It wasn't good the things they'd learned. Lily stared at the papers spread across the table, feeling the same growing sense of terrible foreboding that was dawning on the faces of those around her. This was more, much more than an idle threat.

Grindelwald. A few had mentioned the dark wizard in hushed whispers. This Voldemort was as bad as he had been—worse, maybe. The Ministry had responded in a paltry manner. A new Minister had been named based on fears that Eugenia Jenkins wouldn't be enough to counter the rising threat. Harold Minchum had a reputation for being unforgiving. There was talk that he had plans to increase security on Azkaban. His answer was dementors—darkness to counter darkness.

Gideon Prewett had snorted at that declaration. He and his brother had heard rumors that Voldemort was recruiting among magical creatures as well. He had an open treaty with the giants and had reached out to several werewolves. Surely he would continue with dementors soon—if he hadn't already.

"Remus?" She whispered to Howard, too quiet for others to hear.

"Later." He murmured. "Quietly." She nodded her agreement. Better to keep his condition secret than to announce that they had a werewolf contact so soon.

The conversation continued. Someone volunteered more information: the name of his followers. Death Eaters. Lily shuddered. She wasn't the only one looking uneasy. Names were powerful things. Already people were fearing to say Voldemort's chosen name. Others were calling him 'Lord'.

"We need a name." Fabian said abruptly, looking around at the group. "Something official."

"You're right." Benjy Fenwick exclaimed, jumping to his feet. "A damn powerful name!"

"Something catchy."

"Simple." Gideon disagreed.

"Death Eater Eaters!" His brother shouted, laughing. Lily rolled her eyes, though she grinned as well.

"Justice Corps."

"Phoenix Rising—Dumbledore has a phoenix, right?"

"Wand Order."

"Rebel Law."

"Order of the Phoenix." Howard threw it out like it was no better than the other ridiculous names, but everyone paused, looking at him.

"The Order of the Phoenix." Fabian repeated slowly, a grin spreading on his face. Everyone said it, with slow nods and a growing sense of unity.

"To the Order!" They toasted their various drinks. Lily smiled with them all, but quietly, she couldn't help but think they were cheering their own deaths. How else would this war end but in death?

Names are powerful things. With a name, they had a purpose. It cemented in everyone's bones. They had an enemy with a name and a face; they knew his followers and they knew their purpose.

It was a cold, consuming fire.

Lily threw herself into plotting and planning. Her apartment went untouched—the boxes gathered dust as she spent more and more time at the Potter mansion. She trained with Howard every day and went on missions with him at night. Most of the time, the missions were incredibly boring. They staked out key locations, monitoring the comings and goings of Death Eaters. Occasionally, it turned into a fight. Lily collected scratches from those, which Grace invariably healed with much tutting and fussing. Howard was generally less roughed up, though he claimed it was her youthful exuberance that kept him from being hit—she was busy jumping in front of the curses while he was running away.

She no longer feared running into James at the mansion. The family had a tradition of Sunday dinners, which Lily pointedly avoided; and James was never around outside of that day. So it was an incredible surprise to turn away from the kitchen counter while reading a report to run into a solid wall of young man.

"Oof." She stumbled, catching herself on the counter.

"Hello Evans." Sirius Black said coolly, crossing his arms. The blood drained from her face, because there was no hiding now. She looked past him, unable to help herself. "He's not here."

"Oh?" Her chest tightened—was it disappointment? Relief?

"What I want to know is why you are here." Sirius growled. "Last I checked this was the Potters' home, and you're not dating James anymore…"

"Right on both accounts." Lily agreed icily, stepping around him. "I'm surprised, Black. Usually your record isn't that great."

"Back to that, are you?" He grabbed her arm, jerking her back. "What the fuck, Evans?"

"You'll upset Grace if we fight."

"I said what the fuck?" Sirius exploded, shoving her roughly. "How dare you prance around here like you own the place after what you did to James?"

"What I did to him?" Lily cried, hands clenched. "Damn it—"

"You are a right piece of shit, Evans."

"Just shut up!" She shouted. "He knew better. He should have known better!"

"You destroyed him!" Sirius shouted, crowding into her. His face was dark with rage, and Lily felt tears burning in the back of her eyes. She'd done so good at not thinking about James in the last few weeks. She'd been busy with the Order and too exhausted at night to dream of him.

"You don't know anything."

"I'd offer to leave you two alone." Howard drawled from the doorway. "But that would appear to be a terrible idea." Lily jerked back, only just realizing that she'd been inches from Sirius.

"How—"

"Don't you go shouting at me, boy." He shook his head. "Evans is welcome in my house same as you."

"Why?" Sirius demanded, looking between them.

"She's a nice girl." Howard shrugged loosely, deliberately misinterpreting. "I've no reason not to welcome her."

"Oh really?" He snorted.

"If you don't approve, then you know where the door is." Howard said coldly, nodding towards it. "I have a working relationship with her, which means that she has to come here on occasion."

"You're retired."

"If you hadn't noticed, there's a war starting, Sirius. I can't afford to be retired."

"Evans isn't an auror." He bit out, determined to find a reason to see her kicked out.

"She doesn't need to be an auror to be useful." Howard snapped.

"Right." Sirius hissed, jerking towards the door. "She wouldn't be useful as one anyway." He stormed out, slamming the door in his wake. Lily closed her eyes, taking a deep breath.

"Give me one good reason not to shout at you, too." She said conversationally, rage and depression pulsing through her equally.

"I didn't know he was here." Howard shrugged. "That's the best I've got, sunshine. Shout away."

"I hate you sometimes." Lily spun on her heel, abandoning him in the kitchen. Shouting at Howard Potter would be pointless. She knew well enough the dangers of spending time in the Potter mansion. It was a wonder she hadn't run into one of the Marauder's sooner. She stalked through the mansion, unable to shake her demons. She was surrounded by James—he grew up in these hallways. He'd been very privileged; though he'd never bothered to deny it. Lily found her way into a little alcove she'd found by accident a week ago. It was high in the mansion, giving her an incredible view of the surrounding landscape.

She nestled into the spot, knowing that she had a little over an hour to pull herself together before tonight's mission.

"So am I obligated to like you now?" Black asked as he flung himself carelessly into the open seat beside her.

"No." Lily grunted, scribbling out the end of her essay furiously. Damn James for getting her so distracted yesterday. "Marlene won't be happy if you take her seat."

"Of course she'll be happy." He disagreed. "It'll give her all the chance she needs to deliver whatever speech you girls normally give to your friend's new boyfriend. I've simply spared her the effort of tracking him down."

"I'm not sure I've told her we're dating." Lily admitted sheepishly, setting her quill down.

"Oh?"

"I haven't seen any of them much." She blushed. "I've been…busy…with James."

"Busy, is it?" Black smirked. "That what the kids are calling it these days?"

"Sirius Black!" Lily cried, smacking his shoulder. "It's not just that!"

"Only mostly." His smirk widened as she sputtered. For once, he got the upper hand on her.

"Running her off already?" James demanded, stopping beside his best friend with his arms crossed.

"Nope." Black bounced to his feet. "Just keeping your seat warm for you Prongsie."

"Sure, sure." James sat cautiously, clearly expecting some sort of prank. Lily tensed, wondering if it had all been a ruse. But nothing happened, and after a minute, James shrugged and relaxed. "Running off?" He asked anxiously.

"Not yet." She grinned. "But Marlene won't be happy you're in her seat."

"Where is she anyway? Usually she's ridiculously early."

"And you know this…why?"

"Erm…" James coughed, cheeks reddening.

"Potter."

"I may or may not have stalked her habits in hopes of trying to sit by you." He said really fast, wincing in the process. Lily narrowed her eyes at him, but quickly decided it wasn't worth fighting over. He hadn't managed to sit by her in over a year.

"You make a very poor stalker." She said, patting his shoulder sympathetically.

"Hey!"

"What? You want to be a good stalker?" She laughed, aware that they were drawing stares from their classmates. Marlene was across the room, gaping at them with her mouth hanging open. Clearly, Lily hadn't mentioned her new boyfriend yet. James ruffled his hair nervously, saved from having to talk himself out of stalking ability by McGonagall's arrival. Lily smiled to herself, unsurprised to have a note fly over to her when McGonagall's back was turned.

What the hell? And I mean really. WHAT. THE. HELL. !

Lily looked around James, sending a broad wink towards Marlene. She gestured furiously towards the paper in Lily's hand, obviously wanting some manner of response. Just because it was fun to make Marlene squirm, Lily deliberately shrugged and went back to paying attention to the lesson.

EVANS YOU ARE KILLING ME!

"Popular, are you?" James whispered as Lily choked down laughter. She showed him the two notes, and he snorted as well.

"She's incorrigible." Lily shook her head slightly, watching as James glanced across the room as well. Marlene was still staring. His gaze went to the front of the room, and Lily almost went back to her notes, assuming that he would do the same. Instead, he twisted quickly, planting a quick, chaste kiss on her lips. Lily started to reach for him before remembering that they were in the middle of class. "You're incorrigible." She grumbled. James winked broadly.

You just made Marlene faint.

James did much worse at containing himself. He barked out a laugh, drawing attention to them as he showed her Sirius' note. Indeed, Marlene was picking herself up off the floor, slinking back into her seat with a red face. Lily choked down laughter, unable to say anything in response to McGonagall's scolding. It was her first detention in two years, but as soon as the professor's back was turned, she leaned over to give her boyfriend a quick kiss. She felt like she was floating on air.

Marlene accosted her as they were leaving the class, dragging her none too gently back to Gryffindor tower for a "much needed talking to." Lily was giggling the entire way, flying too high to be brought down by confused friends.

"Was that a prank?" Marlene demanded as soon as the door was shut to the dorm. "Did he pay you to do that?"

"No." Lily couldn't stop smiling. "We're dating."

"You…" Her mouth dropped open, and Lily's grin widened. "'I hate that stupid boy, Marle.'" She quoted in an exaggerated high-pitched voice. "'I'd rather date the giant squid than that prat'! What the bloody hell happened to you, Lily?"

"He grew up." She defended. "He's been really great to work with this year, and I decided to give him a chance."

"A chance? Lily Evans giving James Potter a chance? No way. Uh-uh, I'm not buying it. Details, bitch."

"It was an accident, really." Lily sighed, sitting on Marlene's bed. "Snape—"

"It's Snape now, too?"

"He kissed me."

"Oh gross." Marlene gagged. "What did you do?"

"Bolted." Lily shrugged, looking away. "I dunno what possessed him, and he wouldn't stop—"

"He raped you?"

"No! Merlin, Marlene, he's not that bad!" She couldn't help but defend Snape. She shook her head fiercely. "I told him to stop, and he didn't, so I stunned him."

"Good girl."

"Marlene!" Lily scowled. "Do you want to know what happened or not?"

"Is this all relevant?" She snorted.

"Yes, because I went running from the dungeons and practically right into James' arms." She felt herself blushing, though this time, Marlene didn't try to interrupt. "I didn't tell him what happened for a week—really, I didn't mean to tell him at all, but… I wanted to get back at Snape, so I asked James to help me prank him."

"You didn't."

"I did, but we haven't actually gotten that far yet." Lily frowned, distracted. She'd forgotten all about pranking Snape since she'd started dating James. "I asked Potter, and then sort of started walking away, because he started asking about that day. He stopped, and we went down to Hogsmeade."

"A date?"

"No! It was not a date." Lily snarled, though immediately thought her denial was too fierce for how that night ended. "Or at least it wasn't supposed to be. I ordered firewhiskey—"

"Oh honey, haven't I taught you anything?"

"No you haven't. So we both got pretty drunk, and James had some good ideas for pranks. I don't even remember how we got to it, but I told him that Snape kissed me; and then James kissed me. And…"

"You banged him in the Three Broomsticks?" Marlene guessed dryly.

"I'm not that crude." Lily snapped. "We were in his bed, at least." Her face was on fire. Marlene stopped with her mouth open to fire a retort. She gaped for a minute. "We sort of…slept together and then in the morning…" Lily waved a hand loosely. "It took us a few weeks to really sit down and talk about it. Then we decided to date, and yeah."

"You had sex with him." Marlene said flatly. "And based your decision to date on how shaggable he is? Sweetie…darling… Do you remember last year? When I had my fling with Sirius Black and pretended to date him so we could keep shagging?"

"This is different."

"How?" Marlene demanded. "It's not that I'm not happy for you, Lily; but it sounds like you're making a terrible mistake here. I get it. Potter has been on your case for years, and I've heard all the talk too. He's supposedly great in bed, and I know you have needs too."

"Marle…"

"Don't make my mistakes, Lily!" She cried. "It's not enough to base a relationship on sex!"

"It's not just that." Lily argued, though there had been an awful lot of it in the last few weeks.

"Have you gone out on a real date?" Marlene asked, frowning. "I haven't seen you holding hands in the hallway. This is the first day you've been at all cutesie with him."

"Have I ever been cutesie with a guy?" She rolled her eyes. "And yes, we've gone back to Hogsmeade for a legitimate date. I'm happy, Marlene. Can't you just be happy for me?"

"You've hated him for a long time, Lily." She shrugged. "It's weird that you're like this now. I'll be happy for you if you're sure this is what you want."

"I'm very sure." Lily said firmly. But her mind was chasing itself in circles now. She excused herself quickly, wondering. Was it more than just sex? He hadn't really done anything extravagant yet. They'd gone to the Three Broomsticks once, but it had been a half-hearted effort at a date. They'd been shirking duties, enjoying a butterbeer rather than patrolling.

"What is this?" Black cried dramatically, flinging himself down on the couch beside her. "One of the great Heads descending from on high to mingle—"

"Bugger off, Black." Lily growled. "This isn't the first time I've been in the Gryffindor common room if you hadn't noticed."

"Heads' dorm is nicer." Peter shrugged, flopping down on an armchair. He shook his hair back with a sigh. "Though this is mighty nice."

"Hey, Lily." Remus settled on the other armchair, retrieving a book from his bag.

"Hi, Remus. How are you?" The full moon was only two days away. She could see tension in his body.

"Same old story." He shrugged. "Well enough, I suppose."

"Oi! Why do you call him 'Remus' and all I get is 'Black'?" Sirius demanded, scowling. "I'll have you know that Sirius is a perfectly wonderful name."

"If you like stars and puns." Lily wrinkled her nose. "I dunno, Black. Some habits are hard to break."

"Come on Lily, if you're going to be dating Prongs, then I demand some respect here."

"Sure thing Padfoot." She yawned, hoping that she wasn't overstepping herself by using his nickname. "But you know, I could really use some help."

"Oh great." Sirius rolled his eyes. "Here come the demands."

"I want to prank Snape." Lily announced, noticing that both Remus and Sirius tensed. "James and I keep getting distracted." She continued, almost regretting bringing it up. Something happened that she didn't know about.

"Looking for help, are you?" Sirius asked with forced casualness.

"Pranking seems to be your area of expertise." She shrugged. "Consider it my price."

"Price for what?"

"This." From the pocket of her cloak, Lily retrieved the Marauder's Map. All three of them started upright. "I nicked it from James about a week ago."

"So that's where it went." Sirius grumbled, coiled like he meant to rip it from her hands.

"He told me you were having trouble with the last bit of the magic." Lily stated, guessing that she was getting him in trouble with his friends. Sirius was looking rather murderous. "I solemnly swear I'm up to no good." Lily touched the tip of her wand to the parchment, enjoying the way the ink appeared and curved through the Map. Then, with a half glance to make sure Sirius wasn't going to punch her, Lily unfolded the Map.

"Merlin's shaggy pants!" He breathed, reaching without touching. His fingers hovered over the Map, eyes locked on the figures moving around. "You made it work."

"I'm good at Charms." Lily shrugged, feeling inordinately proud of herself.

"I think I'm in love." Sirius gasped with a half laugh. He snatched the Map, leaping up to go running out of the common room. Lily watched him go with a smile, vowing to never mention her intention to prank Snape again.

"You know, you've already gotten to Snivellus." Peter commented, looking at her with a half-smile.

"What?"

"You're dating James, aren't you?" He nodded slowly, waiting for her to catch on. Lily frowned, not understanding. "Snivellus won't be able to stand that. He hates James." Her mouth fell open because Peter was completely right. She couldn't have found a better way to hurt Snape if she tried. But… The victory wasn't as sweet as she wanted it to be. She felt terrible.

"That's not why I'm dating James." She said quietly.

"That's blindingly obvious." Remus laughed, sinking back into his chair. "You wouldn't look at him like that if this was all a ruse."

Look at him like what? Lily frowned, feeling like she was missing something. But the portrait hole swung open to reveal James and Sirius. They were a pair of excited schoolchildren over the success of the Map. James lifted her right off the couch, spun her around, and kissed her soundly right there in the middle of the common room. Lily laughed somewhat breathlessly, ignoring all the stares they were attracting. Lily Evans was kissing James Potter and laughing openly with the Marauders. The world was surely ending.