Disclaimer: Okay, really? This is the 25th time I've had to say that I don't own Harry Potter. Are little publishing ninja minions going to be alerted if I don't put this in here?

Note: Yay! Thanks to the lovely reviewers. I will hopefully be able to update this quicker than last time.

Reality update: Don't count on it.

But, to make up for it, I added some fluff (see author's note at end of chapter)

Lily was happy, for once. Of course, life still wasn't perfect. Eleanor and Sofia were up to something, and she wasn't too sure she liked it. She found that she was spending most of her time with her new friends. Well, James and his friends, really. But Remus had always been a good guy, and Sirius wasn't all that bad, when you got to know him. Lily actually felt sorry for Peter, rather than being disgusted by him as Sofia was. But she wasn't quite happy. Her life had been moving fast, but now things seemed to have slowed down like they were moving through jelly. She began to study in earnest for the NEWTs, a subject that Sirius was constantly reminding her was a sign of utter nerd-dom.

"It's only March!" he exclaimed on one such occasion.

Lily looked up at him over the library table. "What are you even doing here?"

"Looking for Sofia. Have you seen her?"

"No. Why?" Lily was puzzled.

Sirius looked at her strangely. "Can't a bloke go looking for his girl every once and a while?"

Lily rolled her eyes. "Why she goes out with you, I'll never know. Can you seriously imagine Sofia being in the library?"

Sirius made a rude remark and strolled out of the library, followed by the watchful eyes of Madam Pince.

James passed him at the door. They stopped, exchanged a few words. James cuffed Sirius lightly on the shoulder. Lily made out the words "You're crazy, Padfoot." Before he came up to her.

"Al right, Lily?" He greeted her as he sat down, with a cocky nod to Madam Pince who glared and swooped away.

"Hi." She greeted him, pushing some books aside.

"Would you like to come down to the lake with us? The giant squid's feeling playful."

"Have you been tickling it again?" She groaned, standing up and looking around as if she expected the castle to collapse around their ears. "You know better! It makes it giddy!"

"Yes, but it's all in good fun. It's not as dangerous as… say…"

"Okay! I don't want to hear about your past scrimmages with danger!"

"Whatever. Come on!" And with that, he swept her books untidily into her bag with a charm.

"Hey!" Lily protested, sealing the ink well at the last minute.

"Whatever. Let's go.

James pulled her outside. "Okay, alright. Just, slow down!" Lily complained, but James sprinted like a deer. Lily guessed that those quidditch mussels were good for something other than making girls swoon.

But Lily was not one to be left behind. Returning his firm grip, she matched his pace. Planning to drop him in the lake, she passed him and began to pull him along. He'd pay for tearing her away from her books!

But James was the superior athlete and it was Lily who landed in the drink. Laughing and sopping wet, Lily sat in the muddy shallows and mock-glared at her assailant.

Once the water had cleared from her eyes she realized that she was not the only one in the water. Spring was coming and it was the first weekend of the warm months. The water was still chilly, but they were witches and wizards, afterall. Casting a simple warming charm on herself, Lily reached up for James' hand and pulled him in.

"I let you do that." James told her, trying to find a dry spot to wipe his glasses.

"Impervious" Lily tapped his glasses with her wand.

"Neat." Commented Remus, who was showing more restraint than the others. Sofia and Sirius were tickling the Giant squid as Eleanor looked on, her emotions hidden behind a mask of subtly exaggerated merriment that Lily didn't bother analyzing.

"…water repelling charm?" Remus was saying.

"Oh, come on, book worms. It's Spring!" James said with a giddy smile.

Lily decided he needed to be taken down a notch so she conjured up a wreath of flowers and set them on his head. Then nocked them off with a jet of water she summoned with a flick of her wand.

"Touché." James said, picking up the sopping flowers and vanishing them.

The second spurt of water would have hit them in the eye if not for Lily's previous charm.

Seeing him on the defense at last, Lily thought he looked rather silly and began to laugh.

Seeing her happiness, James though she was the most beautiful thing in the world. (see author's note.)

Once Lily had dried off, she went off to do rounds. James needed to be somewhere, so she had agreed to do it by herself. While patrolling a fifth-floor corridor that was often frequented by rule breakers, couples, and others who would find it of interest to be out after hours, Lily had quite a surprise.

"Professor Dumbledore, sir. What are you doing here?"

"We never completed our previous conversation, Miss Evans. I have asked Professor McGonagall to patrol the hallways tonight. Would you do me the honor of stepping into my office?"

Lily accepted, mutely, and followed him down a flight of back steps and down a corridor to the stone gargoyle she knew led to his office.

"Acid Pop" Said Dumbledore and the crouched stone figure sprang aside, respectfully.

They walked to the inner office and faced each other over the desk. A chair sprang from nowhere, and Lily took it.

"Now, you are doubtless aware of the dark things that are cropping up in the Prophet. "

"Yes, sir. They say It's a new dark wizard… the paper never says his name… I heard someone say… V-Voledemort…"

"Yes, the Wizarding world fears his name, for reasons I am oblivious to. However, that works in his advantage."

"His advantage? Sir? What does he want?"

"Control of the ministry, power, to put muggles in their rightful place, what could you expect?" Dumbledore said, in an absent-minded yet cynical way.

"That reminds me of…"

"Grindelwald, yes."

"Then will you duel this V-voldemort?" Lily asked, her curiosity engaged.

"I hope it will not come to that." Dumbledore looked troubled. "But it looks like I will be in luck. For there is a new generation of young wizards to fight with me."

"But what does that have to do with me, specifically?" Lily's brain was whizzing.

"You are of that generation. There are many more. Do you remember Emmeline Vance?" Lily did. Emmeline was a rather smart Ravenclaw who had graduated the year before. She had heard that Vance was now working for the ministry.

"And Dorcas Meadows?" A Hufflepuff a year older than Emmeline who was quickly rising through the ranks of editors in the Daily Prophet.

"Marlene McKinnon?" Lily had fancied herself almost friends with Marlene, a Gryffindor prefect and last year's head girl.

"These young ladies and more have joined my efforts. We call ourselves the order of the Phoenix. And we are doing everything we can to put a stop to the terror. For that is what the world outside of these castle walls is feeling—terror."

"Oh." Lily said, breathlessly. A secret organization of vigilantes. That would send even her imagination going. But Lily pulled herself out of it. The logistics seemed difficult. Someone might blab and that simply wouldn't do.

"How can I join?" She asked determinedly, looking Dumbledore straight in his measuring blue eyes.

"You just have. Now, your rounds should be coming to an end just about now. Your first mission—recruit those you trust, the Head Boy, for instance. But be discreet. No one must know."

James sat with Remus under the tree by the lake. Sirius was off somewhere, (Probably off snogging Sofia.) Peter had detention. Remus was looking better now that the full moon was over and he had actually slept a little.

"So… Padfoot and Sofia…"

"Are totally using eachother." Remus stated blankly. "We've been through this."

"You and Lily…" Remus began, sneakily.

"Are just friends." James intoned and put his head on his crossed arms, propping them on his knees.

"Seriously, mate? I don't think you're trying anymore." Remus said, looking like he regretted his teasing.

"I don't think there's much point in trying." James complained, feeling the desperate sensation in his stomach where it feels like your eyeballs are being digested.

"Wimp." Muttered Remus.

"I'd rather have her as a friend than not at all. Last time, things got awkward. Don't you think I ought to accept my lot?"

"Now you're just feeling sorry for yourself." Commented Remus.

"I'd say I have a right to." James slumped back.

"Whatever. Just, try, okay?" Remus said.

"Would you help me?"

"I am helping you."

"No. I mean, like put in a good word for me."

"No."

"Why not?"

"She should accept you on her own terms."

"Alright. I'll talk to her."

James got up and dusted himself off.

"Not leaving, are we?" Asked Eleanor, dropping her books to James' left and looking past him at Remus.

"Um, actually…" James said.

"No." Remus said, pulling James down beside him.

"Actually, Lily's looking for you." Eleanor told James. "I seek the council of Mr. Moony, here." Remus stiffened at the Marauder epithet coming from someone's mouth, hoping she didn't know what it meant. But Eleanor seemed unaffected.

James hurried off, and Eleanor took his place.

"Something's up with Lily." She said.

"What?" Moony asked, glancing worriedly after James' retreating back.

"I don't know. There's something she's not telling me."

"Well, I don't know, either."

"Oh." They sat in awkward silence for a while.

"I'd better get to studying."

"Okay." Eleanor watched him go, listlessly staring at the lake.

James knew he had a good chance of finding Lily in the library.

He made a much less graceful entrance than last time, and when he sat down, he opened his mouth and prepared to blurt everything out, but what Lily said next made him glad he didn't.

"James, I need to talk to you. " enticed, James looked around.

"Here?" he asked.

James wondered if that seemed a bit… over-eager… but Lily agreed and gathered her things.

Walking side by side, James steered her towards a secret tunnel that he knew of. It led to Hogsmead, but there were also some benches to sit on where they wouldn't be seen or heard.

Shoving his finger up the cow-like gargoyle's noze and pushing the secret button, he ushered Lily inside.

He sat down facing her and waited.

"Dumbledore took me to his office the other night…" Lily began.

James was confused, but listened carefully as Lily explained to him about the Order of the Phoenix.

"Count me in." He said immediately.

"I knew I could count on you."

"Hey, it's like I said. We'll fight together. We'll train to be aurors and have access to reports and everything so we can help the Order."

"Yes. We'll fight together." The idea appealed to Lily greatly. "There's no one I'd rather fight with, James Potter."

James was stunned. How could the most beautiful creature in existence be saying that about him? But as he was trying to form a sufficient reply, Lily was wondering if that was going a bit too far. Quickly, she added, "You're such a good friend."

Author's note: Ooohhh burn. You guys are going to be mad at me for that, but I'm not quite ready, yet. So, about the water-splashing. I thought I'd give you guys some fluff, but I just want to add this to uphold my integrity as an author. I really didn't want to put that in there. I hate ruining funny, loose moments with romance. But it just seemed to fit, so I did. I hope you like it. Please review and tell me what you think about humor and romance interacting. Also, sorry it took so long to get this up. But hey, it's like twice as long as usual…