AN: And here we are, with chapter 10! I can't believe that I started posting this story ten weeks ago. I can't believe that it's gotten this long, and I can't believe how many of you have been so supportive and enthusiastic about this story! Thank you to everyone who's left a review, shared this story, or Favorited and alerted it! This wasn't supposed to be such a project, but it's hard to regret what it's become with all the lovely support I've had.

Enough gushing, I hope you enjoy this new chapter!

Don't forget to leave a review!

Chapter Ten: The First Frost

From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring;
Renewed shall be blade that was broken,
The crownless again shall be king."
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

The next day, spirits only improved more. James discovered that a few more of his knights had been brought to the forest in this new group; Amos Diggory, Frank Longbottom and Monty Bones. Lily was delighted to see that her lady's maids, Marlene McKinnon and Emmeline Vance had made it as well. It was good to know that they were not the only ones to have survived that terrible day in the castle.

With everyone who was able and willing to fight training in the clearing behind the camp, Lily had set to work helping to construct new huts with the rest of the camp. They had been in the middle of constructing more anyway, as it would soon be too cold to have people sleeping in hammocks.

"Your highness, it's really unnecessary for you to be doing this." Emmeline said, when she walked up to one of the huts with a basket full of moss and leaves to find Lily with her knees in the dirt, Grace strapped to her chest, meticulously filling the cracks between the logs of a newly constructed hut. Lily looked up at her and smiled.

"Of course, it's necessary." She said, patting the ground next to her. "I'd love some help though."

Emmeline quickly knelt beside her and they worked in silence for a few minutes before she spoke up again. "How did you get out?" Her voice was quiet. Lily had been wondering the same thing about Marlene and Emmeline, but she was a bit taken aback by the question.

She cleared her throat and stuffed more moss in between the logs she was working on. "Remus got us out." She said, letting the images from the night come back to her for a brief moment before she pushed them away again.

"They were all looking for you," Emmeline said. "I thought for sure that…" She shook her head and then looked over at Lily. "I'm sorry, My Lady. I forget myself." Lily, who had grown used to people talking freely with her for the most part, narrowed her brow.

"I was afraid that they'd hurt you as well," She said. "I'm so glad that you and Marlene are okay."

Emmeline gave her a small smile. "I'm glad that the Princess is alright as well," She reached out and gently brushed her fingertips along Grace's cheek. "And the prince! I've never seen him like this before." Lily laughed at that.

"Yes, Harry loves having other children to play with. And he was far more okay with living in the woods than anyone else I've met here so far." She chuckled.

"Many of the children seem to be in good spirits." She mused.

"Yes," Lily nodded. "I think they all take care of one another in a way that we can't. I mean they have all been through something terrible, but they're able to laugh and play and pretend to rescue the camp from dragons," She grinned. "It's amazing."

"It is, your highness."

Lily chewed on her cheek and looked over at Emmeline. "I know you had to call me that in the castle because it was proper, but I don't think it's appropriate out here. You can call me Lily."

"You are my Queen," She tightened her fist around a handful of leaves and moss.

"Hopefully I will be again, but out here I'm not a queen. Not really. I have two borrowed dresses, I stitch up the wounded when I can, I boil water for drinking, try and help with the cooking and-"

"Pardon my interruption, but those things don't detract from you being a Queen." She said. "You're taking care of your people. That's what a Queen is meant to do."

"I'm working along side them," She corrected. "I couldn't take care of them all on my own."

"Of course, but still. You could have gone anywhere. You could have sought political asylum in a neighboring country, you could be living in luxury right now, but you're not. You're living in the woods, encouraging and taking care of your people who have been terrorized by the same villain as you. I don't care if you're wearing a borrowed dress, I'm proud to call you my Queen."

Lily, who had been struggling with feeling worthy of her title after the kingdom had fallen into such ruthless and vile hands, felt her eyes start to sting at Emmeline's assessment. She'd worked hard since coming here, not for redemption, but because she cared. It hadn't dawned on her that getting her hands dirty would help to fix things on that front, she just hadn't been able to sit by and demand to be waited on when the people here had so little.

She reached out and she pulled Emmeline into a very unexpected hug. A careful hug, since Grace was strapped to her chest, but a hug nonetheless. "Thank you, Emmeline. I really have missed you and all the things you used to say to make me feel better." She chuckled quietly before puling away. Emmeline was smiling.

"Excuse me, your majesty?" Lily knew that it was someone from the new group simply because no one in the camp addressed her like that. She'd introduced herself as Lila, and Benjy still called her that sometimes, throwing her a cheeky grin to boot. She turned around and was face to face with Amelia Bones of all people. Lily almost laughed, and then stepped forward and gave her a careful hug, keeping one hand on Grace's back.

"I didn't know that you were here!" Lily grinned. "Though I should have since James told me that Monty is here, and he wouldn't have left without you."

"Yes my brother is-" She glanced off and then back at Lily. "He's a good man." Amelia was almost unrecognizable. Her hair was limp and lackluster, her eyes seemed as though they were perpetually wide, and she had dark shadows under them. There was absolutely no mirth in her face either, which perhaps was the biggest change. Lily reached out and took her hand. She'd seen Amelia several times since her first anniversary ball, and while she'd never managed to separate her from that night, it was the furthest thing from her mind at the moment.

"Are you okay, dear?" Lily asked, giving her hand a gentle squeeze.

"Oh yes, everyone here is very friendly and accommodating," Amelia was in borrowed clothing as well. Hers was only slightly finer than what Lily was wearing, which meant that she must have gotten it from where ever they had been hiding before coming here. "But I wanted to ask you something privately." Lily glanced at where Emmeline was working dutifully.

"Emmeline was one of my ladies maids back at the castle." She said, but when Amelia's expression didn't change, she stepped away from the hut with Amelia's hand still in hers.

"I don't want to spread hysteria, that's all." She said. "I might have misheard or perhaps the person that I overheard was misinformed…" She trailed off and covered her mouth with her free hand. Lily had never seen her like this before.

"Amelia, what is it?"

"I heard that there's a traitor in the camp." She said, looking completely terrified by the notion. Lily sighed, wishing that she could tell her that it wasn't true, but that would be a lie. And Amelia could see the truth in Lily's hesitation anyway. "Oh no!" She gasped, putting her hand over her heart. Lily raised her brow, no longer used to the dainty way that noble women expressed themselves. "What will we do if those terrible men come for us?" Lily gave her a tight-lipped smile.

"Well that's what James is training everyone for, right? So that we can defend ourselves, so we can fight back."

"But they're going to leave the camp to go and fight people. How many of us would- how many of us would be dead by the time everyone managed to work out what was going on if there was a surprise attack!"

"But we have scouts, Amelia." Lily argued. "And they know that there might be a traitor among us, so it wouldn't be a complete surprise if soldiers were to attack the camp. I'm sure James and the others are coming up with a contingency plan as we speak."

"But you can't know that their plan will work!" Amelia ran a hand over her face and sighed mournfully. "Don't tell Monty that I said that. I don't want him to think that I don't have faith in him, because I do. I'm just- I'm so scared."

"We're all scared, Amelia." Lily put her hand on Amelia's shoulder. "It's time we find out just how brave we all are."

'I don't feel very brave."

"But you are. Because you're here, because you stood against Riddle and his men. It's not easy, but we'll get through this together."

And suddenly, thankfully, Mary was beside her. "'Lo, Lily." She said, looping her arm through Lily's free one. "Molly needs your help up at the house." Lily didn't know why Molly would need Lily instead of Mary, but she was glad to be given an excuse to leave. She knew that Amelia was scared, and maybe it was mean to want to put some distance between her and the noblewoman. Speaking with simpering woman used to come so easy to her, but she was accustomed to speaking with the common people now, and they just didn't behave like this. At least not the women here. Hestia wanted to fight, Mary and Gwen were too angry to do anything that resembled simpering, and Molly was unofficially in charge of the entire camp it seemed.

"What does Molly need?" Lily asked when they were some ways away from Amelia.

"Nothing, you just looked like you wanted to run so I helped you out. Who is she?" Lily laughed and leaned over, pressing a kiss to Mary's cheek.

"You're a wonderful friend. Her name is Amelia. I grew up with her." Mary wiped Lily's kiss away and gave her a look.

"If you grew up with her-"

"I grew up with all of the noble women. Amelia was always one of my favorites, but still. Women at court always seem to be reacting for the amusement of other people. I found that I don't much have the patience for that anymore." She glanced over at Mary and considered telling her about the incident at the ball, but that was years ago and it seemed awfully petty for her to bring it up now. She'd give James a hard time about it later perhaps. If she could work out how to tease him light-heartedly. She smiled at the thought.

"Then what are you smiling about?" Mary asked, her brow narrowed.

"My husband." Her smile grew, and Mary laughed and shook her head.

"You two have seemed awfully cozy these last couple of days." Lily looked at her and wondered if she had guessed that her marriage to James had been for show.

"Well I'm awfully happy that he made it back in one piece." She shrugged, her free hand stroking Grace's head.

"Sure, but it seems like more than that." They stopped walking in front of Lily's hut. "You know, we're friends now, you can talk to me if you'd like."

Lily's face split into a grin. "He told me that he loved me." She couldn't keep it to herself anymore. She's sat on that information since James had told her, feeling like she couldn't tell anyone but needing to tell everyone at the same time. Mary would do though.

"And he hasn't done that before?" Lily shook her head, still smiling widely. "I figured that you too weren't that close when you first got here."

Lily nodded, "Things are different now."

"I've noticed that as well." Mary smirked.

It was a few hours later when Lily was putting Grace to bed and James walked through the door a bit later than he usually did. She looked over at him as she pulled up the extra blanket she had fetched from the cart of supplies that the men had brought back from Godric's Hollow. She was glad that they had remembered to get more than weapons and medical supplies. Lily had been worried that Grace was getting cold at night.

"You look a bit tired," Lily said, as James stared blankly at the floor, his eyes glazed over as they shifted toward her. He was leaning up against the back of the door, his jacket in his hand. She gave him a small smile. His returning smile was lazy but genuine and it made Lily's smile grow. "I'm afraid that your dinner is probably cold now."

He shrugged and pushed himself off the wall and plopped down on one of the stumps. "That's alright. Thank you for bringing it here for me." She knew that he could go and eat warm food with the rest of the men that had been training, but he always came back here after training. Even though he'd made friends with Sirius and Peter and Regulus. He'd warmed up to Benjy as well.

"It's not a bother," She grinned, walking over to the table and taking a seat next to him.

"How was your day?" He asked, slight emphasis on 'your' which made her think that something specific had happened during training today.

"Well, I found out that both of my ladies' maids from the castle are here. Emmeline and Marlene. I spoke with Emmeline and she said some very nice things, but it was strange that she was still talking to me like she used to when everyone here speaks more… casually? I suppose I've become accustomed to being called Lily again."

"I'm glad they managed to get out of the castle."

"I didn't think they had," She said, closing her eyes for a moment as she remembered watching her doctor get cut down. "I still don't know how we managed sometimes."

"We'll be thanking Remus forever." James said, pushing the food around on his plate. Lily wondered what he was remembering. He had been in a different part of the castle when the attack happened, probably heading toward Harry when he realized something terrible was happening. Did he get there before Remus reached him? What did he think when he found Harry's room empty?

They still had so much to talk about. It was all so backlogged.

"Anyway, after I spoke with Emmeline," Because she wasn't going to talk about it today. "Amelia Bones found me. I don't know why I was surprised to see her, since I knew Monty was here and he wasn't going to leave the city without her, but still. She was- well actually her fears were all completely justified, but I suppose I just wasn't ready to play 'court' again."

"We haven't interacted with nobles in quite a while. I mean, the Black brothers, but they hardly count anymore." He shrugged, and then looked at her out of the corner of his eyes. "Are you sure that's the only reason that you had no patience for her?"

Lily rolled her eyes, slightly surprised that he would say anything about that. "I've spoken with Amelia hundreds of times in the last four years." She said. "I've known her for as long as I can remember, she was my dancing partner during lessons, and she's always been one of the less flighty noble women. I like Amelia Bones." And that was true.

James was still pushing his food around.

"You need to eat." She said, nudging his arm with her elbow. He took a bite and chewed. She didn't think there would be any lighthearted teasing on the matter. Not when he was looking at his food like this.

"I was just being friendly with a member of my court at the time." He said, his fork pushing at the pile of mashed turnips.

"I'm surprised you even remember it honestly." She chewed on the inside of her cheek.

"Of course, I remember." His voice was quieter, and his brow narrowed. "The look on your face…"

She didn't want to talk about this either, but she didn't think it was smart to skip two conversations that they needed to have. At least not in a row. "I knew that you were just being friendly. I knew that she was just being friendly. But you had told me to throw a ball if I wanted, making it seem like you didn't care one way or the other, and I thought if you- I mean it was a ball! There was drinking, and dancing and it was all light and fun." She started pinching her skirt between her thumb and forefinger. "I'd never heard you laugh like that before."

She looked up at him again, sitting up straighter, "Before the jealousy caught up with me, I felt like I was doing something right. Because things had been hard, and things were going slow and fast at the same time, but you looked happy for the first time since- Well you looked happy whenever you were around Harry too, but- I don't know." She sighed.

James set his fork down and turned to her. He put a hand on her knee and she slid her hand down her skits until it was resting on top of his. "I don't know why you talk to me now." He sighed, leaning his forehead against her shoulder.

"I've always liked you, James."

"I think that only makes it worse." He muttered, shaking his head slightly. She leaned over and pressed her lips against his head, his hair tickling her cheeks. "I'm going to spoil you when we get back to the castle. I'm never going to be able to make up for all the lost time, but I'm going to try."

She chuckled lightly, squeezing his hand. Her other hand came up to run through his hair. "I can't pretend that I wouldn't like being spoiled." She grinned. "But I'd rather you didn't feel like that. We should just make a fresh start when we go back-" She pulled back rather suddenly, her hands moving to catch his head as she moved her shoulder away from where he was leaning on her. He looked up at her with wide eyes, her hands on both of his cheeks.

"What?" He asked.

"I just realized something." She said, not yet telling him what it was that she remembered.

"And what is it?" He looked as if he didn't know whether he should be worried or not.

She leaned forward and pressed her lips to his, briefly, but long enough to make him smile. "I forgot to tell you yesterday," She ran her thumb over his cheek and he leaned into her touch. She couldn't tell if he did it on purpose or not and her gaze softened. "You told me that you loved me, and then you kissed me and then all those people showed up and so I didn't really have time to remember. Though I suppose I should have remembered earlier than now, I could have told you-" He leaned forward to kiss her this time, ending her rambling.

"Maybe you should let me know what it is before you forget again," He teased, both his hands on her legs now, his fingers lightly swirling over her skirts.

She shook her head slightly but made sure to look him in the eye as she said, "I love you too." And just as he had surprised her with the sentiment yesterday, she could tell by the look on his face that whatever he'd been expecting her to say, that was not it. His eyes were wide, his mouth was slightly ajar, and he seemed to be searching her face, making sure that she wasn't joking or teasing. She most certainly wasn't though, so he wouldn't find any evidence of that.

After a silent moment, he let out a huff of breath and then leaned down buried his face in her skirts. Lily opened her mouth to say something and then closed it, pressing her lips into a thin line as she wondered what exactly this reaction was. Her hands went back to his hair, and she raised her brow. "You know, I uh, I thought you'd kiss me or something."

She heard a muffled laugh and the corner of her mouth quirked. "Oh, I plan on kissing you," He turned his head so his words came out clear. "I'm just trying to work out how this all happened. I mean, it makes perfect sense for me to fall in love with you but…" He shook his head.

"You're so hard on yourself." She sighed, her fingers still in his hair, twisting a lock around her finger. It was exactly the same as Harry's.

"I think being hard on myself about this in particular is warranted." He pushed himself upright.

"James?"

"Yes?"

"I love you," She repeated, because she figured it wouldn't hurt for him to hear it again.

His shoulders dropped slightly, and he looked as though he were fighting a smile; but that was a fight that he lost. "I love you too, Lily."

"Good. Now, finish your supper."

"Sure, but first," His smile was a bit more wicked now. "I think I promised you a kiss."

oOo

Now that they had weapons to train with, things seemed to be moving along a bit faster than the first time around. Many men were showing great promise with bows and arrows, and while there were fewer who could handle a sword, James was glad to say that the number of men who would be holding swords in the next battle was far more than three.

It had been a week since the new group of people had arrived with Dumbledore, and while they were still vigilant and weary of the fact that there could be a traitor in their midst, James couldn't say that the threat started to take a bit of a back seat after the first few days of no attack. They still had scouts out of course, but he didn't want to spend any extra man power on scouts when they could be training.

He'd just led everyone on a run around the perimeter, the men who were on duty laughed as they went by, claiming to be the lucky ones, but James would get to them too, they wouldn't be laughing then. By the time they were back in the clearing, James was slightly winded, Sirius was muttered curses behind him though and that made him laugh.

"Good work everyone," He called out, some of the men falling onto the ground, rather dramatically in his opinion. After all, it wasn't the first time that they'd gone for a run, they should have known what to expect. "I'll see you with the sun tomorrow morning." There were a few groans, but he knew that it was mainly for show. They could all see the improvement that they were making, they could feel their chances rise with every extra lap they were able to run.

Sirius clapped a hand on James' back as the king started walking toward his hut. The sun was starting to set by now, and the air was getting cooler still. He wondered when the first frost would be. That would bring about a whole new round of problems, but they would manage.

"New recruits look good. Better fed then we are."

"Well go and find some food if your hungry."

"Too bad I don't have a pretty girl to keep dinner out for me like some people," He elbowed James in the ribs and James shook his head.

"I'm not going to pretend that I'm not lucky to have her."

"And I'm not going to pretend that you don't look like a git when you smile like that," Sirius shrugged. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Are you going to Rosmerta?" He asked, and Sirius just gave him a look that affirmed his question. "Don't drink too much or I'll have you leading exercises tomorrow. And I don't care if you throw up on someone again!" Sirius scowled at him, and James laughed. He was glad that he was able to find a friend in Sirius again.

A few minutes later, he pushed open the door to his family's hut and found Lily and Harry sitting on his little cot, a book in Lily's hands. She was reading to him, so he didn't interrupt to ask where she'd found it. He sat down at the table and started on his dinner, trying not to pay attention to whatever had been done to the turnips tonight. It all tasted the same anyway.

"The end," Lily snapped the book shut and Harry instantly sat up straighter.

"Can't you just read it one more time." He asked, holding up his finger.

"No, I've already read it three times. Go say goodnight to your father so you can go to bed." Harry sighed, letting his head fall back and then stood up, grinning as his eyes fell on James.

"Goodnight, dad!" He said as he ran at James' side and wrapped his arms around him.

"Goodnight, Harry." James leaned down and kissed his head. "Sweet dreams."

Harry went back to bed, practically falling on to his cot. James didn't blame him, he'd been trying to keep pace with them earlier when they first started their run. He lasted longer than James had thought he would.

"I don't think there's been a single night where he hasn't passed out from exhaustion as soon as you've come in." She chuckled, looking over at his already still form.

"He's a very busy kid," James chuckled, taking the last bite of his meal and pushing the plate toward the others. "And I don't think there's been many nights were you and I haven't done the same if I'm being honest."

"I suppose that's true."

"We've decided when we're leaving for the Hollows again." He said after a moment and Lily sighed, looking down in her hands.

"I thought that's why I didn't see you around lunch time."

"Two days. We'll leave in the morning. We don't think they'll be expecting us to attack the same place twice. Sirius, Moody, and Dumbledore are the only ones who know where we're going. Everyone else thinks we're headed to Hogsmeade."

"Well that's good."

"I wanted to tell a few more people the truth, because Regulus especially is going to be a pain in the arse when he finds out that we lied to him. I know he's not the traitor. I know a lot of people aren't the traitor, but we have to be careful."

"I'm glad you didn't tell anyone else. We know it wasn't Dumbledore because he only just got here, Sirius is too self-righteous to be the traitor. Moody doesn't have it in him." She shook her head as ticked through the list. "You already promised to stay safe, so I don't need to ask you to do that again, do I?"

"Of course, I'm going to do my very best to come back to you and the kids." He promised. "I love you and the kids. And Harry is too young to be king, yeah?" He smiled, though it felt like it was mostly for show.

"A bit," She agreed, and her smile didn't look real either.

"It's going to be alright." He said. "We can't keep living in the woods like this. It's going to frost over any day now, and then what? We don't have warm clothes for everyone. We don't have enough food either." He muttered. He was glad that all the new people had arrived, but they hadn't brought any food with them, and the camp wasn't big enough as it were. He didn't know how much longer they were going to be able to feed everyone. And if they ran out of food, then they couldn't train them to fight anymore. Hungry men couldn't build muscle.

"I know it's necessary," Lily tucked back a lock of her hair. "I just wish that it was not." She gave him a sad smile now. "I also know that you'll do wonderfully. You've already done wonderfully. All those men trust you not because you're their king, but because you've gained their trust. You know that, right?"

James shifted on his seat and then nodded. "It's a different kind of power. I'm not sure I've ever had this kind before, but I like it better than the power I inherited."

"I like it better too." She agreed. "We earned it."

oOo

They could have been planning to leave a month from now and it would have gone by just as quickly. After they decided to leave, the next day was full of more training for the men, and packing up their supplies for everyone else. Lily knew that their chances were much better now. She knew that they had a better plan, a secret plan, and she trusted the four men who knew the real plan.

She knocked on the backdoor of the Weasley's house and then walked in. There weren't any people in her kitchen anymore. Everyone who had been injured had finally been deemed well enough to leave. She'd kept her brother Gideon the longest, as the gapping wound that had been inflicted into his calf had been rather tricky to disinfect, and he couldn't walk without a splint on it anymore. Lily could tell that he was more upset about it then he was trying to let on, but he still planned to go to Godric's Hollow- well he thought he was going to Hogsmeade. Lily had to remember not to say the honest location of the mission. The last thing she needed was to be responsible for a failed mission.

The day had flown by. Lily had helped prepare the three carts that the men would be taking with them and was now up to visit with Molly. Hestia and Gwen were already there, seated around the table. Lily wasn't sure if this was purely a social visit, or if Molly had something that she needed to go over with them. When Mary and Marlene walked into the room from the front door, Lily narrowed her brow but offered them a smile.

"All I'm saying is that I should be going tomorrow. My arm is completely healed. I could fight." Hestia was saying to her cousin, who simply rolled her eyes.

"And all I'm saying is that you would be completely useless to them now that they've been training with weapons and building up their strength all while you've been sitting on your arse." She glanced over to Lily to make sure that Grace wasn't with her. Not that Grace could speak or understand her language at this stage of her life, but still, Lily appreciated the fact that Gwen was tactful like that.

"I would not be bloody useless." Hestia snapped.

"I wouldn't either." Marlene said, taking a seat next to Hestia. Mary sat down across from them, in the chair next to the one that Lily always sat in. Lily sat down last and looked around the table. "I used to train with my brothers sometimes back at the castle. I know how to hold a sword."

"Well I think everyone knows how to use a sword," Mary said, tapping her fingers on the table as she always did. "You just stab whoever you're fighting with the sharp end." She shrugged. Marlene rolled her eyes.

"Yes, that's all there is to it." She nodded. Lily tried to remember if she'd ever heard Marlene say something sarcastic before.

"Well, that is the gist of it, isn't it?" Lily grinned, testing the waters with how Marlene would treat Lily in this new environment. Lily had tried to get her and Emmeline to talk to her, to be her friends, back in the castle, but she hadn't been able to. Emmeline had been more talkative the other day, but there was still a very clear distinction between the two women.

"Yes, your highness," Marlene said with a wry smile. "But there's quite a bit more as well." Lily grinned.

"Well maybe you should be helping James and Sirius and Regulus with the training then."

"Oh I'm sure all the men would love taking orders from me," She snorted and then covered her mouth with her hand. "Sorry, I'm not disagreeing with you of course."

"Well I am," Gwen said. "Marlene is right. Men are stupid and don't like listening to us, Lily. I've told you about my father, yes?" Lily rolled her eyes and stood up to go and put the kettle over the fire, so they could have some tea.

"Yes, you've told me about your father." She said, looking toward the stairs when she heard the stairs creak.

"I see you've added someone to the mix here." Molly said, Ginny on her hip. Her head was resting on Molly's shoulder and judging by the look on her face, she'd just woken up. "I thought she'd be asleep longer, but I don't think this one will ever do what I want her too." Molly kissed the crown of her only daughter's head affectionately and then walked over to the hearth where Lily was setting up the teapot and swatted at her hands. "This is my house, miss. I'll make the tea."

"Well then let me hold Ginny," Lily said, handing over the kettle in favor of the two-year-old. Molly smiled when Ginny reached her chubby toddler arms out for the Queen. Lily kissed her cheek and folded her into a hug as she walked back over to the table.

Marlene looked a bit bewildered.

"And who are you?" Molly said, turning to make eye contact with the blonde.

"Marlene, ma'am." She responded promptly. "I um, I used to work for Queen Lily."

"That explains it." Molly grinned, though didn't explain her comment. Lily had a feeling that she was referring to the look on Marlene's face though. "And who brought you here?"

"I did," Mary answered. "Saw her helping some of the new kids with bandages and whatnot."

"My mother was a healer in the city." Marlene supplied. "I was going to apprentice with her soon," Lily hadn't known that. Though she didn't know she had any brothers until she mentioned them a few moments ago either.

"Lily, was one of your parents a healer?" Hestia asked.

"No," Lily shook her head. "My mum helped my grandfather in his shop until she married my dad, who grew up tending to an orchard."

"Your parents are nobles though," Marlene narrowed her brow.

"In title sure. My mum because she married my father, and my father because he was born into a noble family. But not a noble family like the Bones, or the Greengrasses, or the Averys. They've owned that orchard for over one hundred years and that's always where we've lived." Lily ran her hands through Ginny's hair as she spoke, slowly working to detangle it. "Are you going to live all the way out here after everything is taken care of?" Lily asked, turning to Molly who was digging through a cupboard for teacups now.

She looked over her shoulder and shrugged. "I don't think so. We didn't live here until a year or so ago. We used to live in the city actually." She mused.

"Oh that would be wonderful." Lily sat up straighter. "Especially for Harry and Ron, but for me as well. I don't know how I go about not speaking to you whenever I needed to." Molly looked over her shoulder and smiled at her.

"You got along just fine without me before." She reminded her.

"I just managed to get along actually." Lily leant back against the chair. She noticed Marlene looking at her and looked up at her.

"I would have gotten into trouble if I'd spoken to you like these women are speaking to you now." She said suddenly. Lily wanted to tell her that, had they been friends, she wouldn't have let anything bad happen to her. She nodded instead.

"Everyone seemed to feel that way." She said instead, resting her chin on top of Ginny's head as the little girl leaned against her chest, one of her little hands gripping to her hair. "Remus used to let me talk to him when he wasn't busy." She added, though she realized that the addition only made her seem pitiful.

"You had friends in the noblewomen." Marlene said, her brow narrowed.

"I had women trying to gain my favor by trying to be the quickest to agree with me." She shook her head. "But I could never have sat around a table with them like this. There were always so many rules we had to observe."

"I suppose that means that Em was right," Marlene said, accepting a teacup from Molly.

"I spoke with her the other day, she does seem rather bright." Lily nodded.

"She said that you were lonely."

"Well she's not anymore." Mary said after beat of silence. She patted Lily's knee and smiled at her. "She was a right pain when she first got here, but that turned out to be more of an error in judgment than anything specific that she did."

"I love that you're learning to admit when you're wrong," Molly teased, bringing over the kettle and pouring her own cup before setting it in the middle so they could all fix it how they liked. "So everyone is leaving tomorrow morning." She said quite suddenly, and Lily sat up straighter, carefully though since Ginny seemed comfortable. "We need to come up with a plan for what we're going to get done while they're gone, how we're going to tend to the wounded when they come back, how we're going to get enough food for everyone, and any other potential problems that we can think of."

"We'll need to build more huts," Hestia said.

"And fill them in more." Gwen added. "And everyone will be needing warmer clothes."

Molly sighed. "The children especially." She did have seven to think about, and while she had been very gracious when it came to sharing what she had with everyone in the camp, she didn't seem to have many warm clothes. Only a handful of handknit sweaters that she'd made last year for her children.

They went through and continued to go over everything that they needed to get done as soon as possible. Before too long, Lily was handing Ginny back over to Molly and heading back to the camp to tend to her own children. Marlene caught up with her fairly quick.

"Do you mind if I walk with you, My Lady?"

"Of course not," Lily smiled. "And you can call me Lily, same as the others do." She added.

"I'm sorry for what I said back there," She said without commenting about her name. "I didn't mean to- I mean, I shouldn't have said it."

"You spoke only the truth." Lily sighed.

"But still, that truth wasn't for me to share."

"It's nothing that I haven't talked about with them before." At least she'd talked to Mary and Molly about how lonely the castle had been, how distant she and James had been. She assumed that Hestia and Gwen knew the gist of it.

"Just let me apologize," Marlene sighed. "I have a way of putting my foot in my mouth because I never seem to think before I speak. Which was another reason that I tried not to say much around you in the castle. I would definitely have gotten in trouble for what I said, if not how I was saying it." She chuckled. "My mouth has gotten me removed from three different jobs in the past. Being your Ladies Maid was the longest I spent at a post."

Lily grinned. "My words seem to run away from me at times. Though only when I'm extremely riled up about something. I promise not to hold it against you, if you promise the same to me."

"Of course, My Lady." She grinned. "Please wish the King luck from me for tomorrows journey."

"Of course," Lily nodded, "Have a good night, Marlene." She nodded and then headed off to where ever there had been room for her in the camp.

Lily smiled as she made her way back to her hut. She'd never had this many friends before, or felt so good about the friends that she had either. It was a strange, wonderful feeling to have other women to rely on, to have people around her to help and listen to her, offer back their own opinions as well.

She hoped that soon she could count Marlene as a friend as well.

oOo

The next morning came and went all too quickly for James. Before he was ready, he had to say goodbye to his family again, wondering just how much he was going to miss this time. Would it be Grace's first laugh instead of her smile? Would Harry grow a few inches in his absence? He didn't want to miss anything, but he had to make sure that he did all he could for his family's future before he could prioritize what was happening now.

He had kissed Lily goodbye many times that morning, eager to steal as much time together as he could before heading off toward Godric's Hollow. They'd only gotten a short while together, and fractured time at that.

He was scared to go back as well. He felt good having Sirius and Remus at his side, and he felt good that there were only a few people who knew the location that they were headed to, but he was still afraid that something terrible was going to happen. He couldn't keep leading a group of men into battle if they kept losing. They needed a win, not just for morals sake, but because they couldn't keep this up. They needed food and supplies and support. If they didn't succeed, then they would lose more men, weapons that they didn't have to spare, food that they desperately needed, and momentum as well.

His boots crunched against the frost covered ground and he cursed under his breath. He hated to leave the camp after the first frost. There was still so much to do to prepare for winter, and they hadn't put much of a dent in it since they'd been spending most of their time training, erecting new huts for all the new comers, and chopping firewood.

Regulus came up to walk beside him and James looked over at him.

"They're going to be alright without us," He said, and James wasn't sure what his face must look like if Regulus was trying to comfort him.

"I'm sure they will, I just wish we had more people to do everything that needed to be done."

"If we had more people, then we wouldn't be living in the woods right now." James wasn't sure how he meant that, but just nodded anyway.

"You have a plan about how we're going to deal with the traitor, right?" He asked. "Sirius won't tell me anything, which I find incredibly insulting, but also not the least bit surprising. Sirius has always enjoyed lording things over me."

James chuckled. "I don't think you're the only one he likes lording things over."

"Oh of course I'm not. If lording things over someone was a personality trait, it would be Sirius's defining one." James laughed against and nodded.

"Lily calls it 'self-righteous,' but I think that's too clean." He looked over at Sirius, who was talking animatedly with Remus and Benjy. "But yes, we do have a plan." He looked back at Regulus.

"You're not going to tell me what it is either, are you?"

"It's not because I think you're the traitor," James said. "I'd be very surprised if you were. But if I told everyone who I thought wasn't the traitor, well then I might accidentally tell the wrong person. Or they might tell the wrong person and the plan wouldn't work."

"That makes sense, I just don't know why you would tell Sirius then." He smirked over at his brother. "Especially when he spends so much time getting drunk with Rosie and all the men over there."

"I think you know better that most that your brother knows how to keep things to himself." Regulus shrugged at that.

"I suppose." James could tell that he still wanted to be let in the loop, and he wanted to tell him, but just behind them were around five other men who would all overhear if they wanted to.

"You trust me, Regulus?" James asked.

"Of course I do," He nodded. "Do you trust me?"

"Of course I do," He mimicked, smiling at the younger man. "Showed you all the secret passages in the castle, didn't I?"

"Sure, but we were kids. What does that have to do with anything?"

"Do you remember them?"

"Some. There was that one behind the portrait of the fruit bowl, the one under the weird statue of that hunchbacked man…." He trailed off.

"When Riddle's men attacked the castle, they didn't use any of the secret passages. That's how we were all able to escape." He said. "If you were working for Riddle, I think they would have known about that advantage, and they would have used it. But they didn't. I trust you."

Regulus grinned, realizing that James wasn't just saying it for the sake of being amiable. "Thank you, James." He said. "Moody still looks at me with shifty eyes, not Sirius of course, but he doesn't trust me."

"Well if it makes you feel any better, I'm not sure that Moody trusts his own shadow, so…" He trailed off and Regulus laughed. "Nor am I sure that Sirius trusts me completely."

"He does," Regulus disagreed. "He's always liked you and he does trust you. That's one of the only things we can agree on." James smiled at the ground and nodded.

"Thank you for that."

And they marched on. James still wasn't sure what was going to happen. He wasn't sure if his plan was going to work, but he knew that he had people who stood behind him, and more importantly he had people to stand beside him, and he felt good about that.