Thanks for the reviews, Nupurlath, Anna and earthbibble. Much appreciated!

Nupurlath: Haha, I'm glad you enjoyed it!

Anna: Point(s) well taken (except for the length of this chapter – it's my longest, lol). I have cut down on the inner monologues a bit, except for when they pertain to what is going on in the outside world. I hope that should be sufficient for now!

earthbibble: That's sweet of you to say! Here's the new chapter, I hope you enjoy this too!

Hi everyone, here is chapter thirty-two. Readers, please review. Thanks!

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. All (well, most, anyway) characters are from J K Rowling's brilliant best-selling series.

Chapter Thirty-Two

"The recklessness that you four have displayed is astonishing."

James's euphoria at leading the Gryffindor team to Quidditch Cup glory lasted for at least a week. The entire House seemed to be in the seventh Heaven of delight; he supposed that everyone's feelings had been compounded by their heartbreaking loss last year after being firm favourites for the win. Well, we definitely redeemed ourselves, James thought fondly as he watched little Nancy MacDonald bask in the attention of two admiring fourth-year boys, giving them a blow-by-blow account of how she'd caught the Snitch… The match was a lot tougher than what the scoreline suggests, but we fought hard and saw it through till the end, he thought. Claire had certainly lived up to her 'tough as nails' reputation.

Even Professor McGonagall had made it a point to tell him how proud she was of the team and his leadership following their next Transfiguration lesson (she'd actually called him to tell him off for allowing an all-night party in the common room following the match, but had ended up praising him instead, smiling at the shiny Quidditch Cup which had returned to her office after three years). In addition, she'd told him to concentrate on the upcoming NEWTs, and that she expected nothing less than an 'O' from him in Transfiguration. Well, no problems there, he thought confidently. His Transfiguration work had never been anything short of exemplary, and he was confident that he'd ace the NEWT without breaking into a sweat…

"The NEWT timetable's up," announced Lily on Saturday night as she entered the HQ, a week after the Quidditch Cup final. "I just handed a few of those to the seventh-year Prefects, with instructions to pin them on their House's bulletin board."

"What about the OWL timetables?" asked James, looking up from his Potions textbook. He'd been studying for the better part of the past two hours, in preparation for that night – for it was a full moon night, which meant a night of revision lost in favour of keeping Remus company. James had snorted inwardly at the choice; there was no way he was going to leave his friend alone, even if it meant studying earlier and skipping the meeting with Dumbledore to procure the exam timetables. Lily had assured him that she could handle it, much to his relief, and he'd let her take charge. His stomach was light with anticipation as he gazed at the full moon outside his window; it was a clear night, and he was looking forward to their late night jaunt to Hogsmeade, as had been planned last month (with a few reservations from Remus).

"Also taken care of," Lily responded, bringing his attention back to her. "Want to take a look at ours?"

"Sure," said James, and she immediately handed him a roll of parchment. He raised his eyebrows as he scanned the timetable; their OWL timetable had been a lot more packed than this one. "I have a day off between two consecutive exams – almost throughout!" he exclaimed happily. Lily grinned and said, "Well – I guess you got lucky. I have Herbology, Arithmancy and Transfiguration one after another – I wish I had a day off for Transfiguration, too!" she added fretfully as she sat down next to him on the sofa.

"Hey, don't worry," said James, putting his arm around her shoulders. She rested her head on his shoulder as he continued, "I'll take care of your Transfiguration revision – I won't be needing that time to study it, to be honest." She snorted slightly, and he added, "Well – I'll cover the material on Wednesday, and spend Thursday revising it with you, how does that sound?"

"Sounds good," she said, relief evident in her tone. "I really need to do well on Transfiguration if I want to get into the Department of Magical Research – which reminds me, why haven't we heard back from the Ministry yet? I was talking to Nathan and Gavin half an hour ago, and they told me that they hadn't heard anything, either – but some of their friends had received rejections." She looked at him nervously.

"Don't worry – people who get rejected always get notified first," said James reassuringly, squeezing her shoulder as he spoke. "Besides, the 31st of May isn't a hard and fast deadline per se – they always say that, but people generally receive conditional offers all the way up to mid-June."

"Conditional offers?" she repeated, confusion clear in her emerald eyes.

"It means that the offer is valid if and only if the candidate gets the required NEWT grades," said James patiently. "They won't be making any offers regardless of your NEWT grades, will they?"

"Oh – right," said Lily, with a slight smile. "Fair point." Spotting his Potions textbook on the table, she asked, "So – how far did you get?"

"Well – I'm still not feeling entirely confident, but we do have two more weeks," he said, before picking up the timetable again. "Let's see – our exams begin in the second week of June. Charms on Monday, followed by Herbology on Wednesday, and Transfiguration on Friday… Then in week two, Potions on Monday, DADA on Wednesday, and Muggle Studies on Thursday afternoon… Hey, no fair, your exams end before mine!" he exclaimed, putting the timetable back on the coffee table and frowning at her.

"Well – you have a day of rest before most exams, so I guess it balances out," she responded, smirking. "It's going to be tough for Liz, though," she continued sombrely, "She has Ancient Runes on Thursday morning, followed by Arithmancy on Thursday afternoon like me, which gives her hardly any time to study Transfiguration. She was moaning about the unfairness of the timetable when I gave her a copy – the History of Magic exam takes place on Thursday morning of week two, and she was furious that a class which has only a handful of NEWT students has an exam that late while she has to write four exams in three days." She shook her head.

"Why are they having two exams on the same day?" inquired James. "And that does seem unfair – why can't the exams be switched around a bit? Say, if we switched Arithmancy with History of Magic, what's the problem?"

"I'll answer all your questions from the top," said Lily, smiling. "For two exams on the same day – it's because Ancient Runes, Arithmancy, History of Magic and Muggle Studies are the only theoretical subjects that Hogwarts offers, which means that they don't need a practical slot. In contrast, all the other exams have the theory exam in the morning, and the practical exam in the afternoon – or in case of Astronomy, at night."

"I see," said James thoughtfully, "And who decides the order of the exams?"

"I think it's a set pattern," said Lily, shrugging. "The exams for the main subjects which include a practical exam have traditionally taken place on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays – with the elective subjects on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Of these, the elective subjects with a practical exm, like Care of Magical Creatures and Divination, take place on Tuesdays, while the theory-only exams take place on Thursdays and are probably arranged in alphabetical order – Ancient Runes, Arithmancy, History of Magic and Muggle Studies."

"That's just stupid," said James, rolling his eyes. "The timetable for the elective subjects should be decided based on the number of people who are taking each subject, not something generic like an alphabetical order! Y'know what, come on," he said, standing up suddenly. "The Head students have access to every seventh-year student's timetable, right?"

"Well – only partially," said Lily thoughtfully. "We have the Prefects' timetables so that we can assign patrols to them, but that's about it. We can get the timetables of the other students from the Heads of Houses, though."

"Excellent," said James, briskly. "Let's go, then – let's talk to the professors and get the timetables of every seventh-year student. We can then figure out how many students are in each class, and prioritise the exam order accordingly – we'll make sure that no student has to go through something as preposterous as four exams in three days." He looked at her excitedly. "Of course, we're only going to do this for the elective subjects – and History of Magic. We can submit this order to Dumbledore, and he can liaise with the Ministry!"

"Y'know, that's not a bad idea!" said Lily, wrinkling her forehead and gently scratching her chin as she did while thinking of solutions to complex problems. "There's also an easier way – all we have to do is approach the teachers who teach the relevant subjects, and get a list of seventh-year students in that class! Even better, we can talk to the students taking each class!" she added, standing up, too. "I know everyone in my Arithmancy class – we can talk to Liz about Ancient Runes, and find people who are taking NEWT-level Divination, Care of Magical Creatures, and History of Magic! You can do Muggle Studies, right?" She raised her eyebrow at him.

"No problem," he responded confidently. "There are only about twelve people in the class, see?"

"It's the same for Arithmancy," she said, with a nod. "We don't even need to go to the professors at this rate – this can be done on our own!"

"It's settled, then," said James, giving her and overhead clap. "Blimey, Lil – it'll be nice if we can bring about a change like this!"

"Haha, yes! Hmm, James Potter, helping other students with their exam schedules – who would've thought?" she said, giving him a little smirk.

"I can still protect my reputation by passing it off as your initiative," James pointed out.

"Not happening," said Lily, shaking her head. "You've done an exemplary job as Head Boy, James – we're almost at the end of the year now, so it's as good a time as any to deliver a verdict!" She grinned at him, then continued, "I still remember how nervous you were when you got the badge – but you've stepped up, and you've delivered! You've largely stayed out of mischief, and shouldered all your responsibility unflinchingly. It's been a real pleasure working with you," she added fondly.

"Thank you," said James sincerely, puffing out his chest a little. "And likewise – you taught me what I needed to learn, and I always looked up to you and tried making decisions based on how you would handle similar situations. Safe to say that I've enjoyed working with you too!"

"We make a good team, don't we?" said Lily, kissing him affectionately on the cheek.

"Yes – we certainly do," replied James, grinning. "But – as much as I hate to withdraw from the mutual admiration society – we have work to do." He sat back down. "Tomorrow, we can talk to the professors – but right now, we should make a list of students in Muggle Studies and Arithmancy. And after that – I really need to get back to that." He pointed to his Potions textbook. Y'know, I don't think I'll be done before our patrol – I'm going to study a bit more after we come back, OK?"

That last bit was a lie; James stared at a spot just next to Lily's left ear as he said that. He knew that he could lie effectively, but he hated lying to her… But this is bigger than us, he thought firmly. It's a question of helping someone deal with something they can't do anything about, and keep them out of their mire of self-loathing…

"All right," said Lily, and he quickly focused on her; he was relieved to see a small grin on her face. "That's all right – it's nice to see how much of an effort you're putting into your Potions studies." He grinned back at her uncertainly; she seemed to accept the lie without question. I'm taking advantage of her trust in me, he thought guiltily. But there's no other way…

Every full moon night over the past year, he'd been able to join his friends only after midnight; his Head Boy duties meant that he was patrolling the castle from eleven to midnight every night. He'd usually shaken Lily off by claiming that he was too tired, but ever since they'd started spending almost every night together, it had gotten harder. Luckily, Lily wasn't a clingy girl by any means; she was usually happy to give him his space or 'me time' whenever he indicated that he needed it. He'd mixed and matched these claims of tiredness or late-night studies to prevent her from deducing the pattern, but there was always a tiny, niggling feeling in the back of his head that she suspected there was something he wasn't telling her.

"I want to complete that last chapter on how to brew the Felix Felicis before tonight," said James, a little apologetically. "In fact – d'you want to test me on it tomorrow?"

"Sounds like a plan," she replied, and sat down next to him and summoned their Transfiguration textbook to her with a lazy flick of her wand. "I might as well sit here and study until it's time for our patrol," she said, and he nodded. "Let me know if you need my help with some of these concepts," he offered. "Human Transfiguration is difficult to understand, and quite prone to going wrong – I'm quite sure they're going to ask us to Transfigure ourselves for our practical exam."

"I thought as much," said Lily, a hint of worry on her face. "It's hard – I haven't got the proper hang of it yet, see? I mean, I can do the Facial Transfiguration without any problems, but it's the Organ Transfiguration that's been bothering me. Like, say, I wanted to breathe under water, but not use Gillyweed or the Bubble-Head Charm, I'd have to Transfigure a pair of gills on myself – but at this point, I don't think I can." She sighed.

"Don't worry, it's not too hard," said James bracingly. "Just read all you want to right now – and if you're still unsure tomorrow, I'll teach you. But – you need to understand the theory extremely well – otherwise it'll be an exercise in futility."

"Will do," said Lily, and kissed his cheek affectionately once more. "Let's get cracking, then."

They studied in silence until it was time for their patrol. They discussed some of what they'd grasped as they walked around the castle; it was an uneventful patrol, and Lily was already yawning by the time they got back to the HQ. James kissed her goodnight before making his way to his room; he was going to stay there for a few minutes, pretending to study until he was sure Lily was asleep before venturing out and joining his friends.

About twenty minutes later, James threw the Invisibility Cloak over himself and stepped out of his bedroom, careful to not make a sound. On full moon nights, Sirius and Peter generally sneaked out of the castle after Disillusioning themselves; they carried the Map to aid them in avoiding other people. On the other hand, James used his Invisibility Cloak; he didn't really need the Map due to the lower footfall in the castle past midnight, and he was skilled enough in making his way throughout the castle undetected.

He closed his door a little louder than he'd intended as he stepped onto the landing. He froze, hoping that he hadn't woken up his girlfriend; however, he heard nothing as he stood there for nearly two minutes, gauging whether she'd been roused. Satisfied that she hadn't, he cast a Silencing Charm on himself and made his way out of the HQ. He walked along briskly, taking care to look around corners carefully; he was invisible, and his footsteps were inaudible, but he didn't want to take any chances…

He reached the castle doors and stepped out into the cool night air. The full moon shone brightly, and James smiled as he made his way to the Whomping Willow. It seemed like a great night for an adventure – their final one before they graduated, for the next full moon would be just after their NEWTs and before the 3QT final, which had prompted them to mutually decide that they wouldn't be attempting any daring escapades on their final full moon night at Hogwarts.

He came to a halt in front of the Whomping Willow, taking care to stay out of range of its branches. He non-verbally Levitated a twig and pressed the knot on the tree's base, causing it to freeze at once; smiling in satisfaction, he cast the Invisibility Cloak off himself and made his way into the passage within two seconds. He transformed into Prongs as he ran, coming to a halt at the steps at the end of the passage. It was difficult to climb those as a stag, but it was too risky to climb them as a human before re-transforming; werewolves were vicious when it came to people. Instead, he let out a low rumble, and was soon joined by Padfoot, Wormtail and Moony, who sniffed him eagerly before growling in a satisfied fashion – it sounded almost like a purr. The four animals made their way back along the passage, and stepped out into the Hogwarts grounds. Moony sniffed the night air eagerly, and Padfoot and Prongs shepherded him towards the Forbidden Forest. It was a much longer walk to Hogsmeade through the forest, but they preferred that to going through the school gates; they didn't want to set off any signals in the wards that would probably give them away. They walked silently through the forest, with Wormtail hitching a ride on Padfoot's back this time. Soon enough, they were loitering along the Hogsmeade Main Street with Prongs and Padfoot on high alert; they'd had a couple of near-brushes with humans in Hogsmeade, and didn't want that to happen – especially during their final foray into the village before they graduated.

They wandered in the village for about an hour before returning into the Forest. The sun would rise in a couple hours, and they had to make sure that they got Moony back into the Shrieking Shack before that. They'd discussed trying to get into the Shack through Hogsmeade itself, but the Spells on the house were too strong; it would require reverting to their human forms to overcome those, which was deemed too much of a risk with Moony in such close proximity. And so, the Forest was their preferred route back to the school.

As they came up to their usual clearing, James became aware of the presence of something else. His sense of self-preservation was always heightened in his stag form, and while the Marauders had never encountered any carnivores in the Forest, James felt a small stab of unease. He gave a low rumble, but he needn't have; the others had halted, too, and Moony was growling softly, staring at a spot to James's left. James followed his gaze and spotted two pairs of bright eyes. He sniffed the air and stiffened; there was definitely an animalistic edge to the new arrivals, who came into sight slowly and noiselessly; he let out a somewhat worried rumble as two wolves came into view and began the stare down the four animals.

These wolves were far different from the ones James had seen before. There was an ethereal, almost mystic beauty to them; they were lithe, graceful, and looked strong and muscular. Unlike the familiar yellow eyes of normal wolves, their eyes were grey, yet shone brightly in the darkness. Their fur was grey, too, quite unlike Remus's brown fur (which the Marauders had joked was because of his brown hair). The one on the left was the smaller of the two; it also possessed more of the wolves' unearthly beauty. James supposed that it was a female.

He let out another worried rumble. He didn't have too many options here; performing any sort of magic would require him to transform back into a human, which would undeniably cause Moony to attack him. He supposed his antlers could be used as weapons to gore other animals, but he'd never used them in battle before; besides, these wolves looked powerful. Another, more unsavoury option was running away, but he wasn't sure that his speed would be enough on this occasion; wolves were good at chasing down their prey. Besides, Padfoot and Moony weren't as fast as he was, which meant that they had only one option, really – they had to fight.

The larger of the two wolves growled softly, and was quickly met by menacing growls from Padfoot and Moony, who quickly moved in front of Prongs, much to his relief and elation; it seemed as if Moony had sensed the danger to his herbivore friend. Wormtail quickly climbed onto Prongs's shoulder, not making a sound; he knew that he would be useless in this fight, and James agreed – Peter was best out of the way.

Moony let out another ferocious growl, and much to James's surprise, the two wolves took a step back simultaneously. The smaller one (the female?) let out a high-pitched whine, while the other one just stared at Moony for a few seconds – in recognition, it seemed to James. Then, to his utter astonishment, both wolves unmistakeably bowed to Moony and retreated. Soon enough, they were gone, leaving the Marauders alone.

Wormtail let out a series of relieved squeaks, and James rumbled elatedly; Moony's presence seemed to be commanding, and it looked as if the wolves had been cowed and wouldn't try attacking them again. Padfoot resumed walking along the familiar path back to Hogwarts, and Moony quickly followed. Prongs brought up the rear, determined to stay behind his friends for the rest of the night – he wanted to avoid any more unwanted surprises.

Dawn was just breaking as three tired Marauders made their way back into the castle, with the Cloak tucked under James's arm; it was Sunday, after all, and no one would be up at this hour. "So, what about those wolves, eh?" asked Sirius as they walked; James knew that he'd be dying to discuss that, as well as how it had been his ferocity that had driven them off. He chuckled inwardly as Sirius added, "I guess you need a big black dog to scare 'em – lucky we have one at our beck and call."

"I'm pretty sure it was Moony who drove them off," said Peter, and Sirius made a small noise of protest, much to James's amusement. "But as you were saying, Padfoot," he said, turning to Sirius, "They weren't normal wolves, were they? They looked so different! They were almost – otherworldly!"

"I agree," said Sirius thoughtfully. "Besides, didn't wolves go extinct in Britain a few centuries ago?"

"They did?" Peter and James asked in unison.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure they did," said Sirius, as they came up to the castle doors. "And you're right, Prongs – these wolves seemed quite intelligent, too. I mean, I'm quite sure they bowed to us before running away."

"Bowed to Moony, you mean," corrected Peter, and immediately received a gentle smack on the head from Sirius. James laughed and said, "I agree with Pete – who knows what might've happened if Moony hadn't been with us."

"I'm so underappreciated," said Sirius, giving a deep, fake sigh as he stepped into the castle. James and Peter followed him, and they all froze as the unmistakeable sound of someone clearing their throat came from behind them. James spun around as Lily came into view, having lifted the Disillusionment Charm off herself, and even in the dim light of dawn, he could see that her jaw was set, and her eyes were narrowed. She pocketed her wand before staring at them piercingly with her arms crossed in front of her chest, and her mouth set in a thin line. Her emerald eyes bored into James's, and he bowed his head even as he tried to think of a convincing enough lie; however, they'd transformed back into their human form only after emerging from beneath the Willow (since Moony reverted to Remus only after the moonset and not with the sunrise), which meant that she'd probably seen them transform. There was no way out; he was going to have to tell her the truth.

"Er – 'morning, Lil," he began, with an unconvincing stab at airiness as he looked up at her. Her expression didn't change.

"Don't you dare ''Morning, Lil,' me, Prongs," she responded, and he noted the undercurrent of anger in her voice. His momentary surprise at the nickname vanished as he vaguely recalled Remus telling him that Lily knew about their nicknames, along with the ridiculous (and false) reasons they'd made up for them. "I'll get to you in a minute," Lily continued. "Now, you –" she turned towards Sirius, "—Padfoot… You were Snuffles, weren't you?"

James raised his eyebrows in confusion as Sirius answered immediately, "Guilty as charged, Evans."

Lily looked slightly revolted as she turned to Peter, who actually took a step back. "And you, Pete?" she asked, a little aggressively. "What sort of animal do you turn into – as Wormtail?"

"A – a rat," said Peter nervously.

Lily took a deep, calming breath, before facing James squarely. "Black, Peter – common room, now." There was authority in her tone. "I wish to speak to Prongs alone…" James winced as she placed undue emphasis on his nickname. Sirius and Peter gave him encouraging and somewhat sympathetic pats on his back before starting to walk away.

"Oh, and Black," called Lily, and Sirius turned to face her. "What?" he called back, rather sullenly.

"If I were you, I'd tell Liz about this sooner rather than later," she said. "Trust me, you don't want her to find out from any other source – aside from you, that is."

"Are you going to tell her, then?" Sirius asked aggressively, but his voice held a note of fear. "You wouldn't!"

"D'you want to take that chance?" Lily asked him evenly. James inched his head slightly at his best friend to indicate no, and Sirius nodded slightly back at him. "Fine," he said sullenly, and walked away without a backward glance, with Peter hurrying along in his wake. Soon, James was alone in the Entrance Hall with his girlfriend.

"So," she said, and he looked directly into her eyes, resigning himself for the worst. "Were you ever planning on telling me?"

"Er –" he hesitated. The truth of it was, he'd have told her eventually – after several years, that is, when it would've been so far in the past that they'd likely have just laughed about it, and he'd have escaped with a mild reprimand. "Not any time soon, really," he said honestly.

She nodded in acknowledgement. Her face remained stony as she asked, "All right – so, you're a st –"

"Not here," he cut across her, glancing around them swiftly. "Quidditch pitch, c'mon."

She followed him to the pitch silently, and they sat down on one of the benches on the pitch. "I know you want an explanation, Lily," began James, looking directly at her. She nodded again, and indicated for him to continue. He sighed and said, "I'm sorry for keeping this from you, but the four of us made a pact. No one outside of us would know… The truth is – as you know by now – Sirius, Peter and I, we're Animagi. As I told you before, we found out about Remus during our third year, and we spent the second half of it researching how we could help him. A werewolf is only a danger to people, see? Anyway, we did our research, and spent most of our fourth and fifth years trying to get the transformation right. There were a few hiccups, but we managed it in the end – that's how we've been keeping Remus company on full moon nights for the past couple years. We did it for him, to stop him from biting, scratching and harming himself on those nights. I can tell you with confidence that when he's with us, he's more human than wolf," he finished with a hint of pride.

Lily remained silent for a full minute, following which James placed a hand on top of hers. He took it as a good sign that she didn't shake it off. "I know it's a lot to take in," he said gently. "I know we bent a load of school rules, and we're also unregistered Animagi, which means that we've broken Wizarding law, too. I know you're furious, but you must understand –" his tone became earnest, "—we did it all for Remus, and we managed to help him."

There was another long pause, and James waited with bated breath as she mulled things over. Finally, she sighed. "I know you helped him," she said, her emerald eyes intense. "I'd have to be really thick to not notice how much happier he's generally been over the past couple years. You did it all for your friend – and I respect that. I think it was amazing, really, what you did – rather ingenious, finding a way to help him with his condition. You did wonders for his mental health too – there's less of the self-hatred in his voice than there's ever been." James smiled inwardly; it was inconceivable that Lily wouldn't have noticed that – she was highly perceptive, even more than he was. "You helped him," she continued. "That counts for a lot."

"Wow, you're taking this really well," said James, unable to suppress the relief from his voice. "I thought for sure you were going to be furious –"

"Oh, I am," she assured him, and he saw the familiar fire in her eyes as his heart sank to his stomach. "I'm livid – not because of you and the others being Animagi, because I know and can understand why you did that – but what you did whilst you were in your transformed state. My only question is – what the hell were you thinking?"

"Er – I'm not sure –" said James hesitantly, but his mind was working at a furious pace. Had she been at the Entrance Hall all night, then? Had she seen them emerge from the Forest? Worse still, had she seen them enter the Forest, too? He gulped – this wasn't looking good at all.

"I followed you," said Lily softly, but there was no mistaking the fury in her voice. "You slammed your door a little too hard when you left tonight, see? I knew you'd wait to see if I'd heard that, so I didn't make a sound for about five minutes. A simple Homenum Revelio told me that you were gone."

Dammit! thought James. She had heard him, then. That bloody door!

"I had no idea where you'd gone, of course. I Disillusioned myself and set off, looking for you. I eliminated the obvious places – like the library, for example. I thought you'd gone down to the kitchens for a late-night snack – but you hadn't indicated that you were hungry when we were patrolling. There was a slim chance that you'd be practising magic in an empty classroom – but somehow, I didn't think that was the case." She paused. "The kitchens seemed the likeliest, so I went there first. You weren't there, nor had you been there last night, as the house-elves told me. I was just walking along near the Entrance Hall window when I saw a most extraordinary sight."

She narrowed her eyes, and he noticed that her nostrils were flaring. "I saw a dog, a stag and a werewolf come out from below the Whomping Willow. It didn't take a genius to figure out that the werewolf was Remus, and the black dog looked like the same one that I'd encountered before. That dog had been kind and friendly during our only encounter, but I hadn't seen it since – despite keeping a passive watch for it." She turned away. "It appeared to be friends with the werewolf, too! And there was something familiar about that stag as well – thought I couldn't figure out what." She paused, then continued, "I watched as those animals went into the forest – and I waited for half an hour after that, but they didn't emerge."

"Didn't you wait at the window all night, then?" James asked her, nonplussed.

"No," she responded shortly. "I went back to the HQ to see if you'd returned. You hadn't, which had me worried… I sprinted to Gryffindor tower at once, with the intention of finding Black and Peter, and using your Map to show me where you were. But when I got to your dormitory – all beds except Mark's were empty."

She faced him squarely, and he hung his head. Had that been the moment when she'd made the connection, then?

"No," she said again, and he realised that he'd expressed his thoughts out loud. "Not then – it was suspicious, no doubt, and it seemed more and more like the three of you were off gallivanting somewhere. I was more confused than ever, but I decided against waking Liz up before I'd gotten to the bottom of it. I began to walk back to the HQ – and that was when I made the connection."

He said nothing, and she ploughed on, "During our fourth year, I've seen you with antlers – that's why Remus claimed they call you 'Prongs', by the way – and at one time, I've seen you with reddish hair and weird, yellowish eyes! The stag's colour was remarkably similar to what your hair had been that day – the same could be said for the antlers. I didn't have any other explanations handy, so I settled upon that, far-fetched though it was – for as Sherlock Holmes has said, 'When the impossible has been eliminated, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth!'"

James shifted guiltily; he knew exactly the times to which she was referring. He's been attempting to transform his face at the time, with varying degrees of success… Aloud, he said, "I see. Well, then – did you decide to stake out the Whomping Willow, then? If I was that stag, I had to come back to the castle at some point, right?"

"Yep – that's exactly what I did," she responded, still stony-faced. "But I connected a few more things before that… If you were an Animagus, the obvious reason you'd become one was to keep Remus company on full moon nights, 'coz I hardly think you're the sort of person who decides to become an Animagus on a whim."

"Not quite," said James wryly, and she continued, "Exactly – it's too much hard work! In addition, I figured that if the purpose was to help Remus, it would be impossible that you'd be the only one – Black and Peter would have to be Animagi, too, 'coz it doesn't make sense to leave them out of it. As I thought more about it, more things began to make sense." She paused. "Your stupid nicknames – I'd never have guessed the meaning of Wormtail, but Padfoot could only refer to a dog, and there had been a black dog with the stag and the werewolf, too. Plus – you had the Invisibility Cloak and your ingenious Map to help you sneak out without detection." She smiled slightly. "I was almost sure of this explanation – all I needed was proof, so I Disillusioned myself and stepped out into the grounds."

"You did what?" exclaimed James. "There was a werewolf on the loose – are you out of your mind?"

"Bit rich coming from you – considering you were running around with said werewolf," she retorted, rolling her eyes.

"I was in my transformed state!" he exclaimed incredulously. Was she mad?

"Point taken," said Lily, holding up her hands. "It was a little reckless, but I didn't need to spend more than half a minute in the grounds. I conjured a long stick, prodded the Whomping Willow's knot, and the tree froze. I jogged to its base, looking around to see if you'd discarded your Cloak. Imagine my satisfaction when I found it." She smirked smugly. "I had my proof that you were running around in the grounds – now, all I had to do was wait for you to come back. Et voilà!" she finished triumphantly. Then her eyes narrowed. "Now – tell me, why the hell did you have to roam around in the grounds? I get the part where you wanted to keep him company, but why couldn't you just sit in the Shrieking Shack till the morning, eh?"

"Er – to be honest, that gets boring after a while," said James, lowering his eyes.

"Boring?" snapped Lily. "Seriously – boring? A werewolf on the loose is such a dangerous thing – don't you have any sense at all?"

James decided then and there that Lily could never know about their Hogsmeade excursions; indeed, they were now sounding less fun and more reckless than anything else. There had been a few near misses, here and there, and after some initial fears and remonstrations, him and the others laughed about them afterwards. He realised how monumentally stupid the whole idea of going to Hogsmeade had been… Aloud, he said, "I know, all right? I know it was dangerous, but Remus would get cooped up after a point… We took him to the Forest, then. We've spent several full moon nights in the Forest, and Moony has been remarkably well-behaved. Every time he was with us, he seemed almost – human…"

"Be that as it may, it was still a stupid, unnecessary risk," she said coldly. "I expected better from you, James."

The disappointment in her voice washed over him like a tidal wave. She stood up. "I understand why you became Animagi," she said, her voice gentle. "I know you were confident that you could keep him in check as animals, too – but the recklessness that you four have displayed is astonishing." She shook her head, and her mouth was set in a thin line. "I need some time to process this. See you later." She turned, and began to walk away.

"Wait!" he called out, with sudden fear gripping his heart. She stopped, and he sprang up. He took her hand as she turned, and wasn't surprised to see the tears in her eyes; his eyes were feeling moist, too. "Lil – I'm sorry, Lil," he blabbered. "I – I –"

She fiercely blinked back her tears. "I know," she said delicately. "I know…"

"Is this – are we –" he couldn't even think about it, the idea itself was so horrible. "Are we splitting up?" he blurted out at last.

"What? No!" she exclaimed, shocked. "Why would you think that?"

The enormous relief silenced him momentarily. "Er –" was all he could say.

"You made a mistake," she said simply, patting his hand. "You lied to me – by omission, though it may have been – and acted recklessly, multiple times. You've been a royal idiot, and you're lucky nothing terrible happened because of your actions. Don't get me wrong, I'm still furious with you, and I may treat you coldly for a while." She paused, and her gaze softened. "I understand why you did what you did – your intentions were noble, and this doesn't change who you are. I love you, and you're a good person, James." She squeezed his hand. "A blithering fool, but a good person nonetheless," she added. "I'm not going to split up with you over things like these – you can't get rid of me that easily." She smiled slightly. "Idiot," she said again, but James could've sworn that there was a hint of fondness beneath the admonishment.

"Thanks," he said earnestly, and gave her a bone-crushing hug. "Just – thanks."

"No problem," she responded softly, patting his back. They drew back, and she smacked him on the head – he supposed he deserved that, and he responded to her with a meek look on his face. "In case it wasn't obvious, I'm not going to tell anyone," she said, continuing on as if nothing had happened. "You can tell your idiot friends that. The part I can't fathom is how could Remus have been fine with this!" she exclaimed.

"He didn't know," said James. "We just surprised him one full moon night, back in fifth year, see? He was shocked!" He smiled at the memory. "I knew he could tell it was us, from smell alone… Took him some time to trust us, and over time, he's become a good, well-behaved puppy – almost!" He tried not think of the times when Remus had nearly attacked humans in Hogsmeade.

"I thought Black was the puppy," said Lily dryly, and James knew then and there that all would be forgiven eventually. He smiled as he said, "Speaking of – why did you call him Snuffles?"

"Oh – I was hoping you wouldn't remember that," she replied as she went red. "Er – it's – er, something I called his Animagus form once…"

"When?" James asked curiously, smirking at her discomfort. He had a fair idea, but wanted to hear it in more detail; besides, it was fun watching her so embarrassed!

"Er – I'll tell you only if you promise never to speak of it ever again," said Lily firmly, crossing her hands over her chest again. He sighed and said, "All right – I promise."

"Good," she responded, before launching into an explanation – how they'd quarrelled after she'd implied that Ollie was a gold-digger – how she'd sat down in the courtyard, crying, after he'd stormed off towards the forest – how the black dog had appeared, and how it had comforted her – how she'd been sure that it had seemed to understand what she said to it, and how she'd nicknamed it 'Snuffles' – and finally, how comforted she'd felt when it ran off into the forest to search for James. "That's the summary of it," she finished.

"Er – how is that embarrassing?" he asked, a little nonplussed.

"I left out the key points," she said, averting her eyes. "I played with the dog, see? It – he – licked my hand, snuggled up to me, and –" she closed her eyes in revulsion, "—he put his head onto my lap!" She shuddered. "I genuinely thought it was a dog, and I'm inclined to give Sirius Black the benefit of the doubt, considering he was trying to comfort me – but it still makes my skin crawl!"

James stood there with his mouth open. Sirius had certainly been inappropriate, without question – but James agreed with Lily; there were no ulterior intentions behind that action, and he was prepared to let it slide – but just this once. He stepped forward and hugged her quickly; at his touch, her muscles seemed to relax at once. "I'm sorry I upset you so much that night," he said softly. "And I agree – we should give Sirius the benefit of the doubt, and there's no need to bring this up with him, too. Or with us, for that matter."

"I think I'll be a bit weird around him for a few days at least," she said as they drew back. She shook her head, and James gave her a comforting smile. "I understand," he said, "You don't have to sit with us until you feel comfortable, and we can attribute that to you being furious with me."

"Oh, I'm still furious," she said playfully. "I'm so furious, I may even withhold sex!"

"You wouldn't," said James, only half in jest. Her mischievous grin became wider. "I suppose we'll find out, won't we?" she said, winking at him. "Now, c'mon – let's go for breakfast, I'm hungry."

"Yes, m'lady," he said, and she put her arm through his as they began to walk back towards the castle. "Oh, and just so you know," she said as they entered the Great Hall, "We're still going to revise Potions today, and I'm going to test you. Uh – uh – uh," she added, shaking her head as he opened his mouth to protest, "Nothing doing – we decided that yesterday, and it's your own fault you were up all night."

"All right," he said meekly, and she smirked triumphantly as they sat down at the almost-empty Gryffindor table. Well, that could've gone a lot worse, thought James in relief as he piled scrambled eggs onto his plate. I'm glad she's coming to terms with it… He resolved to be on his best behaviour for a couple weeks at least. Moony is going to be difficult, he thought, his spirits sinking slightly as smiled distractedly at Lily, not really paying attention to what she was saying. He hoped that Liz would take it better than Remus – though he wasn't ruling out the possibility of her hexing his best friend for not telling her sooner. Well, it was bound to come out eventually, he thought as he drank his tea. Perhaps it's for the best that they know sooner rather than later…

Sirius and Peter didn't show up for breakfast, so James headed back to the HQ to get some sleep. He woke up at lunchtime to join Lily for lunch before returning to the HQ to study Potions tutoring session… She asked him all sorts of tough questions, but thankfully, he was able to answer most of them. Finally, after two hours of studying, he told her that he'd be heading to the Hospital Wing with Sirius and Peter. She promised to give them half an hour to speak with Remus before she joined them, and he agreed, hoping that she wouldn't give Remus a hard time…

He met the others at Gryffindor Tower, and they began to make their way to the Hospital Wing. "Lizzie's furious," said Sirius sombrely. "She was angry that I'd done something so reckless as wander around the grounds with a werewolf, and also because I'd kept the entire thing from her, without once thinking that she'd have loved to be a part of it too, considering how good she is with Transfiguration." He shook his head. "She sounded impressed, too, and asked me to demonstrate. When I did – we were alone in a classroom – she petted me, laughed and said that I was better dog than human." He rolled his eyes. "She really knows how to hurt a bloke," he said with a huge, fake sigh, as James and Peter laughed.

"So – what did Lily say, Prongs?" said Peter, and James gave them a brief summary, leaving out the part where Lily had petted Sirius last year, since it was irrelevant to the matter at hand. They'd reached the Hospital Wing by then, and James sighed as they sat down around Remus's bed. This is going to be a difficult conversation, he thought as they began to narrate the events of the morning to Remus, who grew paler as they spoke.

"This is my fault," he said, lowering his eyes. "I should've stopped you lot from coming to meet me."

"Hey, don't say that, Moony," said Sirius immediately. "None of us regret any of it for even a second. Maybe we shouldn't have gone to Hogsmeade – we did have a load of near misses –" James shuddered, "—but nothing bad happened, did it?"

"It could have!" exclaimed Remus.

"Yes – and the girls are right, it was stupid of us," said James, nodding. "But we don't regret becoming Animagi, mate. Don't beat yourself up over this."

"Agreed," said Peter, nodding. Together, they managed to make Remus feel better, and swore that last night's excursion would be their final one at Hogwarts. Talk soon turned to the beautiful wolves they'd encountered in the forest, and Remus smiled for the first time that afternoon. "Those were no ordinary wolves," he said, his eyes bright. "They were werewolf offspring – conceived by two werewolves in their wolf form on a full moon night."

"You're not serious!" exclaimed James, and Sirius laughed. "Don't!" James said quickly, and Sirius closed his mouth at once; clearly, he'd been about to make another Sirius-serious joke. "How would that even work, Moony?" James continued thoughtfully. "I mean, if the werewolves – er, mated – during the night, they'd revert to their human forms in the morning, wouldn't they? So – how can a human give birth to wolf cubs?"

Peter and Sirius looked revolted, but Remus's grin became wider. "Good question," he said. "You see, the werewolf is not completely human per se. It's sort of like a half-breed, see? Well – if a female werewolf conceives a baby with a human, it will be born after nine months – provided it isn't harmed during full moon nights." He lowered his eyes. "That's why female werewolves don't conceive – a human baby has its own distinctive scent after six months in the womb, and the female werewolf may just tear her own womb open while in her transformed state to get to the baby, killing herself as a consequence."

"Ugh," said Peter distastefully.

"On the other hand, if she conceives a baby with another werewolf during her wolf form, the lycanthropy takes over the baby," continued Remus; he was in full lecture mode now. "The gestation period in this case is exactly six lunar cycles. It's between the two-three months for wolves and nine months for humans… And as for the exactness, well, that's to ensure that she gives birth to her cubs while in her wolf form. There is no danger of her giving birth as a human – the lycanthropy affliction makes sure of that." He made a face before ploughing on, "Wolves born of such a union grow up to become beautiful wolves, and can only be distinguished from true wolves by their near-human intelligence."

James let out a low whistle. "That's why the wolves didn't attack you last night," he said. "They recognised you as a werewolf, and probably realised that we were under your protection."

"Something like that," said Remus, with a sly smirk. "You see, wolves are territorial animals… So, they could've fought with me over you, but they recognised me to be a werewolf, just like their parents. That was also why they bowed before walking away."

"Wicked," whispered Sirius. "I didn't even know such a thing even existed!"

"There are only two such instances in history," said Remus. He flushed slightly before adding, "After coming to Hogwarts, I spent a long time trying to understand my affliction some more, and came across that while reading. I believe that the rumours of werewolves being in the forest are simply a deterrent for students who want to venture into it – there are actual wolves, albeit born of a werewolf union. There are no werewolves in the forest."

"There was one last night," James pointed out wryly, and the others laughed. "Never again, said Remus fervently, just as they heard footsteps. Peter peeked from behind the curtain before saying, "Lily and Liz are here."

The girls in question drew the curtain just then, and Liz gave them all a severe look before saying, "All right, clear out, you lot – we want a word with Remus, alone."

The boys obeyed, and with a wave and an encouraging smile in Remus's direction, James stepped back. "Be nice," he implored softly to Lily, who nodded stiffly. The girls drew the curtains again, leaving the Marauders on the other side. "I hope they won't be too hard on him," said Sirius, a little tensely. "We persuaded him to get out of the passage and the Shack…"

"He agreed, which makes him an enabler," Peter pointed out sombrely. "I think that's what they're telling him."

James only nodded, and they waited silently for the girls to come out. They emerged a few minutes later, curiously tight-lipped. "C'mon, then," said Liz, "It's nearly dinnertime."

"How is he?" James asked immediately.

"He's fine, just a bit subdued," said Liz reassuringly. "We only impressed upon him what a colossally stupid group of friends he had, and berated him for not keeping you lot in check."

"Well – best we can hope for, I suppose," said Sirius, sliding an arm over Liz's shoulders as they walked out of the Hospital Wing. She shook it off rather roughly and said, "No, no – you know what our deal is, Blackie. You teach me how to become an Animagus, or else I'm withholding sex."

James and Peter laughed, but Lily frowned. "I wouldn't laugh if I were you," she said severely, "I might just take a leaf out of Liz's book –"

"No, no, I'll behave!" said James hurriedly as Peter laughed even more. "Shut up, Pete," he snapped, and Peter's snorts subsided at once. Turning back to Lily, he said earnestly, "I'll teach you how to become an Animagus, too!"

"No, thanks," said Lily, shaking her head. "I'm afraid I have better things to do than trying to become an unregistered Animagus…"

"You lot are going to register, right?" Liz asked, raising her eyebrows as they turned a corner.

James exchanged quick looks with Sirius and Peter before saying firmly, "No. Not any time soon, at least – it would mean admitting that we broke so many rules and Wizarding law, and that's not something I want to waste my time with, especially considering we'll be joining the fight in a few months."

"Hmm, that's fair," said Liz, and Lily nodded from next to her. "The war does have a higher priority than the load of trouble this could bring."

"Agreed," said Lily. "Normally, I'd be disinclined to do something against the law, but right now, there are more important things to worry about. But – promise me that you will register once the war is over, won't you?" she added, turning to face James, Sirius and Peter.

"Yes," said James, and Peter nodded vigorously, but Sirius simply shrugged. "We'll cross that bridge when we get there, Evans," he said evenly. Lily's lips thinned slightly, but she nodded in acceptance. James let out the breath he'd been holding, and kept pace with the others as they headed to the Great Hall. Best we could hope for, I suppose, he thought. Though I think that puts paid to our night-time strolls… He smiled inwardly. Perhaps their last full moon at Hogwarts was going to be a quiet one after all…

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As the last week of May rolled around, students began to receive responses to their job applications from the Ministry of Magic. Quite a few rejections came within the first couple days, followed by acceptances – James hadn't been surprised to receive an official-looking letter with the Ministry's seal on it, informing him that he'd gotten into the Auror Training programme. What was more, Sirius, Liz, Marlene and Lily had gotten in, too. The letter firmly stated that the job offer was contingent upon their NEWT grades, and James resolved to ace all his NEWTs – he may have been planning to join the Order of the Phoenix after graduation, but it didn't hurt to have a job offer all the same.

Lily, Liz and Mary had gotten into Healer Training too, and even Gringotts had written back to Lily regarding her Curse-Breaker application, stating that they were waitlisting her – meaning that the offer would be open if the more sought-after candidates didn't take the available positions. The highlight of her job offers, however, had been the acceptance from the Magical Research Office as a Trainee. James had watched, beaming, as she'd performed a celebratory jig all around the HQ before dashing off to tell the others… Well, she rarely lets her hair down, so that had been coming for a while, he'd thought. She's usually so dignified – she should learn to let loose once in a while!

One thing that had put a damper over everyone's elation had been the complete and utter lack of any job offers for Remus. James had watched sadly as Remus received rejection after rejection – initially, he would open his envelopes with cautious optimism, but that had worn off by the time he'd received his eighth rejection. Now, he was simply asking James, Peter or Sirius to open any letter that he received, and he'd stopped reacting to the contents – for they always carried a well-worded but gut-wrenching rejection, all pointing to the fact that he was a werewolf and therefore unsuitable for the role.

"We should just burn them," James whispered to Sirius one night as they sat in front of the Gryffindor common room fire. Remus had just slouched off to bed with an air of resignation, and it James's heart broke while seeing his friend like that. "I mean, you and I both know that they're all rejections – the Wizarding world just doesn't employ werewolves, everyone knows that."

"True – I suggested that to him the other night," said Sirius, shaking his head. "It's an acknowledgement of defeat, however – I was only saying that to him because it's terrible to watch him as he keeps getting rejected. He's proud, though – and I think he's still clinging on to some hope that one of those damn letters is an acceptance. 'All it takes is one,' is what he said to me when I suggested burning them without opening."

"You said it, mate," said James in agreement. "It is terrible watching him like that – which is why," he looked around to make sure no one was within earshot, "I wrote to Dad two nights ago. I asked him if there was a way to support Remus financially for a while, at least until he can get a job – somewhere, at least. Dad just wrote back today – he agreed readily, and he's agreed to put in a good word for Remus to anyone he thinks may not mind that he has his furry little problem."

"That's very – noble of you, Prongs," said Sirius, clapping him on the back. "Damn, I wish I'd thought of that – well, I think I can offer my sofa to him, at least. You know – in case he needs a place to sleep, see? Like I said, he's proud – he won't want to be dependent on his parents financially."

"Yep – and that makes you think he's going to take us up on our offers?" said James dryly, with a hint of wistfulness. "Nah, it's going to be almost impossible to persuade him to accept our assistance, so we need to be delicate about it."

"Yes, and that's not a problem for us at all," Sirius retorted wryly, and James laughed. "Maybe I'll ask Lily to talk to him," he said thoughtfully. "She has the whole subtlety thing nailed down, she does."

"'Nailed down'?" imitated Sirius, in confusion.

"Muggle expression," said James dismissively. "I've started using those a lot more because of Lily, see? They use nails not just to hang paintings, but to attach things to each other – it's all in our Muggle Studies textbook."

"Yeah, I can see where that expression came from," said Sirius, nodding.

"What expression?" said a new voice, and James and Sirius turned to see Peter standing between their armchairs. He pulled one up himself, and sat down. "Not important," said Sirius promptly. "So – you wrote to Tom?"

"Just sent him a letter," said Peter, a little proudly. "I mean, the internship in the Department of Mysteries was tempting, but it doesn't guarantee a job, and it's conditional upon me getting an 'O' on both Transfiguration and Charms – something we know isn't going to happen," he added sadly.

Peter hadn't received any job offers from the Ministry, either; however, he'd received internship offers from the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts office, and the Office of Advanced Transfiguration Research, a sub-branch of the Department of Mysteries. The latter position demanded an 'O' in Charms, however – and Peter was averaging on an 'A' throughout his seventh year, which made his chances to get an 'O' on his Charms NEWT rather slim. However, Dumbledore had asked to see Peter the day before, and the boy had received a rather interesting proposition. He'd told them excitedly after the meeting that Dumbledore had asked him if he'd like to learn how to cook, considering his love for food, and when he'd responded in the affirmative, Dumbledore had smiled and told him that he'd be writing to Tom, the landlord of the Leaky Cauldron, asking him to train Peter as a sous-chef and a waiter. Peter could then land a job at any upscale Wizarding restaurant after a few months – a restaurant frequented by members of pureblood families that supported Voldemort implicitly. His position would be well-suited to gather intelligence – the relaxed restaurant environment made it unlikely that the guests would use precautions to hide their conversations, thereby making it the ideal place to pick up vital titbits of information. Peter had concluded with effusive praise for the Headmaster for thinking of this ambitious plan, allowing him to contribute to the Order as a spy and largely stay out of trouble. James could definitely see the advantages of Peter's unique position – no one really noticed waiters, and as Wormtail, Peter would be privy to all sorts of information.

James had relayed all this to Lily the night before, not bothering to hide his surprise at this rather unorthodox proposition for his friend. Lily had responded with a rather knowing smile, before spilling the beans: Peter had confided in her about how he was getting only internship offers, and how he didn't really want to work in the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office, but he'd be likely doing that, since the Office of Advanced Transfiguration Research internship was a long shot. Lily had approached Professor McGonagall to see if she'd put a good word in for Peter, and Professor McGonagall had reassured her that she'd look into it. The two of them had deduced that Professor McGonagall had spoken to Dumbledore, who had come up with this unusual plan to use Peter's best personality trait useful for spying – his ability to fade into the background and not be noticed.

"You never know, Pete," said Sirius, bringing James back to the present. "Never say never."

"Nah – that's fine," said Peter, yawning. "I love food, and Mum's taught me the basics of cooking – but I can learn more from Tom, and this whole sous-chef deal will allow me to contribute to the Order!"

"Keep your voice down," urged Sirius, but James shook his head. "Don't fret, I cast a Muffliato as soon as Pete arrived," he said, before adding rather severely to Peter, "Fat lot of good you'll be as a spy if you aren't aware of your surroundings, mate – you need to do better than that."

"Yes, James," said Peter meekly. Then he brightened up at once. "By the way, that was grand, what you and Lily did – the new timetable's loads better!"

"Yep," said James, grinning. "It was a cinch, really."

"I never thought this day would dawn, James," said Sirius, and James smacked him lightly on the head. Then he glanced at his watch and stood up. "It's almost time for my patrol with Lily," he said, "I'll get going now… Take care of Remus, OK?"

"Yeah," said Sirius firmly. "Your Dad's a real gem, mate."

"I know," said James proudly. Spying Peter's confused face, he added, "Padfoot will explain – I'll see you both tomorrow!"

"Later, mate," chorused Sirius and Peter, and James gave them a final wave before climbing out of the portrait hole. Dumbledore – that man is a genius, he thought. He thinks of everything – he can get the best out of everyone! He was the perfect person to lead the fight against Voldemort. We must defeat him, thought James firmly as he walked, his grip tightening on his wand in his pocket. We must…

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The elation and despair that had accompanied the responses to the seventh-years' job applications had faded away by the time the Sunday before their NEWTs rolled around. Thanks to the efforts of James and Lily, the timetable had been altered to make it a little easier for students who were seeking a NEWT in the elective subjects (quite predictably, Liz had been ecstatic upon hearing the news, leading the applause for James and Lily in the Great Hall one morning when Dumbledore had made the announcement). Nonetheless, since anything and everything that they'd learnt over seven years was part of the NEWT curriculum, the seventh-years had their work cut out for them.

James smiled slightly as mentally went over his NEWT timetable while sitting down for dinner on Sunday night; the exams would begin the next day. With the afternoons reserved for practical exams (the Astronomy practical exam would take place at night), he had Charms, Herbology, Muggle Studies and Transfiguration on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday respectively, leaving only two exams throughout the next week for him – his last exam was DADA on Wednesday (Lily's final exam, Arithmancy, would take place the following day). That left the Hogwarts Quidditch team roughly a week to go over some more training before the all-important 3QT final taking place on the last Saturday of June, less than a week before the seventh-years would graduate. It's the end of an era, James thought as he laughed along with Remus at Peter and Sirius's cutlery fight at the Gryffindor table; the former was attempting to reach the other's plate to steal some food off it with a couple of Charmed forks, and the latter was clubbing bits of food at the former's forks in an effort to keep him at bay, using his knife like a Beater's bat. The fight ended rather abruptly as a small piece of chicken hit by Sirius's knife missed Peter's fork and landed right into Marlene's pumpkin juice, splashing the sticky liquid over her face and hair.; incensed, Marlene flicked her wand, and Sirius's plate promptly emptied itself all over him. With a satisfied smirk, the brunette stood up and walked off with a guffawing Mary in tow, and James and Lily, also chortling, took off as well, having finished their dinner and only staying to watch the fight in progress.

"So – feeling confident?" Lily asked James as they walked back to the HQ. James grinned and said, "Confidence is my middle name."

"Heh – I thought it was 'arrogance'," Lily deadpanned.

"It was, but I changed it two years ago," James responded, giving her a little wink. She laughed and gave him a quick kiss on his cheek. "I'm glad you did," she said softly, and James beamed.

They discussed some possible questions for the next day's exam as they walked towards the HQ; James noted the confidence in Lily's demeanour and the spring in her step as she spoke, leading him to conclude that she would ace the exam. He smiled inwardly; he was sure he would, too – he intended to get top grades in all his NEWTs, so as to make a strong case to his Dad for not joining the Auror department, but instead, join the Order immediately after graduation. Unlike Peter, he had no intention of working in the outside world, waiting to gain information… Nay, his family was far too aligned with Dumbledore, and there was no point hiding his intentions if it was already an open secret. No one from the Dark Side would think he was with them – so why even bother hiding it?

He kissed Lily goodnight as they entered the HQ before making his way towards his bedroom. They'd decided to put sleeping together on hold during the NEWTs, since they each had their own exam and revision schedules to work with… James had long since realised that he was at his most productive at dawn or in the morning, and he preferred to wake up early to do some last-minute revision (as needed). Lily was a morning person, too – but she could study efficiently past midnight as well, and preferred to complete her studies before sleeping, and not even touch her books in the morning ("If I didn't do it the night before, it's probably not important," she'd once told him sagely). He had no doubt that despite her confidence, she'd spend the next few hours revising… Well, to each their own, he thought as he opened his Charms textbook and sat at his table. I'll turn in in an hour – and wake up at four o'clock tomorrow… That should be sufficient!

James was up at the crack of dawn on Monday morning, and promptly resumed his revision. Satisfied, he rose two hours later to wake Lily up, before showering and getting ready for breakfast. He and Lily walked towards the Great Hall together, but spoke very little – they were each immersed in their own thoughts, silently going over the potential tricky questions that they could face. After breakfast, they waited in the chamber off the Great Hall with their classmates as the House tables were being replaced with several desks, one for each student; they were called back by Professor McGonagall, and James promptly chose a desk behind Lily. The examiner, a bald wizard with a pure white beard, waved his wand, and several rolls of parchment flew in the air, one towards each student. James scanned the paper quickly, his breathing growing easier as he read it… The paper seemed easy; he'd studied most of this the day before. Grinning, he picked up his quill and began to write…

"That was easy," he said to the other Marauders as he sat down for lunch (the House tables had reappeared). "Bet the practical will be harder, if the theory was this easy…"

"Stop it, Prongs, you're throwing Peter off his lunch," chided Remus. Peter did look a little green, and James said, "Ooh, sorry, mate… Don't worry about it, you'll do fine with the practical exam."

"Dunno," said Peter morosely, stabbing a bit of chicken with unnecessary force. "That Department of Mysteries internship was still in the back of my mind, meaning I had to do well today – I think I put myself under too much pressure, I completely blanked during the exam." He looked away, and James could've sworn that he'd seen the hint of a tear in Peter's eyes. Sirius patted Peter's back comfortingly, and Peter continued, "This afternoon is an exercise in grade-salvaging."

"You'll do fine, Pete," said Remus, echoing James. "Your charmwork's always been solid, and I know that Lily tutored you several times over the past year –"

"That's why me blanking is so much worse!" Peter burst out. "I let her down!"

"She'll get over it," said James, waving a dismissive hand. "Focus on the important stuff, Pete."

"Where is Lily, anyway?" Peter asked. "She taught me the preciseness of the wand movements of the Drought Charm –"

"She gobbled her food within five minutes before running off to practise on her own at the HQ," said James, shaking his head. "And what makes you think we can't teach it to you?"

"Can you do it in two minutes?" countered Peter. James, Sirius and Remus exchanged glances before James said reluctantly, "Er – I think so, but ten minutes may be more realistic –"

"If I run fast, I can get to the HQ in under three minutes," said Peter, standing up. "Bye!" he added, and grabbed his books before rushing out of the Great Hall. "Think Evans will drop her own revision to help that fat-arse?" said Sirius, with a slight smirk. "Think she won't?" countered James, and Sirius sighed. "That's fair," he conceded before going back to his food.

The afternoon's practical was a breeze for James as he demonstrated the Gouging Spell, the Colour Change Charm, the Blackboard-writing Spell, and the Drought Charm with perfect execution. When his examiner, the same bald wizard from that morning, smiled at him and told him that he was free to go, he strutted out of the class, confident that he'd achieved an 'O'. I hope Peter's exam went as well as mine, he thought as he walked. He was so nervous!

The rest of the week went by quickly for James. His performances with Herbology had always been solid if not spectacular, and the exam didn't buck that trend; however, he hoped that with the final revision push before the exam week, he'd crossed the border between 'E' and 'O' territory. Lily's exam went about as well as his, though she fretted about a couple of questions that she thought she may have gotten wrong, but ended up getting them right (and earning herself a lot of teasing from James as a result). His Muggle Studies exam on Thursday afternoon went fine, having gained a much more profound understanding of Muggles ever since he started going out with Lily. He revised Transfiguration with her that evening, and went to bed that night after declaring that she'd ace it. He found the theory paper easy the next day, and the practical was even easier; he dashed off to find Lily immediately afterwards, and found her (surprisingly) in the kitchens, stuffing her face with food – he felt a little worried, until she reassuringly told him that she hadn't dropped a single question during her practical exam, and she was eating to celebrate. He smiled as he joined her, jubilant that it had been his coaching that had helped her gain this level of confidence when it came to Transfiguration.

"Only two more for me," he said as they walked back to the HQ after dinner. "Liz was being such a drama queen right now – she got everything right but still complained about having no time to revise Transfiguration because of her Ancient Runes exam yesterday. I mean, I had Muggle Studies, too – and if she didn't need that extra time, why complain about not having it?"

"Oh, leave her alone, James," said Lily. "She's had a stressful three days – 'coz let's face it, Ancient Runes is a lot harder than Muggle Studies." James stuck his tongue out at her, but silently conceded the point; he'd seen the size of Liz's Ancient Runes textbook, and was glad that he wasn't taking the subject. "Can we take a night off tonight?" he asked instead, rather hopefully. "I mean, I know we're supposed to be revising Potions, but we have two whole days, and it's been a while since I had a good night's sleep."

"I didn't tell you to wake up at four o'clock every morning" said Lily, smirking slightly. James made a face at her, and she laughed before adding, "Ugh, fine – you can have your beauty sleep tonight, but I expect you to join me tomorrow morning for some revision."

"Done," said James happily.

James and Lily studied Potions quite intensely over the weekend, with several of their friends turning up on Sunday evening to get last-minute doubts cleared from Lily; she'd always been the Potions authority of the group, and she spent more time helping the others than she did on her own revision. "Teaching others helps my own revision," she said that night when James pointed that out, and he agreed – it was the same with him and Transfiguration. He hoped that he'd be able to emulate her Transfiguration performance into his Potions exam…

James found the written exam nothing to sneeze at the next day, but he walked out of it with a good feeling, having dropped only one question. The afternoon's practical went a lot better, with him being asked to brew the Draught of Living Death – students were always provided directions to brew the potions in the practical exam, but the exam came with a time limit, which meant that they had to time their brewing down to the minute. Having brewed this potion early in sixth year, James recalled and used Snivellus's trick with stirring the potion following the halfway stage (a clockwise stir after seven anticlockwise stirs), along with some more shortcuts that Lily had taught him – culminating in a perfect potion five minutes ahead of time, much to his jubilation. He ecstatically told Lily after the exam that he felt confident about getting an 'O', and she beamed before telling him that she'd (predictably) aced the exam, too. "The two of us have a realistic chance of getting O's on all of our NEWTs – if we ace DADA, that is," she said as they walked towards the Great Hall for dinner. "Isn't that fantastic?"

"Blimey, if that happens, Sirius will never let me live it down," said James, with a mock-shudder. Lily punched his arm gently. "You'll get over it," she said, smirking, and he smirked back at her. Only one more exam to go…

James's last exam was Defence Against the Dark Arts, which was as easy for him as the Transfiguration exam. He celebrated his freedom with jubilation, immediately going for a fly on the Quidditch pitch with Sirius and Marlene – it was over, no more exams! Much to his surprise, he was joined by Ashley Bond, and they proceeded to play a quick four-a-side Quidditch match (no Seeker or Beaters) when a few more seventh-years joined them to celebrate their newly-earned freedom (the rest of the school had various exams to deal with).

"Don't you have Arithmancy tomorrow?" James asked Ashley as they walked towards Madam Hooch's office with the casket of balls; having played in opposing teams that evening, it had been a closely contested affair. Ashley shrugged. "I'm fed up with revision," she said, "I just needed to get out – when I saw you flying, I couldn't resist. Besides, I have the entire night to study Arithmancy, so I thought a quick fly wouldn't hurt."

"As long as you don't blame me if you mess up tomorrow," said James wryly. Ashley grinned. "We'll find out," she said, smirking. "If I mess up, that's five extra rounds around the pitch for you during our first training session on Saturday."

"Easy," said James, and her smirk widened. "Make it ten, then," she said, chuckling, and James joined in. "Think a week's enough for us to train before the final?" he asked. She nodded. "It has to be – no other option, is there? I'm counting on the fact that our starting line-up consists mostly of seventh-years – the rest of the school finishes their exams on Tuesday, that's when the others can join us."

"True," said James, nodding as they reached Madam Hooch's office. They replaced the crate, and James bade her goodbye as he headed towards the Great Hall for dinner. He largely avoided disturbing Lily, Liz and Remus as they studied at the HQ, dropping in for a quick hello before going to Gryffindor tower to hang out with Sirius and Peter; he ended up sleeping there itself, and skipped breakfast for a snack in the kitchens with his friends. He ran into Lily at lunch, where she told him jubilantly that the paper had gone well, and she, too, was free. They all celebrated their freedom with a massive party at the HQ that night; none of them were taking Divination, which was the last exam. We're done! thought James as he danced exuberantly with Lily in the middle of the HQ… School's over!

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The Hogwarts Quidditch team practised rigorously that weekend. They spent nearly sixteen hours on the pitch over Saturday and Sunday, getting themselves back into shape before going over tactics. Ashley was in full taskmaster mode, which resulted in James and Sirius being so tired during the Marauders' final full moon night at Hogwarts that they ended up sleeping in the passage beneath the Whomping Willow in their transformed states for most of night, much to the amusement of Moony and Wormtail (James still wasn't sure about the veracity of their claim that he and Padfoot had snuggled next to each other at one point – he knew they were joking, but he still wasn't entirely sure). Practise continued over the next week following the end of everyone's exams, and James saw Lily only during mealtimes during the day; now that the exams were over, they were spending every night together, which compensated for his lack of availability during the day. Lily was wonderfully understanding about it; she knew how important the final was to him. She even listened patiently to his long-winded explanation of tactics and strategy…

They'd had their final Order of the Phoenix training session on Thursday, and Dumbledore had arrived towards the end of it to speak rather seriously for a few minutes about how important their roles would be moving forward, how they were only the second batch of Hogwarts seventh-years to be recruited to the Order, and how Voldemort (whose actual name was apparently Tom Riddle – James had been astounded with how normal and nondescript the name of the feared Dark Wizard was) had been a highly decorated student at Hogwarts, earning an award for Special Services to the School – but having sunk so deeply in the Dark Arts, now posed a threat to the entire Wizarding society. "It's our choices, not our abilities, that makes us who we are. Remember that," he'd concluded, before praising their progress and thanking them for their readiness to join the war.

Following the Headmaster's departure, Emily commended their newly acquired skills, too (everyone could now perform the Summoning Charm wandlessly, as well as cast and keep up the Elemental Shield), before wishing them luck and telling them she expected great things from them during the war. The class began to leave with some final thank you's to Emily, who gave James and Lily a quick nod; as was habit, they stayed after everyone had left, and sat expectantly in front of the teacher…

"So," said Emily, who had remained standing, her doe-soft eyes surprisingly bright, "Let me show you something…" She drew back the sleeves of her robes, and James noted that her arms were the same colour as her face. He wrinkled his forehead before letting out a low whistle as the truth dawned onto him. Next to him, Lily gasped. "You're cured?" she asked her emerald eyes shining with hope.

"That's right," said Emily, and her face lit up like a million stars. She seemed to radiate happiness as she continued, "I'm completely cured – the treatment worked! They just gave me my certificate of health yesterday, and Healer Rodham told me that I'd live a long and happy life after walking on the edge of a precipice for months! All credit to them – they brought me back from the brink!"

"Fantastic!" exclaimed Lily, and hugged Emily, while James whooped in celebration. "So – what're you going to do next, Emily?" he asked curiously.

"Dunno," she said, with a mischievous twinkle in her eyes. "As they say, the world is my oyster – I've been given a second chance, I can do what I want now! I haven't told Martha and Nick yet – I'm planning to travel to Australia on Sunday. I want to surprise them, see?"

"Good plan," smiled James. "Why Sunday, though? Why not tomorrow?"

"Your match, idiot," she responded, giving him a fond smile. "I wouldn't miss that for the world!"

"Oh, right – thanks," said James, returning her smile. She provided them with a few more details, following which he and Lily left, discussing this development animatedly as they made their way back to the HQ; having been emotionally invested in Emily's condition for the last six months, the news she'd provided that night was simply amazing. I'm so glad she's going to be fine, he thought as he slid under the blankets next to Lily that night… She didn't deserve to die like that…

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James rose early the next day (it was the day before the 3QT final), and tucked Lily in under their blankets fondly before freshening himself up; they were going to have a last training session with Madam Hooch before the match the next evening. He ate alone at the Gryffindor table, lost in his own thoughts and not feeling fresh at all, having slept only fitfully despite Lily's reassuring presence next to him. There was one thing that had kept him up…

Aside from a few, scattered incidents, Voldemort and his supporters had largely been quiet since the attack on the two villages a month ago, where they'd threatened to hit the 3QT final. Never before had he appreciated the political nature of the 3QT; it appeared as if the British Wizarding world was engaged in a civil war of sorts, with Voldemort and his supporters, the more fanatical purebloods, undermining the Ministry at every turn, in every way, shape or form. It was painfully obvious to him just how much the Ministry was banking on the successful and safe hosting of the 3QT final at such a time; it would function as a show of strength by the Ministry despite the sporadic attacks, murders and disappearances perpetrated by the Dark Side. The British Ministry was still held in high regard across Europe; when Grindelwald had wreaked havoc across the Continent three decades ago, the European Ministries of Magic had turned to England, who had provided Auror support, as well as food, Healers and wands. But most importantly, Dumbledore had been persuaded to defeat Grindelwald, who had managed to defeat and murder several powerful and renowned witches and wizards across Europe, the most prominent of whom had been Andrey Krum, the legendary duelling champion of Bulgaria at the time. Dumbledore had succeeded, and the British Ministry of Magic had earned the respect and debt of the Continent in the process. Now, however…

Mr Potter had hinted that the Continental Ministries were concerned about the war in Britain, but the Minister for Magic had reassured them that they were fully in control. In fact, the British Ministry had proposed the 3QT, along with London as the city which would host the final – it would serve as a reminder of the resilience of the British Wizarding community as a whole, to play such a high-profile match in a stadium that had been attacked nearly three years ago. The fact that the final had been threatened again had provided the Ministry with a golden opportunity to show their strength, with a large number of Aurors, Hit Witches and Wizards in charge of security. Admittedly, James knew that it was the perfect time for the Dark Side to strike other wizarding villages or even key locations like Diagon Alley. The Aurors couldn't be everywhere at once…

His Dad had reassured him that the Auror Department was on it – no one wanted a repeat of New Year's Eve. James and his friends had speculated what locations could be in danger, but they'd eventually given up – it was insane, there were simply too many targets. He hoped that the Aurors would be on top of things, for a simultaneous attack on several Wizarding communities when more than half the Aurors were engaged elsewhere would be calamitous.

Just as he began to drink his tea, a graceful silver mountain lion appeared in front of him, and spoke clearly in Ashley Bond's voice, "Quidditch pitch, now." James abandoned his tea at once, and ignoring the curious glances from students around him (thankfully, there were only a handful of students at each table due to the early hour), he set off briskly towards the Quidditch pitch. What had happened?

His question was answered soon enough; he found Ashley sitting on the substitutes' bench, wringing her hands agitatedly and frowning. "Hey, Captain," he said, coming to halt in front of her, "You all right?"

"No," she responded shortly, and James saw tears in her eyes. "Woah," he said, as he sat down next to her, "What happened?"

She fiercely blinked back her tears. "Rowle and Black," she said simply, her voice shaking with rage. "They cornered me this morning with a list of reasons as to why Rowle should start the final tomorrow ahead of Claire. I refused, and told him flatly that Claire was Ravenclaw Captain, and a better Keeper than him. He didn't like that. No – he didn't like that at all."

"Big surprise," said James, patting her back gently. She continued, "He lost control – called me loads of names, told me that I pandered to 'Mudbloods' and 'half-bloods' and 'filth' because I was a half-blood myself, and that someone like me with 'boot-licker' parents should've stayed the hell out of Hogwarts and in the disgusting, stinking Muggle world, where I belonged." Her eyes became moist once again.

James sucked in a breath furiously. "Just say the word –" he said softly, "—and I'll hex them both, right now." He couldn't believe what he was hearing.

Ashley smirked despite her tears. "You're free to do that – but I got there first, myself. I drew my wand, and they drew theirs – Regulus too. I let them attack me first, so that I could claim self-defence… Anyway, they're both in the Hospital Wing, and Slughorn only gave me a mild reprimand for using 'excessive force' after I told him the whole story."

"A lively morning indeed," said James, with a slight smile. He was starting to appreciate how hard it was to be a Slytherin half-blood, and he felt the teensiest amount of sympathy for Snivellus…

"Anyway," said Ashley, "I called you here to propose that we kick the two of them off the team, right now. I was planning to go to Madam Hooch, but I wanted to run it by you first. We can't register new players at this point, so we'll only have five substitutes – along with no substitute Keeper or Seeker. I would never have considered it under other circumstances, but this has gone too far – keeping them is disharmonious, and will do more harm than good. If you think it's too hasty, and that we'd be losing a vital player such as our starting Seeker, I won't do it."

James mulled over what she said for a minute. The answer was obvious, but he wanted to give it some thought… He tried to put himself in her shoes, and could see no possible way around it. "I agree," he said at last. "A Captain must do what is best for the team, always. Kicking them off is more important than keeping them, to be honest – I can talk Liz into playing as a backup Seeker, and one of the other subs as a backup Keeper. Yes – that sounds doable."

"I'm so glad to hear that," said Ashley, the relief palpable on her face. Then she did something uncharacteristic; she pulled him into a hug. He returned the hug awkwardly, and when she pulled back, there was a slight blush on her cheeks. "Sorry," she said softly, "It just feels so, so good to know that someone's on my side."

"I'll always be on your side," said James, firmly. "I think you're doing the right thing."

"Thanks, Potter," she said, grinning. "C'mon, then – let's go to Madam Hooch."

Their meeting with the Quidditch teacher was short, the result of which was that she supported Ashley's decision, too. The team was briefed later that day, with the news being greeted with open cheers by Sirius, Marlene and Liz. They spent the rest of the day practising, with Liz playing Seeker and doing quite well. James was heartened; Liz truly was an excellent Quidditch player, and her versatility made her an asset for any team. He noted regretfully that she wouldn't start the next day, with Gary Robins being the team's starting Seeker now, but felt relieved that they had such an able backup…

James woke up the next day with a feeling of pleasant anticipation. The announcement regarding Rowle and Regulus Black (who were still in the Hospital Wing) was made at breakfast by Dumbledore, followed by a warning that abuse of fellow students based on parentage would not be tolerated at Hogwarts. James kissed Lily before departing for the final team meeting before the match, where they went over some last-minute tactics and the starting line-up; it would be unchanged from their first match aside for Gary Robins in place of Regulus Black. They re-joined the rest of the school for lunch before departing the Great Hall to thunderous applause, and made their way to the pitch (with Lily in tow) for the portkey that would take them to the Tilbury stadium. Lily wished him luck and kissed him affectionately before wishing the team luck as well and withdrawing to where Dumbledore stood; the Headmaster gave them an imperious nod before removing a small, worn-out Quaffle from his pocket, and they all laid a finger on it. Seconds later, James felt a jerk near his navel…

They reappeared right in the middle of the Tilbury stadium, which was looking magnificent as ever, with no signs of the attack three years ago. They did a fine job repairing it, thought James, shuddering as he remembered that awful night when one of its stands had been destroyed. I hope nothing untoward happens tonight, he thought, with a hint of worry…

Just then, Professors McGonagall, Slughorn and Madam Hooch appeared right at the team's heels. "Well, then," said Professor McGonagall briskly, "Professor Slughorn and I will be liaising with the European Quidditch Association officials, to let them know that you've arrived. Madam Hooch will take you to your changing rooms." She gave them all an uncharacteristically wide smile. "Good luck," she said, and Slughorn echoed her; with a final wave, the two Professors turned and made their way to the stadium office.

"Well, then," said Madam Hooch, "It's two o'clock right now, and the match begins at six o'clock. It's not a night match by any means, though the stadium can illuminate the pitch should the match extend to well beyond sunset. The teams can practise up to five o'clock – but don't tire yourselves out too much, OK?"

"Yes ma'am," the team chorused. A few minutes later, they were all on the pitch, training in their white robes; the European Quidditch Association had sent them and the Beauxbatons team a new set of robes to be used specifically for the final, which would be worn during the match. They spent some time practising, and were ushered back into the changing rooms by the time the stadium had started to fill. James showered quickly and changed into the new robes; he admired how well-made they were as he donned them before sticking his wand down in one of the pockets. He never went anywhere without his wand…

"Right, then," said Madam Hooch, when they'd all assembled, "You'll be called outside in about five minutes – I'll be going to the substitutes' bench with the subs. We've had some recent turmoil in the team, and I'd like to applaud you all for how well you're handling it, and how well you've adapted. Miss Huntington," she added, turning to Liz, "Are you fully prepared to sub in as a Chaser or as a Seeker?"

"Yes ma'am," said Liz firmly. Madam Hooch repeated the question to Steven Ackerley, who had been an OK sort of Keeper during yesterday's practice, and he nodded his assent. "Well, then," said Madam Hooch, "Let me just say that I'm so proud of this team. It's been my utmost pleasure coaching you, and regardless of tonight's result, that does not change." They all glowed, and Madam Hooch added, "The floor is yours, Miss Bond."

Ashley nodded and stood up, facing the team. "Right, then – I'll echo Madam Hooch and tell you that it's been an honour to have captained this team. We've made massive progress over the year – we had our ups and downs, but here we are, under the same banner, united – and playing for our school." She paused. "It's special to be here, in the final – and it's special to lead you all, too. Now – let's go out there and show them who's the best!"

"Go, Whites!" the team yelled together. Smiling, Madam Hooch beckoned to the substitutes and left with them. James mentally went over the game plan, and he was halfway through the process when he heard Aaron Diggory's magically magnified voice.

"Hello, and welcome to the final of the inaugural Triangular Quidditch Tournament!" he boomed, and cheers and applause could be heard following his words. "We have around twenty thousand people here tonight, out to see two of Europe's best school Quidditch teams, battling for this magnificent trophy!" James supposed that the trophy was being displayed on the scoreboard, and Diggory continued, "So, without further ado, let me introduce to you – Les Bleus, the Beauxbatons Quidditch team! I give you – Kowalski! Wagner! Dupont! Alves! Russo! Lopez! Aaaaaaannd – the Captain, Bakker!"

Hmm, that's interesting, thought James. No Paul Berger – clearly, this Dupont person would be starting in his place. Smiling inwardly, James wondered if Paul Berger's shambolic penalty-taking in the previous match between Hogwarts and Beauxbatons had had anything to do with his omission tonight. Not that I care, he thought, as Diggory continued, "And now, ladies and gentlemen, the home side – I give you, Johnson! Hastings! Black! Palmer! Robins! Potter! Aaaaaaaannd – the Captain, Bond!"

The Hogwarts players zoomed onto the pitch to thunderous applause as their names were called out, and landed in front of their opponents. The sky was blue and cloudless, and the sun shone bright in the northwest, almost perpendicular to the length of the stadium; this would ensure than no team had a disadvantage due to the sunlight going directly in their eyes. He immediately spotted Lily, seated with Remus and Peter in the front row high above him – he was able to make her out, but only barely. He waved energetically at her; she waved back, her auburn hair flying in the direction of the wind.

James turned his attention to the pitch, exchanging a smile and a nod with Anika Bakker before surveying their opponents; an unfamiliar brunette stood there, and he supposed that this was the Dupont girl. She seemed to have a similar build as Toini Korhonen, the Durmstrang Chaser…

Diggory was commentating again. "And now, the referee, specifically chosen for this match by the three Ministries of Magic involved in the entire enterprise – the 1958 Quidditch World Cup winner from West Germany, Diane Müller!"

James could hardly hide his astonishment, and he wasn't alone; clearly, this detail had been a tightly guarded secret. Diane Müller flew to the centre of the pitch wearing robes of pure gold that went beautifully with her blonde hair, and landed gracefully in the middle of the pitch, the crate with the Quidditch balls in her hands. She smiled at both teams, and James exchanged a rather shocked look with Sirius. Will she remember us? he thought, thinking back to their brief meeting nearly four years ago, at the final of the Quidditch World Cup.

The former Quidditch superstar's smile widened as she spotted James and Sirius. "Aah, Mr Potter, Mr Black – I'm not surprised to see you here!" she said in her soft and silvery voice, and James beamed. "Good evening, Frau Müller," he said politely, "I'm honoured that you remember us!" Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Ashley staring at him with open disbelief mixed with a hint of jealousy, and suppressed a laugh.

"How could I forget?" asked the referee with a little chuckle, as the commentator announced, "We'll be starting momentarily, folks…"

"Duty calls," said Diane Müller briskly. "Captains – please shake hands."

Ashley and Anika Bakker did as directed, and Müller opened the crate. "Now – I want a nice fair game, all of you." She spared a smile towards the two teams, before turning to Stefan Wagner and saying, "Wie geht's, Stefan?"

"Es geht mir gut, Frau Müller," the boy responded, and James could see a slight blush on his face.

"All right, then," said Müller, and released the Snitch and the Bludgers. "Take your positions, everyone." She took the Quaffle in her hands. "On my whistle, then," she said, "Three – two – one –"

She blew her whistle and tossed the Quaffle high in the air, and fifteen brooms kicked off from the ground. "They're off!" Diggory boomed, to huge cheers from the crowd; it was much, much noisier than James had ever expected. He sped off towards the Quaffle and beat Ximena Lopez to it, smirking slightly in satisfaction as he passed it to Ashley, who sped off… He kept pace with her, and she wove in and out between Dupont and Kowalski, dodged a Bludger, and even managed to pull off a Tomislav feint (a ball transfer from one hand to another from behind one's back, first used by the legendary Yugoslav Chaser Tomislav Kovačić) before passing to him, and he scored their first goal from three yards out, easily dodging Russo in the process. "Potter scores!" yelled Diggory. "Ten-nil to the hosts!"

Ashley scored twice in the next three minutes, and the home fans grew louder and more raucous in their cheers. Buoyed by their quickfire start, the Hogwarts Chasers began to assert their dominance on the match – there was no repeat of the last time they'd faced Beauxbatons, who were continually pegged back thanks to some smart Bludger work by Sirius and Brenda Hastings. James even scored a goal from twenty-one yards out, with the ball going straight through the fifty-foot hoop before Russo could get there, prompting huge applause from the crowd. This is magical, he thought excitedly as he exchanged overhead claps with Ashley and Gavin and feeling only a tiny twinge of regret over his decision to not become a professional Quidditch player…

"Ooh, it looks like Alves has spotted the Snitch!" boomed Diggory, and James turned in time to see Maria Alves dive gracefully, speeding straight towards the ground – but Robins was on her tail. "With the score at a hundred to twenty, is this the moment?"

James realised too late that Alves was feinting. Dammit, I should've recognised the Wronski Feint! he thought furiously as he shouted out a futile warning to Gary Robins, who was going too fast. Predictably, Alves pulled out of the dive about ten feet from the ground, and the crowd let out a collective groan as Robins hit the ground. Ashley promptly signalled a time-out, but she needn't have; the referee had stopped play, and James headed to the ground with a sinking feeling in his heart. I don't think Regulus Black would've fallen for that, he acknowledged as he landed. Had they been too hasty in kicking him off the team?

"It's a time-out as mediwizards examine Gary Robins!" announced Diggory, and James stood alongside Ashley, whose face was full of worry. "It looks like Elizabeth Huntington is warming up for Hogwarts if Robins can't continue!"

James exchanged worried looks with Claire and Gavin as one of the mediwizards who had been examining Gary stood up; he appeared to be the Head. "He'll be fine – he's groggy, though, so he won't be playing the rest of the match," he said to Diane Müller, who nodded before beckoning to Ashley. "Miss Bond, you'll need to sub your Seeker off," she said, "Do you have a reserve ready?"

"Yes, ma'am," responded Ashley smoothly, before turning to the bench and beckoning to Liz, who grabbed her broomstick and made her way to where everyone else stood. "Ah, Miss Huntington," said Müller with a smile, "How is your mother? I've been meaning to write!"

"She's well, thank you, Frau Müller," said Liz politely, a wide smile on her face. "In fact, she's here – somewhere!" she added, indicating the stands around the stadium. Müller chuckled and asked, "So, you became a Seeker like her after all, ja?" Liz laughed. "Yes," she said simply; the entire story would've taken too long to explain. Müller gave her a final nod before speaking softly to the Head mediwizard; Robins was stretchered off soon after to huge applause from the crowd, and Diggory announced, "Elizabeth Huntington is on for Gary Robins – she's played as Chaser before for the Whites, but she's the Seeker now… A versatile player indeed!"

Too right she is, thought James as he gave Liz an encouraging smile; he knew that she wanted to do well in front of her Mum. It's not easy being the daughter of an international Quidditch player – a successful Captain, at that, he thought as he mounted his broomstick. Ashley gave Liz an encouraging pat on her back, and Müller blew her whistle – the match had restarted.

The Hogwarts Chasers concentrated on putting the match beyond their opponents' reach. Liz was after all a makeshift Chaser, and the earlier she caught the Snitch, the better – but if she was taking longer, they . They changed their tactics, too – Sirius was put on 'Seeker duty', and he energetically defended his girlfriend while harassing Maria Alves continuously with ferociously hit Bludgers in her direction, disrupting her concentration. Brenda Hastings, left alone to defend the Chasers, did a fine job of it, playing in a strictly defensive capacity. James, Ashley and Gavin put together some of their best moves; James tried every trick with the Quaffle that he knew, the result of which that their lead grew steadily, and their opponents grew more and more frustrated with this turn of events. At one point, Kowalski shot straight at Ashley in an effort to grab the Quaffle, nearly knocking her off her broom in the process. James sped angrily in her direction, ready to remonstrate with the Müller, who had blown her whistle – but he needn't have; she was berating Kowalski, who was looking mutinous. "If this were something akin to the Muggle sport of football, boy, you'd have been shown a red card!" she scolded, and James remembered at once that her Muggle husband was a footballer… He supposed that a red card was some sort of punishment to the player in question. Müller threw the Quaffle to Ashley, and Diggory announced, "Penalty to Hogwarts! Ashley Bond to take it – and she scores! It's two-hundred-and-thirty to fifty to the Whites!"

The Hogwarts supporters cheered, and James made sure that Ashley was all right before speeding off. He grabbed the Quaffle immediately, and exchanged a couple of key passes with Gavin before scoring again. Well – we've done what we came to do, he thought jubilantly. Even if Alves catches the Snitch, we're winning!

"Ooh, and I think Huntington's seen the Snitch!" boomed Diggory, and James turned to see Liz diving speedily, and a glimmer of gold a few yards ahead of her. The crowd egged her on, and she dodged a Bludger hit by Wagner as she sped forward. Sirius kept pace with her, hitting both Bludgers at Maria Alves, who was desperately trying to keep up. "Go, Liz!" James screamed as he passed the Quaffle to Ashley, who dodged a Bludger before scoring promptly – Russo looked dejected, having let in twenty-five goals that evening.

The crowd let out a collective gasp as Liz swiftly changed direction to follow the Snitch; it was now closer to Alves, who had doughtily caught up. The two Seekers streaked towards their target, in a direction perpendicular to each other; if one of them didn't stop, they'd collide. James watched, heart in mouth, and neither Seeker slowed down – it seemed as if both of them wanted to catch the Snitch: Liz, for topping off the Whites' superb performance, and Alves, for ending the match on her terms – her team had been completely outplayed. They're going to crash! James thought desperately, unable to take his eyes off them – it seemed as if all the players had stopped and were now distracted by the two Seekers. He prepared himself for the crash to occur –

At the last minute, Liz dipped her broom ever so slightly, and hung upside-down off it. James understood at once, and grinned; this was the Sloth Grip Roll, a move he knew Liz had mastered. The crowd 'oohed' and 'aahed' as Liz avoided Maria Alves by the slimmest of margins, before righting herself and rising steadily, her fist raised in triumph.

Diane Müller blew her whistle, and the stadium let out a massive roar of celebration as Diggory announced gleefully, "Huntington's caught the Snitch! The winners of the inaugural Triangular Quidditch Tournament, by four hundred points to fifty – the Hogwarts Quidditch team!"

James and the others flew straight towards Liz, yelling hoarsely… The substitutes joined them, and the team shrank earthwards, engulfed in a many-armed hug. "We won! We won!" yelled Sirius, and the rest echoed him; Ashley pulled James into a tight hug, unashamedly sobbing tears of happiness over his shoulder… "We did it!" he exclaimed, and she drew back. "Yes, we did!" she echoed, "As a team!"

James and the rest shook hands with their dejected and vanquished opponents, who congratulated them sportingly. The Hogwarts team flew off to perform a lap of honour around the stadium, and James spotted Lily with Remus and Peter; she was jumping up and down ecstatically, and blowing kisses at him. He reciprocated the gesture while passing her as Diggory announced, "Will the players and the referee make their way to the Top Box – it's time for the presentation!"

The sun was hung low in the sky as both teams and Diane Müller landed in the Top Box, and James realised that they'd been playing for the better part of three hours. Diggory announced the individual awards first for the best player in every position; James was heartened when he received the Golden Quaffle on account of scoring the most goals throughout the tournament, and he raised his trophy to a cheering crowd before making his way back to the team. The commentator then called the names of the Beauxbatons players, who accepted their silver medals from Harold Minchum, the British and Irish Minister for Magic. The crowd applauded them appreciatively, and Diggory congratulated Diane Müller for her refereeing before calling forward the winning Hogwarts team, who each received a gold medal. They received the loudest cheer yet, and James couldn't stop grinning. I could get used to this, he thought as Minchum shook his hand and put the gold medal around his neck.

At long last, as the sun set and the stadium began to emanate a faint light of its own, the magnificent 3QT trophy was brought to the Box. Minchum presented it to Ashley, and the crowd cheered deafeningly as she and James raised it together. Multicoloured confetti fell all over them, and Ashley passed the trophy to him. "Raise it!" she exclaimed, and he obeyed, feeling ecstatic as the entire stadium cheered for him.

As James jubilantly held the glittering, shiny trophy aloft, his eyes searched the crowd for his girlfriend, who didn't seem to be with Remus and Peter anymore… Was she celebrating with someone else – Mary, perhaps? Once or twice he spotted a fringe of auburn, but the face beneath those locks was unfamiliar. He passed the trophy to Claire, his elation fading slightly as she raised it high, eliciting more cheers from the Hogwarts supporters. He scanned the crowd again, trying to convince himself that he was simply having a hard time spotting Lily among the twenty-thousand-odd people – he could make out Remus and Peter, but there was no auburn head between them, as there had been before. Hoping against hope that she was somewhere in the crowd, James couldn't quite shake off the feeling that something was horribly, horribly wrong…

Where the hell was Lily?

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Author's note:

Apologies for the late update. This has been a different sort of year, but there is some light in the darkness. I promise that come 2021, my updates will be more regular – there aren't many chapters remaining in Part Two, after all.

Thanks for reading! Wherever you are, wear a mask and stay safe!

Cheers,

FlashOfFlame