Okay, everyone,

This is it. The second to last chapter, chapter thirty-five. This is the last official chapter, the next will be an epilogue of sorts, where I wanted a few fluffy things to happen before the end.

So, as always, a huge thank you goes out to all my reviewers, harrypotter713, nikijane, Sarahrules336, SecretlyAGryffindor, PottedLilies, UndercoverHufflepuff, EnglishGrlVerity, lana-bear, junebugbug96, XXJAMESLILYXX, missivypotter, and xExpectoxPatronumx. Thank you all so much!

And a big thank you also goes out to everyone who added my story (or me) to their favorites/alerts lists! I really appreciate it, you guys!

So, without further ado, here it is. The second to last chapter. I hope you enjoy.

xxxxxx

"James," I heard her murmur as she nibbled very gently on my ear. "James, sweetheart, come on, you have to get dressed."

I groaned and opened my eyes a crack.

She smiled. "You dozed off, love. So I made you some more coffee and there's scrambled eggs here, just the way you like them. Just go wash up and get dressed."

"Mmmmm…." I mumbled incoherently, wrapping an arm around her.

She groaned, knowing my ploy. "Alright, James, fine."

And then her soft, luscious lips were on mine, and I stopped feigning the sleep and responded. She always knew what I wanted, Lily did. It just proves how much we're meant to be together.

"Are you awake, now?" she asked, pulling away after a moment.

"If I say no, will you give me another kiss?"

"No."

"Alright then," I said brightly, opening my eyes, "I'm awake. Will you kiss me again now?"

She just laughed at me and got up to go to her room. She called over her shoulder, "Eggs are on the counter once you're washed-up."

I stared after her for a moment, until her beautifully round bum was out of view, before dashing up to my room to wash up as quickly as I could and then change into fresh robes. If I'm fast enough about it, there might even be time for a quick snog before class.

By the time I got back down to our kitchenette, my eggs were a bit cold, bit still edible. I scarfed them down and made a bee-line for the couch as I heard Lily coming back down from her room. I tried to look as relaxed and composed as I could.

"Ready for Charms?" she asked with a smile.

I grinned back and beckoned her over to the couch. "I'm ready to charm you, if you get that beautiful face over here."

She smiled and sauntered over, dropping her knapsack to the floor and straddling me. "You're going to charm me, huh?" she asked in a low, sexy voice. She started running her fingers through my hair and my eyes closed in response.

Damn it! I was supposed to be making her all weak-kneed, instead, look at me!

"Yes," I breathed, "The Potter Charm, you know…completely irresistible…"

"Mmmm," she giggled against my ear, starting to scratch my scalp lightly. I couldn't even think anymore, while she was doing that…

She planted a soft kiss on my lips, the kind that's almost cruel because it leaves you begging for more.

"Lily," I whispered, tightening my hold on her.

Her lips were at my ear again. "And that, James," she whispered, sending shivers of desire through me, "is the Evans Charm." Then a second later she had slipped from my arms and I was a bit disgruntled to be sitting alone. She picked up her knapsack and called over her shoulder, "Quite effective, don't you agree?"

I laughed at myself as I hurried to scoop up my own knapsack and rush out the door with her. "Lily, my love, I was under the Evans Charm long before you even knew how to use it properly."

xxxxxxx

We walked into Charms together, holding hands, and I slipped into a seat next to Alice. James sat next to Peter, right behind us, and I heard him say very quietly, "Full moon tonight. Remus isn't going to be able to come with us."

Alice and I turned in interest as we heard Peter's gasp. I caught the slight widening of his eyes in worry. "Does Dumbledore know?"

"I'm sure he does," Remus said, joining in from the row behind them. He'd been looking bad for the past few days, but today, he had large purplish bags under his eyes. They were even more exaggerated because of how pale his skin had become overnight.

"Well, either way," Sirius said, glancing over at the Ravenclaws who took charms with us, "Isabella seemed a little too interested in how bad you look today, Moony."

Remus chuckled a bit, adding a little color to his cheeks for a moment. "I'm not sure where I should be insulted, Padfoot. The fact that you said I look horrible or the fact that you don't think my girlfriend should care about it."

"Aw, Moony, you know I didn't mean it like that. In fact," Sirius said, looking over to the Ravenclaws again and raising his voice, "Hey! Izzy! Could you come over here and give Moony a kiss? I'm sure it will make him feel better."

Remus blushed, because right at that moment Flitwick walked into the room.

"Maybe after class, Black," Isabella called back, giggling a bit at Sirius's antics. This only made Remus flush a darker red, adding much needed color to his face.

"Well done, Padfoot," James said with a grin as he clapped Remus on the shoulder. "Moony is looking better already."

I couldn't help but smile at their grins as I turned back to the front of the class where Professor Flitwick was beginning the lesson. Somewhere along the way this year, watching the boys laugh together became a sure-fire way to make me laugh, and Alice too, actually. Their good mood was just infectious.

We laughed our way through the double-period, giggling as we made our little hamsters play 'super-leap-frog,' as James had called it. The game was that the hamsters had to be charmed to jump over each other at increasing heights and distances, with markers in each direction to count exactly how far each hamster had flown. The person who managed to get their hamster to do the best jump won a galleon from everyone.

Flitwick actually liked this set-up so much that he made everyone else set up the same game and awarded twenty points to Gryffindor. So that's ten points each for James and Sirius, who took credit for setting up the game and failed to mention the gambling involved. Alice, Remus, and I had to laugh at that, but thankfully Flitwick thought it was because we were having so much fun.

And I was having fun. Especially when I won five galleons for a hamster jump that was five feet high and eight feet long. Flitwick gave me another ten points for Gryffindor because of it.

And when he had his back turned to watch another group play, Isabella came over and gave Remus that quick kiss Sirius had suggested. He certainly looked like he felt better after that, I have to admit.

All in all, class was so much fun that I forgot to feel a sense of foreboding when Flitwick asked us to stay after class. I forgot what we still had to do to make Hogwarts a safe place again.

But he quickly reminded us.

Not with harsh words or a hard dose of reality. Simply with a note to go see Dumbledore at the end of the day.

That note weighed on my mind for the rest of the day, and I kept thinking back to the tiny vials in our dorm. They were lined up and labeled neatly, alphabetically organized and color-coded by year.

Those were the vials that I would have to get before going up to his office that evening.

xxxxxx

"Ah, Mr. Potter and Miss Evans. Glad to see that you got my note," Dumbledore said, only the slightest of twinkles in his eyes. "Please, have a seat."

We both immediately sat in the cushy armchairs that we had grown quite accustomed to. I wonder if any of the other Head boys and girls have spent as much time in the Headmaster's office as we have.

"I have called you here today, in order to ask for a report on your progress with securing the hairs of the students that need to be…quarantined."

A year ago I would have sniggered at the term he used, but now I couldn't help but agree with him. They really did need to be quarantined.

"Well, Headmaster," Lily was telling him as she pulled out a case full of vials from her knapsack, "we have managed to acquire hairs from each of the Slytherin students that we know have been fighting against us for the past year. Here they are, Professor."

She placed the case on Dumbledore's desk for him to check them, and as he did the oddest expression crossed his face. It was really pretty funny, actually.

"Miss Evans?" He asked, not looking away from the vials as he picked them up to inspect them, "Are these, color-coded?"

Lily blushed. I told her she was going overboard.

"Yes, sir," she said sheepishly, "They are."

Dumbledore continued to peer at the vials. "And alphabetized?"

Lily blushed deeper red. "Yes, sir."

Dumbledore finally looked up. "Well isn't that intriguing. I've learned, of course, that this is a muggle way of organizing paperwork, yes?" When Lily nodded he continued, "Of course, of course, when one does not have the luxury of charms to simply call the file they need, one would need a structured system for finding things. Although, I must admit, I have never seen any such examples which are so well organized as yours, Miss Evans, quite extraordinary."

"Thank you, sir," Lily said, but I could tell she wasn't sure if she was really being complimented. I don't know how many times I have to tell her that she shouldn't be embarrassed, but she always gets nervous when she shows that she spent the first half of her life as a muggle.

And I probably wasn't very supportive earlier when I told her not to do it. Oh well, I'll make it up to her somehow.

"Well then," Dumbledore said, clapping his hands and getting back to business, "I suppose we shall start with the potion—"

There was a knock at the door and McGonagall peeked around the corner. "Excuse me for interrupting, headmaster," she said, inclining her head slightly in respect, "But I came to inform you that Professor Slughorn has the dungeons ready for you."

"Thank you, Minerva," Dumbledore said, nodding warmly in her direction before looking back at us. "Off we go then, let us begin."

When we got down to the potions classroom, all the ingredients were laid out for us but Slughorn was nowhere to be seen.

"Ah, yes," Dumbledore said, noticing me looking around the room and guessing what I was thinking. "Professor Slughorn has opted not to brew the potion himself, although he did make a special trip to the Hogsmeade apothecary in order to have all the ingredients prepared for us. He seemed to think that your excellence in the subject would be sufficient, Miss Evans."

"Well, I, I'll do my best, sir," Lily stuttered.

I squeezed her hand discreetly.

"Now, now, no need to doubt yourself. He left us the instructions, and I'm sure you'll do very well. So, let us set to work!"

I read over her shoulder as she looked over the list of instructions, concentrating solely on the first step.

Crush the wormwood bark and bezoar together in a gold mortar and pestule so that their powdered essences intertwine but do not mix completely.

What the hell?

But Lily was already setting to work, pulling the gold mortar and pestule toward her and practicing the idea of grinding them together on a wooden cutting board. I mean, really, how are you supposed to mix them without mixing them?

I decided to voice my question, but I only got a very snappy answer.

"Oh, honestly, James. You crush them together so that some of it mixes, but not all of it. The rest of the wormwood needs to be available to react with the liquid beetle essence and the rest of the bezoar needs to float free through the potion so that they can't reverse the effects simply by taking another bezoar."

I started to ask another question, completely confused as I was. "You could reverse the effects by taking a bezoar—"

"No, you can't. That's the point. Now stop distracting me so that I can actually get this done."

She worked over the cauldron for an hour and a half while Dumbledore and I watched. I had the feeling he was checking her work as she went along, so that she didn't botch the job. But she was concentrating too much to even notice.

"Okay," she finally announced to the empty classroom, "I'm done. It will need to be stirred one and a quarter counter-clockwise turns every two hours for the next day."

She looked up expectantly at us as she wiped the sweat from her brow. I just sat there, watching the steam rise from the cauldron. It was an absolutely disgustingly thick liquid, almost muddy actually. It was so thick that the bubbles weren't so much popping as gurgling and sliding back underneath the surface. Add to that the dark, almost blackish-green color, and the very sight of the potion almost made me lose my dinner.

Dumbledore walked over to inspect this disgustingly putrid final product.

"Well done, Miss Evans," he said, glancing quickly into the cauldron and then pulling his face away from the fumes. "I do believe we're done tonight. I shall continue to stir, and tomorrow evening at this time, we shall meet here again to discuss the rest of the process. Off to bed now, pip pip!"

We wished him goodnight and scampered out of the room, hoping he wouldn't call us back for anything else. It was bad enough to be in there for double potions with the Slytherins before dinner, but now, to have to stay for another two hours when I had no idea what was going on? That was almost torture!

xxxxxxx

"So are we all invited today?" Sirius asked, putting his feet up on the table.

"Yes," Lily said, flicking her wand so that his feet fell off the table.

"Hey! You could have just asked!" He complained indignantly.

"Oh, but Sirius," she started sweetly, "I've asked you at least ten times today. I'm a woman of action, after all, I had to take things into my own hands."

Sirius gave her a growl worthy of Padfoot, but settled back into the couch with his feet firmly on the ground.

"I don't think you guys should come," Alice said, turning to look at Frank, Emmeline, and Marlene.

"What?"

"Of course we are!"

"You can't honestly expect—"

She held up her and hand and yelled over them, "I meant it, you guys shouldn't come. They don't know about you, and I'd like to keep it that way."

I nodded, "She's right, guys. We appreciate all the help you've given us, but you aren't in as much danger as we are, and I'd like to keep you out of it for as long as we can."

There was complete silence. Finally Marlene spoke, "I guess that makes sense. If you don't need me, I suppose I won't come."

"Lene," Sirius said, "You know what he means. You've been so much help, all of you have. Trying to keep you a bit safer is our way of saying thanks, you know?"

"Yeah," she said softly, "I know."

She was giving him the look.

I know that look. I've seen it enough times over the years, after all.

That look is dangerous.

It's the I'm-falling-for-you look.

It means trouble.

I glanced over at Emmeline, wondering how she might react. She was studiously ignoring the moment that passed between her housemate and her ex-boyfriend. Well, I suppose that's what she wanted, isn't it? I mean, Sirius still won't tell me the details, but she's the one who binned him, after all.

"So," Lily said, "only a couple of us really need to go, anyway, James and I were more than enough last night. But if you guys want to come, you can, I'm sure Dumbledore will teach everyone the spell."

"Yeah," I said in support.

Wow, that was pretty wimpy support.

I'm just a little distracted though, by the fact that Remus is going to have to go out alone again tonight. Last night was bad enough, with only Sirius there, but tonight, he's going to have to stay in the shrieking shack, all alone.

He's in the hospital wing right now, probably still sleeping. He always sleeps through the whole day when the week starts, and the first few days of the cycle are always the worst.

I leaned back against the couch, tuning out and waiting for everyone to go back to their common rooms so that I might be able to take a short nap. If I sleep now, I might be able to go join Remus after we cast the spell tonight.

xxxxxxx

We walked together in a group down to the potions classroom without any fear of being ambushed. I checked the map before we left and our favorite group of Slytherins was already down in the Forbidden Forest, presumably doing dark and dangerous things. Honestly, it's probably a good thing that we aren't all running around the forest with Remus tonight.

Dumbledore was waiting for us.

"Ah, you've arrived," he said, waving to the chairs surrounding the cauldron. "You'll be pleased to know, Miss Evans, that I have stirred the potion one and a quarter turns every two hours, just as you instructed. Professor Slughorn has called it absolutely perfect."

Lily blushed. "Thank you."

"Not at all, credit where credit is due. Now, I have your assurances that these students are in the Forbidden Forest as we speak, practicing this curse?"

"Yes, sir. I watched them go down myself." It wasn't a lie. I did watch them go down there, just not in person. The map has become quite handy during the past few months.

"Very good. If you will all turn to the cauldron, then," he said, indicating the large, simmering pot, "We can begin on the spell. Each person will need to be done individually, so everyone take a flask and fill it with potion."

We all did as we were told. Dumbledore filled the remaining flasks himself, as the Slytherins outnumbered us by quite a few.

After all the flasks were filled, he spoke again.

"Now, this spell is not one that can merely be spoken. The incantation alone is not enough to accomplish the task. It must be fueled by either righteous anger or hatred, the choice is yours. But there will be no effect if you do not release your passions and pour them into the spell."

I thought that over for a moment. Release your anger, or your hatred, and pour it into the spell. That's going to be a lot more difficult than it sounds, and as I looked around at all my friends' faces, I knew they felt the same.

First off we had to understand and put a definitive name on something we had been dancing around all year. Do we truly hate them?

I know I would like to think that I don't, but I don't really know if that's the truth. I think I do hate them, really. And just a few short months ago I wouldn't have had a problem saying that. But…the problem was that Lily, Lily said to me that we couldn't hate them…she said that would make us like them.

And I know that I don't want to be like them.

So hate is out, then. But do I feel righteous anger? Anger, certainly, but that goes along with hate. So if they're intertwined, how do I keep myself from becoming like them? If I have to release that emotion to be able to bind their curse in the forest, how do I keep my own head?

I looked around the room, trying to see if someone had come to the conclusion. But that was what made me realize. I looked around at all my friends faces, and I saw why I hated the Slytherins.

I hated them because they were wrong.

I hated them because they were dangerous.

I hated them because they were threatening people in this school for a worthless reason.

I hated them because they were threatening my friends.

And that, I think, constitutes righteous anger, doesn't it? A driving need to protect? Wanting to right social injustices?

Yes, it does.

I breathed a sigh of relief that I had found a way to hate them without really turning into them. And then I realized that I needed to concentrate on that anger again, really feel the full breadth and depth of it if I was going to be able to perform the spell.

I breathed and concentrated, looking around the room at all my friends, concentrating on wanting to protect them from anyone who would do them harm.

A few minutes later Dumbledore spoke again. "Alright, are you all ready? Do you feel the emotion?"

I nodded, my jaw set.

Dumbledore's gaze roved over all of us before he said, "Now add the hairs, and say the incantation. Concentrate on all the emotion you feel."

"Incarcerous mage prokleti."

All around the table I saw flasks bubbling and hissing, trying to spit their contents out onto us all. They couldn't though, the liquid was quickly boiling down to a pale, shimmering pearlescent powder. Within seconds, the potion was gone.

I looked around the room and noticed that Peter's and Sirius's powders were red, not pearly white. I looked back up at Dumbledore, hoping for confirmation that everything had gone as planned.

I noticed that all of Dumbledore's powders were as white as mine.

I watched as he looked at all of our flasks, nodding slowly.

"It seems," he said after several minutes, "That we have succeeded. Well done."

No one moved.

After a few more moments, he vanished all the remaining potion in the cauldron, collected our powders and said, "I will escort you back to Gryffindor Tower. Unless, of course, you wish to go back to the Head Dorms instead?"

We all nodded at that suggestion.

"Very well, then. Come along."

xxxxxxx

So there it was. One more chapter to go. Like I said earlier, this is the last real chapter, the next is more of an epilogue. I hope you liked it, and if you do, please review! And if you don't, review anyway! Pretty please?

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