist and prevented her from doing so.

'Forget it,' said Remus. 'Bobby boy has to deal with them now. Let's go.'

'But, Remus, they can get in trouble with the police,' said Lily. She then had a quick think – they were the Marauders, the biggest pranksters Hogwarts had ever seen; if they couldn't get caught by the vast majority of the staff at Hogwarts, the Muggles had no chance of catching them. 'Fine,' she said eventually, smiling.

The three had to sneak into a place where they would be spied on before Apparating to Diagon Alley in London. Apparition was similar to what Muggles thought of as teleporting. It was quite packed, but not enough so they couldn't get by comfortably. Lily felt a slight thrill when Gringotts came into view; James squeezed her hand, knowing she would be feeling excited. She hadn't been to Diagon Alley much recently, and any connection with the Wizarding world pleased her.

Gringotts was a snowy-white building which towered above all the shops near it. It was a wizarding bank run by goblins, founded by Gringott, a powerful goblin. James, Lily and Remus passed through a bronze set of doors and then a silver set of doors before entering the lobby. James managed to get a goblin to kindly take them down to his vault by the magical carts which went at breakneck speed.

'Er, I think I'll pass,' said Remus quietly as Lily and James and the goblin got into the cart.

'Do you want one of us to stay with you?' Lily asked him considerately.

'It's okay, thanks,' he said quickly. 'I know you've never been down there before … and, trust me, when you go once, you won't want to go again.'

The goblin started the cart, while James assured Lily the ride was fun. And he was right. Lily didn't mind it. She found it quite fascinating, and she enjoyed the wind whipping through her hair. She swore she saw a dragon at one point, and the eeriness of the dark, torch-lit passageways thrilled her. James laughed at her facial expressions. He'd been going down the same passageway for years and was quite bored of it.

'Don't laugh,' said Lily. 'I've never been here before. I've never needed to, of course, but I always wondered …'

'You could've just asked me,' said James. 'I would've taken you on a ride any day.' He winked at her, making her blush and slap his arm.

'Vault six-eight-seven,' said the goblin. He had an extremely nasally voice, which made Lily thankful of the fact that he didn't talk much.

Lily and James got out of the cart along with the goblin. James handed a small golden key to the goblin who took it and jammed it inside a keyhole. He turned it and opened the vault to reveal countless piles of golden Galleons, silver Sickles and bronze Knuts. Lily had to quickly close her mouth, knowing that James would be watching her expression. He stepped in the vault and took fistfuls of Galleons into his moneybags.

'How much is a Galleon in pounds?' he asked the goblin.

'Five pounds,' he replied.

James looked questioningly at Lily.

'Oh, that's brilliant,' she said quickly. 'Thanks.'

The goblin took the two back up to the lobby where they found Sirius and Peter waiting with Remus. They were all muttering seriously.

'I'll just be a second, love,' said James, heading to his friends and leaving Lily to convert a large amount of Galleons into pounds on her own.

She couldn't help but seem worried about what they were talking about. Had someone else died? Had Lord Voldemort, the greatest Dark wizard of all time, and his evil Death Eaters gotten to someone else? This was the one thing Lily loathed about the Wizarding world at the moment – they were in the middle of a Wizarding War, and things were going terribly. She pushed the thought right out of her head when she saw Sirius grin a little impishly. Sirius would never grin like that if someone had just died. He may be Sirius, but he knew how to respect people and he had a great heart.

Her curiosity got the better of her. Collecting her Muggle money, she approached the group and noticed how they hushed up rapidly upon her joining them.

'What?' she asked. 'What did I do?'

'Why do you always assume it's about you?' Sirius questioned. 'Maybe we were just finishing our conversation.'

'Or maybe you were talking about me,' said Lily, 'trying to keep something from me. But it doesn't matter.'

Peter relaxed, but then straightened up again when Lily said, 'I'll get it out of you eventually.'

'Anyone fancy some ice cream?' Remus asked lightly.

He was a genius, James thought. Ice cream could take Lily's mind off pretty much everything.

'Ice cream methinks,' said James.

'To Florean Fortescue's ice cream parlour!' said Sirius loudly, pointing to the doors and leading them.

'Oh, boy,' said Lily, falling back with James.

He put an arm around her waist and held her close. 'Do you have any plans tonight?'

'I was actually thinking about finding somewhere else to work,' said Lily warmly, 'you know, given that you guys got me fired.'

'That can wait,' he said lightly. 'Do you want to hang out at my place later then? Mum can make those delicious brownies you so adore.'

'Your mother's brownies have won me over. What time?'

'I'll pick you up at about ten to eight,' said James.

'You don't need to pick me up, ' said Lily. 'I know where you live. I can easily Apparate by myself.'

James's face instantly looked serious, almost pained. 'Lily, you know how I feel about you being alone and going anywhere alone. Can we not do this now?'

Lily huffed, but said no more about the matter. There were precious reasons to smile these days and ice cream with best friends was one of them. They sat around a table under an umbrella outside the ice cream parlour. They were safe from the sun under the umbrella.

'What did you do, anyway?' Lily asked suddenly. She was looking at Peter and Sirius, who exchanged nervous glances.

'Us? Do something?' Peter squeaked.

'Never,' said Sirius. 'Whatever are you talking about, woman?'

'You know,' said Lily slowly, 'when we left the shop and you guys went back in to do something …'

Peter and Sirius relaxed almost instantly.

'Oh, that,' Peter laughed.

'What else could I have been talking about?' Lily asked suspiciously, looking from one to the other with narrowed eyes.

'We left him a few dungbombs,' said Sirius, 'and some other unmentionable surprises.'

'I'd better just hide my face from the Muggle world,' said Lily, finishing her ice cream. 'I can change my name and hair and eye colour. Yes. I can have brown hair and matching eyes. My name can be … er, Melanie Walker.'

James and Sirius burst out laughing, the latter louder than the former.

'Melanie Walker?' Sirius repeated. 'You don't look like a Melanie.'

'That's cute, love,' said James, 'but I much prefer the redheaded, green-eyed Lily Evans I fell in love with, although I have to say I wanna do something about the "Evans".'

Lily blushed furiously and grinned, while Sirius mimicked throwing back up his ice cream. But Lily and James barely noticed; the two were so caught up in each other. She was saddened when it was time to say bye. The war had this effect on her. She didn't like not knowing if she was going to see anyone again.

The war had been going on for eight years or so, but had now gotten worse than ever before. It all began with a Dark wizard, who named himself Lord Voldemort. He was mostly known as You-Know-Who and He Who Must Not Be Named. Only people who were brave enough would call him by his name. He had this ring of close followers, as well – they called themselves the Death Eaters. Dark times were ahead.

Half-past seven that evening found Lily finishing the washing up. She sighed loudly while she was drying the last dish. Were chores this boring for her mother? Just then, the doorbell rang. Great. Just what Lily needed – Muggle company. She bounced to the door and opened it.

'James?' said Lily, puzzled.

'The one and only,' he said, entering her house. 'I'm still not sure if I'm supposed to Apparate in the house or outside it.'

'How come you're so early?' Lily asked, walking James to the kitchen and leaning against the counter.

'I just fancied a little time with my favourite girl,' said James, kissing her neck. 'Aren't you gonna get ready then?'

'Maybe if you'd get off me,' said Lily.

James left her alone sharpish.

'Hey, come back,' she said sadly.

'Not until you get ready,' said James. 'Lose the dishrag at least.'

'I'll be a sec,' she grinned, throwing the dishrag in his face and leaving the kitchen.

'Wear a pretty dress or something,' James called after her. 'I want to do something really special.'

Lily was wondering wildly about what that something special could be as she opened her wardrobe and looked at all of her dresses. She ended up in a scarlet, knee-length, sleeveless dress which went wonderfully with her hair. The dress had once belonged to Petunia until their mother gave it to Lily. Once she had worn it, Petunia claimed she didn't want it back. She thought it was a bit dressy and planned on changing again until a knock at her door made her jump.

'Are you done, Lil?' said James through the door. 'You've been ages. It's nearly eight.'

Lily opened her door and meant to tell him she wanted to change again, but stopped upon looking at his amazed expression.

'And there was me thinking you just couldn't get any more beautiful,' said James.

'I feel stupidly overdressed,' she said shyly. But then she noticed James looked quite smart in a shirt and dark trousers.

'You look fine,' James assured her.

'I need to put some make up on –' said Lily, turning around, but James caught her arm.

'No, you do not,' he said firmly. 'You look beautiful just the way you are. I was kidding, anyway. We're not going anywhere special. I just like seeing you in pretty dresses.' He winked at her, but she was still slightly mad. 'Ah, come on,' said James, 'you can't be mad at me. Come on, I'll show you why.'

He took her hand cautiously and the two Apparated out of Lily's house and were in front of James's place in Godric's Hollow in no time. Apparition gave Lily a funny feeling, as if she was become disjointed with parts of her own body. Lily couldn't see anything through the windows, although the sun was still up. She did like James's cottage, though. There was a lot of ivy outside of it and many flowers in the garden. Everything about this cottage screamed warmth.

'Yeah,' said Lily sarcastically, 'I'm not mad at you anymore.'

'Give me a chance,' he said softly, not for the first time ever. He stared deeply into her eyes until she nodded. He then took her hand and entered the house.

An explosion seemed to have taken place. There was a loud shout of 'SURPRISE!' followed by a series of bangs of varying dynamics. Normally, if Lily heard shouts and bangs, she would have whipped her wand out, but she realised she didn't have it on her. When she focused, she realised the room was filled with friends, who were practically like family. So that was what the Marauders were talking about before. Lily didn't know what to do. She stood their grinning, her face absolutely glowing with happiness.

'I can't believe you guys,' she said eventually. She scanned the faces of everyone in the room.

There was, of course, James, Peter, Remus and Sirius. Then there was Mrs Potter, a little old lady with a lot of love and affection. She looked happier than Lily had ever seen her, especially given that her husband had died merely a year ago, leaving them all grief-stricken. Near Mrs Potter was the round-faced, dark-haired Alice, an old school mate. Her dark eyes sparkled more than they usually did. Standing close to Alice was none other than Frank Longbottom, tall and dark-haired. Seeing Alice and Frank together made Lily even happier than before, even though she didn't know them well as they were a few years above her in Hogwarts.

There were more faces of people who had left Hogwarts before she did. There was Gideon and Fabian Prewett, recognisable by their vivid ginger hair; Marlene McKinnon and Dorcas Meadowes, fellow Gryffindors and a few others.

'Congratulations, Lily!' Marlene said loudly from across the room, 'to you and James! I can't believe how many months it's been for the two of you!'

'Yeah!' said Dorcas. 'I swear in Hogwarts you wouldn't do so much as date the boy, Lil! I remember you saying on many occasions that you'd rather have the Giant Squid. And now just like at the two of you. I can't imagine a more perfect couple. Perseverance, eh, Potter?'

Many burst out laughing. James mirrored Lily's grin of embarrassment.

Everyone began re-immersing themselves in conversation as Sirius bounced forwards.

'Seriously?' said Lily quietly, although she looked astounded. 'Despite everything that's going on, you all felt the need to throw a party to mark a year since the day James and I first got together? You disturbed all of these poor people?'

'Hey,' said Sirius, 'don't deny us this opportunity to party. We kept it small, anyway. Come on, you gotta love us.' He opened his arms wide.

Lily grinned and fell right into them. 'Yes. I love you guys. Thank you so much.'

James said, 'I want you to have the most amazing life ever, as untouched by the war as possible.'

Barely hours later – hours of eating, drinking, laughing and having fun – a knock sounded at the door. No one was to know that this was going to shatter James's dream of Lily having an untouched-by-war life.

'Who could that be?' Peter wondered aloud.

'Most people just come right in,' Sirius muttered.

James left Lily in order to open the door, not expecting the awkward moment that was to follow. He found himself face to face with his old headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, a silver-haired, long-bearded man of wisdom.

'James,' said the old man. His expression was quite sombre.

'Professor Dumbledore, sir!' James exclaimed in slight shock. 'What a, er, surprise. Really, I don't remember the last time I saw a teacher out of school …'

'Am I gate-crashing?' he asked, peering inside.

'No, not at all, sir,' said James quickly; Sirius responded with a resentful 'Hm.'

James invited him in; the others looked around in curiosity.

'Er, I'm gonna have to break this party up a little early,' said James loudly to boos.

'I need Mr Lupin, Mr Black, Miss Evans and Mr Pettigrew … however, Miss Meadowes, Miss McKinnon and Gideon and Fabian Prewett may stay,' said Dumbledore. 'Terribly sorry.'

Those who didn't have their names called out looked offended. Most of them Apparated on the spot. Mrs Potter informed them that she was going to check up on the brownies.

'What's wrong, Professor Dumbledore?' Remus asked.

'I'm here to inform you about the Order of the Phoenix,' said Dumbledore.