This week's multimedia tumblr news: I went absolutely insane and told this whole story chapter by chapter, thru gifs (yes, all 46 of them). I did it mostly for people who'd already read it, so if you remembered liking one chapter and wanted to easily find it, you could go thru and be like, "Oh yep. That's the one!" Anyway, it's pinned on tiffanytoms if you're interested ^.^

Disclaimer: JK Rowling owns Harry Potter. Art work by the awesome Meg (tumblr: anxiouspineapples)

A Woman Scorned

That Night, September, 7th Year

By the time their prefects meeting rolled around, Lily was rather over how many stares and catcalls she'd received. Okay, she'd had sex that weekend, and she'd clearly, and loudly, enjoyed herself — where was the drama in that? She could also do without all the women flocking to James in response. As Sirius had pointed out, it had obviously sounded like James knew what he was doing based on her evident pleasure. (And it didn't help that she'd been screaming out his name, directly identifying the almighty giver-of-orgasms.) Lily was aware that such male specimens were in limited supply in their age group… maybe in all age groups? But still: could they maybe just not?

It seemed like since Saturday night, the story of what had happened had taken on a life of its own: from the people who actually heard their coitus to people hearing the tale 4th hand. Now, apparently, word across the halls was that Lily and James had 'done a victory lap on his broom around the castle, still going at it.' Like that would even be physically possible… All in all, Lily was also quite confused: how could just so many people have heard them? Sure, they hadn't been quiet, but the whole soddening castle?

So it was hardly surprising that when 6th year Slytherin prefect Gabbers (Goyle? Gibbons?) or whatever the heck her name was said something super offensive and sexist at their weekly meeting, Lily had just about had enough.

Everyone had just taken their seats in the prefect office when Goyle cleared her throat. Lily noticed Rosier was notably absent. Is he telling Marlene he's a Death Eater? Did he tell her earlier and now is dealing with the fallout? "Given the events of this weekend, I hereby make a motion to immediately relieve Lily Evans of her position as Head Girl. Can we have a vote?" She looked around the table at everyone but Lily for support. The 5th year beside Remus started to raise his hand, but Remus dragged it back down and gave him a look that reminded Lily just how ferocious he became once a month.

Lily let out a very loud sigh. Instead of folding for this girl, Lily decided if she was going to come for blood like this — she'd have to go on record and fully commit to her tomfoolery. "What do you mean, Gibbons?"

She flinched. "It's Goyle. And I mean… exactly what you think I do."

Lily gave her an emotionless, blink-less stare. "Which is?"

Goyle started turning bright red. "I'm a lady. We don't speak of such improper things." If she had feathers, Lily imagined she'd be ruffling them right about now.

Lily felt her blood begin to boil. James was right there, but only she was getting shit for the incident? Hell no. "I guess if you can't even say what I've done wrong, it can't be that big of an issue, now can it?" She opened her binder, hoping she'd put this nonsense to bed so they could get to the real tasks at hand. One of the prefects had handed in a report that a Muggle-born student had been attacked on their patrol, and she'd been dying to address it all day.

"Sex. She's talking about sex," the 6th year Slytherin boy at Goyle's side sneered haughtily.

Lily rolled her eyes, leaning back in her chair and crossing her arms over her chest. "Oh? Is there a new school rule about what adults can and cannot do in the privacy of their own rooms?"

"No—" Goyle tried.

"There isn't, is there?" Lily drove the point home irately.

"We all heard you though," the boy muttered. In the dungeons?! How?

Okay, she was embarrassed, yes, obviously, and it would never happen again — silly, dumb, teenage mistake — but now she was getting more and more pissed off as well. "I'm surprised you even recognized what female pleasure sounded like, Alexander. Surely it's the first time you've ever heard it." James snorting on the other side of the table reminded her of where she was… and of what kind of role she was supposed to be playing. A role model, Evans. Shit, if James thought that what I just said was that amusing, it probably was way out of line. Looking back at Alexander, she realized it was true: he looked like he might never recover from such a swift takedown.

Lily focused her attention back on Goyle. "So you were uncomfortable with what you heard Saturday night. I think that's perfectly reasonable, and if such a thing ever happens again, I encourage you to bring it up in a private discussion so that you can voice the concerns you claim to have, and both parties can come up with an amicable solution."

A smug smile crossed Goyle's features and from the corner or Lily's eye, she could see James shooting her a confused look. Goyle started, "So you'll be handing in your—?"

"What's not reasonable, however," Lily interrupted with all the authority she could muster, "is that you are talking about an event that involved two parties, both of which are in fact right here," sorry, James, "and you are only trying to humiliate and punish one. Why is that?"

Goyle sputtered, looking back at her Slytherin partner for help. He gave her a 'you're on your own' look.

Lily continued, "If you were a 7th year, I could see you angling for my position, but you're not. So that leaves…" she drummed her fingers on the table, "everyday, casual sexism?"

Goyle scoffed. "How can I be sexist if I'm a girl?"

Lily did everything she could not to laugh. Rebecca, sitting a few seats over from her, could not hold in her own snort. "Okay, here's what I propose: either you can go to McGonagall and explain your concerns with my leadership position because I am a sexually active witch," a few boys around the table shifted uncomfortably, clearly never having heard a woman so proudly take ownership of her sexuality before (but she could feel James glowing in her direction), "and you somehow believe that that affects my ability to govern, but not my Co-Head's, or, you can spearhead a school-wide campaign against sexism." Perfect. Wanted that done anyway.

Lily realized it was a little out there to just openly discuss being sexually active, but she refused to apologize for how she expressed her love. She wouldn't do it. Last year, she had been forced to discuss being sexually assaulted over, and over, and over with various adults and peers to explain her psyche and to try to get justice and to just speak her truth, so why should talking about sex — sex that was consensual, wonderful, and bringing her closer to the man she loved — not be discussed? What she and James were doing wasn't shameful. And like hell if someone was going to try to reprimand her for it, or taint it in any way.

Goyle deflated back into her seat, grumbling. Across the table, James was looking at her with thinly veiled heat. Oh that man wants me right now. Lily smirked and carried on, "That wasn't rhetorical. Those are your two options, and let me tell you: McGonagall does not take kindly to sexism. You'll find it's actually rather a pet peeve of hers." She really hoped the Slytherin wouldn't call her bluff — the thought of having to discuss her and James' sex life with a teacher was absolutely mortifying.

"I'll do the campaign," Goyle muttered.

"Come again?" Easy there, all-consuming, sassy wrath.

"The campaign. I'll do it."

"Brilliant. Now," Lily straightened the papers in front of her, "Zhao found a 2nd year Muggle-born on her rounds that had been attacked. Has anyone else noticed a rise in blood-related hate crimes?"

The rest of the meeting passed by fine, with James taking over halfway to explain how the talent show would be that Friday. A frenzy of chatter broke out as people claimed there was hardly enough time to prepare.

"Well, I told you this was happening on the train ride, didn't I?" James asked obviously. "Plus it's still four days away. That's more than enough time to pull this off." Lily shook her head at him lovingly. He must have no idea how hard the average, non-genius student had to work to pass all their classes."We can set up committees. Who wants to be in charge of decor?" Dana Rodriguez eagerly raised her hand. "Excellent, you can do that and pick your team." He looked back to the room at large. "Who wants to stage manage?" Remus reluctantly volunteered. "Thanks mate."

Robby raised his hand. The slight push his twin had just given him told Lily he was speaking on her behalf. "Actually James, I was hoping we could discuss the mandatory prefect involvement? For performing that is?"

"Oh?" James leaned forward onto both his forearms. How did my lip get in between my teeth?

"Yes," Robby continued, "some of us aren't comfortable with big public events. So maybe we could also have a recruitment committee so that we can still make sure enough people sign up? Rebecca and I can lead that."

James looked confused — as though the idea of someone not wanting to show off completely baffled him. "All right. That sounds good." Lily noticed her notes said, 'Don't get any ideas, Evans. The exception does not apply to you.' And now why is the fluffy end of my quill in my mouth?

When the meeting adjourned, Lily and Remus joked for a bit on all the ways this show could go horribly awry, but her eyes kept drifting to James, who was currently being cornered by Dana. The same Dana who looked like she'd opened her top three buttons. Okay, one or two, I get it, your puppies gotta breathe, but three? Great. Another woman after my man. Lily was really going to have to learn how to be a good feminist and the jealous type. It was super friggin' hard, especially since she was already at her wit's end and not feeling particularly nice.

"Hey Lils," James called to her and she saw Dana whip her head around, seething as she watched Lily excuse herself from Remus and approach. James took Lily under his arm and planted a kiss to her temple. Lily didn't think she'd ever seen a girl wilt before her eyes quite like Dana did just now. "What are your preferences on the color scheme, love?"

Lily knew James didn't care, and frankly, neither did she. She interlocked her fingers with his on her shoulder. "I don't know, babe. But I'm sure Dana will pick a good one." One that isn't already taken, thank you very much.

"Great. I'll get right on that," Dana said, giving Lily one fake-ass smile before twirling on her heel and leaving the now deserted room.

James magicked the door shut as soon as she'd crossed over the threshold. "Finally," he exclaimed as he picked Lily up by the waist and spun them around so he could deposit her onto the desk, spreading her knees and stepping between them.

Lily braced herself with her palms behind her. Her eyes travelled from his belt up to his devilish face. "James…" she admonished lightly.

"Lily…" he mirrored, clutching at her back so she was pressed flush against him, feeling his need for her. He barely gave her air to respond, already kissing his way down her neck, making her legs automatically spread wider to let him move in closer.

"I just got slut-shamed for doing this…" she throatily whispered.

"Fuck em," James murmured, loosening her tie and frantically unbuttoning her blouse. "Well, no, fuck me to show them how bloody little their opinion matters on anything."

His hands, only halfway done with their previous task of taking off her top (but getting too antsy to finish), abruptly yanked on her knees, causing Lily to yelp and fall onto her back across the desk. He smiled at her wickedly. "Fuck, James. When'd you get so horny?"

He grinned as he sank to his knees between hers. "Oh, is this one of your brilliant not rhetorical questions, Head Girl Evans?" His fingers trailed up her calves, over her quads, and disappeared under her skirt. "You can't annihilate Slytherins, boss people around," he planted wet, erotic kisses on her inner thigh as he continued, "declare to a room full of your peers that you're shagging me," Lily let out a little gasp as he bit down, only to kiss her skin better, "then get so jealous that a girl even so much as looks at me, and not expect me to fuck you silly the first chance I get."

Now he was biting his own lip, hands hidden on her hips, waiting for her permission before he got too ahead of himself. When did her breathing become so ragged? "Well, carry on," she said.

He flipped her skirt up and dragged her thong to the side. "As you wish."

His mouth was wicked, his tongue sinful, and his fingers? They were just downright filthy. Lily found herself thrusting her pelvis into him, struggling to find the leverage she so desperately needed as her legs dangled off the side of the table, framing his face. She weaved her fingers into his locks, tugging on them to keep him right where she wanted. "James—"

He gave her clit a long, slow lick as his fingers pumped in and out of her. "That's it, Lily. I want you to scream in this office. I want you to fucking come so hard the walls remember you."

She'd always known he was an exhibitionist… but was he starting to rub off on her as well? She wasn't sure if he'd cast a muffling charm, hell, if he'd even locked the door, but she found she didn't care. So what if someone walked in right now? Let them. Let them walk right in and see this beautiful god of a man on his knees, pleasing her. (It was probably her euphoria talking.) Her fingers clenched.

"Fuck baby, you taste so good," he moaned, and she saw one of his hands disappear down to his trousers, probably to adjust his own desire. The thought riled her up even more. He flicked patterns on her clit and Lily could swear her vision went dark for a second.

Both Lily's hands came down to the edges of the table, needing to squeeze the life out of something that wasn't her boyfriend. "Shit—"

"I'm not gonna be able to see anything else, baby. Every time we're in this room, every meeting we have, I'm gonna see you spread out, just like this."

Lily tossed her head back, unable to look at him when his eyes gleamed with this much lust and passion. His words fucking got to her, turned her on so much more than she ever would have thought merely speaking could do. She had no idea just how badly her dumb 'no talking' rule had limited him. How much it cost me if this is what it does, fuck. He made another hard bite on her thigh, bringing her back to reality. "Ow!"

"Stay with me, love." He smirked before lowering his mouth back to her core.

She forced herself to watch him as she felt her pulse ricocheting within her cunt, threatening to blow both of them away. "Fuck, James, I'm— I'm…"

He took his free arm and laid it down across her hips so he could continue to kiss and lap at her through her spasms. When she finally stilled, he came up licking his lips looking thoroughly rakish. "Ugh, I love when you come in my mouth."

Lily thumped her head back onto the wood. "You are something else, tonight," she moaned as he stood up.

"Come on, like hearing everyone talk about us fucking everywhere you went didn't have you going all day?"

"No!" Lily laughed, covering her forehead with her hand. "That was just you!"

"Fine," he said, throwing her a wink. "But you can't tell me it isn't nice to hook up outside of the dorm again. Bed was getting too comfy." She had to giggle. It has been a while since we've shagged out and about in the castle, hasn't it? "You down to keep going?" he asked hopefully.

She raised an eyebrow. "Wasn't that just the appetizer, Potter?"

"Damn right it was," James replied, eagerly unbuckling his belt and pulling himself out. Lily made to prop herself back up, but James stopped her, hand on her chest. "Wait, I wanna try something," he said as he slipped off Lily's flats and pressed her knees closed, bringing her legs up towards her own body, tilting her pelvis skyward. She had no idea what exactly he was going to try, but she was dead curious. "You ready?" he asked.

She licked her upper lip as she nodded, hungrily watching his next move, body already feeling like jello. He stepped into her, her socks fully pressing on his chest as he sunk his cock inside of her, finding no resistance with just how wet he'd made her with his tongue. "Tell me when."

She was thoroughly confused, but got over the feeling quickly when he started pumping away into her. "Yes, James," she whimpered, already almost at the point of overstimulation. To go from no sex at all, to mind-blowing romps on the regular was quite the adjustment. He had told her she needed to work on her endurance last year… maybe that was something they could build up, together.

As James, fully dressed and looking absolutely delightful, slunk his hips into her (at a rhythmic pace this large desk could actually support), he slowly started spreading Lily's knees apart in front of him, watching her face the entire time as he kept adjusting the angle of penetration.

What he was doing hit her just a second before the feeling did, her knees about halfway towards the desk. "Fuck, baby!" she screamed abruptly, one of her hands shooting forward to clutch at his tie while the other crumpled whatever stupid, useless document was beneath her. The immense surge of gratification she'd just felt jolt through her had been insane, and seemingly come out of nowhere.

"Found it," he murmured cockily, not letting her squirm her way out of the pleasure vice grip he currently held her in. He quickened his pace, trying to get her there for a second time before she could self-sabotage her way out of the orgasm.

"There! Right there—"

"Keep going?" That grin, that fucking naughty, teasing grin he was sporting should be made illegal immediately.

"YES," she practically bellowed at him. As he resumed shagged her, one of his hands migrated to her tits, holding on to them over her shirt as they bounced in time with his thrusts. Lily wasn't sure if he was doing it to pleasure himself, or to stabilize her, but she fucking loved it either way.

The voice she heard making nonsensical pleas and stringing together his name on repeat was so unlike any other she'd ever heard herself use. He was unthreading her, devolving her into her baser instincts that just craved to fuck and be fucked and, good Merlin, he better not stop now. Feeling his strong hand squeeze her thigh and seeing the way his perfect body moved as his eyes began glossing over and he gave her a pained, 'please don't make me hold it in any longer' groan, made her see stars as she became boneless on the desk. He pounded into her a few more times before joining her, her name hot on his tongue.

Lily felt like she could probably have fallen asleep right then and there, and wouldn't that have been a scandal? A prefect, or worse Filch, discovering the two Heads passed out and still inside each other? "Pull me up," Lily commanded.

James did, bringing Lily's lips all the way to his as he wove his fingers through her hair.

"Mm," she sighed serenely against his skin when he retracted the tiniest amount. "Someone's been reading my Kama Sutra book." She should have picked up that this position looked familiar a hell of a lot sooner.

"I did." He ghosted kisses over her cheeks and nose.

"And someone picked out a position I wanted to try with you?" She could feel her face lazily morphing into smugness through her contented haze.

"Four exclamation points, Evans. Four." He gave her a lopsided smile. "Plus it also sounded like a challenge on top of being a new position, so you know I was game."

Silly, competitive man, she thought. She was pretty sure she remembered the exact caption in the book she'd marked up so excitedly: 'Find your witch's favorite angle! Open wide to unleash the goodness inside!' It was crude and tacky… but also so fucking right. "When'd you read it?"

She felt him twitch, still inside of her and let out an unexpected moan. "Woke up before you this morning. It was right there on your nightstand teasing me."

She wrapped her arms around his shoulders, nodding her head exaggeratedly. "Uh huh."

"So." He pulled out and Lily hated it, audibly and loudly. He winked as he zipped back up. "Got any other positions you've been dying to test out with me?" The innocent look he gave her seemed to imply he already knew of a few.

She wasn't giving in that easy, no matter how good he looked rolling his sleeves up. "Perhaps. And maybe I'll tell you some day." She hopped off the desk and straightened her skirt.

The fabric hadn't even stopped swaying yet when the door to the office swung wide open and Amelia ran in, stopping in her tracks when she saw them. "Oh, you guys are still here."

It took all of Lily's restraint not to fasten her top buttons back up. Act calm, act natural. James, next to her, was cool as a cucumber. "Is there something you needed, Bones?" Lily was half-impressed he didn't laugh at her last name just now.

"Yes, sorry, forgot my notes." The girl reached for the spot on the desk they'd just vigorously shagged on and withdrew her crumpled parchment, looking at it confused. "That's strange," she muttered on her way back out the door.

James lasted five seconds until he burst out guffawing. Lily slapped at his shoulders. "You didn't bloody lock the door!"

"What's life without a little danger, Evans?" he cackled.

Lily buried her head into her hands. "That poor girl's notes."

James offered his hand. "Well, all in all I'd say that was a rather productive first castle prefect meeting, don't cha think?"

"You're not gonna like this."

When the couple had happily made it back to their suite, they found Mary waiting for them on the couch with Tiger.

"Like what?" Lily asked dubiously.

Mary dove right in. "So you know how apparently you guys were so loud—"

"Yes," Lily interjected. For the love of Circe, can we just drop this already?!

"Well, apparently it's because Brianna cast an amplifying spell."

"She what?!" James yelled.

"Yup," Mary answered, "just heard Lisa bragging about it for her. Turns out you could kinda hear it from our window, you know, since Gryffindor's the closest to your suite, so she amplified it because she wanted to embarrass the fuck out of you. For fucking."

Lily pulled her hair out of her face, hopelessly annoyed. Well, it nearly worked. Would Brianna still have done that if she knew it was Lily's first time having sex since her trauma, and how delicate everything already was for her? Would that have mattered to her in the slightest? "What does this woman want? I've literally never done anything to her in my whole life," she grumbled.

Mary shrugged. "She probably wants you two to break up."

"I'll talk to her," James' steely voice came from over Lily's shoulder.

"No," Lily tried dismissing, "it's fine, it's a girl thing—"

"No, it's my fault," he said determinedly. "She's mad at me." Lily was about to protest, so James added, "Oh yeah, she hates you, but only because of me. I've been meaning to apologize to her for how things went down for a while now anyway. So I'll just have to stomach the hex." He turned to Mary. "If I follow you to the common room, do you think you could get her to come down to talk to me?"

"Sure," Mary said, popping up to her feet. She looked at Lily and pointed her finger. "You're coming by tomorrow to help me pick out my outfit for my date."

"Wicked." Lily smiled. "Oh, you didn't see Marlene in your room by any chance… did you?"

Mary tilted her head looking up. "Nope, haven't seen her since Potions."

"Huh. Okay, goodnight, lovely."

James gave her a peck on the cheek and a 'See you in a few,' which felt more like a 'Wish me luck,' before he followed Mary out the portrait hole.

And suddenly Lily was alone; and for the first time in a long time, she didn't find the quiet comfort she used to in that. Now she was left to fester in her worries about Marlene without the unwavering love and support of James. Then again, you probably shouldn't involve him in this anyway… it seems awfully selfish.

What was she supposed to do? Rosier was right: Marlene had been a good friend to her when no one else had been. She'd been sweet and kind and listened… but she asked you not to talk, Lily thought begrudgingly. When you had something to say that painted the world in colors she was uncomfortable with… she asked you to just ignore it and let it go… as though the injustices didn't pose a far more dangerous threat to you than they did her. After all, if her boyfriend was (is) a Death Eater, what true risk did that pose to Marlene, a Pureblood witch?

Lily picked up Tiger and retreated upstairs. The next few days would be telling. If her suspicions were correct, Rosier had told Marlene tonight and she was currently grappling with it. Whatever happened next was up to Marlene. Would she pick her boyfriend? Or being on the right side of history?

Lily got ready for sleep and tucked herself into James' bed. This small decision backfired stupendously when she awoke later to a searing hot necklace and James frantically calling for her. "James?" she replied groggily. "I'm here!"

James appeared in the bathroom doorframe seconds later. "Oh fuck, you're here," he repeated, clearly operating on blind fear alone.

"Yeah," she said confusedly, still half-asleep. "Your bed. So you couldn't miss me."

"Sorry," he panted, tugging on his hair. "I went to yours first, and you weren't there, so I thought— I wasn't sure—" he cut himself off with a massive exhale. "It was stupid."

He thought I'd been taken away again. "No, it wasn't. Come here." She stretched out her arms, beckoning him towards her. He immediately complied, collapsing on top of her with his head on her waist as her fingers began playing with his hair. "How'd it go?"

"Brutal," he groaned, half-muffled by the sheet. "I wasn't expecting her to want to hash things out quite as much as she did, but man, was I wrong."

Lily was glad he couldn't see the little smile on her face. "Yeah?"

"Yep. Lots of chitchat. But I do think we came to an understanding and she should be leaving you alone from now on. I also finally got to say sorry about thinking about you when I banged her. That wasn't so nice."

"Nope." Damnit, even I could hear the grin in my voice for that one.

James propped his chin on her stomach to look at her. "Heartless, Evans."

"Hey, I'm not the one who was thinking about other people when boning."

"It was one time!" She cocked an eyebrow at him. "Spread over multiple occasions over the course of a year with two different women."

"With Emmeline too?" Lily gasped. This was news to her.

James gave her an easy shrug. "Sure. But she was in on it. Sometimes she charmed her hair red for me."

"James!" Lily blurted out. "That's borderline psychotic!"

"Why?" He smirked at her. "She had me put on a Welsh accent to impersonate her crush to get her off, I asked her to berate me; it was all good fun."

"I don't berate you, you buffoon," she huffed.

James crawled up to her so he could give her a proper smooch. "You did back then."

"Eek." Lily grimaced. "I can't believe you were having sex that year. We were so young."

James rolled his eyes. "Oh yes, a whole half year before we started doing it together."

"There's a big mental gap between those years, James!"

He kissed the tip of her nose. "If you say so." He bounded out of bed to the bathroom. "Let me get ready, I'll be right back."

She wasn't awake by the time he came back to cuddle with her and wish her goodnight, too wiped out by the day's drama.

Unfortunately, his warm presence wasn't enough to prevent the nightmares. They'd been far more prevalent at the end of last year, so recurrent in fact, that she'd slept with her curtains muffled so that she wouldn't wake her roommates in the dead of the night.

Tonight's nightmare featured giant snakes, as usual, all coiling around her and stopping her from moving and breathing; but this time there was also a rat. It was identical to the one she'd seen scurry under Adam's chair in Herbology last year. It wasn't acting like a rat though, it was just sitting there, staring at her, waiting for the right moment to ponce. Lily knew it would bite her as soon as she closed her eyes, so she tried to keep them open, staring right back at it, but one of the snakes was wrapping tighter and tighter around her neck, suffocating her, and she saw a flash of green and—

Lily bolted up gasping and clutching her neck. She looked around to remember she was in James' room, with his hand holding hers — safe, perfectly safe. She fought to catch her breath. The early dusk light was creeping across the floor, signifying the start of another taxing, magical day ahead at Hogwarts. Ugh, I shouldn't still feel this exhausted.

She turned to James beside her, still peacefully sleeping, snuggled up to her side, the soft morning sun highlighting his strong jaw and the beautiful disarray of his hair. She gently pushed it off of his forehead so she could have an unobscured view. She always found him handsome — that was a given — but when he was sleeping, he was at another level entirely. There were no bad guys he had to protect her from, no Head Boy, no, Marauder reputation to uphold, there was just this — James. A young, beautiful man with soft skin and pillowy lips that she could fucking admire all day.

A bit of the lingering guilt that had been bugging her for a few days now crept back over her. Lily hadn't missed the way James had profusely told her how holding her in public was all he'd ever wanted during foreplay Saturday night, or how he'd mentioned again yesterday how happy it made him that she'd admitted she was sleeping with him. I really did a number on him, didn't I? She never realized how badly he'd wanted this part of their relationship — the cuddles and the PDA and the absolute sticky sweetness — until she saw just how much he blossomed when she gave it to him. She was ashamed she'd treated him like her dirty little secret for so long. She, out of anyone, should have seen how much it was hurting him even when he pretended that everything was fine. He deserves to be cherished. I'll never let him forget that again.

Lily only had just enough strength to stop herself from stroking his cheek, instead settling on watching the soothingly steady rise and fall of his chest, his necklace draped elegantly over his collarbone. Lily still couldn't get over the fact that they were connected like this, always bonded to one anther through their jewelry.

"Good morning." His deep, scratchy voice nearly scared her out of her skin.

"You're awake!" she squeaked.

"Are you creepin' on me, Evans?" he asked pleased, eyes still closed but brow twitching.

Lily dropped her jaw. "How'd you…?"

He let out a big yawn. "I thought Minnie taught you stealth."

She flushed, tangling her legs with his under the covers. "I mean, she tried to— honestly, I was better at straight up defense. I'm not very sneaky." She frowned and tilted her head, looking around the room. "Kinda clumsy sometimes, really. Also, not very good at hiding my emotions—"

"Nooo," James taunted, his eyes cracked open and laughing at her.

"Shut up! Not all of us grew up lurking around under Invisibility Cloaks…"

James threw his arm around her belly before she had the chance to wiggle away. "Why are you up?" He looked over her body to the clock on his nightstand.

"Bad dream."

"Oh?" James regarded her curiously. "What about?"

"Huh." Lily settled back down against her pillow, looking at the ceiling. "You know what? I can't even remember anymore, I just remember it sucked." She pulled his arm up to her mouth so she could kiss her way along the veins there — her own happy little form of therapy.

He chuckled next to her. "Why do you like my forearms so much anyway?"

"Why do I like any of you, Potter?" she sassed back.

James choked. "Shit! Some of 6th year Lily just poked through." He rolled over her, peppering kisses all over her face. "Stay with me, babe. Don't give in to the dark side." She couldn't help but giggle away under her truly ridiculous (flawless) boyfriend.

James' owl finally arrived at breakfast with a much-anticipated update on his father. "Raven! There you bloody are," he affectionately called out as she landed on his shoulder and cozied up against his cheek.

"Who's that from?" Mary asked Lily as an unidentified owl dropped off a letter on her toast.

Lily opened it, face crumbling immediately. "Ugh. Some wizard named Gilderoy. He started writing me over the summer for a face-to-face meeting. Apparently he's an up-and-coming author and wants to write about my experience with Voldemort — thinks he'll be a hot topic in a few years or some load of bull."

"Seriously?" Mary asked, although now it looked like all her friends were interested.

"Why in person?" Remus asked suspiciously.

"No clue."

"Say no," Sirius recommended.

"I did. Multiple times."

"Ew, fuck this guy," James said, stealing her letter so he could read it, keeping his other arm casually around her shoulders.

Another note landed on Lily's lap.

"Oh don't tell me it's another one from him," Mary lamented.

But it wasn't. When Lily unfolded the parchment she was met with a hasty scribble. 'I'll do it. But only through you — no one else can know.' So Rosier's in. But not even Dumbledore is allowed to know his identity…? Lily guessed she'd just accepted the role of messenger.

"This tosser better give up soon," James answered. Lily suspected he'd seen the note over her shoulder and was covering for her.

"Hey, I have an experiment," Sirius said with a tricky little glint in his eye. "James, reach up as high as you can."

Sirius clearly knew exactly how to phrase things, because James eagerly complied. "Yeah?"

"Ha," Sirius smiled like a hyena, "would you look at that? You two aren't physically touching, and neither of you perished."

James rolled his eyes and flicked him off before resuming his original position. "Oh, sod off." Lily grinned at her plate. Were they obnoxious? Sure. Would they die if they separated for a moment? Probably not, but why risk it?

"Mary, did you see Marlene this morning?" Lily pushed the conversation along.

"Yeah," she answered uncomfortably. "She was crying in her bed when I left."

Fuck. Lily grabbed a few slices of toast and an apple and got to her feet. "Tell Purdy I'll be late, yeah?" she asked James, kissing his cheek.

He gave her a sad smile. "Okay. Tell her I love her?"

"Will do."

Lily entered her old room feeling entirely out of place. It was crazy how fast the same spot you had practically grown up in could feel so foreign — like it had moved on without you and you no longer belonged — as soon as you left it. "Mar?" she called out tentatively.

The bed next to where her own used to be creaked right before the curtains were cracked open the tiniest bit. "Lily?"

"Hi," Lily said awkwardly, not really knowing what to do or say. She settled for walking to Mary's bed and perching on the side.

"What are you doing here?" Marlene sniffled.

"Well, I came to see you." That sounds so lame. Be less lame.

Marlene let out a surprisingly reverberant sob. "Don't you hate me?"

Whoa. "Hey, hey," Lily soothed, rushing over to sit next to her former bestie, all her mothering instincts taking over in the face of such genuine distress. "I don't hate you, what are you talking about?"

Marlene leaned into Lily's proffered hug, squeezing her tightly. "You should. I was such an idiot," she blubbered.

Eh, only a little bit, Lily thought, but her heart soared. She didn't know. Not fully, anyway. "It's okay, he lied to you."

Marlene pulled back and wiped at her cheeks. "Yeah, but you told me. You knew and I didn't want to believe you, and, and—"

Lily pulled her back in when Mar started breaking down again. "I'm glad you know now," she offered kindly.

"Yeah." Marlene shuddered in her arms. "He told me everything." Lily could feel her tears through her shirt. "I almost threw everything in the room at his head, but he told me everything. I was so stupid, stupid, stupid! I should never have trusted him!"

"Sh, I get it." Lily ran her hand over her blonde hair calmingly.

Marlene backed up to look at her. "You do?"

"I mean, I thought you were being naive," Lily confessed, "but I get that you loved him."

Marlene let out a huge sigh. "The really messed up part is that I still do. And I know I shouldn't." It looked like that confession zapped what little strength she had left right out of her.

Lily considered this. If it came out tomorrow that James had fucked up in some monstrous way before they'd gotten together, would her love for him die overnight? No, probably not. Probably not ever really… "So you guys broke up?"

"Yeah." Marlene's back straightened. "He told me he'll change and all that nonsense, and he told me he helped you escape, but," her lip trembled as she looked into Lily's eyes, "the fact that I was worried sick about you, and then about James because of what you being missing did to him… and that whole time, he knew, he knew where you were and he didn't—" she broke off when she saw Lily was now tearing up too. "Crap, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to—"

"It's fine, it's fine, it's just a lot." Lily tried forcing a smile.

"Yeah, of course."

There was a little beat. "He agreed to be a spy for our side. I think he did it for you."

Mar nodded. "Yeah, he told me he would. He said he was going to make it up to me and prove he loved me. Prove he was worthy of me or some shiz."

Lily knew just how amped up her friend had to be if she was even coming close to swearing. "Yikes."

"Ha, agreed. He'd have to win the war for us to prove that."

Lily wondered just how far Rosier would go to show his devotion to Marlene. She looked over the heartbroken girl. "Will you be all right?"

Marlene wiped her nose. "Oh, don't worry bout me, I just need to wallow and avoid people for the day." Her face blanched. "Not you of course! I meant, you know, him."

"I know, I know," Lily replied quickly.

Marlene took Lily's hand. "Thank you."

"For what?"

"For coming. For giving me a second chance. I was such a… dumb-dumb and—" Lily chuckled and Marlene had to join in, "—oh you know what I mean. Thank you. Really. And I'm sorry."

Lily put the food she'd brought on Marlene's nightstand. "Don't be. We're all dumb-dumbs sometimes." She got up. "I'll tell the teachers you're sick today, yeah?"

"You're an angel, Lily, thank you."

Lily smiled, walking to the door. "Hardly." She turned around. "Oh, and James sends his love."

As Lily rushed over to the greenhouses, she felt just a little bit better about the state of the magical world. Did she think that everything was better now? Of course not, but she found that she was willing to forgive Marlene, even if she might never quite forget. After all, who was she to judge people's bad, uninformed choices, as long as their hearts still seemed to be in the right place?

Next Chapter: The Show

Oooooh Lily... always seeing the good in people ;) See you soon!