AN: Half substance, half filler. On the bright side they will be officially out of Hogwarts. That means more action, more drama and of course more death (I'm pretty sure all are canon, so no surprises there)

Time seemed to pass painfully slow at Hogwarts. James and Sirius-both of whom begrudgingly agreed to stay after Alice informed McGonagall of their plans-threw themselves into Quidditch. James put aside his school work, and took extra patrol hours, covering almost all of Lily's shifts. His theory was that she still needed to pass the NEWTs, he was just at Hogwarts to make everyone else happy, as he decided against entering the Auror Academy when he could start fighting wizards straight out of school with the Order. One thing he didn't know, though, was Lily's plan for the future

Lily eventually sent a letter to St. Mungo's withdrawing her application, this she kept under wraps. The only people that knew were Remus and Dumbledore, as she talked to the headmaster (who was also in the Order). In a few classes-like Herbology or Defense Against the Dark Arts-the curriculum would prove invaluable down the road. However, she knew in a few classes that what she was learning would not be of any use after her NEWTs.

Potions, unfortunately, became one of these classes. Sitting beside Remus she waited for the class to end as Slughorn used the last few moments to hand out papers. She found hers floated to the desk, like everyone else, but hers was face down. Next to her Remus a smile played on his lips as he filed away his 'O' paper. She flipped her's over to reveal an 'A'. Biting her lip, she folded it in half before James leaned over his table to whisper. "Another 'A', I think I'll need some tutoring Mrs. Potter."

Spinning in her seat she rolled his eyes. "If you come to our room before midnight."

"Yeah, yeah…" He laughed. For a second it seemed that old James was back, she wondered how long he would stay.

The bell rang and Lily folded her essay starting to slip it into her bag when she heard the teachers voice. "Lily a word please?" he said quietly, pulling his glasses off.

"Hey, I'll see you at dinner." James walked over, kissing her on the cheek quickly. "Sirius and I will be at the lake until then."

"I have class in fifteen."

"I know, but just in case." He gave her a smirk, hand lingering on her arm before exiting with his two friends.

Sighing Lily took a step forward as she stepped in front of Slughorn's desk. He wasn't paying attention, digging through a box of files hovering by his desk. "E, the lowest grade you ever received on one of my assignments." He put his glasses back on and looked her over. "It has been two and a half months. I know last year I told you if you needed anything I would be lenient, but I expect more from you. I expect from the both of you."

"Both of us?"

"I'm not stupid," he said. "James may have a Head Boy's badge, but that does not give him an excuse to go gallivanting all over the castle or skip class."

"Maybe you should talk to him, not me. I'm his wife not his keeper," she remarked.

Slughorn looked at her. "Your cheek is not appreciated. I'm only saying this because the two of you have bright futures ahead of you. Futures that are riding on the test scores, I would hate to see-"

"He's not going to be an auror," Lily replied.

"What are you-"

"I'm not going to be a Healer." Lily looked up at the ceiling, feeling tears pricking at her eyes as she thought about her rejection. "They turned me down for early acceptance and I decided it wasn't for me."

"Lily," Slughorn said, shaking his head. "That doesn't mean you can stop trying. This is unacceptable."

"What's unacceptable is that innocent people are dying and I'm supposed to be memorizing Potion theories!" she shouted, then took a deep breath gripping the desk. "I apologize Professor, what I've been through is not excuse. I know I'm supposed to be a role model for other students."

"Tell you what, you edit that essay and agree to tutor the third years, in exchange I'll write you a glowing letter of recommendation and pull some strings to get you into that school in France."

"Don't think me ungrateful, but I've made my decision. This life is wasn't I planned, but I'm trying to make it work. Everyone, though, is determined to think of me like I'm the girl I was two years ago, I'm not her anymore, Professor. Honestly, that girl two years ago would think I was throwing my life away getting married at seventeen and not going to college-"

"Hey, can I grab my book?" It was James, he stepped through the door, staring at Lily as he walked back to the table. He reached beneath it to pull out the playbook he had taken out when the Potion was brewing.

"Mr. Potter, we were having a private conversation."

"Part of it was about me," he muttered then looked over Lily. "Are you about done?"

"Are we?" Lily asked.

"I expect you to correct your essay and come here on Wednesday to help with the tutoring, regardless if you are in need of a recommendation or not." Slughorn shut the file he previously scanned before placing it back in the box. "And I understand that the times are a changing."

James didn't say anything to her until he came back that night. He wasn't scheduled for patrol, that duty fell to a Ravenclaw fifth year and a Hufflepuff sixth year. When he came into the room, he saw Lily sitting on his bed wearing only a t-shirt, her wet hair gathered on her shoulders.

"Hey." She gave him a smile and set aside her book, trying to subtly communicate she wanted him over here.

"Can we talk?"

"Since when do you talk?" she teased, a smile playing on lips.

"You're not going to the Healer Academy?"

She bit her lip and got to her feet crossing the room. "How about we don't talk about this right now?" Gripping his arm she leaned in for a kiss, wanting nothing more than to go back to Christmas or just before.

James slipped free from her grip and enclosed his hands around her wrists. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I don't know."

"You gave me a bad time because I wasn't speaking with you about my mum, but now you're hiding things?"

"I wasn't trying to, I just thought…" She shook her head. "If I told you I got turned down for early acceptance, I'd have to tell you why because it's part of the reason I withdrew my application for early."

He shook his head, releasing her wrists before clenching his hands into tight fits. "The ministry, right?" He let out a curse before taking a deep breath. "I heard about some of the stunts they're trying to get away with, St. Mungo's was free from their blood status discrimination. Dad will-"

"Don't you understand?" Lily questioned. "I didn't tell you because I didn't want you to try to fix it. What happens to the muggle born that didn't marry the only son of a Department Head? The only way to change this is to fight and that's what I'm going to do, right by your side.'
"No."

"James, you can't tell me what to do!"

"I don't want to lose you!"

"Are you that thick headed that you don't think I feel the same way?" Lily pushed past him.

"Where are you going?"

"My room, all we're going to do is fight tonight."

"I'm not going to bed angry," he said as he followed her into the meeting room. "Mum said it was the worst thing to do."

She walked over and stared at him. "I was going to tell you, I just...I didn't know how to do it, that's all."

"Well, since neither of us need perfect NEWTs can we go to bed?"

"James…"

He reached for her hand, pulling her close to him. The thin shirt did little to obscure her heart beat or soften her ribs. James though was covered in layers. "This is a series conversation."

"We have enough time to worry about the future." He kissed her neck. "Let me be angry at you tomorrow, okay? In three months time we'll be dueling dark wizards, all I want now is to be with you."

She let him get reacquainted with her body. This was the first time in weeks, months, that they had been this close while awake. Not wanting to pull away she pushed off his robe and then reached for his buttons. "Is this many layers necessary? It's almost April."

"It's a challenge."

She lifted her eyes to look at him. This is why they were together. The two would never get bored, she knew that now. Both of them were too stubborn to give up, too opinionated to be complacent.

That night, they let themselves forget everything but that moment.

By the time June rolled around time no longer seemed to be crawling by. Lily dreaded the day she would have to leave Hogwarts. The last few weeks seemed to be the most spectacular. Late night jaunts to the kitchen while studying for NEWTs, desperately trying to get extra points, going to the Quidditch games, sneaking to Hogsmeade with their entire year, going on patrol with James…

Even in the midst of all the hubbub they were preparing to begin their life after college. Owls came in frequently delivering letters about their apartments and job offers. The latter was mainly for Remus who was struggling to get accepted anywhere, because somehow his "condition" got out. After they completed their NEWTs, James, Sirius and Lily were itching to get out. By some miracle they made it to their final day of school.

Their last morning, they didn't even bother to go to breakfast. The trunks had been packed for what seemed to be ages so they were able to lay in bed until it was time to depart. In a few short hours their life would change drastically, in fact they wouldn't even be heading home. A deposit had been sent in and the keys owled by Frank to apartments. The Potter house had been empty since February, when Charles went abroad, and they weren't planning on going back.

"Can you imagine what it'll be like?" James asked as Lily curled against his side.

"How long before our first assignment?" Lily turned in closer to him, breathing in his scent and trying her best to memorize the moment.

"We leave late tomorrow morning." He pulled her close, her head buried in his neck. "You, me, Frank, the Prewett twins... Remus will crash at our place while we're gone as he tries to find a job, Sirius and Peter will be based in London."

"Athena will be shipped off to France or Switzerland, Marlene will be at home while she waits to hear back from the Prophet and Alice will go to training."

"Yeah."

They stayed next to each other before their clock chimed nine. At that they reluctantly separated and put on their street clothes, uniforms would not be needed. Lily slipped a sun dress on with a pair of sandals, James dressed in a ratty t-shirt with faded jeans. The pair did not looked like a couple that had been married for almost six months, they didn't even look like adults. Even so James shrunk their trunks to a more manageable side, piled them atop each other and attached them together before dragging them behind him, his other hand tangled with Lily's.

The entrance hall was a mess as everyone waited for carriages to go down to Hogsmeade. The two, now former, Heads let the prefects handle the rambunctious younger kids. They wished it would be possible to fly, floo or portkey home, but sadly they had to take the train.

Once on they settled into the compartment with all their friends, trying to avoid talking about the inevitable. Marlene was her usual over the top self, Sirius joked around, Peter stuttered, Remus remained mildly amused, Alice observed, James laughed and Lily...Lily tried to distract herself.

When the train halted to a stop Alice hugged each of them in turn.

"We live down the hall," Lily reassured. The apartment they got was a few doors down Frank's as it was an apartment that many auror and Order members lived.

"I know," she whispered. "Stay safe."

Lily hugged Marlene and Athena at the same time, not wanting to let go. The latter she wished she'd befriended earlier, now she was being whisked away to another country to start a life away from England. As she saw the dark haired girl leave, she caught Sirius watching her head towards her family. Marlene didn't notice and kissed him goodbye before running towards her parents.

James held Lily's hand tightly as he returned their trunks to normal size before entering the muggle part of King's Cross. Once outside the pair hailed a taxi to take them to the new apartment.

Once there they each grabbed a trunk before entering the building. It was a wizard haven in the midst of muggle London. It proclaimed "no vacancy" and appeared to be a broken down brick building, at least to anyone that wasn't a wizard. Underneath the glamour was a standard looking building with a sign proclaiming modest priced apartments.

Inside it was white walls, clean grey carpet and a room with a sign saying post boxes outside it."Almost there." They stepped on the elevator and rode to the second floor before heading to room 245.

"Is this it?"

James nodded, withdrawing a key before unlocking it. "Home sweet home." Pushing open the door, they peered inside. It was a short, narrow hallway, to the right was a doorway to the kitchen. When they stepped forward they saw a small living room, on the right side held two bedrooms and a bathroom.

"I like it," she whispered, setting her trunk down and reaching for his hand.

"The only furniture is this." He pulls her across the room to kick the oversized, dilapidated couch dominating the the space.

"The apartment is ours and we have a place to sleep tonight." Lily smiled at him. "Besides, I think it's a futon."

"Dad is going to bring over furniture when he gets back from Bulgaria," James muttered. "I'll move our trunks, do you want to go beg for some bedding from Frank or Gideon?"

"Let's pull the bed out first." Lily said, then reached for his wrist when he tried to pull out his wand. "The muggle way." She walked over and the both tossed aside the cushions before unfolding the frame. Soon enough a thin mattress with a see through fabric attached at each corner with elastic. "Now, I'll put away the trunks." Taking her wand out, with a few swishes the master bedroom door flung open and their luggage flew in afterward.

James laughed shaking his head. "Can we go beg for bedding for tonight? I only have one blanket and I don't feel like going shopping or to the store."
"What about dinner?"

"Take out," he said. "We can bum food from the twins for breakfast, come on."