My dears!

I know it's been a while, but writing this chapter was extremely hard. Getting a marriage between canon and my own stuff together, when the muse isn't co-operating is definitely not easy. All of the canonical bits of this chapter will be in italics, with the exception of any of Lily's thoughts. I think I did a decent job, I really hope I did.

THANK you all for all your lovely reviews, and support on a whole. You are all amazing.

I recommend listening to Candles by Daughter during this chapter, since that's one of the songs I was listening to whilst writing it.

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Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling, only the story line and any OC's belong to me.

Friday, 9th May, 1997

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

Gryffindor Tower

Lily

Classes had only just ended an hour ago, but a small group of students were already busily attempting to carry out a delicate plan.

Sirius, Remus and James still hadn't come back to the Common Room-Lily knew that that normally meant nothing good was going to happen, but currently she had more important things to worry about.

"All you have to do is remember his schedule and stick to the plan," Hermione was instructing Lily and Harry, she brushed her curls back out of her face. Ron was quietly sitting cross-legged on the ground facing his three companions. His brow however was drawn together in concentration as if it was he that needed to remember the finer details of the plan.

Hermione was kneeling on the ground in front of Harry and Lily-who were sitting side by side on the comfy couch.

Hermione was wearing a loose lavender sundress with thin straps, that covered her knees and brushed the ground, for some reason she had on black ankle socks and no shoes, and most of her curls were twisted into a messy bun that was held in place with her wand.

Lily was wearing black leather leggings, short black ankle boots and a tight, white crop top with thin straps, a sweetheart neckline, covered in an intricate floral lace mesh, and delicate black buttons along the front. Her hair was pulled up into a high ponytail, some of the hairs along her hairline were free and framing her face.

Ron was dressed simply, having tossed his robes into the corner of his dorm over by the clothes hamper and pulled on a plain navy blue shirt and a pair of black pyjama pants, his feet were currently bare, and his wand was in his pants pocket.

Harry was wearing a pair of black boots that Sirius had sent him a few weeks ago, faded blue jeans and a grey pullover hoodie, his hair was still damp since he had taken a brief shower as soon as he had found an opportunity to after classes.

On the arm of the couch were a few Ministry of Magic leaflets-Common Apparition Mistakes and How to Avoid Them-Hermione, Ron and the others that were old enough were meant to take their tests on Monday afternoon. There had been several lessons in the past few months, but that didn't ease Hermione's nerves about the whole thing. Harry of course wasn't old enough to take the test, but he'd still attended most of the lessons.

"Why am I the one drinking the liquid luck again, if Lily is here?" Harry frowned a fraction, pushing his wire framed glasses further back on the bridge of his nose.

"That is an excellent question," Ron said, playing with his hands in his lap, and Lily caught sight of the pale scars that wrapped around his arms from the brains that had attacked him in the Department of Mysteries when they had been lured there by Voldemort last year.

"Can we please focus-" Hermione started, cutting herself off as someone passed too close to them for comfort, she waited until she was certain they were out of earshot and then she continued, "-Lily doesn't need any luck since Slughorn is already incredibly fond of her, and she'll be able to make sure Harry stays on track."

Before Harry was able to shoot Hermione an affronted expression at the insinuation that he wouldn't be able to stay on track, Lily interjected, standing up, "okay, let's hurry and do this, Slughorn has a very specific schedule and we don't want to miss him. Remember you only need a little bit, enough for a couple of hours." Lily nodded gratefully at Ron as he handed her the Invisibility Cloak, turning her focus back to Harry.

Harry sighed heavily through his nostrils, hands on his knees as he pushed up and stood up as well. He raised his eyebrows as he reached into his front right pocket, a glint of light caught the teardrop shaped vial that was clasped in Harry's hand-the molten gold coloured liquid seemed to glow in the dimly lit Common Room, shining and promising great things.

"Well...bottom's up," Harry said, a small pop sounded in Lily's ears as he unstoppered the vial. Harry took a long, deep intake of breath before he brought the vial to his lips-Hermione, Ron and Lily watched on with bated breath.

A brief moment of hesitation longer, and then Harry tipped back his head slightly and the vial with it, ensuring not to spill even a drop-taking a tiny sip. He shook his head, squeezing his eyes, and then he was blinking rapidly at them as he lowered his head once more. Harry smacked his lips together, and it was if a switch had been flipped on inside him. A giddy, almost wild smile spread across his face, his features lit up and he exclaimed joyously, "that wasn't that bad! It felt like sparks were going off in my throat, and it's left a tingly feeling behind. I feel like I can do anything!"

Lily was simply thankful that there only a handful of people in the Common Room at that moment since he was speaking rather loudly, his voice practically shaking with excitement-the people that were in the room were in the far corners, whispering, laughing and carrying on their own conversations, not paying them any mind.

"Remember Harry, Slughorn-" Hermione began, but Harry was already walking away, a bounce in his step, and swinging his arms freely by his sides.

"Mate? Where are you going?" Ron called after the raven haired boy, Hermione and himself standing up with deep frowns of confusion marring their features.

Harry turned back around long enough to say, "Hagrid's!"

Lily, Ron and Hermione looked at each other in confusion. They knew that Hagrid was going to have a funeral for Aragog that evening, but as Ron hated spiders and wasn't overtly fond of the spider who had practically let his children attempt to eat him and Harry when they were twelve-he definitely wasn't going. Hermione had no connection to the spider, and as much as she wanted to be there for Hagrid, she also didn't want to go to the funeral. They had all collectively decided not to go. Harry going to Hagrid's made no sense, since the only thing awaiting him was a morose Hagrid and the corpse of an Acromantula.

By the time Lily processed what Harry had just said, he had already disappeared out of the Common Room portrait hole-Ginny and Dean were in front of it and appeared to be having a heated, whispered discussion. Lily decided to put it out of her mind, and she proceeded to jog out of the Common Room, she needed to catch up to Harry.

Leaving behind a flabbergasted Hermione and a deeply confused Ron.

Lily hadn't known what to do when Harry had happily headed in the direction of the vegetable patch, so she simply followed him. It was not strictly on the way there, but for whatever frivolous reason, he had headed straight there.

Where Lily was incredibly surprised to find Slughorn and Professor Sprout; quickly Lily grabbed onto Harry and threw the Cloak over the two of them. So there they stood, lurking behind a low stone wall and listening to Slughorn's conversation with Professor Sprout.

"I do thank you for taking the time, Pomona," Slughorn was saying courteously, "most authorities agree that they are at their most efficacious if picked at twilight."

"Oh, I quite agree," said Professor Sprout warmly. "That enough for you?"

"Plenty, plenty," said Slughorn, who, Lily saw, was carrying an armful of leafy plants. "This should allow for a few leaves for each of my third years, and some to spare if anybody over-stews them. . . . Well, good evening to you, and many thanks again!"

Professor Sprout headed off into the gathering darkness in the direction of her greenhouses, and Slughorn directed his steps to the spot where Harry and Lily stood, invisible.

Lily isn't sure what possessed Harry in those next few moments, but he pulled the Cloak off of both of them with a flourish, a giddy grin on his face.

"Good evening, Professor."

"Merlin's beard, Harry, Lily, you made me jump," said Slughorn, stopping dead in his tracks and looking wary. "How did you get out of the castle?"

"I think Filch must've forgotten to lock the doors," said Harry cheerfully, and Lily had to hide her small smile when Slughorn scowled, Harry however looked delighted.

"I'll be reporting that man, he's more concerned about litter than proper security if you ask me…But why are the two of you out then?"

"Well, sir, it's Hagrid," said Harry. "He's pretty upset...but you won't tell anyone, Professor? I don't want trouble for him..."

If Lily had been perplexed by any of Harry's behaviour up until now, this took the cake. Why Harry was freely telling Slughorn the whole truth made no sense to her. Unless the Felix Felicis has something to do with this? It's the only thing that makes any logical sense, Lily thinks with a slightly furrowed brow. She can only hope that that's what happening. Too much hinges on them getting this memory.

Slughorn's curiosity was evidently aroused. "Well, I can't promise that," he said gruffly. "But I know that Dumbledore trusts Hagrid to the hilt, so I'm sure he can't be up to anything very dreadful..."

"Well, it's this giant spider, he's had it for years...It lived in the forest...It could talk and everything-"

"I heard rumors there were acromantulas in the forest," said Slughorn softly, looking over at the mass of black trees. "It's true, then?"

"Yes," said Harry. "But this one, Aragog, the first one Hagrid ever got, it died last night. He's devastated. He wants company while he buries it and I said I'd go."

"I thought I'd accompany Harry, so he wouldn't be alone," Lily said, the partial truth easily rolling off of her tongue.

"Touching, touching," said Slughorn absentmindedly, his large droopy eyes fixed upon the distant lights of Hagrid's cabin. "But acromantula venom is very valuable...If the beast only just died it might not yet have dried out...Of course, I wouldn't want to do anything insensitive if Hagrid is upset...but if there was any way to procure some...I mean, it's almost impossible to get venom from an acromantula while it's alive..."

Slughorn seemed to be talking more to himself than either of them now, "...seems an awful waste not to collect it...might get a hundred Galleons a pint...To be frank, my salary is not large..."

Lily saw something flicker across Harry's face, he seemed awfully sure of something he had just realised.

"Well," he said, with a most convincing hesitancy, "well, if you wanted to come, Professor, Hagrid would probably be really pleased. . . . Give Aragog a better send-off, you know..."

Lily's brow puckered and she crossed her arms over her chest, trying to catch Harry's eye and ask exactly what was running through his mind right now. Unfortunately, Harry wasn't paying her any mind, and thus the silent communication she was trying to achieve wasn't working in the slightest.

"Yes, of course," said Slughorn, his eyes now gleaming with enthusiasm. "I tell you what, Harry, I'll meet you down there with a bottle or two...We'll drink the poor beast's-well-not health-but we'll send it off in style, anyway, once it's buried. And I'll change my tie, this one is a little exuberant for the occasion..."

He bustled back into the castle, and left Lily and Harry alone. Lily turned to ask Harry what his plan was, and how this helped them get the memory, but his figure was already speeding off towards Hagrid's. From the bounce in his step, he was clearly delighted with himself.

Lily sighed heavily, thankful that Harry at least had the Cloak thrown over his shoulder, and she trekked after the raven haired boy.

Things had only gone smoothly from there, too smoothly maybe. Lily found herself in a perpetual state of confusion, but Harry just seemed well chuffed with himself. The Felix Felicis seemed to be easily sailing Harry through the current events-she could only assume so since he didn't seem perturbed by anything that had occurred.

Hagrid had been weeping profusely during the funeral, and Slughorn had gathered vials of Acromantula venom-which caused him to have a gleeful gleam in his eye and a highly satisfied look on his face.

Now they were all gathered in Hagrid's hut.

"I have had it all tested for poison," he assured Harry, pouring most of the first bottle into one of Hagrid's bucket-sized mugs and handing it to Hagrid.

Lily's mood couldn't help but sour at that. It was still a touchy subject for all of them considering.

Hermione had filled her in on Draco's impossible task to kill Dumbledore, and Lily felt like she was burdened with secrets and suspicions as of late.

Sirius suspected that Dumbledore was dying because of how haggard he was beginning to look these days, not to mention his blackened and shrivelled hand. She confirmed his suspicions and told him that Dumbledore had definitely been cursed by something.

Hermione was right not to tell everyone about Draco, who knew how the others would react. Hermione had convinced Draco to let her tell Lily-saying that they needed help to figure out how to get him out of this predicament. So far, all it had done was plague her mind whenever it began to wander.

Lily knew that Draco didn't really want to kill Dumbledore. His attempts thus far had been half-hearted at best.

Lily was however thrust back into reality when Slughorn continued by saying, "had a house-elf taste every bottle after what happened to your poor friend Rupert."

Lily exchanged a small look with Harry, both thinking about how Hermione would react-most likely with utter disgust-if she ever heard about this gross abuse of house elves. She saw that they both internally decided never to mention it to her.

"One for Lily...one for Harry…" said Slughorn, dividing a second bottle between three mugs, "...and one for me. Well-" he raised his mug high, "-to Aragog."

"Aragog," said Lily, Harry and Hagrid together. Both Slughorn and Hagrid drank deeply. Lily however only took a small swig. She narrowed her eyes at Harry, whose mug touched his lips, but she saw that when he put it down on the table, his lips were dry; which meant he only pretended to drink.

"I had him from an egg, yeh know," said Hagrid morosely. "'Tiny little thing he was when he hatched. 'Bout the size of a Pekingese"

"Sweet," said Slughorn.

"Used ter keep him in a cupboard up at the school until...well..." Hagrid's face darkened. Lily didn't know all of the details, only a few, enough to know that Tom Riddle had contrived to have Hagrid blamed for opening the Chamber of Secrets in his stead, and thus expelled.

Slughorn, however, did not seem to be listening; he was looking up at the ceiling, from which a number of brass pots hung, and also a long, silky skein of bright white hair. "That's not unicorn hair, Hagrid?"

"Oh, yeah," said Hagrid indifferently. "Gets pulled out of their tails, they catch it on branches an' stuff in the forest, yeh know..."

"But my dear chap, do you know how much that's worth?"

"I use it fer bindin' on bandages an stuff if a creature gets injured," said Hagrid, shrugging. "It's dead useful...very strong."

Slughorn took another deep draught from his mug, his eyes moving carefully around the cabin now, looking, Lily knew, for more treasures that he might be able to convert into a plentiful supply of oak-matured mead, crystallized pineapple, and velvet smoking jackets. He refilled Hagrid's mug and his own, and questioned him about the creatures that lived in the forest these days and how Hagrid was able to look after them all. Hagrid, becoming expansive under the influence of the drink and Slughorn's flattering interest, stopped mopping his eyes and entered happily into a long explanation of bowtruckle husbandry.

Lily pursed her lips in thought as she watched Harry beside her. She wasn't entirely sure what he was doing, or what had come over him, but he was grinning madly to himself. Seemly very satisfied as he pointed his wand at the emptying bottles. Lily's eyes widened as she noted that the emptying bottles began to refill. She then noticed that the supply of drink that Slughorn had brought was almost gone; Harry must have seen the last dregs, and decided for whatever reason, that the drink must continue to flow.

Of course the entire thing went unnoticed by either Hagrid or Slughorn, since they were happily swapping tales of illegal trade in dragon eggs.

After an hour or so, Hagrid and Slughorn began making extravagant toasts: to Hogwarts, to Dumbledore, to elf-made wine, and to-"Harry Potter!" bellowed Hagrid, slopping some of his fourteenth bucket of wine down his chin as he drained it.

Lily had no idea how long this was going to go on for, and she wasn't entirely positive how long they had been here, and how long Harry had left with his Felix Felicis.

"Yes, indeed," cried Slughorn a little thickly, "Parry Otter, the Chosen Boy Who-well- something of that sort," he mumbled, and drained his mug too. "To Lily Evans, one of the most brilliant witches."

Not long after this, Hagrid became tearful again and pressed the whole unicorn tail upon Slughorn, who pocketed it with cries of, "to friendship! To generosity! To ten Galleons a hair!"

And for a while after that, Hagrid and Slughorn were sitting side by side, arms around each other, singing a slow sad song about a dying wizard called Odo.

"Aaargh, the good die young," muttered Hagrid, slumping low onto the table, a little cross-eyed, while Slughorn continued to warble the refrain.

"Me dad was no age ter go ... nor were yer mum' an' dad, Harry..."

Great fat tears oozed out of the corners of Hagrid's crinkled eyes again; he grasped Harry's arm and shook it. "Bes' wiz and witchard o' their age...I never knew...terrible thing...terrible thing..."

"And Odo the hero, they bore him back home To the place that he'd known as a lad," sang Slughorn plaintively.

"They laid him to rest with his hat inside his wand snapped in two, which was sad."

"...terrible," Hagrid grunted, and his great shaggy head rolled sideways onto his arms and he fell asleep, snoring deeply.

Lily had no idea what to do, but Harry seemed to have an idea. Maybe he hadn't needed her to keep him on track after all.

"Sorry," said Slughorn with a hiccup. "Can't carry a tune to save my life."

"Hagrid wasn't talking about your singing," said Harry quietly. "He was talking about my mum and dad dying."

"Oh," said Slughorn, repressing a large belch. "Oh dear. Yes, that was-was terrible indeed. Terrible...terrible..." He looked quite at a loss for what to say, and resorted to refilling their mugs.

Then Slughorn fixed his eyes on Lily, whose bright green eyes flickered in the candlelight. "I don't-don't suppose you remember it, Harry?" he asked awkwardly. His eyes seemed to be asking Lily, beseechingly, to forgive him, but then he broke it, fingers tapping against the table's surface as he stared into his drink.

"No-well, I was only one when they died," said Harry, his eyes on the flame of the candle flickering in Hagrid's heavy snores. "But I've found out pretty much what happened since. My dad died first. Did you know that?"

"I-I didn't," said Slughorn in a hushed voice.

Now Slughorn's gaze was on Harry, whose voice was sombre but there was a wry smile on his face. Lily reached under the table and grasped his hand. Harry squeezed it tightly.

"Yeah...Voldemort murdered him and then stepped over his body toward my mum," said Harry.

Slughorn gave a great shudder, but he did not seem able to tear his horrified gaze away from Harry's face.

"He told her to get out of the way," said Harry remorselessly. "He told me she needn't have died. He only wanted me. She could have run."

Lily didn't understand where Harry was going with this, unless he was going to user her, or least this dimension's Lily to get through to Slughorn. Dumbledore had been right about one thing for sure, Slughorn had greatly valued her as a student. She had thoroughly enjoyed all of his classes as well. Maybe, just maybe, they could pull this off. Play on his fondness of her, perhaps on any guilt he may have about the whole situation.

"Oh dear," breathed Slughorn. "She could have...she needn't...That's awful..."

"It is, isn't it?" said Harry, in a voice barely more than a whisper. "But she didn't move. Dad was already dead, but she didn't want me to go too. She tried to plead with Voldemort...but he just laughed..."

"That's enough!" said Slughorn suddenly, raising a shaking hand. "Really, my dear boy, enough...I'm an old man...I don't need to hear...I don't want to hear..."

Lily flinched at the sudden outburst, and Slughorn looked at her with a deep sadness, as if trying to plead with her for forgiveness, for some atrocity he had committed.

"I forgot," lied Harry. "You liked her, didn't you?"

"Liked her?" said Slughorn, his eyes brimming with tears once more. "I don't imagine anyone who met her wouldn't have liked her...Very brave...Very funny...It was the most horrible thing..."

"But you won't help her son," said Harry. "She gave me her life, but you won't give me a memory."

Hagrid's rumbling snores filled the cabin. Harry looked steadily into Slughorn's tear-filled eyes. The Potions master seemed unable to look away. "Don't say that," he whispered. "It isn't a question...If it were to help you, of course...but no purpose can be served..."

"You can help this time, I'm still here. Trust me, it can help. You can save me, you can ensure that I don't die," Lily whispers gently. Harry gave her a brief side glance, and then pressed on.

"It can," said Harry clearly. "Dumbledore needs information. I need information."

It was the best Lily could do not to snort in that moment. Dumbledore was keeping numerous secrets from all of them, and he probably had more information than he was letting on. Using any means to acquire it. A prime example was Harry and herself, right now, doing Dumbledore's bidding, using Slughorn's connection to Lily to get what they needed out of him. They were all pawns to be planned in the grand game, and most of them didn't even know it.

Lily is also surprised by how readily Harry gave that information, but part of her recalled how much drink he had consumed, and came to the conclusion that perhaps he wouldn't remember any of this in the morning.

Looking Slughorn straight in the eye, Harry leaned forward a little. "I am the Chosen One. I have to kill him. I need that memory." Slughorn turned paler than ever; his shiny forehead gleamed with sweat. "You are the Chosen One?"

"Of course I am," said Harry calmly.

Lily rolled her eyes, thankfully neither male was paying any mind at the moment. Chosen One her arse.

"But then...my dear boy...you're asking a great deal...you're asking me, in fact, to aid you in your attempt to destroy-"

"You don't want to get rid of the wizard who killed Lily Evans?"

In that moment, Slughorn once more looked upon her. A faraway look was in his eyes, as if he had been transported to another time, then his eyes snapped back into focus, and he stumbled over his words as they tumbled out of his mouth. "Harry, Harry, of course I do, but-"

"You're scared he'll find out you helped me?"

Slughorn said nothing; he looked terrified.

"Be brave like my mother, Professor. . . ."

Slughorn raised a pudgy hand and pressed his shaking fingers to his mouth; he looked for a moment like an enormously overgrown baby. "I am not proud..." he whispered through his fingers. "I am ashamed of what-of what that memory shows...I think I may have done great damage that day..."

"You can fix it, you can make it right," Lily says, leaning forward and holding his gaze.

"You'd cancel out anything you did by giving me the memory," said Harry. "It would be a very brave and noble thing to do."

Hagrid twitched in his sleep and snored on. Lily bit her lip and watched on as Slughorn and Harry stared at each other over the guttering candle.

There was a long, almost deafening silence. Lily felt all of the muscles in her body coil themselves tighter, and she felt as if she breathed too hard it would ruin something, what that something was, she had no idea. She almost clapped out of happiness when Slughorn shifted. Very slowly, Slughorn put his hand in his pocket and pulled out his wand. He put his other hand inside his cloak and took out a small, empty bottle.

Still looking into Harry's eyes, Slughorn touched the tip of his wand to his temple and withdrew it, so that a long, silver thread of memory came away too, clinging to the wand tip. Longer and longer the memory stretched until it broke and swung, silvery bright, from the wand. Slughorn lowered it into the bottle where it coiled, then spread, swirling like gas. He corked the bottle with a trembling hand and then passed it across the table to Harry.

"Forgive me," Slughorn murmured in Lily's direction, and she gave him a gentle smile. "I hope I can save you this time, Lily."

"Thank you very much, Professor," Harry said kindly.

"You're a good boy," said Professor Slughorn, tears trickling down his fat cheeks into his walrus mustache. "And you've got her eyes...Just don't think too badly of me once you've seen it..."

And he too put his head on his arms, gave a deep sigh, and fell asleep.