Hello again! Sorry I took so long to update, but here it is. Thanks so much to everyone who reviewed! You guys are the best :)

This is looking like it's going to be around ten chapters at the moment. In the future, I'll try to update at least once every two weeks.

Again, reviews are amazing :)

Chapter 2

Lily stumbled, yawning, into the Great Hall the next morning and collapsed in the first empty seat she saw, which, she noticed too late, happened to be next to Sirius Black. She thought about moving, but she was unsure if her poor, sleep-deprived limbs were capable of picking her back up again, and besides, at least according to Marlene, Black could be a decent bloke sometimes. At least she didn't have to worry about toning down her early-morning temper with him.

"Black," she said, hitting him in the shoulder to get his attention and pointing towards a platter of eggs a little ways down the table. "Food."

Sirius laughed and passed her the eggs. "Why so charming this morning, Evans?"

Lily made a noncommittal noise of annoyance. "Your girlfriend had the radio blasting Wizarding Wireless Network all night. She was singing along and everything. We couldn't make her stop until about three o'clock this morning."

"Why didn't you just hex her?" Sirius asked, ever the chivalrous boyfriend.

Lily laughed. "Mary certainly tried, but Marlene put a shield up. We couldn't go near her."

Sirius grinned proudly. "That's my girl. How did you get around it?"

"Bribed her," was Lily's matter-of-fact response. She dropped her head into her hands mournfully. "I had to give her all of my chocolate frogs."

"Four hours of sleep for your entire stash of chocolate frogs? You got robbed, Evans."

"I'll steal them back," Lily said, head still in her hands.

Sirius was delighted. "Why, Evans! I didn't know you had it in you!"

"My chocolate," was Lily's brilliant response.

"Not anymore," Marlene said in a sing-song voice, settling into a seat across from her best friend and boyfriend. She grabbed a piece of toast, spread some marmalade on it, and stood back up. "Come on, you two. Transfiguration first today."

Lily and Sirius groaned.

"I'm not going," Sirius announced. He grinned cheekily at his girlfriend. "Skive off with me, McKinnon?"

Marlene considered it. "Come to Transfiguration with me and I'll skip Divination with you," she decided.

"Deal," Sirius agreed happily, and rose to his feet, stretching.

"Coming, Lils?" Marlene asked, poking the top of Lily's head, which was still resting on the table.

"Absolutely not," the redhead replied.

"And remember to twist your wand slightly as you jab it towards the cat," Professor McGonagall was saying. "Non-verbal spells only, remember."

Lily frowned. She knew she shouldn't have come to class today.

Transfiguration had never come as naturally to her as her other classes did. She really needed to focus, and today she just couldn't summon the energy. She tried anyway, but the cat stubbornly refused to become a badger.

Lily paused in her attempts and looked around at the rest of the class. Marlene and Sirius were sitting next to a pair of perfect badgers, chattering away and laughing loudly while McGonagall shot them disapproving glares. James turned around in his chair and leaned backward to say something to Sirius, who grinned. James had gotten ten points for Gryffindor from McGonagall for getting the complicated spell right on his third try. Transfiguration was the one class in which James was easily more than a match for Lily.

Lily gritted her teeth and tried again. She poured every ounce of magic she could summon into the spell, trying desperately to remember what McGonagall had said about the wand movements. There was a loud popping sound, and the cat morphed into a large, purple, softly luminescent mushroom.

McGonagall hurried over to correct Lily's mistake as Mary, who was sitting next to Lily, collapsed in a fit of helpless laughter. Lily was torn between horror and amusement. How had that even happened?

She escaped the classroom gratefully twenty minutes later, with instructions to practice the charm for homework and be able to tell McGonagall where she had gone wrong by the next lesson.

"I'm not sure," Marlene said with mock uncertainty, "but I feel like the part with the giant glowing mushroom wasn't supposed to happen."

"Shut it, McKinnon."

By the end of the day, Lily Evans was a mess. She was tired. She was irritable. She had endured a full day of classes, and now, above all else, she needed peace and quiet and solitude.

And chocolate.

After a hasty trip back to the Gryffindor seventh years' dormitory, the Head Girl had made her quick escape, a bulging Honeydukes bag under her arm. She knew precisely where she had to run to. There was only one place in the castle she could truly call her own. Well, almost her own.

Lily's footsteps slowed as she reached a large, ornately carved door on the fourth floor. She had been here precisely once all year, when she had moved in some of her things at the very beginning of term. But if she had ever needed a large, luxurious room all to herself to retreat to, today was that day. She placed her hand on the door, which melted away at her touch.

The common room was vast and decorative, with scarlet and gold hangings and floor-to-ceiling domed windows. There was also a large plush couch in the corner, which Lily dove onto happily, burying her face in the soft pillows. She curled onto her side, reaching towards the bag of Honeydukes sweets, and began to pull the wrapper off of a chocolate frog.

Willow, Lily's cat, waddled eagerly into the room, having heard the wrapper and clearly hoping for a treat. Lily had named her cat when Willow had been a tiny, purring, graceful gray kitten, but it was a manifestly unsuitable name now for the poor animal, who was enormously fat and lazy and preferred the quiet of the Head Dormitories to the crowded Gryffindor tower.

Lily greeted her cat affectionately. "Did you miss me?" she asked, scratching Willow behind the ears. Willow, now unhappily aware that she was not being fed, rubbed her head once against Lily's hand and retreated to her favorite spot by the windows, settling down comfortably in a patch of sun and stretching lazily. Lily would not have this. She rolled off the couch, across the floor, and, lying flat on her back, scooped up the indignant cat and held her high in the air.

"Don't you love me, kitty?" Lily asked as Willow struggled to free herself. "Ungrateful animal. I command you to love me. Love meeee." Willow meowed loudly in protest.

"What in Merlin's name is going on?" an amused voice asked, and Lily froze. Of course, it had to be him. Of all times for James Potter to walk into the room.

"I am practicing Transfiguring my cat," Lily announced after a pause, finally placing the relieved animal back on the floor. Willow immediately lumbered towards freedom as fast as her stubby legs would carry her.

"Of course. Silly me," James agreed, taking a seat on the couch that Lily had just vacated and peering interestedly into the Honeydukes bag. "Are those chocolate frogs?"

Lily, blushing faintly, rose to her feet and snatched the bag from him. "Yes, they are, and no, you may not have one."

"Rough day, eh?" James observed, leaning back into the couch.

Lily glanced at him, wondering if he was simply teasing or if that was an invitation to rant. Lily dearly loved to rant.

"Yes, it was," she replied cautiously.

"Is that why you came here?"

She nodded. "I just needed a break."

James didn't respond, so Lily continued. "First, Marlene wouldn't let me sleep, and then there was Transfiguration, and then every single Professor today decided to kick me while I was down, and I have a mountain of homework, and all I want to do is stuff my face with chocolate frogs."

James grinned. "Poor Evans," he said, and there was enough sincere sympathy in it to earn him an approving smile from Lily. Then, suddenly, a thought occurred to her.

"Er…Did you see what happened in Transfiguration?" she asked, looking vaguely nervous.

James couldn't hold back a laugh. "I meant to congratulate you on that. I've never seen anyone mix up a badger with a glowing mushroom before. I give you full marks for originality."

Lily laughed ruefully. To her slight surprise, she found that she didn't really mind his teasing. Maybe Potter wasn't the only one who had changed in the past year.

He looked pleased with himself, and rose suddenly. "I'll leave you to your 'mountain of homework' now," he said with a smirk, glancing at the bag of candy in which Lily suddenly seemed very interested. He was almost out of the door that led to his room when Lily made her decision. "Potter?"

His back was to her, but she knew he was smiling. "Evans?"

She took a deep breath. He really was the best in their year, and she really needed help.

"Could you help me? With Transfiguration?"

He turned around and smiled genuinely, as he had before their meeting with Dumbledore, and Lily felt something flutter in her chest. "Absolutely," he said. "You call your elephant of a cat, and we can get started right now, if you want."

"How dare you insult my cat?" Lily demanded, offended.

"Evans, that is the fattest cat I've ever seen. I don't know how you even lifted her."

"Willow is not fat. She just has a lot of personality condensed into a tiny cat body. She had to expand to make room."

James threw his head back and laughed. "In that case, I beg Willow's pardon."

"Are we going to practice Transfiguration or not?" Lily asked, smiling despite herself.

"I don't know, are we?" James asked. "Call the cat."

"Willow doesn't come when called, James."

"Willow!" James called defiantly, and Lily opened her mouth to tell him off but paused, amazed, as Willow entered the room cautiously to investigate the source of the commotion. James pounced, triumphant. "There you are," he cooed to the cat, and Lily rolled her eyes.

"Focus, James," she said, laughing as he continued to shower her pet with baby talk.

James paused, and Lily realized with a jolt that she had called him by his first name. How long had she been doing that?

Calm and professional in an instant, James set Willow down, and she curled up on the floor exactly where he had dropped her. "Okay," James said. "In class, I noticed that your movements are slightly too precise. That wouldn't be a problem in Charms, or really anything else, but Transfiguration is less of an exact science. Visualize what you want it to become, and let the magic flow through your wand and guide your movements." He pointed his wand at Willow, concentrating carefully, and, with a twist and a loose flick, Willow the fat cat became Willow the fat badger. James looked up and smiled at Lily. "See?"

She nodded hesitantly, and with another flick of James' wand, Willow was a cat again.

"Now you try," he said.

Focus, Lily told herself. Let the magic guide you. She twisted her wand, attempting to imitate James' movements. Willow's tail shortened and her fur became coarser, but she remained a cat.

"Not bad," James said thoughtfully. "I've certainly seen you do worse."

Lily stuck her tongue out at him, and he grinned. "Here," he said, and he moved to stand beside her. He kept his head bent, staring at the floor. Lily smiled at his nervousness. It wasn't often that someone made James Potter squirm. He grabbed her still-outstretched arm gently and bent it slightly at the elbow. "Relax your arm a bit. And remember to breathe."

"Got it," Lily said decisively, and James backed away. She pointed her wand once more at Willow, and this time she felt herself relax into the spell. She took a deep breath, exhaled, and allowed herself to move more loosely than she usually did. This time, a badger rested where Willow had been only seconds before.

"I did it!" Lily squealed, impulsively doing a little hop of excitement. She turned to James. "Since when have you been a better teacher than McGonagall?"

"No one's a better teacher than McGonagall," James corrected her. "You just needed some practice, that's all."

"Well, thank you," Lily said, smiling at him. "Maybe you're not such a bad bloke after all, Potter."

He pretended to tear up. "That may be the nicest thing you've ever said to me."

"Don't get used to it," Lily laughed.

"I won't," he promised. He straightened up and pushed his glasses up on his nose, imitating a professor. "Excellent work today, Evans. We may make a real witch of you yet."

"Shove off, Potter," she said, hitting him lightly on the arm. He grinned and bowed theatrically as he backed away.

"Must be off, Evans. Important Head Boy business."

Lily was unconvinced. "I don't care if you are Head Boy, Potter. If you set fire to the Astronomy Tower again, I will give you detention for the rest of your natural life."

"That was an accident!" he protested, injured. "And besides, what if I prefer to live unnaturally?"

Lily laughed. "That was awful."

"You're laughing," he pointed out.

"Get out, Potter!" she ordered, pointing at the door. He smirked at her as the door closed behind him, and Lily heaved a sigh. A smile played around her mouth as she collapsed back onto the couch, somehow feeling that maybe the day hadn't been such a complete disaster, after all.

That year, however, light-heartedness never lasted for long. Hogwarts was different these days. Walking down the corridors, Lily could sense it, and although it wasn't in her nature to be easily frightened, it left its mark on her all the same. There had been a sense of underlying darkness for as long as she'd been here, something sinister and dangerous that kept you from forgetting, even amidst the everyday hubbub of friends and classes, a war was brewing outside. This year, however, something had shifted. Tempers were more likely to snap, hexes more likely to fly; slurs were more likely to be seen painted across the walls in ink that no amount of soap or magic could seem to remove. And this year, Lily was at the center. She wasn't just a prefect anymore. She was the Head Girl, the mudblood leading the school. The insults were not whispered anymore. They were hurled at her like bricks. They were shouts across the room, jinxes, threats muttered and screamed; they were spelled out in the bruises and scars from hexes, in aggressive shoves in the corridor, in feet stuck out that caused her to trip, in cruel laughter and in newspaper headings that told of Muggleborns targeted all over Britain.

Through it all, Lily held her head high. She was never one to be controlled, or to shrink back into the shadows in fear. She was a talented witch and her hand was constantly on her wand, never to start a fight, but always ready to finish it. And so it was that day, a week after her Transfiguration lesson with James, when she heard the shout.

"Where do you think you're going, filthy mudblood?"

Lily didn't turn, didn't acknowledge her insulter. She kept walking, which was why she didn't see the curse he hurled at her retreating back.

But James did.

The force of his shield charm knocked Lily's attacker backwards, and he hit the floor with a sickening crunch. Lily whirled around, her wand out and pointing at the Slytherin, who she knew by sight to be called Avery. Because cowards never attack alone, he was flanked by Mulciber and Wilkes. All three had their wands out, but they were now pointing at James, whose eyes blazed with an indescribable fury that caused several onlookers to step back in fright.

"Coming to your Mudblood's rescue, are you, blood traitor?" Wilkes spat. "Gonna send us to the hospital wing?"

"Merlin, no," growled James, glaring at him with the utmost loathing. With some effort, he stepped back and glanced towards Lily questioningly. She nodded once, furious, and he turned back to the Slytherins. "I would never deprive Lily of the pleasure."

The jets of light left Lily's wand before any of the Slytherins could figure out how to respond. They never had a chance.

"Potter?"

He was sitting on the couch in their common room. The Slytherins, who had been the subject of every hex Lily had been able to think of, were recovering in the hospital wing, and Lily had been summoned to McGonagall's office for a "strict talking-to." McGonagall had made her tea and served scones.

James looked up and smiled. "Excellent work back there."

"Thanks," Lily said. "That should teach them to try to curse someone when their back is turned. Filthy little cowards."

"I'll drink to that," James said, handing her a butterbeer.

"Where did you get that?" Lily asked, as James opened one of his own.

"Secret," he replied simply, smiling.

"Thanks," Lily said. "For the butterbeer and for the shield charm earlier."

"Anytime. Although I would have liked to curse those slimy, cowardly slugs into oblivion," James said, the palpable anger returning to his features.

"Why didn't you?" Lily asked. "Why did you let me?"

"You had every right to," James said, shrugging. "It wasn't my fight, and you didn't need defending. You handled it extremely well on your own."

A warmth stole through Lily's chest at his words. James Potter really had grown up.

"Thank you," she said, unable to think of how else to respond.

"Besides," James added, seriously. "They need to know you can handle yourself. That you're not some easy target just because you're muggle-born. You're better than the lot of them put together."

Lily smiled. When, she wondered, did James Potter learn to say exactly the right thing? She took a minute to process his words. She didn't need defending. She could handle herself. And her blood status was no measure of her worth.

"Thank you," she said again, looking him straight in the eye. "For everything." Quickly, she leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek. He looked stunned, unsure of how he had finally managed to do something right. The expression made Lily laugh a little, and when she left, it was with a feeling of odd contentment.

And this time, it didn't seem at all strange that James Potter was the one making her smile like that.