and nothing but the truth

chapter twenty-one

James snoozes away on Lily's bunk, oblivious to the world. At first he'd been awkward about it, saying that it might look rather odd; but after she pointed out that her roommate, also wont to come and go at odd times, was asleep in her bunk, it didn't take much to prompt him into getting some rest.

He looks horribly uncomfortable there, his ribs broken and his arm in an unidentified state, so Lily, thoughts running along the lines of shoot, shoot, shoot, if he wakes up I could get arrested, shoot, pulls out her wand and runs it over the injuries, saying a few spells to speed up the healing process.

Skittishly she tucks the wand away, and now takes a seat at her desk (where Sirius had sat only a few days before - straight after his confession he'd had to go, leaving Lily more disconcerted than ever). She pulls a pad of writing paper toward her; there is a letter to be written which, admittedly, should've been written days ago.

Marly,

I'm terribly sorry for not getting back to you. Things at Cardiff are a bit chaotic of late. Judging by the tone of your letter, whatever needs to be said can't be said through an owl, so tell me when you are free to meet up. Please don't tell me where.

Your friend

Lily

Quickly Lily seals the paper into an envelope and sticks a charm to it. She doesn't have an owl anymore, so the old method of sending notes in school - not exactly favorable for long-distance travel - will have to do.

"To Marlene," she whispers lightly. "And may you burn up for anyone but Marlene." The note folds and flutters out the window, and she sighs. It is unlikely to make it, but perhaps it will look like litter, carried by the wind…

Strangely, not ten minutes later an owl lands on her windowsill, silent. Shocked, Lily inches the sill up, and the bird drops a slip of paper without so much as a clack of his beak.

"Smart bird," Lily murmurs affectionately as she recognizes it. So Marlene is close by, definitely in Wales - otherwise her response time would be much longer.

She opens the note.

Lily Evans, you are a FOOL! You should know better than to send messages by charm. They are subject to the elements and furthermore to TAMPERING.

Don't bother about codes, I'm at the college right now. In the bookstore. Come outside.

- Marlene

Lily thinks wildly, Marlene is outside? Here, now… she casts a glance at James, who is curled up under the covers like a child.

She has to go, of course. Obviously, whatever her friend wants to talk about is extremely important - otherwise why would she come all the way out to Cardiff?

Lily sighs, and, hoping Elle doesn't wake up while she is out, exits the dorm.

It's a quick jog down to the bookstore (Lily is suddenly grateful for the proximity) and Marlene is waiting there, looking every bit as, well, Marlene as she did before.

"Lee," the woman says, pulling her into a brief embrace. "You look well."

"You look…odd," the redhead replies hesitantly, looking up and down at her friend's bright green robes. As one can expect, the others in the store give the pair funny looks.

"Yeah, well - I had to come straight from work." Marlene casts an eye around the store, then grabs Lily's elbow and moves her behind a tall display case. "This'll have to do. Albus will kill me…"

She casts a quick Muffliato charm, pocketing her wand as casually as if she did magic in front of Muggles every day. She probably did. Like Lily, she wasn't averse to testing the Statute of Secrecy.

"What is it?" Lily asks, biting her lip. Marlene raises an eyebrow.

"Bit anxious, are we? Got a boy waiting on you?"

"No," she exclaims immediately, before remember that technically, yes, she does.

A smile appears on the brunette's face. "Lee… I hope you haven't become too attached to the Muggle world."

"What?"

"I mean… what if there was something more? Something that counted more than going to college?"

Lily frowns. "Marly, what are you on about?"

"What if," Marlene says, so enraptured by her own speech that her eyes are shining and she forgets to scold her friend for the nickname. "What if there was a resistance? To You-Know-Who? Surely you've been following the news."

Lily's eyes drop to the ground. Oh, she'd been following. It was hard not to, really, as if she'd stuck a toe in and now she couldn't help but test the waters again every now and then. "Kudos to the resistance, then."

"Suppose it needed more people? Suppose you were asked to join?"

"I wouldn't be asked."

"Suppose I was asking you to join?" Their eyes meet again, and Lily is struck by the horrible message Marlene is trying to convey. Out of her friend's softly tilting mouth comes the question: "Would you leave this world behind?"

Lily pauses, then shakes her head. "I can never leave," she murmurs. "I'm just as tied to it as I am to the Wizarding world."

Marlene leans back, a mild expression of surprise on her face. "That's all?"

The girl bites her lip again. Truth be told, a resistance is probably exactly what Wizarding Britain needs right now.

Then it occurs to her - what had she said? Albus will kill me. Marlene was sent by Dumbledore - then - "He said if there's every a way, he'll contact you."

So this is it - her calling. The chance she wanted, the one for which she spent hours pleading with Remus to get him to talk to Dumbledore.

That was only a few weeks ago, although it feels much longer. So much has happened.

Does she still want the chance?

"Lee?"

No. Not if it means leaving the Muggle world: leaving Cardiff, her mother, James…

"Lee?""

She snaps out of her reverie, gazing back steadily at a disconcerted Marlene. "Yes?"

"Are you really going to say 'no' and leave it at that?" the woman says quietly. "People are dying, Lee. And now you have a chance to do something about it."

Lily's heart reaches out, it truly does, but she still can't ignore what she's being asked to do: sacrifice her life. "What if I don't want to?" she blurts.

More surprise. "The Lily Evans I knew would."

She's conflicted. I've talked the talk, now I have to walk the walk, she thinks wildly. But what if something happens to her? Her mother will be devastated - two family deaths in three years? And Remus won't have anyone else -

But it seems wrong somehow, saying no. After all, it is Muggles this "resistance" protects - people like James and Sirius. People like Elle Goldeir. She'd be protecting them.

Marlene gives an agitated sigh as her wristwatch begins to beep. "Damnit, I've got to go. Gid needs me. Listen, Lily, I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to -" She waves a hand vaguely.

"No need to Obliviate me, Marly," Lily answers her, feeling a sudden wave of confidence. Now or never, she thinks. "What if - what if it was part-time, you know -"

There is a pause as the watch goes on beeping insistently. "Of course," the other woman finally says softly. "Of course. We'll accept anything. But, Lil -"

Beep! Beep! Beep!

"It's a long run before I can Apparate," Marlene says hurriedly, "so I've got to go - but just remember that - shoot - remember you can't always have both, okay?"

"Okay?" Lily tries to answer, but her friend probably doesn't catch it, because she's already halfway out the door.

"Odd girl," the store clerk mutters as Lily, too, passes.

--

James is waiting outside of her dormitory.

"I woke up and you weren't there," he accuses gently as soon as he sees her, "and your roommate was looking at me. Said something like it was about time I got some sleep, so I just sort of…ran away," he finished lamely.

Lily laughs, though her mind is still turning the recent events over in her mind. "Elle's… observant," she says. "I promise she wasn't stalking you."

He looks unconvinced, but merely shrugs and rumples his hair. "It was weird anyway. Where'd you go?"

"I just had to run some errands," she lies. "It was kind of an emergency - you know, girl stuff."

He nods, and there's a beeping sound.

"Wow," he says while he checks hi watch. "It's almost six o' clock. I should have been back awhile ago."

James shifts his weight form foot to foot, and looks at Lily, who moves closer because frankly, talking from a distance seems awkward somehow. "Well - thank you. I suppose."

She nods. "I'll see you soon. And -" she touches his arm, which he has hastily rewrapped in the sling. "Take care of that, okay?"

He smiles. "You know I will, Llio."

"Of course."

He starts to walk away, clutching his hat in one hand, but hesitates and turns back. "Hey, Llio?"

She grins at him and raises an eyebrow. "Yes?"

"Did Sirius really check up on you?"

"Yeah, he really did," she laughs.

This provokes a small snort from James, and he shakes his head while putting his cap on. "What'd you talk about?"

"The Sex Pistols," she answers truthfully.

He shakes his head some more, mutters, "Wow," and turns back. "See you, Lily."

And unlike the day of the failed "date" (as Lily secretly thinks of it), the day of the motorcycle, this see you seems pleasant. As if he really does mean he will see her.

Lily shakes herself out of her thoughts. It is a moot point, really - James is a Muggle, and she is a witch. Thanks to Dumbledore, she now has dangerous ties into another world, a world she can't - and won't - involve anyone else in.

Author's Note: Arghh...

It's probably a bad sign that I hate writing interaction between the two main characters. . I want to update faster right now, but I've got a killer headache - so I can barely read my notebook, let alone stare at the computer. So this will be it for the day.

I can't wait for chapters twenty-two and twenty-three! Motivate me! (Chapter 22: Marlene is suspicious, Gideon is pitiful, and a little more of Sirius's past is revealed: In Which There is an Ironic Twist.)

Don't forget to review, my lovely readers. :D