A/N: Sorry this took so long guys. I could give you reasons, but I'm sure you're not interested so I won't.

Hope it's worth the wait.

X

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The Daily Prophet landed on the Gryffindor table directly under Lily's nose. The hand holding her goblet of juice froze in mid-air for a moment, then she calmly placed the cup down on the table and used both hands to smooth out the newspaper, ignoring James as he slid into the seat next to her, shoving Remus along as he did so. The headline alone made her smile.

Dumbledore's Speech Rallies Ministry

There was a brief outline of the salient points of Dumbledore' speech and a large editorial on the subject took up a big chunk of the front page. The article was very much in favour of implementing Dumbledore's suggestions for new measures to curb Death Eater activity, and the writer hinted strongly that the Wizengamot would be fools to ignore "such sage wisdom". The picture of the Headmaster shaking hands with the Minister for Magic was a little overdone for Lily's tastes, but she supposed that it would have been a bit much to hope for subtlety. This was the Prophet after all.

'Seems things really have changed at the Prophet.' James spoke cheerfully, his hand brushing past hers as he reached for the plate of toast.

'Mostly the staff I suspect.' Lily answered absently, her eyes skimming over the rest of the front page as her free hand found her way to his leg under the table. He turned his head slightly towards her and raised an eyebrow, but she completely ignored him other than to continue stroking his knee, apparently engrossed in the paper as she flipped the pages over, browsing through the articles.

In the three weeks since the Death Eater attack on Hogwarts, things had moved extremely quickly. Lucretia Black had ended up awaiting trial in Azkaban, and arrest warrants had been issued for her husband and for several other people known to have been involved in the events at Hogwarts and the Prophet, including Avery - who had been identified by Richard Johnson as being responsible for the death of Charlotte Greenfield – and Corbin, who was believed to have cast several Unforgivables.

No-one had been able to definitively say who was directly responsible for casting the curses that killed Chris and Emma, so their murders were still open cases as far as the Ministry and the Department for Magical Law Enforcement were concerned. The majority of the students who had absconded that day were unaccounted for, and since there was no exact proof that any of them were guilty of a crime or had done anything other than simply choose to leave school they were not on the aurors' wanted lists. The ones who had been positively identified – specifically Snape, Mulciber and Regulus – as being involved in the attack could not be proven guilty of much beyond assault or kidnap and so were not high priority in an auror department overloaded with serious cases.

The whole series of events had been relayed to the Minister by Moody, and Lorcan McLaird was happy to hear that he needn't concern himself with any further problems at Hogwarts, since the negative publicity had affected him almost as much as Dumbledore. It also seemed to harden his resolve towards the Death Eaters and their cause. While he wasn't a blood-purist himself, he was aware of the influence that many of them wielded and he had been careful not to publicly disparage them; that had now changed. While he was apparently not overly concerned with their activities when they were just attacking the rights of Muggleborns, he was not willing to allow them to threaten his own position by undermining him.

Things at the Prophet had begun to change almost immediately once Saxon re-appeared there. He had turned out to be an easy case for the curse-breakers at the Ministry; apparently Lucretia's Imperius hadn't been particularly strong or well-cast. The curse-breakers suspected that was another reason she had stayed working at the paper even after she'd taken control of the editor; her hex would have likely needed regular renewal to keep Saxon under her control. This meant that after he'd been away from her for a few hours the effects of the curse had been significantly reduced anyway, and only a little effort was needed to remove it entirely.

Apparently Saxon had pitched a fit worthy of Petunia when he'd returned to the paper. Several sub-editors had been fired, both for failing to notice the erratic behaviour of their cursed editor, and for failing to raise concerns regarding the rather inflammatory articles that were gracing the pages of his beloved newspaper. The remaining employees had apparently been spoken to extremely firmly on topics such as "journalistic integrity" and "the public trust".

The upshot of this was increased security protocols to fish out imposters and check for curses and several almost obsequious articles about Dumbledore, Hogwarts and almost everything associated with the two, including a four page spread highlighting the "bright futures" awaiting the extremely well-educated pupils due to leave that year. That one had made James laugh quite a lot. There was also an extremely flattering series about the sterling work of the auror department in recent weeks. That had apparently made his father laugh a lot.

Lily sighed and folded the paper back up. Most of the details of the plots to control Hogwarts and the Prophet had gone unreported in the paper, at the specific request of Moody and Dumbledore. Saxon had apparently decided to continue with this policy of reticence and the paper was careful about what it reported these days, and she understood why but she found it frustrating to read carefully worded reports that told her nothing new. She wanted accurate news, she wanted to know what was happening in the world outside Hogwarts. How could any of them prepare if they didn't know what they were preparing for? She pushed her plate away and leant her elbows on the table, turning her head to look at James. He was pushing his toast around and daydreaming rather than eating. She'd noticed that he seemed to be off in his own little world more often recently.

'Nothing in the paper about Regulus again. Has Sirius…' she trailed off, not knowing quite how to continue, and James dropped his toast and turned his head to face her. He reached for the hand still resting on his thigh below the table and laced his fingers through hers. She squeezed back gently, glad as always for the physical reassurance of his presence.

'He's not heard anything. He even spoke to his mother, and you know how hard that must have been for him. He reckons it's only a matter of time though, and he's probably right; Regulus is in way over his head. He's more than likely to be caught or killed quickly.'

'God.' Lily rested her head in her free hand, keeping the other firmly in his grasp. 'When did everything get so difficult?'

James smiled sadly and let go of her hand to push her hair back from her face. 'It's been heading this way for a while really. All the little things add up. It's like a landslide; you see the small rocks falling and you think that's it, nothing serious, then all of a sudden everything's moving around you and it's already too late to run and you're being buried under it all.'

Lily turned her head, her forehead still resting against her palm, smiled at him and lifted her free hand to his face. 'That's a little bit deep for a Saturday morning isn't it?'

'Maybe.' James nuzzled into her palm. 'Especially right before Quidditch practice. Coming to watch?'

Lily slid closer to him on the bench, placing her hand on his knee again, and brought her forehead up to rest against his. 'Try and stop me.'

'It's my turn to put the equipment away.' James whispered in her ear. 'You could always stay behind after practice and er, help me out in the locker room.'

Lily felt a smile curve her lips upwards. 'Oh yeah? Help you out with what exactly?'

James grin echoed hers. 'You're a smart girl. You'll figure it out.'

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The door to the Head's common room flew open, and Sirius barrelled through it, startling both Lily and James who reacted to the intrusion into their rooms by grabbing their wands and aiming them directly at him in almost identical smooth movements. He raised both hands in front of him and waved them in surrender until the wands were lowered and Lily had relaxed back into James' arms on the sofa.

'Do you even know how to knock?' asked Lily, obviously disgruntled at being so rudely interrupted.

'Manners have never been his strong point.' Remus entered at a leisurely pace, Peter following him into the room and grinning widely as he swung the door portrait shut behind him.

'I didn't think you'd be in here to be honest.' Sirius spoke with a grin. 'I thought for sure you'd be upstairs. Most likely in Prongs' room.' He wiggled his eyebrows at her suggestively.

'Well, you thought wrong.' Lily retorted. 'We don't spend every minute we're away from you in bed you know.'

Sirius snorted with laughter. 'I bet you don't. There probably isn't a flat surface in these rooms you two haven't shagged on. Or against, depending. And I bet the desks out in the office have seen some use too…'

'Bloody hell Padfoot, shut up!' James groaned, one hand coming up to cover his eyes in exasperation while Lily found herself giggling immaturely. 'Don't encourage him Lil!'

'Fascinating though this is, I'd rather not get into details about your sex life.' Remus dropped into a chair and regarded James' reddening face with amusement. 'Though I have to say I'm not used to seeing you blush over anything.'

'Right, well thanks Moony.' James sounded even more annoyed. 'Was there a point to this intrusion?'

The other three Marauders quickly stopped laughing and looked at each other in a surprisingly solemn manner. Then Peter dug a hand into his pocket and pulled something out, handing it to James, who looked at it briefly.

It was an oddly textured piece of card, red and shaped like a feather of some kind. Peter's name was written on one side in swirling black letters, and on the other were the words "Headmaster's Office" with a date and time written underneath. The date was a Wednesday night, just over a week away, and the time was right after dinner. Mystified, James turned it over in his hands before passing it to Lily and looking at his friends for an explanation. Unsurprisingly it was Remus who spoke.

'They were on our pillows. Frank had one too. We figured whatever it was about, you two were the only people likely to know about it since you have more contact with Dumbledore than we do.' He raised an eyebrow questioningly, and James turned to look at Lily who instantly understood and got up from the sofa, heading towards the stairs.

'That's kind of creepy, the way you two do that you know.' Sirius said casually. James looked at him inquiringly, and he waved an arm dramatically as he responded. 'You know, the way you just look at each other and have a conversation without saying anything. It's very…"Village of the Damned" or something.'

James and Peter exchanged puzzled looks while Remus just about suppressed a snort of laughter.

'What's he on about?' James appealed to Remus, who just shook his head before answering quietly.

'Don't worry about it. He's just being a prat.' He thought for a second before adding 'But you might have been right when you said we should have stopped him taking Muggle Studies.'

Lily came back then, carrying two more of the red feathers, identical to the cards the three boys had received. She dropped one onto James' lap and held onto the other, toying with it as she sat down. James examined his card briefly, noting that the fact that it was addressed to him rather than Peter was the only thing that made it distinguishable from the other that he held.

'It's the shape of a Phoenix feather. I remember seeing an outline of one in my Care of Magical Creatures textbook.' Lily spoke quietly, her hands playing with her card feather as she focused on James. Again, something unspoken passed between them, and he nodded in acknowledgment before glancing briefly at his friends and turning back to give her a questioning look. She appeared to consider things only momentarily before she simply shrugged and, taking that as a sign of her approval, he turned to his friends and began to explain what little they knew of the Order of the Phoenix.

When he had finished outlining what Dumbledore had told them almost two months ago, back at the end of February, Peter looked a little apprehensive and Remus appeared lost in his thoughts. Sirius on the other hand was slowly turning red with fury. He stood up and began to pace the room angrily while the others waited for the inevitable outburst of temper.

'I can't believe you didn't tell us about this! You've known for weeks and you didn't say anything!' He turned and faced James accusingly, but everyone remained quiet; all those who were well-acquainted with Sirius knew it was best to let him get his anger and frustration out. There was no reasoning with an infuriated Sirius.

'This is what I've been looking for, a chance to get back at those blood supremacist bastards who ruined my sodding life from birth, who are going to get my brother killed, and you kept it from me!'

James clenched his jaw slightly as he made a conscious effort to keep his temper as Sirius ranted and raved. He understood, he really did, but Sirius was so bloody infuriating when he got into these spirals of recriminations and impotent rage.

'Would you ever have told me? If I hadn't gotten one of these invite things, would you have kept on keeping it from me? Hell Prongs, they probably know what's happened to Reg and you…you were just keeping your bloody mouth shut about everything.' He slammed a fist down on the mantelpiece before turning and heading back along his pacing route.

'And look who does know!' He waved a hand in Lily's direction. 'Because Lily gets to know everything! Apparently, the only way to get information out of you these days is to be sleeping with you!'

You could have heard a pin drop in the moment that followed. Even Sirius froze as he realised what he'd said, and he hurried to try and get an apology out. 'I'm sorry Prongs.' He turned to face Lily. 'Tiger-Lily, I really am…I was…I'm just so…shit!' He turned his back on the rest of them and kicked the leg of the coffee table.

Lily was gripping tightly onto James' hand, keeping him in his seat. There was very little that could rile James up faster than someone questioning his loyalty to his friends, but insulting their relationship might be one of them; Sirius had just managed to do both and she could see the muscles in James' jaw clenching. Remus was casually adjusting his position, ready to intervene should the row develop into an actual fight, and Peter's eyes were flicking between Sirius' back and James' fist resting in his lap, obviously waiting for the first punch to be thrown; James and Sirius never fought each other with magic. She used her thumb to rub soothing circles on the back of the hand she was holding in an attempt to keep him calm. The last thing anybody needed right now was James to flip his lid completely and start fighting with Sirius, who was suffocating under the weight of his guilt over his brother. He was lashing out, and they all needed to remember how much he was hurting. She squeezed James' hand tighter as she tried to communicate all that to him with one wordless gesture.

'Lily knew because Dumbledore chose to tell her, just like he chose to tell me. If he hadn't told her, I wouldn't have. I keep people's secrets Padfoot, as you know better than anybody.' James' voice was all the most effective for how quiet and calm it was.

'I know that Prongs. I know that.' Sirius turned back to face them, his face a picture of misery. 'But he's my brother. And for all I know he's dead, and I need to do something. To fight back.'

To the surprise of everyone in the room, possibly including herself, Lily stood up, crossed the small patch of carpet between her and Sirius and put her arms around his waist to hug him tight. He stiffened and stood unmoving for just a few seconds before he hesitantly wrapped his arms around her.

'We're going to do something Sirius. All of us.' Her voice didn't carry past him to the others, but it didn't need to; he squeezed her tighter and held on to her for dear life.

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Sirius was uncharacteristically quiet for the next few days, much to the bemusement of the majority of the student body in general. His friends accepted his mood without question and simply continued as normal around him, fully aware that Sirius would never accept pity or sympathy in an open format. That's not to say they didn't worry about him; they just didn't see any way they could help him deal with things.

The only person who seemed to interact a little differently with him was Lily; they had been reasonably good friends since the last summer, but recent events had led to them spending far more time together. This caused the three other Marauders to worry that they had upset him in some way, but when James had hesitantly approached Lily in the Head's common room one evening, to ask if he ought to be worried that Sirius seemed unwilling to discuss things with him but was more than happy to talk to her, she simply smiled, hugged him tight and told him he was a wonderful friend before dragging him off to her bedroom.

Bemused by the entire turn of events, he accepted her reassurance and allowed the subject to drop. The next evening she began to talk about it, quite circumspectly, while they were sat by the fire playing chess. She told him that she and Sirius had been discussing their respective family issues, something he couldn't possibly expect to sympathise with. They in no way intended to shut him - or any of their other friends - out, but Sirius found it easier to talk to her, someone who understood instinctively what it was like to be estranged from a family member, and he needed to vent his feelings properly before he could get back to normal.

Accepting that Lily was far, far better on the subject of feelings than he was – and inwardly shuddering at the idea of trying to have these conversations with Padfoot himself – he told Remus and Peter to just leave Lily to handle Sirius and he'd be back to normal in no time.

Even he was surprised though, when Sirius bounded up to him and Marlene at the end of Quidditch practice on Thursday night, grabbed them both in affectionate headlocks and announced that the cup was as good as theirs come Saturday morning. Once released, James' eyes wandered up to find Lily in the stands with Alice; she was casually examining her fingernails, pretending that she wasn't paying attention to the events on the pitch at all but the wide grin she wasn't quite supressing said otherwise.

As he mock-punched his best mate in the stomach, ignoring the swooping feeling of relief currently occupying his, his mind wandered again to the little black velvet box tucked away in his trunk, then to the red-head in the stands who was trying not to look smug. Maybe he should start thinking a little more urgently about that.

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Alice linked her arm through Lily's and reached out for Mary's hand.

'Ready?' she asked the two girls.

Mary wiped at her eyes with her free hand. 'It feels weird. Wrong. This is the first Quidditch match we've ever gone to without Emma. She always went, even if none of us would go with her.'

Lily's eyes began to sting as well. 'If you want to stay behind, I'll stay with you.' She offered.

Mary gave her a weak smile. 'It's James' last ever match, and if he wins today he'll hold a joint school record for Cup wins. You should be there for that.'

'He's got bigger things to focus on today than me. He probably wouldn't even notice I wasn't there.' Lily's concerned eyes were still fixed on Mary's face.

'I hate to disagree Lil, but he would. He really would. You should be there most out of any of us.' Alice interrupted. 'And if you don't want to go Mary, that's okay. But Emma wouldn't have wanted you to feel guilty about going or anything; she'd have wanted you to go. Remember how she used to nag us all about showing some house pride and supporting the team?'

Lily smiled. 'And we used to tease her that she just thought Quidditch players were hot.'

Mary laughed weakly and wiped her eyes again. 'Well she did. She dated loads of them.' She let go of Alice's hand and pulled a tissue from her pocket. She dabbed at her eyes and took several deep breaths before she looked up again and linked her arm through Alice's. 'Right, let's go.'

They left the girl's dorm, and headed down to the common room, giggling as they had to squash together to get down the stairs without unlinking arms, to find Remus waiting at the bottom for them.

'Ladies.' He gave them the smallest of smiles, and Lily had no doubt that Remus was well aware of what had got them so tearful.

'You've been spending too much time with Sirius. You're starting to sound like him.' Alice giggled as she spoke and Remus gave her a look of simulated horror.

'What a thing to say to a bloke. I assume you lot are on your way to the match?'

Mary nodded and Remus opened the door for them, waving them out ahead of him. 'I'm meeting Pete by the front doors so I'll walk down with you.'

Lily looked over her shoulder at him. 'Where is Pete anyway? He wasn't at breakfast. And he's always at breakfast.'

Remus shrugged. 'Don't know. He disappeared off early this morning and just said he had something to arrange for today and he'd meet me later. I'd say he was off pranking the Slytherins since he had that sort of look on his face, but he wouldn't do that without telling one of us.'

'Fair enough.' Lily faced ahead again and the four of them made their way down to the main entrance. They'd got halfway down the final flight of stairs when Mary stopped and peered intently over the balustrade. Lily and Alice were jerked to a stop by their still-joined arms, and Remus almost ploughed into the back of them. They all teetered precariously on the staircase for a moment until they'd regained their balance, then they looked down to see what had caught Mary's attention.

Peter was standing near the doors with a group of people dressed in red and gold scarves and hats. They all seemed familiar, but from this distance none of them could quite make out who they were.

'Pete?' Remus called out questioningly. Peter turned and beamed at them, waving them over to him. They moved towards his little crowd and once they were halfway there Lily let out a little gasp and dropped her hand from Alice's arm. She knew they'd looked familiar; she knew them all. She just wasn't used to seeing them in Gryffindor colours.

Julia was there, along with Ben Jones, Chrissie Wellbeck, Dee Abbott, Richard Johnson, Steven Corner, Lenora Walters, Wazid Patil and two or three others she couldn't recognise from behind. All Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws, all decked out in Gryffindor red and gold for the match.

'You don't mind sharing our stand do you? Thought it would be good for all of us to sit together today.' Peter grinned at them, obviously pleased with his idea, and there was an odd moment of quiet until Mary spoke.

'This is great; we should all sit together. Emma would have loved it.'

'Glad to hear it.' Ben smiled sadly at her as he spoke, and with a tug in her heart Lily remembered him carrying Emma's limp body gently across the broken street in Hogsmeade, and Chrissie crying when they told her about Charlotte. They weren't the only ones still hurting, and this gathering of people who all understood each other's sadness might just be what they all needed. She felt a swell of gratitude for Peter's thoughtfulness; she underestimated him sometimes.

Alice and Mary began to walk out with Ben, and the group followed them, meandering their way out of the castle. Lily noted Richard Johnson walking quietly by himself; she was about to go and join him when Remus slid past her and fell into step with him, the two of them heading out the doors just ahead of her. She jumped briefly when an arm slipped through hers, but she relaxed again when she heard Julia's laugh and recognised the pretty Ravenclaw falling into step beside her.

'Sorry.' The blonde tossed her hair back and smiled at Lily. 'Didn't mean to make you jump.'

'Not your fault. I'm pretty much permanently on edge these days.' Lily smiled back.

'I don't blame you; aren't we all? And you should feel sorrier for the rest of us – at least you have James to snuggle up to.'

'Don't you have Remus?' Lily asked, unable to keep the curiosity down. To her surprise, Julia blushed.

'Sort of.' She looked at the back of the tall sandy-blonde boy walking ahead of them alongside Richard, talking quietly. She answered in a low voice. 'He's great, isn't he?'

Lily matched her volume and tone when she replied. 'I've always thought so. There was a time I liked him quite a lot better than James.'

Julia sounded almost shy when she spoke again. 'I like him. I think he likes me. But we're not like you and James; there's…I don't know, there's something in the way of us having that. We're…friends who could be more, but we never seem to get there.'

Lily grimaced inwardly. The urge to meddle was overwhelming, but she knew she couldn't. She flicked a glance at the two boys a little way ahead of them, making sure they were out of earshot, even for Remus' hearing. 'Remus is…very private.' She chose her words carefully. 'He doesn't open up easily. If it makes a difference, he's probably more open with you than he is anyone else, other than those three bloody idiots he calls his best mates.'

'And you.' There was a definite questioning tone in Julia's voice, though she hadn't actually asked a question, and Lily moved her shoulders awkwardly, a little uncomfortable with the conversation; she simply couldn't tell if Julia was hinting that she wanted Lily to spill Remus' secrets to her, or if she was just curious about their relationship. She decided to play a little dumb and go with the last one.

'Well, I'm no longer a person in my own right you see. I'm "James' girl". They just treat me like an addition to him.' She pulled a face and Julia laughed; Lily felt a jolt of relief as the atmosphere lightened again. Inspired to do something to help this along, she pulled Julia to a halt and let go of her arm.

'Here's what you need to know about Remus; he doesn't think he's good enough. He doesn't think he deserves a girlfriend, he doesn't think he deserves a good job and a happy life. I can't tell you why he thinks that; that's his to tell. But just know this; he likes you, but he will always think that you can do better than him, and he will keep you at arm's length because of that.'

Julia was quiet for a moment, staring down at the ground, and Lily wondered if she'd overstepped too far this time. She was pretty sure she was already in for a rollicking from James when she confessed she'd had this conversation later. Then Julia's head came up and she met Lily's eyes, and the determination and concern in them melted Lily's reservations.

'Thanks Lily. Really.'

'Anytime. I like you both. I'd like to see you both happy.'

Julia held her arm out again. 'Let's go watch your boyfriend make Hogwarts history shall we?'

Lily groaned as she reached out and linked them back together. 'He's going to be unbearable.'

'You love it.'

'Shut up.'

The two girls grinned at each other as they hurried to catch up with the others.

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Two hours into the match, and the stands were still screaming themselves hoarse at what had to be one of the most exciting Quidditch matches in recent memory. Not so much for the outcome of the match - Slytherin needed to win by more than one hundred and fifty points to win the Cup, and not even the most optimistic supporter thought that was likely – but for the sheer daring of the plays both teams were using in their efforts to win.

James grinned to himself as he streaked through the air, imagining Lily sitting in the stands and biting her nails to the quick; he hadn't told her he was actually planning to use some of the more advanced, riskier plays they'd been trying out in practice, and he'd be willing to bet she was having conniptions right now. But this was his last match at Hogwarts, and he wanted to go out with a bang; the Cup was more or less in the bag before the match started, the points difference between Gryffindor and Slytherin was so great, but he was never one to be complacent when it came to Quidditch. And he wanted to keep his record of being undefeated as Captain, he was honest enough to admit that.

And the risky plays were bloody working too, he thought as he caught the quaffle from Frank and immediately aimed his broom down as he charged towards the posts. He sailed the quaffle towards the left hoop, saw the keeper frantically trying to pull himself back to position, away from Gregory's lurking figure off to the right – he'd fallen for that feint tactic three times now, James mused to himself – and watched it drop straight through.

'110-10! Gryffindor are running away with this match, and I don't think there's anyone here that can say they don't deserve it! Slytherin just can't keep up with these new plays we're seeing today!' The voice of Phillip Gordon rang out again, and James found time for a fist bump with Sirius as he flew past him.

He circled round past the Gryffindor stand, his eyes finding his friends again, a smile breaking out across his face automatically when he saw them. When he'd first noticed the disparate group, all wearing Gryffindor colours and cheering, he'd nearly fallen off his broom. Sirius had roared with laughter and actually had fallen off, to be caught by Frank, who'd merely settled him back on his broom, blown Alice a kiss and flown off. He didn't think he'd ever be able to express what it had meant to him to see those people standing there, wearing his team colours and supporting him. He'd smiled at the whole group and noted everyone who was there so he could thank them later, but his eyes had zeroed in on Lily, as they always did.

They did so again now as he swooped past; he thought she was the only thing in the world that could distract his attention from a game of Quidditch. He noted the scarf around her neck – his Captain's scarf, which she'd worn at every game he'd played this year, including that first one back in December when he'd looped it round her neck and threatened to disown her if she took it off – and as he flew past she stuck two fingers in her mouth and whistled at him. Looking at her then, wrapped up in his scarf - even though it was May and the sun was shining - grinning madly at him, her hair being blown across her face, his thoughts strayed again to that little velvet box tucked away in his room.

Frank yelled from somewhere off to his right, and shaking off his thoughts he dove towards the sound, arm outstretched to receive the quaffle. He tucked it under one arm and swerved round a Slytherin beater as he flew straight up the center of the pitch, Greg flanking him on the right and Frank flying just below him. He pulled up as he reached the posts, and an expertly aimed bludger came directly towards him, but he aimed his broom even more sharply upwards, shooting just out of range of the bludger before dropping the quaffle directly into Frank's waiting hands. Frank span his broom slightly to avoid losing the quaffle to a Slytherin chaser, and hurled the quaffle straight at the centre hoop, where it slipped through just out of reach of the keeper. 120-10. James found a moment to high-five both Frank and Greg before turning his broom and beginning another circuit of the pitch.

Four more goals later, James was hanging above the match, observing everything that was happening below him as he adjusted his padding where a bludger had slammed into him. It felt strange, wrong somehow, to absent himself willingly from the action, but the score was 160-10 and they could ease up on the attack momentarily while he dealt with his uniform. He didn't want to call a time-out if he could possibly avoid it, they didn't want to give their opposition time to re-group.

Wood was guarding his hoops well, Ken and Sirius were expertly dealing with bludgers and Greg and Frank were running a couple of two-chaser test plays for him; he'd devised tactics to be used should a chaser be injured and the team be limited to two, and he figured that there was no harm in trying them now since the score line was so heavily in their favour. He could always dive back in without finishing the adjustments to his clothing if something went horrendously wrong.

The only worry for him was Marlene; she hadn't sighted the snitch all match. Admittedly her opponent - a fifth year called Stebson - hadn't either, and he was extremely inexperienced having been drafted at the last minute to replace Regulus Black, and the score line was weighted enormously in their favour, but James preferred not to take chances even with odds like that. Just before the match he'd found himself hoping that it lasted for ages so that he could keep playing just that little bit longer, but now he wanted nothing more than to see that flash of gold in Marlene's hands that would mean they had won the match and then he could get his hands on that Cup.

Grinning to himself, he pulled his gloves back on and pushed his broom back down into the field of play, grabbing the quaffle from a Slytherin chaser on his way past and tossing it to Greg, who promptly executed a barrel roll to escape a bludger and used the momentum to corkscrew around a beater and towards the goal. James allowed himself a brief moment to enjoy exactly how it felt to be playing Quidditch one last time before he shot off up the field after Greg, who needed absolutely no help to put the quaffle throught the hoop. 170-10.

Fifteen minutes later, the score was 200-30, and James was flying furiously after a Slytherin chaser who was currently in possession of the quaffle. His adrenaline was up, and he was flying faster than ever, but even he had to admit he was starting to tire; the last quarter of an hour had been insanely hectic with five goals going in in the space of less than ten minutes. He'd been in the air for more than two and a half hours, and he was beginning to feel weariness in his muscles that he couldn't afford. He caught sight of Frank out of the corner of his eye, and he could tell from the way he was holding his broom that he was having trouble with his shoulder. He was just wondering whether to call a time out to discuss tactics with his team when the excited voice of Phillip Gordon caught his attention again.

'And McKinnon is going after the snitch! Stebson has a tricky decision to make here! He's closer to the snitch, but catching it now would cost Slytherin the match! Can he hold McKinnon off without catching the snitch himself? No he can't! McKinnon is out-flying him here, closing in on the snitch, and this could make it an incredible Gryffindor win...'

James strained his ears to listen as he kept his eyes on the chaser he was harrying, willing Marlene to the snitch as hard as could.

'…and Stebbins has grabbed the snitch! Gryffindor win 200-180, but faced with the possibility of losing by over three hundred points, Stebbins has chosen to end the match himself to keep McKinnon away from the snitch!'

There was a cheer from the Gryffindor stands, and even though Slytherin had got the snitch James couldn't find it in himself to be disappointed with the outcome; they'd won. He was an undefeated Gryffindor Quidditch Captain, and a chaser with a joint school record of four cup wins. He turned on his broom and began to scan the pitch for Marlene, sure she'd be feeling down at missing the snitch; to his shock, she was already flying towards him with a huge grin plastered across her face.

She collided with him in mid-air, and he laughed as he hugged her, and then the other members of the Gryffindor team began to crash into them, and then they were all yelling at each other. James wrapped one arm around Sirius' shoulders and another around Marlene's. He turned his head towards the blonde girl. 'And here I thought you'd be upset at missing the snitch!'

'I thought I would be too, until he grabbed it! But who cares? We just won the cup!'

They sank towards the ground as a messy group, several of them hanging onto to each other while they yelled themselves hoarse. James eventually had to release Marlene and Sirius, since it was either that or crash his broom, and when he finally touched a foot to the ground he was hit at chest height by Lily's full bodyweight as she practically crawled onto his broom with him.

'You won! James, you're the most successful Quidditch player in the last fifty years!'

James looked down at her smiling face, those green eyes creasing in the corners as she grinned up at him and held his face between her cold hands, and he almost – almost – blurted the question that seemed to have been hanging on his tongue for weeks there and then. But he bit it back and smiled down at her, keeping his grip on her even as Professor McGonagall attempted to hand him the trophy.

He took it in one hand and acknowledged the crowd with a wave of the trophy before passing it back to Sirius, who waved it wildly in the air. He turned back to Lily but was distracted again by someone calling his name. He turned and saw Raiff Wilkes, the Slytherin captain, walking towards him. He couldn't deny he was surprised; he didn't think he'd ever spoken to him before, since he was in the year below them and had only been made captain this year. Raiff stopped just in front of the couple and extended a hand towards James.

'It was a good game Potter. You run a good team.'

James was silent for just a second as he absorbed the situation and he quickly decided on a response. He shook Raiff's hand, ignoring the looks and whispers they were both getting. 'Yours has got potential Wilkes.'

Raiff gave him a faint grin. 'I know. I reckon we'll win next year; Gryffindor will find it hard to replace you, and I plan to capitalise on it.'

'How very Slytherin of you.' Lily commented, careful to keep any trace of rancour from her voice. She was as unsure as James about what to make of this conversation; Slytherins tended to perennially avoid Gryffindors, regardless of their politics.

Raiff turned to her and his lips twitched slightly. 'Well, we do what we're good at after all.'

He stepped back and began to turn away. 'I'll see you around Potter. Evans.' He nodded to them both and walked back to his teammates, who had been watching the exchange with no obvious animosity.

James looked down at Lily. 'What the hell just happened?'

She looked back up at him. 'Slytherins can be nice people too you know.'

'I know.' He answered easily. 'I'm just not used to being confronted with the evidence of it.'

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'Is it weird that I'm nervous?' Lily held onto James's hand as they walked towards Dumbledore's office. Wednesday night had come around surprisingly quickly. 'I mean, you and I both have a pretty good idea of what this is about, and we know at least some of the people who'll be there, but still. I feel out of my depth already.'

James grinned down at her and swung their joined hands. 'Lily Evans, out of her depth? Surely not.'

She swatted lightly at his shoulder. 'It's not funny. I don't like not knowing what to expect.'

James snorted. 'Welcome to life, love. It's not likely to get more predictable from here on in.'

'Thanks James.' Lily glared up at him. 'You always know how to make me feel better.'

He laughed and put an arm round her shoulders, tucking her tightly into his side. 'Well, if it makes you feel any better Lils, whatever is coming, we'll face it together. Always together. Right to the end.'

Lily put her arms around James' waist and snuggled into him as they walked, more comforted than she ought to be by his words. They came to a halt outside Dumbledore's office and straightened up, letting go of each other as they tidied up their clothing. James raised an eyebrow at her, and she took one deep breath before nodding; he raised his hand and knocked, and the door swung open in front of them.

Stepping into the office, they were both surprised by how many people were inside; the room must have been magically expanded to fit everyone. They recognised many of the people already inside, considering a large number of them were seventh year Hogwarts students; Sirius, Remus and Peter were standing in one corner with Julia, Mary and Marlene and they moved towards them, waving to Frank and Alice who were on the far side of the room talking to an older wizard who James identified as Franks' uncle Edgar. They barely had time to say hello before Dumbledore stepped to the front of the room and cleared his throat in an obvious call for order. The room fell silent as the assembled students automatically turned to face the old wizard, who was now flanked by Alastor Moody, and a tall man who James whispered in her ear was Caradoc Dearborn, Head of the Department of Magical Transportation. A number of other witches and wizards were gathered in a group behind him, watching the students in the room carefully.

'Welcome everyone, and thank you for coming.' Dumbledore sounded as calm and serene as ever, and Lily wondered briefly if anything fazed him.

'I'm sure you are all wondering why you've been invited here. Well, most of you are wondering why you've been invited here.' He threw a quick glance towards James and Lily; she blushed but James just grinned.

'I've invited you here because I wish to tell you about an organisation. An organisation called the Order of the Phoenix.' He paused, and his usually cheerful face settled into a far more solemn visage.

'The Order exists to resist the dark wizard who calls himself Lord Voldemort. While I cannot give you the names of all our members or exact details of the kind of activities we are involved in, I'm sure you can stretch your rather active imaginations and make some educated guesses. I have asked you here this evening to issue an invitation to join us when you have finished school.'

He indicated the gathered witches and wizards behind him. 'Please take this as an opportunity to speak to the Order members here this evening. Talk to each other, discuss your feelings on the matter. Because you will find that you cannot discuss it with anyone else once you leave this room. You will simply not be able to; this is done to safeguard the lives of our members.' He looked around and waited until everyone in the room had indicated that they had heard and understood him.

'You do not need to make a decision now. The invitation to each of you is made, and it has no expiration date. If you decide to join us, all you need to do is magically burn the phoenix feather card you received that invited you here, using your own wand, and you will be added to our rolls; you will then receive messages to inform you of both the locations of future meetings, and of dates and times. You will not be notified of any meetings until after you have left school, even if you burn your card tonight. The Order does not accept members before they have formally finished their education.' He smiled suddenly. 'I'm sure you can guess whose rule that is. I wouldn't want my students abandoning me for a life of intrigue before they had the opportunity to sit their NEWTs.'

He clapped his hands together and his face was suddenly more cheerful again. 'This is all the information I can give you at this time. Now, please everybody, feel free to ask questions, talk amongst yourselves and help yourselves to drinks.' He indicated a table off to one side, and his eyes twinkled as he turned towards Sirius. 'No firewhisky I'm afraid Mr Black.'

'That's okay Professor.' Sirius grinned. 'There can't always be firewhisky.'

The tension broke as several people laughed, and conversations began as people started to mingle. Lily and James made a circuit around the room slowly, speaking to almost everyone, and Lily found herself surprised yet again by the sheer number of people that James knew. They had just finished talking to a pretty witch just a few years older than them named Amelia Bones, who James had mockingly introduced as "his fifty-fourth cousin, twice removed" and were moving on when Lily mentioned this to James, who promptly laughed at her.

'I think you're forgetting how small the magical world really is Lils. After a few years you'll know everyone as well.'

She frowned. 'Come again?'

He stopped and turned to face her, using their joined hands to tug her to a halt. 'There aren't really that many witches and wizards in Britain Lils, and most of them are related in one way or another. And my family are pure-bloods, which means I'm related to practically half the wizarding world. And you saw what my parents' New Year's Ball was like, right?' He waited for her to nod before he continued. 'Now, I've been going to that, and to similar parties hosted by other families, my whole life. After a few years you've met everyone there is to meet. Especially when your parents are well-known for their work at the Ministry; everyone introduces themselves.'

He frowned and reached up to twist a loose lock of her hair back into her messy bun. 'The worst bit is all the loopy mothers that want to marry their daughters off, and into "a good pure-blood family", whatever the hell that means.' He shuddered and Lily grinned; the fact that he was obviously appalled by the very idea made it impossible to be mad about the thought of other girls being thrown at him. She was glad that she was secure enough in their relationship not to be bothered about the thought of James being a catch for a nice pure-blood girl to settle down with; a couple of months ago the very idea would have sent her into a crazed spiral of anxiety and self-doubt. She used their still-joined hands to tug him a little closer to her.

'Eligible, are you?' she asked, grinning up at him.

'Well, I'm rich, talented, handsome. What's not to like?' He grinned at her and stepped a bit closer again. 'The worst bit is, I'm probably already related to most of them.'

'That is quite gross.' Lily agreed, her smiling eyes fixed on his. 'You could end up fathering your own cousin.'

James grimaced. 'That is actually a truly disgusting thought.' He reached a hand up and trailed his thumb over her jawbone, his face softening back into a smile as he looked at her. 'And, unfortunately for them, I already have my sights set on someone a little…different.'

She raised an eyebrow at him and tilted her head back to keep eye contact as he closed the last small gap between them. 'Oh yeah?'

'Yeah.' He nodded. 'Definitely; I like my women red-headed, hot-tempered, and preferably muggleborn. They're just so much more interesting. And they make my life quite exciting from time to time.'

'Is that so?' Lily's voice was tinged with amusement as she looked at James' hazel eyes shining down at her. He may be teasing her, but she knew there was a certain amount of truth in his words.

'All right you two, break it up.' Moody's gruff voice came from alongside them, and they sprang apart. Lily found herself blushing when she realised just how close they had been standing; somewhere in that conversation she'd forgotten they were in a room full of people, and she was now fully aware of the number of amused looks being thrown their way. Trying to pretend she couldn't feel her cheeks burning as her face reddened, she turned her attention to the stocky man stood next to them.

'Been meaning to talk to you two for a while now.' Moody looked at them both appraisingly and continued without bothering with any sort of preamble. 'We need aurors. Good aurors. You've both got talent. Got brains. I'd like to see your applications on my desk come July.'

James grinned at that. 'Mine's been written since Christmas.'

Moody laughed, an odd, rough sound. 'You're a lot like your dad. That's a good thing. He was one of the best. Still is, actually.' He turned to Lily. 'What about you Evans?'

'Lily.' She said quietly. 'And I haven't made any decisions about any of this yet.'

He narrowed his eyes at her. 'Fair enough. Just give it some thought. Talk to your friends; I've already spoken to a few.' He turned at gestured at several people. 'Longbottom, Prewett, Black.'

James' eyebrows shot up so far Lily was surprised they didn't hit his hairline. 'Sirius? Really?'

Moody scowled. 'If he was a talentless bug, I'd still ask him to consider applying, just to annoy his bloody family. A Black becoming an auror would really get his mother's goat. But he's actually a bloody decent wizard if you can get him to pay attention for more than two minutes at a time.' He gave James another of those appraising looks. 'From what he said - and from what Dumbledore tells me - you've been teaching some of the kids here a thing or two. If any of your little lot of vigilantes want to send an application in, I'll give them all some consideration.''

He stepped away from them and gave them a distinctly crooked grin. 'I'll let you get back to making the rounds. I'm sure you're enjoying that.' James didn't miss the sarcasm in his voice. He turned to leave, then changed his mind and stepped back. 'I was impressed with how you've handled things this year. The attacks, the dementors, and especially this last incident. There aren't many who can face Voldemort and stay strong. You did well. Both of you.' He nodded once at both of them as he stepped away again, this time turning and heading towards Dumbledore.

James turned back to Lily. 'Well, that was…interesting.'

She nodded, then started to giggle as a thought occurred to her. James gave her a puzzled look. 'What?' He asked. 'What's funny?'

'You.' She choked out in the midst of her laughter. 'You've been running yourself ragged this year, doing an extra NEWT and everything to make sure your application to the Academy looks good, and the Head Auror just more or less hired you without even asking about them.'

James opened his mouth to respond, then closed it again when it became apparent that he had no words. After a few seconds he smiled at her. 'I'm too pleased with myself to be upset about that. And who knows when a thorough knowledge of Arithmancy will come in useful right?'

'Oh, absolutely.' Lily answered with mock seriousness. 'I don't know what I was thinking, dropping it after OWLs. How will I manage without it?'

'That's quite enough out of you.' He tweaked her nose affectionately. 'The only real downside was the fact that it put me in close proximity to Roberta Watson all year.' He grimaced briefly, but smiled again as he looked at her. 'Anyway, give it a month or so and I won't ever have to see her again.'

He caught her hand again and began to lead her back through the crowd. 'Let's go see what Moody said to Frank and Alice.'

'James.' She tugged on his hand until he stopped again and faced her. 'You know I said I hadn't made any decisions yet?'

He nodded. 'And that's okay Lil, you have loads of time…'

She interrupted him by putting a finger on his lips. 'Well, that wasn't entirely true. I have made one decision.' She looked up at him. 'When do you want to burn our cards?'

He was silent for a minute as he looked at her thoughtfully, and she began to feel nervous, wondering if she'd misjudged this and he was going to consider her decision to join the Order a bad one rather than a good one. She didn't want to fight with him about this, she wanted him to have faith in her and support her decisions. He reached out and caught her other hand, holding her in place so they were toe-to-toe; and he looked down at her as if he was seeing her for the first time all over again, and she began to lower her gaze self-consciously. As her chin dropped, he let go of one of her hands and used his fingertips to tilt her face up so she was looking at him once more.

'At King's Cross. When we get off the train.'

She was as surprised by the evenness of his tone as she was by the answer itself. 'Any reason?'

He shrugged. 'Just seems appropriate. We get off the school train for the last time, and burn our cards. Like a cathartic thing; start the next stage right as you finish the old one. Just makes sense to me.'

Lily nodded her understanding, and curved her lips into a smile. 'Tomorrow to fresh woods, and pastures new?'

James grinned and lowered his hand from her face to place it on her back, pulling her closer. 'Milton. I love it when you get all clever with me.'

She squirmed in his grasp. 'James, we are in a room full of people…'

'Don't care.' He answered, before letting go of her hand and snaking his arm around her back, pulling her in tight and pressing his lips down on hers, suppressing any further complaints. It was only a soft, gentle kiss, barely more than a brush of lips, but she could feel the meaning he was trying to pour into it, could feel his pride and belief in her, and now she didn't care either. She tightened her arms around his waist, kissed him back firmly and ignored the indulgent smiles on the faces of the people around her.

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A/N: 'Tomorrow to fresh woods, and pastures new' is a line from Milton's 'Lycidas'. Great poem. If you're inclined to read poetry that is.

And Village of the Damned is an old horror movie about a village where some of the children develop telepathic powers. It struck me as the kind of thing Sirius would enjoy.

There's only one chapter left now. This does make me slightly sad.

I just wanted to say that I know there are quite a few loose ends left dangling (Remus and Julia for example) and originally I planned to cover their story in this fic, but about halfway through writing this one of you lovely reviewers (I'm afraid I can't remember who now) dangled the idea of a sequel in front of me. This stuck in my head and I ended up altering my plans for the second half of this fic; so what I'm getting at here is that this fic will end next chapter but the story will continue in a sequel!

If you are interested in reading that you may want to put me on author alert, because while I will try to remember to add an author's note to this one, I make no promises!

Anyway, as always thank you for reading, and if you have any comments, suggestions etc I would love to hear from you. Click the review button and feed the review monster.

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