AN: Big test on Wednesday. Ugh ugh ugh ugh ugh. Will answer all reviews eventually. Particularly important chapter, so enjoy! And please read .nerd's story, The Quidditch Captain and Her Head Boy :)

Chapter Twenty-Five: Gratitude

"So," Alice said casually the morning of Lily's seventeenth birthday, "you seeing James today?"

"Yeah. After breakfast," she said around a mouthful of hash brown. "We've progressed onto Cheering Charms, can you believe it? To think that this time last week he couldn't even levitate for thirty seconds!"

"Regular little genius," Alice agreed straight-faced. Lily frowned.

"You're taking the mick, aren't you?"

"Wouldn't dream of it," the blonde said and hurried on. "You think James knows it's your birthday?"

"Of course not," Lily said dismissively, although her insides perked up a little. Why shouldn't he know? Maybe Sirius had told him. They'd known each other long enough...

Only half daring to hope, she swung her bag onto her shoulder and made for the Library.

"Say hi to him for me!" Alice called. Puzzled - when had the two ever spoken? - Lily pushed open the double doors.

Since it was Saturday the room was silent and empty - apart from the boy sitting at the very end table, whose eyes lit up when he saw her.

"Lily, hey!"

"Morning," she said. Her palms were suddenly unaccountably sweaty. She discreetly wiped them on her robes and waited.

But James launched straight into another topic. "I've tried and I've tried, but this bit about the wand-flick just doesn't work for me. They've said specifically not to swish, but unless I do swish - "

"Which direction have you been flicking in?" she asked. Lily had to struggle to keep the disappointment from her voice - unwarranted disappointment, because why the hell should he know when her birthday was?

There was a lock of pitch hair hanging rakishly in front of one green-yellow eye. Her fingers itched to tuck it behind his ear.

For the rest of their hour-long lesson Lily instructed James on the finer points of Charms as normal. He behaved exactly as usual, and soon so could she. But just as she was about to stand up and leave he grabbed her wrist.

"Lily - "

They both froze as a tingling warmth seemed to spread out from his fingers. She jerked her hand back. With difficulty, since he seemed reluctant to let it go, regarding her with oddly inscrutable eyes once she had freed it.

Lily cleared her throat. "Yes?"

He blinked and shook himself. "You haven't spoken to Sirius since he left, have you?"

"No," she said warily.

"Do you want to?"

She opened her mouth to say of course not, but only politer since this was his best friend, then was surprised to find that the words would not come out. Because the truth was... Lily did want to speak to him.

She hadn't missed him. Not really. He was wild and ruthless and utterly insane, but he could be loyal when it was truly needed and somehow his absence had taken something out of her world. Something like the sea - neither good nor bad, yet powerful.

"Yes," she said finally. "I'd like to talk to him. Only no-one knows where he is - "

James snorted. "Please. We're Marauders. We can't fucking up and disappear on each other, not even him."

"Floo powder?" she asked, her eyes narrowed.

He grinned. "Even better. See... this."

Out of his pocket, he took what looked like an ordinary, small square mirror and handed it to her. Lily gazed at her own flaming hair and grass-green eyes.

"I don't get it."

Leaning close beside her, until she could feel his body heat, James spoke clearly into the mirror. "Sirius Black!"

Lily's breath caught. The surface rippled, turning briefly opaque, then refocusing into an image of her cousin. Sirius looked gaunter than he had before. There were dark bruises under his eyes and his cheekbones cut sharply against his skin, but of course it only added to his handsomeness. Behind him she could make out unfamiliar Hippogriff-patterned wallpaper.

Instead of astonished, he looked disgruntled. "Fucking pussy," he grunted. "Knew you were totally gone, Prongs."

Unable to help herself, Lily breathed, "Sirius? Oh my God, is that you?"

"Who else would it be?" he asked irritably. "I knew Prongs would do this for you. Compared to what he's already done, revealing Marauder secrets is nothing - "

"Padfoot!" James said sharply into her ear, making her jump. What had he already done?

But Sirius sighed and changed the topic. "So, my darling cousin, I hear you've done the impossible."

Lily raised a brow. "Yeah?"

"Spoken to a dead girl," he said. "Otherwise known as Andromeda, your older sister. No, he didn't tell me," he added when the redhead hissed and turned a disbelieving stare to James.

"How the fuck do you know then?"

"Ask me no questions and I'll tell you no lies, baa baa white sheep. How well did that go for you?"

"Fine," she said stiffly.

Sirius smirked. "Yeah, sure. Let's pretend I believe you. You following all her super-helpful advice down to the last letter then? Oh, come on, Lils. You can tell me. I can keep a secret."

"If the other one was dead. Answer for an answer," she said. "Where are you staying?"

"I'm gone with the wind. Your opinion on James?"

"He's better than some and not as good as others. What are you doing?"

"Working on the aspects of might makes right. You made a choice yet?"

"Black and white. Sides of a coin."

"Y0u can't be both heads and tails," he said, and she smiled.

"I'm very good at balancing on tightropes."

"Okay," James interjected, glancing between the two of them. There was a faint frown on his face. "Padfoot, man, you have to go. You know what happens when the mirrors overheat."

"Yeah, I do," Sirius said. "Bye, my darling blood-traitor cousin. Remember your five fruit and vegetables a day!"

Before Lily could reply, the mirror's surface turned smoky white again. When it cleared she was staring at herself.

"That was... intense," she said, handing it back. "Where did you get it? How does it work?"

He winked. "We have our ways. It's a two-way mirror - you can contact whoever has its pair. So, did you like your birthday present?"

"Birthday present?" she repeated, happiness spreading through her veins. "I thought you didn't know!"

He rolled his eyes. "Please. I've known when your birthday was for years. But I went and asked Alice to make sure you'd actually, you know, want to maybe speak to Sirius."

"Thank you," Lily whispered shakily. She could not have, until that moment, admitted how much the gesture affected her.

They stared at each other until, uncomfortable, she broke the connection between to them and stood up.

"I'll see you later, James."

"Bye," he said softly as he watched her leave.