So this chapter is super long, but very eventful. I hope you guys enjoy it (tell me in the reviews, as usual!)

Disclaimer: The last scene is based on a poem/short film by Jamieson Ridenhour called "Cornerboys" (it's on youtube, I'd highly suggest looking it up)

"I can't believe you took all of them," Lily said in exasperation, turning to James. "Dumbledore's going to think I've gone and run my mouth all over Hogwarts—"

"Oh come off it, Evans," Emmeline said with a smile. "You're just mad that we're stealing your glory. You're not the only person Dumbledore trusts."

Lily was affronted. "That's ridiculous! If you think that I'd go running off to risk my life just to gain some glory—"

"Right, you're mixing her up with Sirius," Peter interrupted. The group burst out laughing, Lily even joining in. Sirius looked uncomfortable, shooting glances over towards Mary, who was laughing as well.

"I don't want anything but to see Mulciber dead," he growled. The friends' laughter died down with Sirius' threat.

"We're not going to run off killing death eaters!" Lily said quickly, with a stern look towards Sirius. "We're spying and gathering information. If we go around attacking them then our cover will be blown."

"Yeah, well if he happens to step in the way of a poorly-aimed Reducto curse..."

"Dumbledore also suggested that Frank join," Alice said quickly, interrupting whatever Lily was about to say. "He said it would be good to have as many people inside the Ministry as possible...that's what You-Know-Who's doing..."

Emmeline shivered. "I don't like that...thinking the same way as him..."

"We must," Remus said quietly, "if he's ever going to be defeated."

Lily bit her lip and looked at James. He looked just as worried as she felt.

"Lily Evans!"

Lily stood up, beaming, as she shuffled through the row of chairs situated outside the castle. She strode up to the platform, shook hands with the row of Professors, and finally arrived at Dumbledore. She smiled at him, and with a flick of his wand, her diploma materialized and dropped into her hand. He shook her hand firmly, and she thought she might have seen his blue eye twitch into a quick wink. She turned and waved to her classmates as she stepped off stage. She could see her mother, father, and sister in the crowd; Mr. and Mrs. Evans looked radiant, and Petunia even seemed less horrified and more wondrous than usual. Just before Lily took her seat, she caught James' eye and winked at him. He grinned back.

After what seemed like ages, the graduation ceremony was over. Lily, along with the rest of the Hogwarts graduating class, stuck their wands in the air and released streamers, bubbles, doves, and various other means of celebration.

She found her friends through the chaos and they threw their arms around each other, laughing freely. James spun Lily around and kissed her, and over his shoulder she could see Mary jumping on Sirius. She pointed it out to James, and he laughed at the awed look on Sirius' face.

"Lily!"

She turned around and saw her family making their way through the crowd. She pulled James with her towards them.

"Congratulations, baby!" Mrs. Evans cried, pulling Lily into a tight clasp. Her father wordlessly pulled her to his chest; she could sense that if he spoke, his voice might break from emotion.

"And this must be James!" Mrs. Evans said, turning to Lily's boyfriend.

"I think we've met before," James said, smiling charmingly.

"Oh, of course, of course, on the platform..."

"James," Lily interrupted, eying Petunia warily. "This is my older sister, Petunia."

James looked uncertainly at Lily before he turned to her sister.

"Lovely to meet you," he said kindly, extending his hand.

Petunia nodded shortly and took his hand for a moment, and then quickly withdrew it. Lily breathed a sigh of relief; she was at least civil.

"I'm going to go find my parents," James said, turning to Lily. "I'll meet you guys at the feast."

Lily nodded, and motioned for her parents to follow her. They made their way with the crowd towards the castle, and into the Great Hall where the graduates would enjoy possibly their last feast at Hogwarts.

"Over here, Lily!"

Lily turned and saw Alice and Frank waving her over towards their end of the table. Lily and her family took a seat, and as Lily waved to Mr. Prince, Alice introduced her to Frank's mother.

"Augusta Longbottom," Frank's mother said sharply, extending a bony hand. "Lovely to meet you...Frank tells me that you're quite a witch."

Lily took her hand uncertainly. Mrs. Longbottom was quite intimidating.

"Lovely to meet you, too," Lily said timidly.

"I never pass up an opportunity to pay a visit to Hogwarts," Mrs. Longbottom continued promptly. "Such a wonderful place, with such history—"

Lily shared a look with Alice's father, who had his eyebrows raised in exasperation. He clearly had had his fill of Augusta already. Alice was listening on with a look of mild interest, clearly out of respect for Frank. Lily had a feeling that if Mrs. Longbottom didn't approve of Alice, then she certainly would never be allowed to marry Frank.

Thankfully, after a few moments of listening to Mrs. Longbottom's opinions on Hogwarts, they were interrupted by the Potters.

"Augusta! So good to see you!"

Mrs. Longbottom and Mr. Prince stood up to greet the Potters, and they all seemed to be old friends. Lily reminded herself that they were all from distinguished pure-blood families, and they would probably have old ties to each other.

Lily suppressed a giggle as Mrs. Longbottom pulled James into a tight embrace and planted a kiss on his forehead. He looked as though he were making a great personal sacrifice to endure that.

James then introduced his parents to Mr. and Mrs. Evans, and from there, the families conversed for hours through the feast. Lily's parents were so engrossed in conversation—having very limited interaction with the wizarding world—that they hardly had time to marvel at the way the food appeared on the gold plates, or how the enchanted ceiling changed with the sky. Out of the corner of her eye, Lily observed Petunia looking around the Hall in wonder. She remembered Petunia's letter to Dumbledore, and wondered if she imagined the pained look on her sister's face. Perhaps she was wondering what it would have been like had she gotten into Hogwarts—

"Let's get out of here," James murmured into Lily's ear.

Lily looked at her parents doubtfully. "I really don't think I should leave them—"

James raised his eyebrows and looked at them. "They seem to be enjoying themselves. They haven't said one word to you in over an hour."

Lily sighed. "I suppose, but only for a few minutes—"

James didn't wait for the rest of her sentence. They didn't even have to excuse themselves, for the wizarding families were listening with rapt attention to Lily's parents explain the Muggle system of electricity.

"Where are we going?" Lily asked curiously. James seemed to have some kind of intent in mind.

"I just want one last stroll around the place," he said vaguely.

Lily raised her eyebrows at him, but he pretended not to notice. He lead her purposefully towards the front doors, and out into the twilight of the grounds. Lily saw to their left Filch putting away the chairs and decorations from the ceremony, but James pulled her to the right, towards the Lake.

"What are we doing out here?" Lily tried again, smiling uncertainly.

James sighed and smiled back at her. "Always so inquisitive, aren't you, Evans?"

She took his hand in hers and kissed his shoulder affectionately. "You like it."

He stopped at the edge of the lake and leaned on a tree. Lily took up some rocks and began trying to skip them across the water. They were comfortably silent for a few moments, until James cleared his throat.

"I can't believe it's all over," he said quietly.

Lily flung the rest of her rocks out to the Lake and turned to him. "It's pretty crazy, isn't it?"

"In a few months we're actually going to be fighting him," James continued, looking out across the Lake, as though he could almost see his future.

Lily was silent, waiting for him to go on.

"It's going to be dangerous," he said, turning to her. "I'm going to worry about you all the time."

Lily held her head up playfully. "I can take care of myself, it's you we've got to worry about, Potter."

James, however, did not smile. "What if something happens before we get to do everything we want to do?"

"We have all summer before—"

"Things that don't only take a summer," he said seriously, pulling her closer to him and looking straight into her eyes. "Like getting our first real jobs, and not living in secret off of my family's money. Like having neighbors we can trust, and going to the pub down the street with them every Saturday. Like"—he paused, taking a deep, shaky breath—"like getting married, and having a child, and seeing them off to Hogwarts..."

Lily blinked the tears out of her eyes, and said through a tight throat, "Oh James, you'll do all that."

He took both of her hands into his, keeping his eyes on hers. "We don't know that." He paused to slip something onto her finger. "We need to take advantage of the time we have now. Lily, will you marry me?"

Lily looked quickly down to her hands, where James had just slipped a delicate, golden ring onto her left ring finger.

"James..." she whispered, looking back up to him. He was gazing down at her with such wild passion that she felt scared. Not of him, but of what he believed; that their time was so limited that they had to rush into a marriage before they were even really adults. She looked back down at the ring and noticed that there were diamonds in the shape of a lily flower on it. She realized that he was right...she couldn't keep living in her fantasy world where they would fight the bad guys and it would all be alright. The good guys—she or James—might not win in this story.

"Of course I will."

He nodded, pulling her into a tight hug. Lily felt the tight knot in her throat fading away. She was engaged to James Potter! She was going to be his wife!

She grabbed his face and pulled it towards hers, kissing him wildly. After a few moments, she pulled away, breathing heavily. A million questions were circulating her mind.

"Do your parents know about this?" she asked excitedly, holding her hand out to further admire her ring. It was perfect.

"No, I just decided to do it last night," he said sheepishly.

She looked up at him sharply. "Last night? You made the decision to get married in a night?"

He held up his hands. "It's not like I didn't know I was going to marry you eventually," he explained. "I just thought, 'why not now?'"

"You knew you would marry me eventually? What made you so sure of that, Potter?" she asked archly.

"Come on, Evans, you're crazy about me."

She laughed and playfully punched his arm. "No, James, you just drive me crazy."

"Same thing," he said with a wink. He glanced around, seeming to notice the increasing darkness. "Shall we head back inside?"

Lily nodded and fell into step with him. "What should I do about this?" she asked, holding up her hand with the ring on it.

"Keep it there," James said. "It's not like we've got anything to hide."

"My parents are going to go mad," she warned.

"What are they going to do, send you to your room to think about what you've done?"

Lily giggled. "I suppose not, but my father might take a go at your head."

They made their way back through the front doors and into the Great Hall. Lily resumed her seat next to her parents, who only mildly seemed to notice she'd gone. Petunia, however, was glaring at her disapprovingly for sneaking off with her boyfriend.

After a few moments of listening to Mr. Potter recount a humorous story about his auror days, Mrs. Longbottom turned sharply to Lily.

"Dear, what's that on your finger?"

"I don't like it," James said stubbornly. "Not at all."

"Well I don't like you running off with werewolves, but that doesn't stop you, does it?"

James stood up quickly. "That's different!"

Lily turned to him and placed a soothing hand on his arm. "I know, James. Going out dancing with my friends to the Leaky Cauldron is different...it's much safer."

"I'd beg to differ," he said stubbornly.

"I'll keep my wand at hand at all times...but really, James, do you think that the most popular pub in Diagon Ally will be attacked, especially with so many witches and wizards there?"

James sighed grudgingly. "Probably not, but there's always a chance—"

"There's always a chance that we'll be attacked when we're shopping for our bloody groceries," Lily interrupted coldly.

"But that's it...you said we. I'm with you then—"

"Oh, because I'm so helpless without you there, is that right?" Lily spun around and glared at him. She hated when he made it seem as though she were some delicate object that needed constant attention. "Would you rather I sit in the house at all times, then? Disappear from the world because I'm a "mudblood"? Becase that's what he wants, James—"

"Alright!" James yelled to interrupt her rant. "Alright," he said, more softly. He pulled her to his chest, although she resisted at first. "I'm just worrying, that's all. Of course I don't doubt you, but I don't doubt the other side as well."

Lily softened. "I know, James. It's just that I don't think it's very fair that you can go run off with Remus while you think I should sit at home. I just want to go out and have some fun. We're going to be married soon, and our Order work begins in a few weeks...there isn't much time for that anymore."

James nodded and looked at his watch. "I should be off, the moon's due to come up in a few minutes."

Lily nodded and pulled him close. He kissed her and ran his hands through her hair, which had grown down a few inches past her shoulders.

"Be careful."

"You too."

With a loud "crack," James disappeared from the room. Lily heaved a sigh and turned back to her make-up to distract herself. Of course she was just as worried as he was, but she chose to hide it; it would do no good if they were both constantly questioning each other. No, she just watched him disapparate away every time with a sick feeling in her stomach that it could be the last time. She never stopped him, though.

"Evans! Hey, Evans! I know you're in there!"

Lily jumped at the sudden interruption of silence in her house. She ran out to the source of the voice: her fireplace in the living room.

"Keep your dress robes on, MacDonald," she said playfully to Mary's head, which was floating in the fire.

"Ah, well Sirius isn't coming out tonight, so that might be a possibility," Mary said with a wink. Lily laughed.

"Move your big head, I'm going to Floo over there so we can apparate together," Lily said, taking a pinch of powder from the pot she and James kept beside the fireplace.

"Alright, no more stalling. Emmeline's over here having a fit because she's so hungry."

With that, Mary's head disappeared. Lily threw her powder into the flames and they became a deep green. She stepped in, shouted "MacDonald/Vance residence!" and was suddenly spinning through the flames.

She landed with a small "oof" a moment later in Mary and Emmeline's kitchen. Emmeline offered her hand, and Lily took it, allowing her to pull her from the floor.

"Thanks," Lily coughed. She hated traveling by Floo, but apparation now-a-days was more difficult; many people put charms around their houses that block outside apparation to stop intruders.

"Ready to go?" Mary asked brightly, looking gorgeous in her robes of light pink.

"Sure," Lily said, hooking arms with her two friends. "Where's Alice?"

"It's Frank's first night off in a while," Emmeline said, rolling her eyes. "Something about dinner at Augusta's house..."

Lily wrinkled her nose—she had decided that she didn't really like Augusta, especially after the uproar she'd caused at the Hogwarts graduation feast by pointing out Lily's engagement ring.

"Let's go!" Mary groaned, and before Lily could respond, she felt the familiar squeezing sensation of apparation. After a moment, they'd arrived on a street: Diagon Alley.

"It's so cold!" Emmeline said in surprise. Lily nodded, hunching her shoulders together and watching her breath evaporate around her.

"It's f-f-freaking summer!" Mary complained, leading them towards the Leaky Cauldron. "Why is it so c-c-cold?"

No one answered, and instead they focused on reaching their destination. The sounds of music and chattering grew louder and louder, until they finally reached The Leaky Cauldron. Lily threw opened the door and they entered.

The place was packed. This was one of the few wizarding bars that remained opened in the wake of Voldemort, and was constantly busy. Tom, the owner, was a man with many friends, some of whom were powerful wizards, and had the protection he needed to keep his business running. Indeed, Lily noticed that an auror or two were moving around the outskirts of the crowd, keeping an eye on things. James was foolish to fear for her.

Before she knew it, Mary had left and returned with three glasses of firewhiskey.

"It's a little early for this, isn't it, Mary?" Lily teased, taking her glass.

Mary shrugged. "Never. Bottoms up!"

They all drank deeply, and Lily screwed up her face at the hot, biting sensation in her throat.

"Aw, wittle Evans can't handle her firewhiskey," Emmeline teased, although she had a rather unpleasant look on her face as well.

"Shove off," Lily said playfully. They made their way over to the crowd of dancing witches and wizards, and, for the night, Lily forgot all about Voldemort and his destruction.

"I can't believe this," Lily moaned. She was slightly intoxicated and just wanted to go to sleep.

"It'll be there in the morning," Emmeline assured, already falling asleep on her couch.

"It was a pretty decent amount of gold though," Lily said, biting her lip. "I'll just be right back."

"You're mental," Mary groaned. "Just wait for James to get back at least before you go wandering the streets of Diagon Alley at 2 a.m."

"It's like 20 Galleons!" Lily protested, trying to clear her mind so she could think straight. "I'll be back in 15 minutes."

Before her friends could protest, Lily disapparated from Emmeline and Mary's flat.

Suddenly, Lily found herself on a dark, empty street. She squinted and looked around her, and couldn't recognize her surroundings. She grasped her wand, sobering up a little, and cursing herself for being so stupid to apparate drunk. She could practically hear James' voice: "You did whatfor 20 galleons? Lily Evans..."

Incensed at the thought of James' self-righteous tone, Lily continued on, determined to find her purse and get back to bed. As she wandered, wondering where she could be, a light breeze blew, causing goosebumps to emerge under her blue satin dress robes. Finally, she spotted a sign—Knockturn Alley.

Lily shivered again. She'd only heard of it before, as a dark, sketchy place. She knew that it eventually intersected with Diagon Alley, and she didn't want to try apparating again in her state, so she continued on by foot, shivering more violently as the minutes passed.

"Lily Evans?"

Lily jumped and pulled out her wand at the sound of the voice. It sounded so familiar though—

"Severus?"

Lily's voice was filled with shock.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, blatantly just as surprised as she felt.

"I—I'm lost," she admitted. "I'd left my purse at The Leaky Cauldron..."

She trailed off under Severus' gaze. All her misgivings about him mitigated; the sight of a familiar face was such a relief.

"You look cold," he observed. There was an iciness in his voice that Lily had never noticed while they were still friends, but she shrugged it off.

"A little."

"Perhaps you'd like to come in and warm up," he said, motioning to a door behind him.

"Oh..." Lily was apprehensive. The memory of him by the Lake came back into her mind: "Filthy mudblood."

"Just for a moment," he pressed, his tone softening. "I'll walk you to the Leaky Cauldron myself after."

Lily felt defeated. She couldn't deny that she needed his help. And, despite their later years at Hogwarts, she still had known the side of him as a brilliant, sweet boy. He would never allow her to be harmed.

"Just for a moment," she repeated, following him, but keeping her wand firmly in her hand.

He opened the door and she entered a dark pub. As she stepped in, the low chatter around her died out. Severus stepped in behind her after a moment, which caused a wave of murmurs.

"Who's Sev go there?"

"Is that—?"

"No, but she's muggleborn—"

"Lily Evans—?"

Lily immediately regretted her decision to follow Severus. However, she could see no way out now, and followed him to a table of men clad in black robes.

"Rosier, Mulciber, Crabbe, Goyle, Avery; I trust you remember Lily Evans from Hogwarts?"

Lily tried to smile, tried to act as though she wasn't staring death eaters right in the face, but her facial muscles seemed to have stopped working. Some nodded curtly, others gave Lily an appraising look. She wanted nothing more than to disapparate on the spot, but Severus had his hand on her upper arm, guiding her, and would be taken with her.

"I thought, perhaps, she would like to join us for a drink," Severus continued. He glanced over at the large, sinister bartender, who immediately had two firewhiskeys ready on the bar. With a wave of his wand, Severus summoned them. Lily grasped hers, but did not drink.

"Have a seat, Miss Evans," Rosier said, pulling a chair out for her. His tone was sarcastically sweet; he seemed to be mocking her, but she wasn't sure how.

"Y-you know, I really should be going," Lily said quickly, turning to Severus. "My friends are waiting—"

"Is that how you treat old friends from school?" Rosier pushed, a small smile playing on his face. "Come now, sit!"

Lily did so, although reluctantly. She kept her eyes on Severus, silently pleading for him to keep things under control. He watched her carefully, keeping his eyes on hers.

"So, Lily, how is post-Hogwarts life?" Rosier continued.

"Fine," she said tersely.

"Any career prospects?"

Lily shrugged.

"Well, if you ever looking for a job, we know someone who's always hiring."

Lily's heart seemed to have stopped beating in her chest. Were they really speaking so openly of Voldemort to her?

"Eternal glory," Avery continued, a wild glint in his eye. "Riches, power beyond your wildest belief..."

"You would be one of his greatest additions," Severus continued, watching Lily. "Top of your class, brilliant, sharp—he values intelligence, above all."

Lily was breathless. They were trying to recruit her as a death eater. She looked around the table at the eager faces looking from her to Severus. She caught Severus' eye, and heard his voice in her head: "We would be unstoppable, you and I."

She wasn't sure if she'd imagined it, or if she had some kind of connection with his mind. Images, unbidden, flashed before her eyes: Lily clad in green emeralds, Lily surrounded by people looking up adoringly at her, Lily smiling next to Severus, holding a black-haired baby in her arms...not constantly hiding in fear, or surrounded by protective spells...out in the open, ruling...

A sudden, inexplicable feeling of happiness overcame Lily. The images re-played themselves in her mind, and she could feel all the joy and satisfaction they would bring. Of course, she would join, and be rewarded beyond belief...

Lily tore her gaze away from Severus, and reality came crashing down upon her. She was in a room of death eaters, and hundreds of people had probably died at the hands of this table of people. Nothing was worth that.

Lily smiled wryly and stood up. "I have a feeling your boss wouldn't take to me. After all, I'm just a filthy little mudblood, aren't I?"

She turned to Severus, aware of the five sets of eyes and five wands that were aimed at her back.

"Albus Dumbledore is the greatest wizard who ever lived, and you'd do well to keep that in mind."

And, just as shouts began to fill the air, Lily disappeared from the dark bar on Knockturn Alley with a loud "crack."