Disclaimer: You know the drill.

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"You will what now?" Moody asked, not having heard what James said since he was busy scrubbing his wooden foot with slime from an apple snail.

James looked at the wooden foot with disgust "I'll do the… the assignment for Dumbledore…" he answered a little dazed out, watching Moody taking the slime that had hit the table and sniffing it up his nostril.

"Keeps my head straight, Healer recommended…" He answered when he saw the look on James' face. "But what did you say?" Moody then asked fixing his eye on James "You'll do it?"

"Yes." He simply answered.

"The last time we talked I got the impression that you weren't interested… what changed your mind?"

"Nothing, I guess I just… I just want to do my part." James answered shrugging, not wanting to pour his heart out to his boss.

Moody stared at him for a minute and then replied "All right, seeing as it is now Saturday and your notice was on Friday, yesterday that is…" He said, looking thoughtful out the window "… oh, never mind. I'll send Dumbledore an owl and give you information about the assignment and you will be contacted when we need you. Go home now Potter, get some rest, say you goodbyes…" He trailed off observing him with his normal eye

James who had been distracted by the little apple snails moving all over the desk leaving long lines of slime, the whole time Moody had spoke plus he wasn't quite sober yet answered "What? Oh right. Yeah. Okay. Will do bossman." He gave his boss a wink as he stood up and walked across the room to the door.

As he opened it he heard Moody's voice again "Oh and Potter?"

"Yes sir?"

"Don't ever wink at me again, understood?"

"Yes sir" James answered slightly blushing as he closed the door.

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When James got home he immediately took a shower, as he stood there letting the warm water splash down on the back of his head, neck and back, his mind kept drifting over to Lily. 'Did she really mean what she said? She was never the kind of person who'd hurt someone deliberately. Well except for that one time…' He thought to himself as the bathroom got steamier and steamier.

He started thinking of his last day at Hogwarts…

-Flashback-

"Are you all right Lily?" A young James asked his girlfriend, "You've been acting kind of odd for a while now…" He said, putting his arm around her shoulder and looking down at her.

"Wha… oh, yes, yes I'm fine." She answered a little distracted, looking over the grounds, "It's a beautiful day, everyone seems to be outside and in a good mood…" She said changing the topic and gesturing over to a group of third years chatting and playing Exploding Snap.

It was true, everyone had gone out to enjoy their last day, students from all Houses and years were outside doing something, reading, playing wizard chess or just laying on the ground with their friends and talking.

James had noticed a change in Lily over the last month or so, he'd just figured it had something to with the N.E. coming and everything. But still, even after the exams she'd just acted weirder with every passing day.

"Yeah… hey, let's sit down here." He replied, eyeing a spot near the lake that wasn't taken.

He grinned as they took a seat and said "You do know where we are sitting don't you?"

Lily looked around for a second trying to place the spot in her mind until she realized and gave a slight smile,

"Of course I know… this is our spot."

He took her hand in his and gave it a peck. "Yep, this is our spot. Where we had our first date, right?"

"I believe so." She said looking at him with an odd expression.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" James asked her warily, still smiling.

"Studying your face… remembering it." She answered, seriously, memorizing the color of his eyes, his unruly hair, the way his nose bent a little bit to the right after having it broken by a Quaffle on his first Quidditch practice. His hands, his arms, his torso, his shoulders, his neck until she got to his face again.

She got up on her knees and kissed him on the forehead, the nose and finally on the mouth.

"I love you." She told him, still close to his face. The way she said it frightened James a bit. Sure, they had told each that they loved each other before, but there was something in the manner she said it that was so sincere it almost wasn't true.

"And I love you." He whispered back, giving her an Eskimo kiss, rubbing their noses together.

"Hey you know what we haven't done in a while?" He asked her after a minute of silence, smirking. Before Lily could answer he jumped on top of her and started tickling her.

"No! No! James, stop!" She managed to squeal out and he stopped.

"Oh and why would I do that? It's so fun watching you squirm underneath me." He said laughing.

"Just do it!" She told him struggling beneath him.

"What's the magical word, darling?"

"Will you please get off me?" Lily tried in a fake fluffy tone.

"Okay…" He rolled off of her onto his side, "You've been acting weird lately, are you sure you're all right?" James asked her in a serious manner, playing with her hair.

"Oh, you know. N.E.W.T.s and stuff…" She answered looking up at the sky.

The lay there in silence for a while, until James broke it saying, "Lily, I've been thinking-" but he was cut off when Lily interrupted him.

"I think we should break up."

He lay still for a moment, processing what she just said, "You what?" he asked her, sitting up and looking at her.

"I just… I just don't think it's a good idea to be in a serious relationship right now. I'm not ready for this kind of commitment…" She answered sitting up as well.

"What are you talking about? Serious relationship? We've been going out since September last year!" He nearly yelled.

"Yes, that's what I'm saying! I don't want a marriage and a house right away!" She yelled back not meeting his eyes.

"When have we ever talked about marriage? Or buying a house?"

"I just want to free and independent!" Lily screamed, getting up and storming away. She stopped and turned around a few feet away from James who had gotten up as well, and added "We… this thing between us… it's over!" She turned around again and kept on storming away.

"Fine!" He yelled at her back, not even sure if she could hear him or if she cared. He grabbed a stone and threw it in the lake, making the Giant Squid throw its arms into the air.

He looked up into the sky and over the grounds. The sun was still shining, but he didn't feel warm at all, and the students were still lying, spread all over, tanning and chatting.

'How can anyone enjoy such a dark day?' He asked himself mentally, walking over to his friends who were sitting in the shadow of a tall tree, playing some sort of game and rolling around laughing.

-End Flashback-

When James came around, there was so much steam, he couldn't see his hands.

He sighed and turned the water off, the second he did so he heard someone knocking on the door. He quickly grabbed his bathrobe and ran to the door, where he greeted none other than his old Headmaster, Albus Dumbledore.

"Good evening, James," The old man said, smiling with his eyes through his spectacles.

"Oh, hello Professor." James answered slightly surprised, seeing as he hadn't quite expected the visit.

"Ah, did I come at a bad time?" Dumbledore asked looking at James amused, which was to be expected, James was soaking wet and squinting his eyes at his old professor as he wasn't wearing his glasses.

"No, not at all. Please come in Professor." He gestured and moved so Albus could walk into the apartment.

"Oh, call me Albus, no need for that 'Professor' title outside the school."

"Right, okay," James answered "Please do sit down. Make yourself comfortable, I'm just going to go and get dressed." James told the old man and pointed over to the sofa on his way to the bedroom.

When he got back out, moments later with his back on, he asked, "Do you want anything to drink? Butterbeer? Tea?"

"Some tea would be nice, yes, thank you." Dumbledore nodded. James waved his wand and a kettle, milk jug, two cups and a bowl filled with sugar cubes appeared on the table.

"You are probably wondering why I'm here," Dumbledore said knowingly, as James poured tea into their cups.

"Well, yes." He answered with a slight blush.

"I received an owl from Moody this morning," Dumbledore began "saying that I would have to find another wizard for my task."

James listened intently to what Dumbledore was saying, stirring his tea.

"So you can imagine my surprise when I received another owl an hour ago, saying that there was no need for another wizard." He continued. "And James, I have to say I feel very confident when I say that this assignment I'm giving to you could lead to the destruction of Voldemort."

James coughed up his tea hearing Dumbledore saying that, "You want me to… to murder Voldemort?"

"Oh, no. No James, I don't want you to murder him. I need you to destroy him. It isn't enough to just kill him, he must be destroyed and you, James, are the most qualified young Auror here in England," Dumbledore said calmly but firmly, taking a sip of his tea. When he saw the frozen look on James' face he went on "Of course you'll have help, do you remember Frank Longbottom? A Gryffindor and a few years older than you." James nodded, he remembered Frank very well. He'd been a fourth year when James first started Hogwarts and helped him pass Herbology during his first three years at Hogwarts.

"You will be their protage."

"But, they're much more qualified. They have a lot more experience out on the field than I-" James started but Dumbledore interrupted "Hence the training you will receive."

They sat in silence for a minute before Dumbledore continued "I know this is short notice, but the training starts tomorrow. We just received new information on Voldemort's plans so the training will have to be quick and start as soon as possible."

James merely nodded, since he was a little overwhelmed by all the confidence and trust Dumbledore put in him.

"Well, I will be taking my leave now." Dumbledore said.

When they had gotten up and were at the door Dumbledore put his hand on James' shoulder and told him "Don't worry James, everything will make sense sooner than you think." His light blue eyes sparkling with wisdom and sincerity.

James gave him a small smile and a slight nod and soon Dumbledore was gone.

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James had sat in the same chair, staring out the window for what seemed like hours. It was snowing. The first snow of the season, he and Sirius had a tradition, they'd always go outside on the first day of snow and have major snowball fight, they had done it ever since they started Hogwarts, even if it was at nighttime they'd just sneak out using James' Invisibility Cloak. They even did it last year. Sirius had apparated into his apartment screaming "It's started snowing!" at three o'clock in the morning.

James smiled at the memory. He stood up, fetched a quill and a handful of pargement, he was going to write letters to his friends and family, saying that he was going to do this and that for Dumbledore.

When he'd written letters to Sirius, Remus, Peter and his parents, there was one piece of pargement left lying on the table.

'Should I?' He thought to himself 'Would she want me to after everything?' He didn't get a chance to answer his own question as someone knocked on the door for the second time that evening.

James handed the four letters to his owl, opened the window, let it out and then made his way to the door.

When he opened it he could see a pair of emerald eyes, surrounded by a heap of dark red wavy hair. It was Lily.

"Good evening James," She said shyly after moments of awkward silence "may I come in?"

He opened the door slightly and headed over on to the couch. Lily closed the door behind her and took of her coat. "It's freezing outside" She tried but James simply looked at her with a confounded expression.

"It's funny how I always end up hunting you down and apologizing." She tried again this time taking a seat on the couch next to James, smiling with a shy smile.

He couldn't help but smile back at her and taking a few strands of her hair and tucking them behind her frozen ears.

"Oh, sorry." He apologized when he realized what he'd done. "No, don't be." Lily quickly answered.

They sat awkwardly and the tension that was between them could be cut with a knife.

"I'm sorry!" She finally broke the silence, turning to face James, wrapping her hands around his. "I'm so, so, sorry. I can't believe I acted the way I did! You know me. I don't have fits like that." 'True…' James thought to himself and she continued. "I was just hurt and I was scared for you. I just panicked and I have no excuses for the things I said. I didn't mean them. I want you to be a part of Anna's life." Tears were now rolling down her cheeks.

He brushed away her tears with his thumbs and cupped her face with his hands.

"Look at me," he said. "It was my fault-"

"No! It was entirely my fault James." Lily interrupted him, grabbing his upper arms the tiny tears still running slowly down her cheeks.

"I should have told you about the whole thing," He began, "but I forgot and I'm really sorry for that, you were right, it was incredibly irresponsible of me. So what about agreeing on that you're the smart one and I'm the git?" He offered, smiling, making Lily chuckle.

James continued "I would like to be a part of Anna's life. Can't have Sirius and you raising a child, imagine what she'd be like in a few years…" They both laughed at the last comment, James still cupping her face and Lily still grasping his upper arms tightly.

"Would you like to be a part of mine too?" She asked, looking him straight in the eyes, her eyes still tearful.

The only response James could think of was to kiss her and so he did.

The kiss quickly deepened, and it became very clear what it was leading to.

He picked her up, she wrapped her legs around him and he walked into the bedroom, still kissing her and kicking the door shut behind him.

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When Lily woke up the next morning, she found herself alone in the apartment.

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Longest chapter by far... leave your thoughts.

-BK