Heya party people! Okay, we've established flash forwards are always bad… yes? Happy April Fools Day! (But... no, flash forward still bad. Or iS It?!)
Also, Cheddar and an anon on Tumblr inspired me to make a playlist for Lily and James' headspace throughout this story, so if you're interested in music vibes, check out my page at tiffanytoms — it's my top pinned post!
Off we go!
Disclaimer: JK Rowling owns Harry Potter. Art work by the awesome Meg (tumblr: anxiouspineapples)
Baby
January, 7th Year
"Frank?" Lily announced herself cautiously in the overly bright halls of Mungo's, trying to forget all the memories of James bleeding out last Christmas spurred forth just by being here again. Was it this exact hall where Sirius and I paced for hours, awaiting news? Who knew. The corridors all looked the exact same with florescent lights trying to mask the lack of windows and the overwhelming stench of bleach — or maybe it was the lingering residue of a cleaning spell — burning her nostrils. She wanted to run, but the scared, tear-soaked face of the man in front of her made her stay.
"Lily?" Frank cried as he turned to her and engulfed her in a hug. "Thank Merlin you're all right — I wasn't, I couldn't—"
"It's okay, everyone else got out—"
"I just had to bring her straight here—"
Lily rubbed her hands up and down his back soothingly. They looked so out of place: Frank wearing the finest of dress robes and Lily in a beautiful black gown. She cut him off, "Of course, how is she?"
Frank pulled back, on the verge of letting another sob rack his body. "I'm not sure, they wouldn't let me stay in the room with her. She was just— Lily, there was just so much blood—"
Lily pulled him back in as he sputtered. She had no idea what to say or do. The only reason she felt like she had any strength left in her at all was because she felt James' presence behind her, stable and warm — but giving them space for their pain. Suddenly Lily found the words. "She'll be all right, Frank. Alice is a fighter. She'll pull through. I know she will."
Frank let her hold him for a long minute until he settled down. The look on his face when they pulled apart nearly broke her. Lily hated herself for thinking of Avery Senior's line in her head, but she did: 'In fact, the brain damage indicated in Mr Longbottom's scan is even more pronounced than it is in yours!' Frank's eyes were glossed over, and Lily was almost certain that if they lost Alice tonight, she'd lose Frank as well. Hearts this pure, this good, weren't made for this level of continuous torture, this level of unimaginable pain. Hang in there Frank. Alice needs you. I need you.
A healer coming to speak with them shortly afterwards knocked Frank back to his senses. "How's my wife?" he asked urgently.
The healer looked uncomfortably to his clipboard and Lily's heart plummeted. No… "Mrs Longbottom is stable, but we are still running some tests. We are hoping she'll make a full recovery."
But — what's the but? Lily yelled internally. Frank didn't pick up on the physical cues, too high on his grief. "And our baby?"
Lily felt her throat constrict and her chest ache at the hope, the complete and utter not knowing, she heard in his voice. She looked up at James, trying to find the strength in his eyes to help her help Frank get through the next few words he was about to hear. James knew it too, she could see it in his gaze that they both knew what was about to be said. Lily held Frank's hand tightly in both of hers. "I'm, uh," the healer made a cough to stall, looking anywhere but at the man he was about to destroy, "I'm truly sorry about this, Mr Longbottom. But your wife lost the baby. It was dead by the time she got to the hospital. There was nothing we could do."
The wail that filled the hall was one that no one should ever have to hear. Lily spent the next hour rocking Frank back and forth on the hospital floor, sobbing.
A Few Seconds Later, September, 7th Year
Lily dissolved into giggles as she kicked her legs out beneath her, intertwining them with James' after he finally managed to fully remove his swim trunks.
He stared at her, trying to catch his breath after their wondrous shag. "What?" He couldn't help but smile watching her laugh. "What's so funny?"
"I don't even know," Lily admitted through her titters as she hid her nose between his shoulder and the mattress. "I guess you were right: we are like insanely good at this."
His smile turned cocky as he brought his fingers up to trace along the bicep she still had draped across his chest. "Don't tell me you're only realizing this now, babe."
"Realizing… rerealizing…" she whispered as she leaned into him to give him a slow, tantalizing kiss. "What's it matter as long as it's true?" Her face got decidedly less virtuous as she propped her head up onto her palm. "So… me begging is too much for you, eh Potter?"
James scoffed. "Evans. I hear you begging for me in my dreams."
Lily narrowed her eyes at him skeptically. "Have you really always been this sappy and just kept your mouth shut?"
"Yup," James admitted freely.
"Really? All of last year?"
"Especially last year."
Lily shook her head in disbelief, eyes roaming his face. "I honestly thought you hated me in the beginning!"
James sighed before kissing the shoulder right under his chin and working his way over to her lips. "So," kiss, "so," kiss, "sooo…. stupid of you." He planted another on her mouth before she could get out her, 'Oy!'
When James' hand migrated to her cheek and he started rolling over to his side to fully embrace her, Lily was almost positive they were about to start round two, but then he sniffed the air and his back straightened instead. "Lily, why are we surrounded by burning cotton balls?"
"Shit!" Lily yelped, scrambling out of bed to her wand so she could put out the tiny fires everywhere. It was James' turn to laugh his ass off. Once she'd vanished all the chars, she gave him a vexed look. "Oh shush, you. We can't all be Transfiguration prodigies."
"No, I liked it." He pushed himself up to sit against her headboard. "I'm glad you were paying attention when I tutored you. Well, to the lesson as well as how hot you were for me." He ran his fingers through his hair, grinning at her superficial noise of protest. "It was just a lot of transformations to keep going all at once."
"Yeah, yeah," she said, a little annoyed, as she ambled back to the bed, "I'm just glad the levitation charm held up. Could you imagine?"
"Well, I've always found your charms to be quite strong."
Lily rolled her eyes so hard, her head rolled back with them. "Ugh," she groaned before grabbing his hands and yanking him off the bed. "Come on, you prat, I'm starving. Let's go make some dinner."
He chuckled as she dragged him to the door before he stopped her and twirled her body back to him.
"Wha—?" Lily's words were cut off when he leaned in to kiss her deeply, scrambling her thoughts as he wrapped his arms all the way around her shoulders. Fuck, I love the way he kisses me. It just felt so effortless, like when their lips moved, they were one entity with one purpose. He ended it with a soft peck on the tip of her nose. "What was that for?" she breathed.
"That was the first time we shagged in your bed."
Lily tilted her head. That couldn't be true— we must have already done that by now… right? Her eyes widened. "Really?"
"Yep."
He would most certainly be the expert on these things. Her hands found his hips. "Huh. Would you look at that?"
James leaned into her ear, his breath tickling her sensitive skin. "We christened that bed."
She brought up her shoulder, trying not to laugh but he held her against him tightly, not letting her go. "James!" she giggled. He had to be whispering extra wispily now.
"We christened that bed good."
She planted a few firm kisses onto his neck, the only part of him she could reach, in truce before shimmying herself free to grab her robe off the door hook and summon his.
James looked down to the proffered fabric almost offended, as if no one had ever dared try to cover up his dashing good looks before. "What's this?"
"It's your robes, James," Lily said obviously. "What's it look like?"
He made a face as he accepted it and she slipped on hers and freed her hair. "Okay, but why are we getting dressed?"
"Because we're going to be cooking?"
"In our own suite!"
"Yeah, but… we're making sauce! It spatters!"
His smirk looked wicked even as he threaded his arms through his sleeves obediently. "Well, then I'll just have to lick it off of you, won't I?"
She gave him a look, and he raised an eyebrow, and before she knew it, he was chasing her down the stairs and catching her around the waist from behind, lifting her up and ticklishly kissing her neck in total abandon as he spun her round, making her squeal (and love every second of it).
Just before Lily could die from cuteness overload, she caught sight of Tiger, living up to her name and fixing them with an almighty stare as she flicked her tail angrily. She froze.
"James," Lily whispered, unable to take her eyes off of her ferocious-looking tiny kitten, "why is she glaring at us like that?"
"Uh oh…" he muttered back, still hugging her. "Guess she heard us shagging and she doesn't approve."
Lily jerked her head to the side. "You gave me a judgy cat?"
James snorted. "Baby, all cats are judgy. You get used to it."
Lily gasped. "I can't believe you just called our kitten judgy!" Lily admonished, extricating herself from his arms and rushing over to soothe poor Tiger's hurt feelings.
James tried to bite back his smirk with her delightful little slip-up — or should he say their delightful little slip-up? "You just called her—"
"Don't listen to him, Terp," Lily cooed scooping her up into the crook of her elbow. "He doesn't know what he's talking about."
James shook his head as he raised his hands. "How am I the bad guy here?"
Lily lazily continued giving Tiger ear scratches. "James, what do the E and R stand for?"
He smirked, crossing his arms over his chest. "Finally she asks." She gave him a 'Well?' look. "Evans."
"Yes?"
"No." James smiled fully. "The E is for Evans."
Lily snorted, "Original."
"Hey," James defended, "I thought you'd want to be represented."
"Oh right." She cocked an eyebrow. "Cuz her last name is Potter right?" She wasn't sure, but she thought she saw the hint of a blush color his cheeks. It was adorable. "And the R?"
"I let Padfoot choose."
Her eyes widened. "Oh no, is it Randy? Or…" she looked around the room thinking of the worst possibilities, "Tiger Evans Rips Potter? Rides?"
His eyes crinkled in amusement. "Those would all have been truly inspired choices, but no: Rose."
Lily snapped her mouth shut. "Huh. That's rather… sweet of him."
"I think he liked how much shit you gave him at the bar. You stood up to him. Not a lot of people do that." They shared a goofy smile.
Tiger let out an exasperated meow, so over it. "Do you still have that silly little Snitch you were always playing with in 5th year?"
James huffed at her assessment of what he'd deemed as an infallible peacocking technique, but summoned the Snitch all the same. He caught it left-handed without even looking. Lily tried to suppress how impressed she was with everything she had — tried and failed. "Well, why don't Seekers just do that?" Lily goaded as she gently put down Tiger and started inching her way back to him, relishing in the fact that he was sputtering indignantly at her question.
"Why— why don't they— you can't be—" James released the Snitch fluttering in his hand and Tiger took off after it immediately, wildly entertained. Lily stopped right in front of him and looked up innocently through her lashes. Something clicked in James' mind. "Oh. You were just teasing me, is that it?"
Lily unfastened his robe and pushed it over and off his sexy shoulders, smirking. He was right: getting dressed again was such a dumb idea. "I like seeing you get worked up." James let out a small gasp as her hand reached for him between them. "Real up."
He bit the inside of his cheek. "I thought you were hungry?"
"I can wait," she replied saucily as she started tugging him up and down.
James sighed into her touch, leaning his head down as his eyes fluttered closed. "We're really not gonna get anything done this year," he moaned.
"Crap, James! You can't say that!" Lily exclaimed, releasing him, sultry mood officially wrecked.
"No, sorry! Babe, I take it back!" he pleaded hastily, eyes wide open and panicked now. "So much— we're gonna do so, so much."
Lily shook her head grinning at his desperation. She took pity on him and resumed her hand job. "This is a serious problem, though—"
"Please don't use that word when you're wanking me off," James groaned.
"Which word?" Lily asked confused. "Oh, duh. Sirius."
"Baby!"
"Fuck, sorry!" Lily pantomimed zipping her mouth shut with her free hand. There were a few beats while Lily continued her fervent jerks.
James lightly brushed his lips against hers back and forth. "Well, don't stop talking all together." Lily rubbed a naughty thumb around his tip, making his next words far more throaty. "I love your voice."
"That's good, I suppose," she teased, smirking as she watched him fall apart in her clutches, slouching into her more and more as her pressure increased. To see someone so larger-than-life, so brazenly bold, come undone in the palm of her hand — with the easy flick of her wrist — was just so yummy.
"Hey Lils?" he panted, eyes squeezed tightly shut again, licking his lips.
"Yeah James?"
"Remember—" he held in a fresh moan as her hand quickened its pace, "— remember when we had actual rules to abide by while we fucked?" Lily blushed. Yeah. She remembered. He wasn't satisfied with her silent assent, probably because he was completely lost in his own happy little sexed out world. "Do you?"
"Yes. Maybe." She shrugged. "I might recall such events."
James tilted his face up so his lips could rest against her forehead. "Might recall, eh? I feel like I'm breaking seven of them now just by speaking."
Lily brought her free hand to her mouth, spat on it, and brought it back down to help lubricate his cock, trying to ignore James' muffled, 'Shit.' "Oh don't be dramatic. You're only breaking one."
"Babe," James insisted, and she could hear the strain in his voice now; she was working him up awfully well. "You tried to ban me from speaking while we had sex."
"Well yeah, I was trying not to fall for you. It made sense at the time." Lily couldn't believe that they were at the point in their relationship where they could just have a full blown conversation while she had his cock in her grasp.
"Didn't work, huh?" She felt his grin on her skin just as much as she could hear it in his tone.
"No, you git, it didn't work. You happen to be very smooth," she admitted against her better judgement.
"Tell me how smooth I am," James begged gutturally.
"No."
"Instating rule number 68. Lily Evans must always tell James Potter just how smooth he is right before insertion."
How am I indulging this behavior?! "Shut the hell up, Potter!" she laughed, getting on her tippy toes to snog him into silence.
James reached down and picked her up, interrupting her hands, and laid her down on the sofa before unfastening her robe and helping her shrug it off her arms. He quickly flung his glasses to the table beside them. "Smart of you to know there's only one real way to do that. You see, unless these lips are—"
She reached for the back of his head, pulling him down on top of her to give that damn mouth something better to do as she guided the hand that wasn't currently propping himself up above her down between her bare legs. She groaned appreciatively when he slipped two fingers inside of her, sinking her head back into a pillow as her heels dug into his thighs and her own hands clutched at his ribs, pulling his body even more tightly onto hers. She could really never get enough of him. If love made you stronger, why did she now feel like an addict, itching for her next fix a mere hour (Was it even that long? Was it only ten minutes ago?) after her last hit? She craved his body, his touch, and his affirmations near constantly now.
Suddenly, as his weight delightfully sunk her deeper into the couch and as his mouth worked in tandem on her neck with his fingers down below, pushing her to the edge of reason, she was hit by the strongest sense of déjà vu she'd ever experienced. As her thighs started quivering against his hips, and as he continued nipping at her collarbone just lightly enough to not leave a bruise, she was taken back to their very first hook up on the Gryffindor common room couch. Oh, if only that girl knew what the hell she was getting herself into back then.
Lily reached for James' necklace, right before he pushed her over the proverbial cliff with his thumb thrumming diligently on her nub, and felt it was cool against her skin. She knew her own chain felt just the same way against his lips. "James," she cried out, wanting him to watch her come for him.
Knowing exactly what she'd meant with her plea, James pulled his face back just enough so that he could see her. The way his gloriously defined jaw dropped and his brow furrowed — as if merely witnessing her pleasure plastered all over her face brought him there too — sent a surge sizzling up Lily's core. She refused to look away from him, instead just whimpered right in front of his face.
The smile spreading across his lips told her he'd felt it too. "That's it, baby. Let go for me."
Lily held on as long as she could, wanting to live in this moment, on this precipice, forever, her hips twitching into his hand while his eyes continued to hungrily drink her in. If this was the rest of her life: it would be enough. "Shit, James, James—"
"I'm right here, Lils," he breathed, his fingers continuing to pump in and out of her until her very last spasm.
"It feels so— it's so—"
"Good, I know, baby." She had to screw her eyes shut at last, lest the cocky way he was dragging his lower lip into his mouth by the teeth made her lose her mind all over again.
"Fuck," Lily sighed, spent and melting into a puddle on the cushions.
His dry chuckles felt like the only thing keeping her in this dimension as she slowly came back down. It was crazy to think that earlier in the day she'd been worried that her body's pleasure had been robbed from her forever. And now here she was: a queen basking in all her glory, two orgasms down, an infinite more to come, motherfuckers.
"You know what this reminds me of?" he asked impishly.
"Our first hook up?" Lily said the ceiling as she tried concentrating on getting oxygen to her starved lungs.
"Yup. What a great time that was as well."
"I didn't even make you come. So selfish of me," Lily sighed, stretching both her arms under her head, perfectly content.
"Yeah, but…" James leaned back into her and skimmed his lips across the soft, supple upper slope of her breast. "It was the first time I made you come."
Lily snorted. "It was the first time anyone made me come."
James stiffened against her, as though she had literally short-circuited him with this revelation. Suddenly he pulled back. "What do you mean?"
Lily squinted at him, her chin feeling terribly unattractive tilted at this angle. "What do you mean, what do I mean?"
"You mean the first bloke, right? I'm the first bloke to make you come?" James tried clarifying.
"No…" Lily said hesitantly.
"Evans," James started scandalized, "I was your first orgasm… period?"
She looked almost scared for his reaction. "Yes?"
"What?!" He pushed himself back onto his knees, and Lily tried not to notice how his erection dragged against her inner thigh. "How does this happen?"
Lily looked over to the fireplace. "Uh…"
"Were you really not touching yourself before me? I mean, the way you were talking that night made it seem like you didn't masturbate on the regular, but never? You'd never made yourself come before me?"
Okay, he can really stop driving this point home now. Lily felt a blush starting to creep up her chest — her still very exposed and on display chest, she might add. "Women's bodies are a little more complicated than men's, James!" Lily defended. "It's not like we can just tug on the only thing that's there and instantly see fireworks!"
James tried backpedalling a little bit, seeing how Lily was reacting. "Okay, fair—"
"And I had a lot more roommates than you! Even at home!"
"Also true." James nodded in peaceful agreement.
"And like you pointed out earlier, it's not like we even get sex ed in this stupid castle, and even if we did—" she sucked in a huge breath, "—it sure as hell wouldn't cover female pleasure!"
"All excellent points—"
There was no stopping her; she was on a roll. "Honestly, I didn't even really realize how important my clit was in this whole stinking process until you came over and started rubbing on it like crazy all the damn time," she admitted in a huff, embarrassed beyond belief. "I thought I was solely supposed to stick stuff in there to feel good, and where do you even find things and—" Okay. Defenestration is always an option, Lily.
"Lily…" he said gently resolute, scooting her to the side so he could fall onto the couch next to her. He pushed some of her hair behind her ear. "I'm gonna get you a portable porn player for Valentine's Day."
Ignoring how her heart fluttered at the prospect of James seeing them lasting at least another five months, that's longterm commitment that is, she replied exasperatedly, "I still don't have a ruddy clue what that even is."
He winked at her. "It's basically exactly what it sounds like." Off of her continued blank expression, he continued, "So you know porn, right?"
"I don't watch porn," Lily deadpanned.
James gaped at her comically before rolling onto his back and pushing his palms into his eyeballs. "Babe, you're killing me here."
"What?"
"It's just… it helps—"
"You really expected me to go to a store. And just rent a porn VHS. And then take it home and play it on my communal TV?"
He looked at her curiously. "Oh. Is that what you're supposed to do with VHS? Put it in a TV?" James threw his hands up. "Why didn't it say that in the instructions?!"
Lily smiled at his adorable fuckup as she subconsciously snuggled closer to him. "I think it's just sort of common knowledge, babe."
James snorted. "Yeah, maybe for you. Anyway, back to porn—"
"Mary said it's very unrealistic."
James toggled his head side to side. "Okay, sure. They use far more spells and levitations than is really realistic or practical, but you at least get an idea of what a clit is." He shrugged. "Can't speak on Muggle porn, but Wizard shit is pretty legit."
Lily looked at his freckles, trying to hide her growing intrigue. "And these player things, they show it in 3D?"
"Yep. So you can watch it from whatever angle gets you off. So… say you have a foot fetish: you just watch it from the bottom angle."
Lily perked up with this salacious detail. "Does one of the Marauders have a foot fetish?" She was far too gleefully curious about this development.
The way James' lips moved told her everything she needed to know. "I'm not at liberty to say."
"It better not be Sirius…" Lily grumbled, thinking about Mary.
"Hm," James said, throwing his hand in his hair as he tilted his body back towards hers. "Would you look at that? I have two judgy cats." Before she could protest his assessment, his eyes narrowed on her. "Wait, if you don't watch porn, how'd you know you were into tying up shit?"
"Um…" Lily blanched, feeling wholly out of her depth for this conversation. "I dunno. I just… wanted to do that with you, I guess?"
Whatever she said, it must have been exactly what he wanted to hear, because the way James was looking at her was getting her all sorts of hot and bothered. "Come here," he near growled before capturing her mouth with a heady kiss, making Lily hike her leg up to his hip and position him to her. "Can we?" she asked ardently before he took over and fed himself back inside of her, rolling her onto her back so he could steadily rock in and out of her.
"I can't believe I'm your first everything," James murmured into her cheek as she ran her nails down his spine. She didn't quite understand how he could have delicious muscles even there too, but hallelujah either way. Lily pulsed her core around him, egging him on. It had only ever been him for her, and she wanted him to know that. "Lily," he groaned, his cock making her body hum in a heavenly way as she felt him thrust into her again and again. His arms moved from merely hovering himself over her to cradling her against him at the same time, his right hand finding the back of her neck while his left clawed at her back dimples. She felt cocooned in his warm embrace.
His eyes demanded her complete devoted attention, and she gave it to him. "I love the way you feel," his hips hit against hers just right, "I love the way you taste," Lily squirmed and hissed out a labored breath, not sure if she was reacting to his cock or his words anymore. "Fuck Lils, I even love the way you smell." Lily wrapped her legs around him in a vice grip, forcing his bum to drive as far into her as he could go, making them both cry out in pure rhapsody. "Fuck, baby," he breathed.
She smiled proudly, watching as a sheen of sweat broke out over his brow before he buried his face into her hair. She felt like he'd finally been dragged into the same state of euphoria she'd been dealing with this whole time. It was always better to have company there. She allowed herself to fully succumb to the moment, focusing on feeling his body pressing up and into hers, taking him, loving him, entirely, right then and there.
He pulled his head back to look at her unexpectedly, soldiering on in his quest to make love to her on this couch, no matter how ragged his breathing got, or how slowly he had to move to last. "I fucking love you, Lily Evans. I love you so fucking much," he whispered, kissing her and tugging on her lower lip as she felt herself trembling in his arms.
They ended up trying to make pasta eventually, with James accidentally bursting (How? Just how?!) the bag of flour before they could even make the trough to mix in eggs. The sauce was delicious however, and Lily may have 'accidentally' spilled a little (after it cooled off course) over her chest so James could make do on his promise to clean it off for her.
"Prongs! Your portrait is downright ominous—"
"Ah!" Lily screamed as she saw the face of her boyfriend's best mate casually enter their common room like the pair wasn't lying there butt-ass naked. Since dinner had been so late (and Tiger had looked so comfortable curled up at the fireplace), they'd decided to cuddle on the couch, confessing more things about their hookups last year that they'd previously been too scared to tell one another and giggling at their own adolescent stupidity. All in all, Lily would rank it as the perfect ending to the perfect date.
This, however, was not the perfect morning after.
"AH!" Sirius yelled back louder, dropping his wand.
"Why are you yelling?" Lily screamed, swinging her hands to cover her breasts.
"Why are you naked?" Sirius yelled back, just as shirtily.
"It's my place!" Lily defended. "Why are you here?"
Sirius finally seemed able to unglue his eyes from the scene in front of him and scrambled for his wand. "Prongs gave me the password." He picked it up and put it in his pocket before looking down at his nails in fake interest. "Why are you guys fucking on a couch when you have TWO beds to choose from right up there?!"
James, with his impeccable timing, finally woke from his deep slumber and immediately clapped a protective arm over Lily's tits, sensing another presence in the room more so than actually seeing one since his glasses were still on the table. Once he realized she already had that region of her body covered, he moved his hand down to block her cunt from view. Thanks babe, better late than never I suppose.
"What did you do to him? He's normally an early riser," Sirius said with scrunched brows, and even though his gaze now indicated a heavy interest in their crown molding, Lily knew he was focused on his peripheral vision.
"Exactly what you think I did," Lily responded drily.
"Pads? What are you doing here?" James asked through a yawn, officially entering the conversation.
Sirius scoffed. "Honestly, I wanted to make sure you two were still alive. It seemed kind of essential after all the ruckus you made last night." Lily did a double-take. No fucking way… "And with the show you apparently put on by the lake. Practically the whole school was talking about it over dinner."
Okay, that part she could believe. Damn kids. "We weren't 'putting on a show,' we were merely—"
"Simulating sex on the beach?" Sirius supplied giddily.
"No. We were snogging. Just snogging on the shore," Lily said curtly.
"Babe," James whispered beside her. "That wasn't just snogging—"
"OK!" Lily cut him off, turning back to Sirius. "You heard us last night?"
"Evans. Hogsmeade probably heard you last night. Just because you have your own place, doesn't mean noise doesn't carry out of open windows and over a completely silent campus."
Well, fuck. Isn't that just dandy? She'd closed her curtains last night, but hadn't thought of the actual window panes.
"Anyway, I'm glad it turns out Prongsie still knows what he's doing."
"Pads—" James tried interjecting weakly.
"Don't worry. Your moans sounded very manly as well. Dignified even. And now all the 3rd years think you're the man—"
"Damn straight I am," James declared sleepily. Lily considered pushing him over the edge of the cushions to get him acquainted with the floor.
Lily finally found the robe her hand had been desperately groping for and finagled it over both her and James' bodies. She wondered if James was somehow used to this sort of intrusion, because she most certainly was not.
"Also," Sirius finally looked back at them now that it was safe to do so, but Lily noticed he still remained wholly rooted next to the portrait entrance, "I felt it was my mately duty to drag you to breakfast and remind you two that you are in fact still enrolled in school and need to do boring things like homework and study."
"Oh my—" Lily's words were cut off as she grabbed the pillow from behind both her and James' heads and smothered it over her mouth for a scream. A scream I also don't want Hogsmeade to hear. She came back up like nothing had happened. Holy shit. Is this how far my life has sunken? "I can't believe that Sirius Black has to remind me to do my homework," she said aloud, but still mostly for her own benefit.
"Thee motherfucking Sirius Black," he insisted.
"Huh?"
"Well," Sirius said obviously, "if you're gonna try using my full name like that, you might as well do it properly."
"That wasn't the point of what I was saying!" Lily argued.
"Well, that sounds like a you problem—"
"Okay guys!" James stepped in as Lily looked like she was gearing up for a hot retort. "Let's go get breakfast."
Unfortunately, Sirius didn't lessen up in his teasing as they walked over to the Great Hall once fully dressed, but soon it was hard to pay him any mind since Lily noticed everyone else was staring at them. Again. Is there really nothing else more interesting going on than our relationship?
James leaned into her ear, scratching at the back of his necklace. "You get used to it," he whispered. He'd know I guess. James had always been wildly popular and, more often than not, the topic of hot gossip.
She shot him a small smile that told him she hated the unwanted attention, but was dealing with it the best she could. Not knowing exactly what they were saying made it a harder pill to swallow.
They sunk into their usual seats.
"Good morning," Remus greeted jovially. "Toast?" Lily loved him more all ready.
"Yes please!"
"So, Lily, is it true—" Peter started, but stopped abruptly when it looked like someone kicked him under the table.
Marlene strolled over shortly afterwards while the Marauders were deep in a prank-related discussion and sat on Lily's free side. "Hello, you."
"Happy Sunday," Lily cheered with all the fake enthusiasm she could muster. It was weird. Why was it so weird? Hanging out with friends wasn't supposed to make your skin itch. Was it like this last year and I didn't notice because I had so few other friendships to compare this one too? Is it Rosier? Is it me?
"So, how'd you enjoy the gramophone?" she asked, blonde ponytail swishing.
Shit. She'd completely forgotten to even use it! Lily quickly considered lying, but the look on Marlene's face told her she'd already seen Lily's realization. She tried laughing it off, after all, it's no big deal… right? "I actually totally forgot about it! I'll give it back after breakfast if you'd like."
"Oh." Why was Marlene looking like Lily had just strangled a puppy and not like she'd only forgotten to use Mar's borrowed device to play sexy-time mood music? "Okay, yeah. That's fine." There was a definite edge to her voice. Lily couldn't help but feel like her friend felt disproportionately crushed by the news — as though Lily forgetting about the gramophone was an insurmountable blow to their friendship somehow.
She didn't have time to dwell in her thoughts for long though. Soon the gang was off to the library to tackle the cruel and unusual amount of essays they'd already been assigned. Lily was beyond grateful for just how hard she'd pushed herself this summer — at least Defense, Herbology, and Potions seemed fairly manageable now.
"So darling—" James began.
"Darling?" Lily cut him off with a stare that matched her tone.
"Yeah… do you not like it?"
"How many pet names do you need, Potter?" she asked.
It had been hard to figure out a stealthy way to get James to exit the library with her for their first joint Order meeting. It was obviously not something she could just announce to his friends, and she was kicking herself for not alerting him to their weekly Sunday night scheduling earlier. Luckily, they were in the library, so Lily figured now was as good a time as any to research how to do that nifty text-rearranging spell James was always using to chat her up in the middle of class.
She flicked her wand under the table towards his Muggles Studies textbook. 'Hey sexy,' she hoped the line he was reading now said.
His subsequent smirk and the way his eyes snapped to hers from behind his frames told her the spell had indeed worked. 'Well, well, well. Look who finally decided to play.' His words for her were far more interesting than the previous ones in her book about the Banshee Trials of 1603.
'We need to go.'
'Horny for me, love?'
She snorted. 'Perhaps. But that's not why. We have an Order meeting.'
James ruffled his hair. Is he actually nervous? 'Gotcha.'
They both got up at the same time, totally not suspiciously, making Peter, Sirius, and Remus all look up form their work. "Head stuff?" Remus asked politely. Duh! Why didn't I just say that? Lily decided she should probably start thinking with her head — and stop drowning in her lovesick heart — again soon.
"Nah," James replied, making Lily freeze and give him a pointed 'What are you doing?' look. "We're off for a shag."
Sirius snorted, Peter looked torn between pride and envy, and Remus seemed thoroughly embarrassed to even be associated with James. Lily was with Remus.
"Nope. No, we are not." What's even the point of denying it? Lily knew her skin currently matched her hair and any protests would just make her look that much more guilty.
James shot her a wink as he came to her side. "Shall we, Lils?"
She rolled her eyes but allowed him to steer her away as Sirius yelled a, "Have fun!" after them. (And was immediately reprimanded by Madam Pince.)
"Sorry bout that," James whispered in her ear, his arm heavy on her shoulders. "Humor helps me deal with it. I'm not used to straight-up lying to them."
Crap. She hadn't even thought about that. Of course he was already having a hard time with it — they were the Marauders. Marauders didn't keep secrets from each other…
Lily's gaze fell upon Marlene and Rosier who had set up shop at one of the tables near the library entrance. She looked rather upset, and Rosier shot Lily a pissed off look as James and her walked by. What the fuck did I do? Lily had been trying to figure out a way to get Rosier alone all day — you know, nonchalantly — but she had no idea how to pull it off. Asking him to become Dumbledore's spy was something she had to do in absolute privacy — for both their sakes. She'd have to figure it out later.
"Wonder what that's about," James muttered to her, clearly also having noticed the tension at his cousin's table.
The overwhelming sense of foreboding in Lily's stomach doubled. I have to tell him. She loved how they were right now; she loved how safe and carefree and open James and her were being. It sounded absolutely insane, but she felt like they were unstoppable, unbreakable. As though their mutual adoration and trust in one another had ascended them above the typical throes of teenage passion. She wasn't willing to sacrifice that. She wasn't going to jeopardize James' faith in her for the sake of a Death Eater who'd done one good deed. And she sure as hell wasn't going to fall back into making last year's mistakes. Open communication and honesty, Evans. You got this. She'd tell James about Rosier. Tonight.
"It's a trial period right now."
"What?!" Lily yelped, violently shaken from her thoughts.
James looked at her worriedly. "A trial period…? For nicknames?"
Lily let out a huge sigh. "Nope. Trial period is over. Lils, love, babe, and baby. That's all you get."
"Evans—" James whined.
"And Evans."
There was a beat as the couple started climbing the stairs. "How bout honey?"
"Ew, no."
"Honeybun?" James tested.
"No! Not unless you want me to call you something equally ridiculous like… Freckles!" she pulled out of her ass.
He shrugged. "I don't know, I kinda like Freckles. It's sweet." She blew a stray hair out of her eyes. He was impossible. "Sweetie?"
"James—"
"Peach!"
"No one calls anyone 'peach'."
"Sugar tits?" James asked hopefully.
"… I'm pretty sure that one's actually an insult."
"Oh really?" James said genuinely surprised. "Interesting."
They made it all the way to Dumbledore's office door before James turned to her extra fidgety. "So is there anything else I need to know before I enter, or…?"
She stood on her toes to hit him with a kiss. "Yes. There's a lot, but you'll pick it all up just by listening the first few meetings. Don't stress. I got us here early so we could speak to Dumbledore before everyone else arrives."
All the tension in James' shoulders seemed to dissipated. "Oh thank Merlin."
Dumbledore appeared to have been expecting them, as he always did, sitting behind his desk as they entered. "Hello Miss Evans. Mr Potter, so glad you could join our ranks."
"Thank you, sir, for the opportunity." Lily had to smile; it was always just too good to watch him be a kiss-ass.
"I assume Lily has informed you of what we do here?"
"Yes, Professor."
"And of the new intel we have just received about Voldemort's next course of action as it pertains to Miss Evans' welfare?"
Lily saw James' jaw clench. "Yes, sir."
Dumbledore nodded before turning to her. "Lily, have you thought any more about how we will infiltrate the Death Eaters' inner circle?" What the fuck? Where did that question come from? Why did he… holy shit, he is expecting me to secure a spy for him, isn't he? Lily couldn't help but let shame wash over her: Dumbledore had been counting on her and she'd let him down, being more focused on… well. Doesn't matter now. He'd known someone had helped her escape last year (she'd hinted at it quite strongly), and Dumbledore had assumed Lily would step up and do the right thing and bring him into the fold. But I didn't.
"Um," she tried, her throat oddly dry, "I, um, I think I know someone who might be able to help us." She felt James' heavy stare on her cheek but she purposefully avoided it.
"Very well. I cannot overstate how important this is." And now Dumbledore's stare was burning a hole in her too.
I get it, I get it! "I understand, sir. I'll speak to him." He nodded and Lily heard the fire roar to life, indicating the first few members were arriving by Floo. She pushed on, "Professor, didn't you say you had a source as well? The person who told us that Voldemort was going to try to get Frank and I again soon?"
"Yes." Dumbledore nodded, pressing his fingertips together over his desk. "I am under the impression that we are speaking of the same individual."
"So… you know who he is?" Lily asked tentatively.
Dumbledore gave her a mysterious smile. "I received his warning in the form of a Patronus. He performed a voice altering charm before it was sent, thus, I have no way of determining from who it was from."
"Okay, but what animal was it?" She was now deadly curious if Rosier was already basically acting as a spy. It would sure make approaching him about making the role official a hell of a lot easier.
"It was incorporeal, Miss Evans." He stood and greeted McGonagall shortly afterwards.
"What was he talking about?" James asked the second he'd left.
"I'll tell you back home," Lily sighed. James kept looking worried so she reached for his hand to give him a quick squeeze. "I promise, I was already going to tell you tonight. It's just… a lot."
"Okay…" He didn't look entirely convinced. "But you're all right?"
"Yes," Lily answered confidently. "Please don't be mad." He still seemed skeptical, so she pivoted, "I guess it's cool my Patronus is also incorporeal, huh? Makes me more sneaky." She wiggled her eyebrows.
"What are you talking about?" James asked. "You're a doe."
Lily was taken aback by his certainty on the matter. "What? No I'm not, I've never been able to conjure an animal. I've only recently graduated above small wisps." Okay, recently is pushing it… She hadn't actually tried the spell in a while now.
"Nah." James grinned. "You made a doe over Christmas. Pads saw it. Remember when you sent a Patronus to him to get me potions for my arm?"
Vaguely. Mostly she just remembered the all-consuming fear for his wellbeing. "I didn't even notice it."
James shrugged, looking awfully smug. "Yeah, well he did. I mean, course he did. He thought it was mine."
We match, was Lily's first thought, followed swiftly by, Holy fucking shit… I did it! She tilted her head down to her feet but still shot him a coy grin. "Same, just less horny."
He chuckled. "Debatable, Evans. De-fucking-batable."
"James?" A voice interrupted their eyefuck. "James, is that you?" They both turned to Emmeline Vance, looking great as usual even as she brushed some lingering soot off of her robes. "Oh, it is! So good to see you!" She looked like she meant it.
"Emme! Hi," James replied, sounding shocked. Emme? Lily tried not to think of the cutesy conversation they'd just had about nicknames. They were sleeping together for a while. Of course he's going to have a name for her that's not three syllables long. Lily tried pushing down the angry, possessive lion roaring in her chest.
James turned to Lily. "Um." Oh my goodness, has he ever looked this awkward before? Lily found that the sight actually made her feel loads better. "Lily, have you met…?" he trailed off as he motioned to his past flame.
"Emmeline?" Lily asked, bright eyed and bushy tailed. "Oh yeah. We've met. She's a great witch." She gave him a loaded smile, and he received it, tongue fiddling with his upper teeth as he held in a chuckle.
"Oh. Ooh," Emmeline said, bringing both James' and Lily's attention back to her. "That's why you're so weird around me? You guys are dating now?"
Lily made a small squeak, trying not to take a step back. "I'm not weird around you!" Shit. She noticed.
"Okay, this makes so much more sense now," the older woman continued, ignoring Lily's protest. Lily was reduced to opening and closing her mouth, at a loss for words. "Well, welcome to the Order, James. And," her eyes flicked to Lily and back, "congrats." She gave them a little wave and took off to her friends.
"Cheers."
Lily was left mortified. "I was not weird to her."
James threw his arm around her. "You sure? Because I could totally see you doing that," he teased.
"Yes, I'm bloody sure. I was not," she maintained.
"Okay babe." There was a beat. "But I mean if you were, it would be perfectly natural—"
"Nope—"
"—she did get in on all this," he motioned to his torso, "before you, after all."
Lily pushed his arm off of her shoulders. "Gross. And that was my choice, remember? I had you wrapped around my finger by 13."
He smiled. "Uh huh."
"Stop grinning like that."
"Like what?" he asked faux-innocently.
"Like you love that I'm jealous."
"Baby, like you said: you have no reason to be." He leaned in so his voice was nothing more than a hush. "Although, I'd be thanking her if I were you. She's the one who taught me how to…" the rest of his words were too soft for anyone but Lily to pick up. Whatever they were, they managed to give her a full body flush.
"I will do no such thing." Out loud. But I guess secretly… Thank the gods for that woman.
A few minutes later, Frank and Alice arrived and Lily got caught up in her conversation with them as she stole furtive glances at James, watching him come alive in the space. Any hint of trepidation he'd shown outside the door had melted away, and now he was just working the room, an absolute natural even though he was in a sea of older witches and wizards who had no idea why he was here. If she didn't admire him for it so much, she would have been envious of his innate charisma.
"Lily, would you mind taking Alice to the infirmary after the—"
"Frank, I'm not a child. I don't need my hand held. Also, I'm fine," Alice insisted, interrupting her fiancé.
"You're not though," Frank replied stubbornly. "You've been losing weight—"
"Because I'm sick—"
"So let's see a healer!"
"It's no big deal."
Lily got the distinct impression that this had been an ongoing battle in their home for quite some time now. "Alice, I'm sure Poppy would love to see you, it's been a while."
Alice sighed, looking between Lily and Frank, as though they'd schemed this all out and she was onto them. "Oh, all right. I'll go with Lily, but only to get you off my back." She put up a finger in demonstration of the firmness of her stance.
'Thank you,' Frank mouthed to Lily as soon as his fiancée turned around.
Soon, after enlarging the room and conjuring up a table they could all comfortably sit around, Dumbledore began the meeting, introducing the newest member to the group and making James proudly puff up when all eyes gravitated towards him. Ha, prat, Lily thought lovingly by his side.
"Is he here to be the Death Eater spy?" Moody asked gruffly.
"No!" Lily cried out before she could stop herself. Fuck. She was viscerally aware that all eyes had now shifted just a little bit over to her with her ridiculous outburst. It had truly been a reflex. No. Just… no. You can't have him like that. I don't want him in harm's way and… The reality of James being in the Order hit her. That's what this is, though, isn't it? That's what this group is all about? This wasn't some sort of sports team, or a fun after school club — this was war. James had just joined her in a war.
James reached for her pinkie under the table.
"Why not?" Moody pressed.
Because he'd be the literal worst man for the job! All the Death Eaters in school must have caught on by now that he was her boyfriend. And even if they hadn't, the idea of James being a Death Eater was just so laughable. He was a noble fool through and through. But what the hell was she supposed to say? She wasn't ashamed of her peers knowing about their relationship, even if she could do without the newfound scrutiny. In fact, if she was truly being honest with herself, she found she was getting a bit of an arrogant kick out of the jealousy she was inspiring in others, as though there was finally something, someone, in her life that others could covet. She'd never felt like she'd had that before (besides with Petunia and magic, and Petunia had made sure that had been a terrible experience). However, this proud feeling didn't translate to Lily wanting to announce to a room full of adults that she and James were going steady. Young love was particularly ridiculed by older witches and wizards who could no longer remember its spellbinding magic. "Uh…"
"Because he's a Gryffindor," Frank said, swooping in to save her.
"Oh. Yeah, that won't work," Moody said conclusively.
Oh my god, Lily internally sighed, relieved as fuck. It was her turn to mouth a quick, 'Thank you,' to Frank. He gave her a knowing wink.
The rest of the meeting passed without further incident, and Lily was happy when she could drag Alice to the hospital wing while Frank, Emmeline, and James all caught up. (She wasn't going to focus too hard on the last two.)
"He's overreacting, you know," Alice complained as they descended a staircase. "I'm mostly fine."
"I know," Lily agreed. "But let's just indulge him."
Alice scoffed. "Of course you're taking his side."
"I'd hardly call caring about your health to be a his or her side issue," Lily said reasonably.
Alice let out a loud exhale. "Fine. You two win." Lily smiled. So much for what I just said. "How are you liking Carter so far? She already started the duels?"
"Yes! She did. Although the first duel was super underwhelming. It was an incompetent boy against a girl who could never even stomach the thought of hurting anyone else, ever."
"Ah. So Rebecca versus Fenwick?"
"Yes! So you did give her your picks on who should duel who!" Lily said enthusiastically.
Alice put her palms up. "Guess you'll see…"
"No, come one!" Lily whinged. "You gotta tell me who you recommended I fight!"
"Lily," Alice said as she stood by the hospital wing door, ready to push it open, "you trained with me for months. Me. One of the best Aurors the Ministry's got." Damn, I want this woman's level of self-esteem. "You're good. So I recommended someone else good." Alice smiled over her shoulder as she slipped inside.
"You're really not gonna tell me?!"
"Nope!" Alice declared, striding in.
"Fine. I'll get it out of Frank," Lily grumbled.
"Didn't tell him for that very reason," she shot back before changing her tone dramatically. "Poppy!"
"Alice!" the young healer cheered. "What a pleasant surprise! What brings you in today?" She gave Lily a welcoming nod.
The former professor hopped up onto the nearest bed. "Well. My worrywart fiancé is concerned because I've been a little off lately." She put up a finger. "And before you say I'm pregnant, I can't be: we've been very careful."
Poppy switched into healer mode. "You perform the spell every time?" Lily swallowed uncomfortably. It was always good to be reminded of this herself.
"Eh, no. I take the potion."
"Ah, well, I'm sure you've heard about the new studies exposing the potion's high fail rate? Especially when mixed with healing potions?"
Alice's face went pale; Lily knew she must take a fair bit of those on the job. "No. I haven't."
"Symptoms?"
Alice scratched at her chin uncomfortably. "Uh. Throwing up in the mornings mostly. Really, really tired."
"Your last period?"
"A while ago. But they've never been regular so I sort of lose track," Alice tacked on quickly.
Poppy disappeared into her medical supply closet and came back with a neon orange vial. "Drink this please."
Alice uncorked it and held it up to Lily. "Cheers." She tilted her head back and drained the contents. Almost immediately, purple smoke started pouring out of her nose. Alice batted it away annoyed. "Is that supposed to happen?"
Poppy and Lily looked at each other, coming to a tacit agreement that Lily should be the one to tell her. "Alice… you're pregnant."
Alice's head jerked from Lily to Poppy, and back again. She pointed to her nose. "That's what that meant?"
Lily nodded slowly, trying to discern from her friend's face if this was good news… or terrible news. She knew the way Frank talked about their future babies, but she'd never actually heard Alice's take on the matter. "Yes. We know the sex if that would be something you're interested in hearing?"
"Of the baby?"
"Yes," Lily said, squinting her eyes.
"My baby?" Lily nodded again. "My baby with Frank?" Okay, she's working through it… Let her get there… Suddenly Alice let out a happy bark of laughter as she slapped a hand to her face. "We're pregnant!"
Lily relaxed into her relief. "Yes!"
"Oh shit! Frank's gonna— you know Frank, he's gonna cry!" Lily leaned in and hugged Alice tightly. She could tell Alice was trying to hold back her own overjoyed tears. "Oh no, he's not going to let me lift a finger anymore."
Lily laughed. "No, he definitely won't."
Alice pulled back, wiping her nose with the back of her hand and not acknowledging the tears that she found thoroughly embarrassing. "Wait, is it a boy or a girl?"
Lily smiled extra hard. "A girl."
"Ha! I shouldn't tell Frank, he's gonna wet himself."
Poppy smiled and gave Alice a hearty congratulations before disappearing again to get her some prenatal potions.
In her absence, Alice's eyes widened in fear. "Oh no…"
"What?" Lily asked, completely concerned that she'd already changed her mind about wanting to keep it.
"His mother's going to kill us." Lily sniggered, thinking she was joking. "Oh no, Lily. You haven't met his mother. We're gonna have to push this wedding up."
Lunane: Yes! They did! Oo Dumbly. Always so suspicious. And hehe, I do love their banter now ;) Sweet, Siry it is :D Jily Fan: Hell yes! Ha, yes, I couldn't help but do some little meta references! ;p And haha, that wasn't supposed to be nefarious! Just a couple of spying 13 year olds who were really curious about how sex worked and wanted to learn from the walking legend James Potter and their collective crush Lily Evans. Ha. I am planning to take the smut in some different directions, but I don't think any of it will be really rough again. I will do that again in other fics though, because I really enjoyed writing it! As for Peter… aaaaaah. Writer's confession… I just hate him so much… so my (lazy author) approach has been that he turned from neglect. HA. I know Sleepinghookah had Peter like Lily in her story, and it worked really well, but I have this thing where if I read a choice like that in someone else's story, I feel like I can't do it without feeling like I'm cheating (so honestly, I should stop reading other ppl's Jilys! Ha), but also, I have Remus already liking Lily in this universe, so it might feel like too much if THREE of the Marauders liked her like that, lol. Thank you for the super long review, I loved it! Gus: Heyo, cheers! And sad truth, in my mind, both of their career aspirations don't really matter all that much, because they have to go into hiding so soon after graduation, neither of them could have gotten that far into training anyway :( Heh, we'll see about Marlene/Lily… Thank you! Love fics: Haha, poor Tiger. She's gonna see far too much… ;) Yes he did! I like to think that James remembers literally everything Lily ever tells him because he's just always been that far gone for her. HA GOOD. I always feel a little cheesy repeating how hot his bod is, but like… if I was there... I know I'd repeatedly notice it XD Also, funny, during one of my rereads I remembered him loving her birthmark and was like, well now I GOTTA bring that back! And agreed, she should, but I remember when I was a teen, the LAST thing I ever wanted to drink was water! (Silly kids…) Yeah, I love swimming, so I wasn't sure how to describe her fear, but I figured she should have at least one! She's already so much of a badass. Plus, having another way for James to be able to take care of her is cute ^.^ And a lot of daydreaming ;) You're welcome! Nina: Yes! I really just want a timeline where they can be happy as long as possible you know? Like let's give them at least 4 years of domestic bliss :'( Ha, even in my flashbacks I'm objectifying James…. I've reached new lows ;) But I absolutely love the idea of Death Eaters hating James just a little more because they or all their girlfriends have massive crushes on him :D Ha yes, you're trying to study but then a giant eel — or a naked James Potter — swims by and you're like 'AGAIN. Well, THERE goes my concentration' ;p And yes! She did learn how to swim. So win-win O:) Haha, he really does pull it off, doesn't he? (Is there anything James can't do?) And yes yes, I wanted Lily to really show James all her vulnerabilities, but show it still isn't making her weak or silly or whatever. They're in love! EllanaWest: Ha, I've had Lily's line for this reunion for what feels like as long she's had it. Ha. And SHE IS so screwed! Haha, too bad they both love that ;) And yes! He really had no choice but to admit to liking the birthmark after getting caught like that! As for why James didn't rub her down, I feel like he was still recovering from worrying he'd just overstepped with her against he tree, and then also he realized that if he had rubbed her down, there was no way the swim lesson (which she actually wanted) would happen, lol. Haha, they can't stop their double entendres! Yes, James is really taking this time to fix everything that went wrong the first time, and Lily is actually in the right headspace to trust that his intentions are true (cuz he's been proving himself for so long) and it changes everything! And you're not the first person confused about this, so I must have done a bad job explaining it, but I see Voldemort as this super powerful guy who can make almost any magic happen, right? So considering just how deep he got into both Lily and Frank's minds, I think it would have been really frigging easy to make them see (psychologically alone) whatever he wanted them too. So the Death Eaters entering the room still looked like themselves to themselves (hence they were hesitant at first) but Frank and Lily saw James. Lily had also given Voldemort so many memories of James that he knew exactly what James looked like. No Polyjuice required, purely psychological torture. Guest: :D :D :D Yay! rmmurphy: It has! I mean, who knows…. ;) Random Reviewer: I love reread chapters! :D What a compliment Dork: Ooo, well, in my story, she's halfblooded, but was targeted for being Lily's friend with a Squib sister. I double checked this! I know everyone always makes her another Muggle-born, but that's just assumed cuz Mulciber attacked her! Guest: I hope you read more and found out :) Jus de Carotte: HA, glad I could be proven right ;p Hahaha, I love that that was your fav part! Haaaaa, and after this story! I have the feeling it will be my next one! (I have so many ideas swirling!) Anonymous: Hopefully! We shall seee….. CantThinkOfAName: He isssssss! It's so fun to let that show now ^.^ Shaniso: Haaaaa adjusting the flames is what I do! Siry is coming! Guest: Hehehe, he's dramatic, lovable one that Sirius ;) Guest: Lol Guest: Fuck fuck fuck yes! This review cracked me up Hi: Okay, that's awesome, because that's exactly what I want! Cheers! Guest: Increase the thirst?! Oh man. I'll do my best! Haaaaaaa Anonymous: That is SUCH a compliment! Thank you! I am so proud of that development ^.^ Guest: It is so cool to know which chapters strike enough of a chord to grant a reread. Cheers for letting me know! eeee: Heh aosjdflamdf they are! :D