Chapter 10 – Hogsmeade

Lily woke up to an annoying buzzing in her ears. It was slowly driving her crazy, like it did nearly every morning. She immediately reached blindly behind the couch for her wand before ridding herself of the awful sound. When she opened her bright green eyes and focused a bit, she realized she was still sitting on James' lap, relaxing comfortably on his chest. Being more awake and having more light in the Heads' common room made her quickly realize her state of undress. She couldn't believe she hadn't thought of that earlier and was certain she was blushing. She closed her eyes to force herself to relax and stop blushing before shifting her weight so she could look at him. He was her boyfriend after all, and there was technically nothing wrong with him seeing her in her pajamas. She smiled slowly as she looked at his sleeping face. He really was incredibly good-looking, especially when he was asleep. She had only seen him without his glasses a handful of times, but she thought he looked good with or without them. Her hand gently grazed his cheek, and she was surprised to feel stubble on his face. It suited him in some way. She had never seen him that way before, but it made him look ruggedly handsome. She would have to remember to tell him that at some point; not that she wanted him to leave the stubble on all of the time and have even more females wish that he was dating them instead of her. She sighed dreamily for a moment, something she had never done before in her life. How come he was interested in her? How'd she get so lucky?

Lily forced herself to try and concentrate on her problem at hand. She was sure he must be exhausted still, but how was she going to get up without waking him? Hadn't this been why she had stayed on his lap to begin with? She gently turned her body a bit so she was no longer facing him and slid her legs so they were almost touching the floor. She was just about to maneuver her weight off of him gently when she heard him groan, "Owww, that hurts."

Lily immediately looked back at him guiltily, but couldn't say she was truly sorry when his arms tightened around her a bit, pulling her back to what must've been a more comfortable position for him. "Sorry. I was trying not to wake you up."

He just nodded sleepily at her with his eyes still closed. "That's ok. What time is it?"

Lily's brow furrowed. "About ten til eight. I can wake you back up in a little bit if you like."

Surprisingly, James shook his head and his hazel eyes began trying to focus on her. "Nah, I should be there for mail because I haven't received my Gringotts letter yet."

She nodded. "Well, then we best get a move on."

He agreed and reluctantly helped her get up. "Do you know where my…" He didn't even finish his sentence before she handed him his glasses. "Thanks."

Lily smiled at him. "Are you sure you're going to be alright today? You've only slept for barely an hour."

James grinned at her and ran one of his hands over the side of her face. "I'll be fine. Now, go get ready."

He watched Lily walk off to her room before heading to his room to shower again to wake up some more. It didn't take him long to get ready and within about fifteen minutes or so, James found himself waiting for Lily in the Heads' common room. He had sucked it up and took a pepperup potion that he had lying around in his room before he hopped into the shower. He was still tired, but at least the potion masked the tired feeling for a while. After a few more minutes, he was bored enough to ask, "Lillllllly, what exactly are you doing in there? I know you can charm your hair dry."

Within seconds of him saying that, her door flew open, and she was giving him one of her looks. James slowly smiled at her and wasn't even embarrassed as he looked her up and down. She was already dressed in her school robe; she was wearing a skirt with a blouse, sweater, and tie; her hair was flowing around her sweetly; and her beautiful green eyes were flashing at him playfully. As much as he hated it when she was mad at him, she was drop dead gorgeous when she was angry. "Watch it, Potter. I have to get all my shit together because I didn't do it last night. Now, quit being smart."

And with that, she walked back into her room to continue packing her satchel for classes that day, but she left the door open so he could still talk to her. James walked a little closer to her room, but kept his distance. A woman's room was dangerous territory. Lauren had told him that. "Awww, my beautiful flower is a bit grumpy this morning. I thought that would be me, but a pepperup does wonders."

Lily looked over her shoulder at him and couldn't help smiling when he was looking at her the way he was. "I'm not grumpy. And you can come in my room you know. I don't mind."

James was happy that she trusted him, but he frowned as he waved his hand near her door. "Well, that's awfully nice of you, but I'm afraid I can't go into your room."

Lily looked up at him in surprise. "There's a ward?" She paused for a moment, but then shrugged and continued, "Well, I know you can probably remove it, and I trust you. It's no big deal."

James was taken aback by her words and was both touched and pleased that she felt that way about him. However, that still didn't change the fact that he could do nothing about the ward. "I'm honored that you trust me, Lils, but I'm afraid this ward is different from the Gryffindor one." Lily watched as he looked over her doorframe and waved his hand over some of it. "I think technically anyone could get into your room, but there's something…I think that if you're a male, like myself, you would have to be…I wanna say genuinely worried or concerned about you or your well-being in order to enter. It's not a normal ward so it would probably take some time to research how to get rid of it. The Gryffindor one took me awhile, but I eventually found documentation on it. This one looks to be the work of Dumbledore so it would be harder to decipher. He likes to be tricky."

Lily was surprised he could tell all that by merely observing the door and using his hand. It was something she had only ever seen Dumbledore do. "You can tell all that?"

James shrugged as he continued looking over her doorway. "I've studied a bunch of different wards, including most of the obvious things to look for. Believe it or not but Dumbledore has personal wards all over the castle that the Marauders have come across so I know his style, even if I can't always get around it. I've even created a few wards myself that have passwords and no one could break even if I was dying inside of it. I'm pretty sure I'm correct. Since I'm not at all worried about you or your well-being at the moment, in the way that it wants anyway, I can't come in. See?"

She watched as he tried to force his hand through the door, but there seemed to be an invisible wall or barrier he couldn't get through. "Oh well. At least I know Sirius will never get in if he's ever in the Heads' common room without me."

James snickered. "Yeah. Trust me when I say that's a good thing."

Lily grabbed her satchel and threw the strap over her head and onto her shoulder. "Ready?"

James stepped away from the doorway so she could come out of her room. "When you are, my lady."

He offered her his arm, which she took, and then they made their way down to the Great Hall. As soon as they walked in, they headed toward where the Marauders usually sat. Christina and Lauren now tended to sit over there more often because of Lily. As they were walking in, Lily was surprised to see Severus looking at her furiously. She whispered up toward James, "James, why is Severus looking so pissed off with me?"

James glanced out of the corner of his eye to see what she meant without making it obvious. After a minute, his sleep-deprived mind seemed to catch on. "Oh, that's easy." He leaned down and kissed her forehead before whispering in her ear, "You're not angry with me."

She smiled over at him as they sat down. "Oh yeah, I forgot."

Sirius looked up at her as she sat down. "Forgot what, Red?"

James, Peter, Lauren, and Christina all stifled their laughter at what must be Lily's new nickname from Sirius. Lily narrowed her eyes. "Nothing. What's with this Red business?"

Sirius shrugged and spoke like it was obvious, "You call me Black so I'm gonna call you Red."

That did it. They all started laughing. Lily was the only one not amused yet. "Colors? How original. Black is your last name though."

Sirius just flashed her his famously handsome grin and winked at her. "And Red is the color of your hair, darling."

Lily guffawed, but eventually sighed. "At least it's nothing worse than that I suppose."

No one could add anything because the mail began to arrive. Owls upon owls entered the Great Hall. James appeared put off as an owl flew past him dropping something on his head before landing calmly and orderly in front of Lauren. Lauren laughed and offered the owl some bacon. "That's a good owl, King."

James scowled as he grabbed the letter that had fallen into his breakfast. "He's still upset over me choosing to keep Matty as my owl, Lauren. It's not funny, and you shouldn't encourage him. He's being ridiculous, even if he was Mum and Dad's owl for seven years. Plus, I told him to be your owl so it's not like he doesn't have an owner now."

Lauren just looked over at him amused, before leaning across the table to say softly, "He just likes me better than you, Jimmy."

James rolled his eyes and was about to retort, but stopped in surprise when Matty landed in front of him as well. "Hey Matty, you have something for me too? Wow."

James began looking over his letters after giving Matty a snack. He finally got his letter from Gringotts that he would open when he was by himself, but there was also a letter from some financial advisor person who was talking to him about stocks and assets he must also now own. He supposed he would have to set up an appointment with whoever that was because Dumbledore never mentioned any of that. After a few minutes, he seemed to sense that something was wrong with Lily. No one else had seemed to notice, as everyone continued to talk animatedly around them, but he just knew. When he looked next to him, he noticed she was sitting quietly, not eating, and was looking at two letters that she had gotten from her owl, Greta. She was absentmindedly feeding Greta some toast, but her eyes never left her letters. "Lils? What did you get? Are you ok?"

Lily jumped a bit at his voice, but calmed when she felt his hand rub her back gently. She didn't say anything, but slid them over so he could see. She hadn't opened them yet, but he noticed one was from her parents (which wasn't that un-ordinary), but the other was from her sister, Petunia. He frowned. "You should read them. It could be important."

Lily sighed and nodded. She gently ripped open the two letters and began reading them both. James watched her quietly and was unsure of how to gauge what was in the letters. Lily's face was one of shock, disgust, hurt, anger, and confusion. He figured he would never understand how girls could feel so many emotions at once. "Well?"

Lily was quietly fuming. "My sister is getting married."

James could tell by her face that this was not a good thing. By this time, the others had finally begun to notice. Sirius frowned at seeing her so upset. "What's wrong, Red? Isn't marriage a good thing?"

Christina looked over at her in surprise. "Wait a minute, didn't you tell me she was dating this total loser just because he was quote unquote 'normal' and she could do so much better if she actually had any sense at all?"

Lily frowned. She could no longer keep in what she was feeling. "Oh, he's a total dunderhead. Not only is she about to make the worst mistake of her life by marrying the git, but she tells me I have to be a bridesmaid only because my Mum is making her. A BRIDESMAID IN PINK, no less. Did I mention that I have red hair and will look so stupid? How about the fact that my parents can't wait for me to come home for Christmas so we can do this whole introduce him to the family thing while my sister is telling me not to come home at all because she doesn't want him to have to deal with anything UNNATURAL! UGGHHH! Why must she treat me like I'm some sort of a freak? I'm just as normal as she is. Well, almost."

Sirius, Peter, Christina, and Lauren were a little surprised by her outburst, but James just put his hands gently on her shoulders to calm her down a bit, and she instantly deflated. "It'll be alright, Lily. I still think Sirius will be able to help you best."

Sirius sighed, not altogether surprised by James' recommendation to speak with him. He wordlessly silenced the air around all of them. "So you have problems with family too, huh? Did you and your sister used to get along?"

When he saw Lily nod, Sirius sighed again. "Reg and I used to get along too. We still tolerate each other and I don't hex him if I can avoid it, but our relationship became strained when I was sorted into Gryffindor. My parents actually demanded a re-sorting to be done the very next day, which obviously didn't work, seeing as I still ended up in Gryffindor. Reg, being younger than me, was force fed a bunch of pure-blood hoopla while I was away at school to ensure that he would not fail where I apparently did. I don't necessarily believe Reg buys into everything as much as he pretends to, but let's just say that Reg has no backbone and does whatever people tell him to do, especially my hag of a mother. Now we rarely speak, if ever, and I resent him for not standing up for himself. I'm sure you resent her for not being open-minded, am I right?"

Lily was horrified to hear all this from Sirius about his crazy family; not to mention, seeing Sirius acting serious was a new thing unto itself. She nodded at his observation. She definitely was angry because Petunia could not accept who she was, even if it was a witch. "I just wish that we could go back to the way we were."

Sirius sadly shook his head. "That you'll have to let go of. There is no going back. We all are the way we are, and now we all have to make the best out of what's in front of us. My best advice is to write her back and encourage her to continue writing. Talk about normal things for her until she gets comfortable hearing about magical things. As much as we all are wizards and witches, we all feel similarly and do a lot of the same things that muggles do. As for the bridesmaid thing…" She laughed when he made a face. "I hope you don't mind wearing pink for an afternoon."

Lily gave him a smile. "Thanks, Black."

Sirius smiled at her before returning to eat and chatting with Peter. "No biggie."

James had been innocently reading her parents' letter as they talked. "Hey Lily, I just thought of something."

Lily looked over at him as he continued scrutinizing her parents' letter. "What's that?"

James furrowed his brow. "Well, this main dinner thing with your parents and aunt and uncle is the first weekend everyone goes home. Sirius, Lauren, maybe Remus too, and I are heading to Potter Manor just for that weekend, but then we are all coming back here for the rest of break. We already signed up on those lists we put up for those that intend to remain at Hogwarts over break. Why don't you do the same? That way, you wouldn't disappoint your parents and would go to the dinner, but you also don't have to stay the whole time and suffer with your sister who will be parading her idiot fiancée around over the holidays. You could celebrate Christmas at Hogwarts with us."

Lily actually smiled. "That's not a bad idea, but only if you…"

James eyed her warily. "Only if I what?"

Lily smirked. "Only if you keep me company at this stupid dinner thing. My parents will have my three annoying girl cousins come along, most likely with dates of their own; my boring aunt and uncle will be there, of course; then there's my sister who hates me, her stupid fiancée, and finally my parents. That leaves me all alone."

James sighed, knowing that he would probably never deny her anything anyway. "Despite how scary that sounds, I wouldn't want to leave you alone in that mess so I promise to make it my personal duty to ensure you smile and have a good time."

Lily kissed his cheek. "Thanks."

James just smiled back at her. "Anything for you."

They all eventually made it to double Potions that morning. Lily was used to Slughorn constantly praising her work, but today it was just getting old. She knew she was good at Potions. There was just something about it that she enjoyed, and she seemed to have a knack for identifying minor adjustments to make potions work even better than the text suggested. However, he didn't have to constantly embarrass her for making a perfect potion each class. Today especially, considering Severus was already practically seething at her. She knew Severus was almost as good at Potions as she was, but Slughorn didn't really care and never gave him the time of day. The only upside of being a Slughorn favorite was that she could say whatever she wanted to him and never get detention. He always had a soft spot for his favorites. James would just smile at her whenever she gave Slughorn a cheeky reply and she was aware that he knew she didn't like the attention. He wasn't that bad at Potions either, but only when he took the time to pay attention. When he was distracted, which happened more often than not due to Sirius talking to him or him staring at her, his potions tended to have a missing ingredient or too much of an ingredient somewhere. At least nothing of his had exploded yet this year.

After lunch, they had double Charms. Lily loved Charms class. It didn't matter what they were learning, but she could usually do it within the first five minutes of attempting the spell. All of her additional reading seemed to work wonders for her Charms spell work. James and the rest of them never seemed to have that much trouble in Charms either. Peter always struggled a bit, but James or Sirius would take a minute to help him catch up. Lily and Christina headed to Arithmancy after that, but she was sure the boys were just going to go nap.

Remus returned around dinnertime. He was looking rather pale and, if possible, skinnier than the last time Lily had seen him, but other than that, he looked alright. James and Sirius had quidditch practice that evening, and they were gone a while. When James finally returned to the Heads' common room, he looked wiped. He took a shower before coming out to do Heads' patrol with her. Lily wasn't sure he should even bother going because he definitely needed to sleep. "James, I can do patrol by myself. You should go to sleep."

James just shrugged and took her hand. "Nah. I like spending time with you. Besides, I'll just sleep really good tonight."

Lily sighed. He was so stubborn. "As long as you're not still tired on Saturday. Even if you have tomorrow to catch up, I'm not sure it'll be enough. I have lots of shopping to do, and I'm going to drag you around with me to do it."

James laughed. "That's alright. I have shopping to do too, you know. I just have to get stuff for the guys and Lauren. I think anyway."

Lily gave him a mischievous smile. "What about me?"

James gave her a mysterious smile in return. "Oh, I already have your gift covered, Lils. I actually did that a few days ago."

Lily was surprised. "Really? I'm impressed."

James grinned. "I do have my moments."

They continued on their way and eventually sent five students back to their dormitories with a couple points off for being out after hours. By the time they got back to the Heads' common room, James looked exhausted. He gave her a quick goodnight kiss before heading off to his room. "Goodnight, beautiful."

Lily shook her head at him as he disappeared. She couldn't believe he was so stubborn. "Night, James."

When Lily woke up on Saturday morning, she was amazed Friday had gone by so fast. She was instantly in a state of frenzy. She was going to Hogsmeade with James in less than an hour. What the hell was she going to wear? After a quick shower, she frantically started searching through all of her muggle clothes. Sure, James had seen her dressed normally before, but this was the first time he'd see her that way when they were together as a couple. That made a huge difference. After what seemed to be way too long, she settled on her favorite jeans and a midnight blue v-neck jumper. She put on some make-up, charmed her hair dry, and eventually found her winter coat buried in her trunk. She was going through her wizarding money when she heard James knock on her door. "Lils? Breakfast is almost over. Are you almost ready?"

Lily's eyes widened when she realized it was that late. She threw her money into her coat and hurried out the door. "I'm ready. Sorry."

James just let out a whistle and was looking at her with wide eyes. "Wow. You didn't have to dress up for me Lily, but feel free to do it anytime."

Lily just gave him a coy smile. "Ok, I did it for Remus then."

James narrowed his eyes and grabbed her as she tried to run away from him as she laughed. "That's not very funny."

Lily just continued giggling as he held her against him. He leaned over and kissed her gently. "You look beautiful. You always look beautiful."

Lily sighed. He was looking at her like he could watch her all day. Well, she supposed he did watch her all day. "You don't look so bad yourself."

James just looked down at his clothes under his coat. He was wearing jeans and a black button down shirt. "Ehhh…"

Lily just shook her head at him and grabbed his hand. He knew he looked good. "Come on. Let's go grab some food before we leave."

They both made their way to the Great Hall, grabbing a muffin and some toast before heading out to the Entrance Hall, where many students were waiting. James immediately took them over to wait near Sirius and Remus who were standing off to the side, looking impatiently at their watches. "Hey, guys. Where's Wormtail?"

Sirius just rolled his eyes. "Late."

Remus punched him in the arm. "Relax, Padfoot. I'm gonna go back to Gryffindor tower to go check and see if he headed back there because he forgot something. That's something he would do."

Lily looked at him confused. "But how are you going to get to Hogsmeade if you don't make it back? The carriages will be leaving in minutes."

Remus just grinned at her. "I may be a prefect, but I am a Marauder, Lily. We have our ways."

James and Sirius chuckled as he left while Lily just rolled her eyes. James was ready to comment but stopped when he saw something out of the corner of his eye. "Hey, wait a second…"

Suddenly, James let go of Lily's hand and walked purposefully over to his left. Lily turned and immediately knew where he was heading. Near a crowd of Ravenclaws, Lauren was standing with a bright smile on her face, but what was probably on James' mind was the fact that she was holding someone's hand. That someone was Gryffindor Keeper, Dan Owens. She wondered how Lauren was able to keep secrets from the Marauders because she was obviously pretty good at it. Lily remembered that Lauren hadn't been too keen on Ben Hatcher after their date two weeks ago, but to have found a new boy so quickly without any of the Marauders finding out had her pretty impressed. Sirius whistled. "Ooooh, she's in for it now."

Lily gave him a small smile. "He should just let her be."

Sirius shrugged. They both continued to watch what was going to happen as James found his way in front of Lauren. Both of them could see Dan appear to pale considerably at finding James in front of them. Lauren, although she did drop Dan's hand when she noticed James, just rolled her eyes and waited for whatever he was going to say. James said something to her, and Lauren's eyes narrowed. Whatever Lauren's response was made Dan look over at her surprised. When James started speaking again, Dan appeared to be in utter shock. Lily looked over to Sirius a bit worried. "Umm, maybe we should go see what's going on?"

As they got closer, Lily began to understand why Dan appeared so bewildered. Both Lauren and James were speaking angrily at each other, but what was so odd was that they were saying everything in fluent French. Sirius rolled his eyes, unsurprised. "Damnit. They're speaking in tongues again. I told them to quit that."

Lily was more than a little surprised, but she was also impressed at finding out something new about James she hadn't known before. It was strangely alluring watching him speak a foreign language fluently. She finally realized why girls always had a thing for guys with accents. "Where in the world did they learn to speak French like that?"

Other people were beginning to notice the fight as well. James and Lauren had gotten a bit loud and other students were watching the two of them with interest. Sirius continued to keep his eyes on the two of them, but he leaned over and spoke to her softly, "The Potters own property in the South of France. James used to go there all the time as a kid. Lauren of course came too when she moved in with them. James has been able to speak it for as long as I can remember. Lauren picked it up rather quickly too. It is so annoying when they used to do this. They haven't done it in a while though. They usually only do it when they don't want anyone to know what they're talking about."

Lily watched Lauren and James carefully. Lauren looked more upset than James so she inferred that Lauren must be angry at him for nosing in her personal life. It was hard to follow them both, although she heard the names Ben, Dan, Tyler, and Mike a few times. They were talking too fast for her to be sure about anything else. Finally, Lauren's eyes flashed at whatever James was saying and she shouted out in frustration, "JUST BUTT OUT, JIMMY!"

Many people had already been watching them, but as soon as she had shouted that, many more turned in their direction with curious eyes. James' eyes narrowed, and Lily thought for once, he actually looked truly angry at Lauren. Lauren's face paled as James started ranting in vicious French. She immediately began repeating a phrase over and over, one that Lily assumed meant 'I'm sorry.' Lily turned to Sirius, who was also looking mighty apprehensive at James, like he might do something stupid. "What did she do, Sirius? I don't get it."

Sirius looked over at her in surprise. "Are you kidding? She just called him Jimmy in public. She must have a death sentence."

Lily looked at him puzzled. "But Lauren calls him that all the time."

Sirius gave her a look. "Privately. Have you once seen Lauren call him Jimmy in public?"

Lily thought for a moment and immediately knew the answer was no. "But it's not so bad."

Sirius sighed. "James hates it though. When we were younger, he made sure no one ever called him that. He just said it was a stupid name. When Lauren moved in with them, she used to call him Jimmy on purpose to annoy him— you know, like siblings do. She did it so often that it stuck. To this day, she's the only one he now willingly lets call him Jimmy. I think he just gave up trying to get her to stop. Hopefully no one else here starts calling him that. You might have to stop him from hexing people again."

Lily looked back over at the two of them. They seemed to have calmed down, since they were now speaking more quietly and relaxed, although still in French. That's when she heard Lauren say something she understood— 'Je t'aime.' She smiled when she heard James eventually say it back to her. They said a few more things before Lauren made her way back over to a very confused and scared looking Dan. Lily giggled when she heard Dan reluctantly ask Lauren if James was going to kill him as they walked away. James sighed as he made his way back over to her and Sirius, looking drained from the whole situation. "Well, that was fun."

Sirius snickered as he looked around. "Your fan club is now in more awe of you because they now know you can speak French fluently. See what you started?"

James frowned at the group of girls Sirius was talking about, who were all giggling at him from afar. Others were looking at him curiously still, but none lingered too long. "Who cares? I already have a girl, the best girl at that."

Lily smiled at him. "Awww, there's the guy I was going to Hogsmeade with. I thought he left for the South of France."

James glared at her playfully as she was teasing him. "You're a funny girl today. Ready to do some shopping, beautiful?"

Lily shrugged. James took her hand and led her over to the carriages. Sirius and eventually Remus and Peter left them to go do some shopping of their own once the carriages reached Hogsmeade. Now, they were finally by themselves. Lily looked over at him. "What was with earlier? Can you talk about it? Sirius said you two only do that when you don't want others to overhear you."

James frowned. "Well, he's partly right. Not many people know how Lauren is related to me and seeing the two of us fight publicly like brother and sister would likely turn some heads. If we are speaking in French, it just looks like we're fighting, nothing more. As for what we were fighting about, well, that I suppose is obvious. She thinks I'm overprotective and that she can take care of herself. That's true for the most part, but even she has to admit she needs help sometimes. Besides, she's had dates with four guys in six months. I'm not blind; she's very pretty. I can be a little wary for her."

Lily nodded as they walked through the village. "What about the whole Jimmy thing?"

James made a face. "I hate that name."

Lily laughed and gently shoved him. "Why? It is your name, you know."

James sighed, but he did smile slightly at her teasing. "I don't know. It just makes me sound so young. Plus, it's extremely annoying. I've become pretty numb to Lauren doing it, although she usually remembers to call me James in public. I don't need other people to start calling me Jimmy. One person is more than enough."

Lily shrugged. "Well, I'm used to calling you James so you're lucky. Now, about this whole shopping thing… I imagine you want to go to Zonko's for the guys? What about Lauren?"

James smiled. "Zonko's and Honeyduke's for the guys, no question. I have an idea for Lauren that I mentioned to Sirius yesterday, but I want her to still get to open something on Christmas morning. I was thinking of getting her a new satchel. She was complaining about hers a while back."

Lily nodded. "Well, then let's go to Gladrags first. I know they sell satchels there. I can look for a jumper for Petunia or something. I've come to the conclusion that I will have to mainly do some muggle shopping when I go home."

James gave her a mischievous smile. "We can apparate somewhere, if you want. We technically can go wherever we want as we are seventeen."

Lily gave him a look. "James, you know we aren't supposed to leave Hogsmeade."

James just chuckled. "I know, but when have I ever followed the rules?"

Lily rolled her eyes. She was glad when he didn't seem serious about leaving. "Come on."

They made their way over to Gladrags Wizardwear. She started looking through ladies' jumpers while James looked over at the ladies' satchels that were on display. He soon made his way back over to her, almost pouting. "I don't like any of them."

Lily glanced up at him amused. "There are a couple more shops we can try."

Lily eventually found a lavender cashmere jumper for her sister and a maroon zip up jumper for Shelley at Gladrags. They made their way over to a couple more shops, and James finally found a satchel for Lauren at a new boutique called Mildred's Place. Lily was impressed with his pick. He had good taste, and she was sure Lauren would love it. The satchel was black, but it was lined with a scarlet interior. She watched as James went to pay for it and was slightly surprised when he merely signed something instead of paying with money. She didn't even know wizards used that method of payment. She didn't question him about it though. As soon as James brought it outside, he stopped Lily for a second and pulled it out. "Wait a minute, I have to make some adjustments to it now otherwise I'll forget."

Lily was just about to ask him what he meant when he began waving his wand around, mumbling a bunch of different charms. Nothing appeared to have happened to the satchel. After a few minutes, she watched him stop and look at it critically before waving his wand one more time. Inside the satchel on the inner pocket now had a P symbol like the symbol that she had seen on Reeny's little dress. "What did you do to it? Is that the Potter crest?"

James nodded. "Yep. I also made it feather-light, made it carry whatever and however much she wants, used an unbreakable charm, and added a few wards."

Lily smiled at him as he put the satchel away. He was really being sweet, especially seeing as they fought earlier. "So she's an honorary Potter?"

James chuckled. "She's been a Potter since she was seven. Zonko's?"

Lily sighed, but couldn't deny him when his eyes were all lit up and pleading at her like they were. "Sure."

James found a bunch of items in Zonko's. Lily figured she would get something else for the guys, although she wasn't sure what. It was obvious James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter only got each other presents from that location. They stopped at Honeyduke's Sweetshop next. They both bought items there too. Her family always loved the sweets she brought home, mainly because she lied and said she got them the muggle way. As they left Honeyduke's, James eyed Lily critically. "You didn't buy much today. Are you sure you got everything you need?"

She gave him a quick kiss. "I'm trying to think of something else to get the guys. You all buy stuff from Zonko's and Honeyduke's. I'm going to get them something different. I told you I still have to go shopping in some muggle stores. That's where I'm getting your present; probably my parents' too."

James was practically beaming. "I get a MUGGLE present! Wicked."

Lily giggled at him. "I take it you've never gotten a muggle present before."

James shook his head, still smiling. "Nope. Now, I'm all excited."

She held onto his arm as they made their way back up through the village. "Fancy a drink? It's getting cold out here."

James nodded and escorted her over to the Three Broomsticks. They made their way inside and up to the bar. James smiled at the pretty blonde witch behind it. "Hey, Rosie. Can we have two butterbeers please?"

Rosmerta looked up and smiled at James. "Sure, honey. I was expecting you with Sirius earlier."

James looked over at Lily with a wink. "Nah, I had better company. Sorry you were left to deal with him alone."

Rosmerta laughed as she walked away to get them their drinks. Lily eyed him curiously. "What's with her and Sirius?"

James just gave her a smile and kissed her cheek. "Sirius is a horrible flirt. You should know this by now. Rosmerta is what? 25? 26? Sirius reckons he has a chance."

Lily laughed. "I suppose I should know that about him. Has he ever truly liked anyone? Like wanted to actually date someone?"

James pondered this. "You know, I'm not sure. I think his longest relationship was…well…"

He suddenly broke off looking like he shouldn't have said anything. Lily was curious now. "Who?"

James grimaced. "Ummm, Christina."

Lily's eyes widened. "Really? But after a month, he went behind her back and just randomly snogged another girl!"

James sighed. "To be honest, I think he just got scared. We were all in fifth year. He probably didn't know how to be a good boyfriend yet. I know he really liked her though."

Rosmerta dropped off their drinks, and James immediately pulled out a few coins for her. They chatted for a while in there, but soon found themselves outside again at James' behest. He suddenly got the feeling they were being watched in there. Lily hadn't been worried as there were a bunch of people around, but James' face suggested he was more than serious. They had shrunk all of their items, but some of them kept falling out of James' pockets as they walked. "Damnit."

Lily would giggle at him every time he would stop. "We could head up to the castle and drop this stuff off, you know. We don't have to wait the other hour for the carriages."

James sighed, but was secretly glad. Although he hadn't brought it up to Lily and hadn't truly identified the culprit, as he was looking back on the last couple of hours, he was damn near positive they have been and were still being followed. Well, hopefully this sudden departure would lose them. "Ok."

She hadn't expected him to give in so easily so it came as a surprise when he suddenly wrapped his arms around her and apparated them to the Hogwarts gates. "Whew. Warn me before you do that next time."

James smiled down at her and kissed her gently. "Sorry."

As they walked back on the grounds, they were surprised to see Hagrid out and about. James shouted out to him, "Hey Hagrid! Long time no see."

Hagrid turned when he was addressed and gave them both a big smile. "Where bouts you two comin' from? Yeh shoud be in Hogsmeade. Don' suppose yeh shoud be back 'ere quite yet. Dumbledore woud not be happy seein' yeh wanderin' out by yerselves."

Lily smiled at him. "We had finished shopping and had too much to carry. We decided to come back early."

James nodded. "We're on Hogwarts property now, Hagrid. Nothing to worry about."

Hagrid gave him a sad smile. "Yeh never can be too careful, James. You espec'lly. Promise me yeh won' be stragglin' like this anymo'e."

James gave him a nod, and they both watched as Hagrid headed back to his hut near the Forbidden Forest. Lily looked at James curiously. "What did he mean, James?"

James sighed and looked at her sadly. As much as he didn't want to tell her, he knew it would be better if she knew. At the very least, she wouldn't be left to wonder about his paranoia at possibly being followed. He spoke to her in a lowered voice, "Dumbledore warned me to be careful and on the lookout. He's not sure if my parents were the only ones Voldemort was after. As long as Dumbledore is Headmaster, we should have nothing to fear. Voldemort has never sought to challenge him or Hogwarts. We're much safer here than in Hogsmeade or anywhere."

Lily nodded slowly, not really understanding what he was implying. "But why would he come after you?"

James opened the door to the castle and ushered her inside. He gently pulled her along until he found a tapestry and pulled the two of them behind it. She immediately lit up her wand and saw him putting a ward around them. "Umm, where are we?"

James finished the ward and a couple of charms before sighing. "We're in a secret passageway. You asked me about things I shouldn't be discussing openly."

Lily's brow furrowed. "I don't understand."

James eyed her a bit, before saying with no hesitation, "I trust you not to say anything. To anyone. Including Lauren or the Marauders."

Lily nodded so he continued, "Well, there has been some evidence that Voldemort has been targeting certain people or families. My parents continued working as Aurors and left me ignorant of the situation. Once they were…gone, the Aurors informed me of the possible threat. Voldemort and his followers supposedly want to wipe out my family line."

Lily was looking at him horrified. "But why?"

James actually gave her a small smile. He really liked the fact that she knew nothing about pure-bloods or his family. He knew that she was actually dating him because she liked him and not for other reasons. "The Potters are an extremely old pure-blood family, obviously connected to other pure-blood families. If they were to eliminate all heirs, then the entire Potter estate would revert back to the closest living relative that is bound by blood not marriage, however distant it may be. I'm pretty positive it would be the Blacks, although all of my family history is in my Dad's study and I have yet to go through it completely. I am the last true Potter heir. My only other three close living relatives, including Lauren, are not bound to the Potter estate by blood."

Lily was quiet for a moment. "But you could write a will and leave everything to Lauren or one of the others."

James sighed. "Then, if anything happened to me, they would murder Lauren or one of them, and it would still revert back. The Potter estate is massive and in the hands of, well, Slytherin types, it would not be a good thing. It would give them quite a windfall of money to buy anything they could ever want or need to have influence on wizardkind without ever spending any of their own money."

Lily gave him a small smile as she realized what he was trying to say and was impressed when he didn't sound arrogant in the slightest. She was now quite concerned for him. "So what you're saying is you're filthy rich and all of the dark pure-bloods are after your money?"

James chuckled at her blunt summary. "According to Gringotts, the Potter estate is the biggest. It's because we have never spent money on extravagant, useless things like the other pure-blood families. My family has always held jobs of some kind unlike the aristocratic, 'I'm too good to work' pure-bloods so the money just keeps collecting. Don't tell Sirius though. He likes to think the Blacks have more money."

Lily snickered at his little quip, but sobered up quickly as the situation altogether wasn't funny. "So what are you going to do?"

James just sighed. "Well, basically what I had already planned to do. Finish out the year, hopefully get into the Auror program, etc. I just have to make sure that I don't put myself out in the open and leave myself vulnerable. Or as Alastor Moody, my parents' Auror friend, would say, 'I must have constant vigilance!'"

Lily nodded, but still looked troubled. James wrapped his arms around her and gave her a kiss, lingering slightly. "Don't worry about me, Lils. Trust me when I say I don't feel it's time to worry yet. No one in their right mind would try anything, particularly while I'm at Hogwarts. It's the safest place there is."

Lily sighed and kissed him again, letting her fingers drift up into his hair to pull him closer. She hoped he was right.