Whatever it Takes

Marlene and Alice were sat about halfway down the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall, having just watched Lily wolf down a breakfast in a fashion they had only ever seen of James and Sirius. They looked at each other, musing on the recent habits of their friend, and, given the two girls were never above a little bit of gossip, they got to talking.

"Don't you think Lil has been spending rather a lot of time around James and Sirius recently?" Marlene turned to her friend sitting next to her, both of them having watched Lily whirl down the aisle between the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff tables on her way to some activity or another (they could never really keep track of everything that girl did).

"I do, rather. Though she seems to be a lot more herself than she has been in a while." Alice replied thoughtfully, as if recalling the last time she had seen Lily truly happy.

"That's exactly what I've been thinking! Not that I would ever say this to her face, you know how she gets all shy and clams up, but I truly believe that it's been James that has made her come alive again over the last couple of months. You didn't see her when I went to her house in the summer, Alice, she was like a ghost of herself. I was really worried for a while there…" Marlene finished sadly, and Alice shook her head in agreement, both of them having spent more than a few hours worrying over their best friend's wellbeing since "the incident" at the end of the last school year.

"I don't think I even realised how much of a hold Snape had on her until recently. She never used to smile or joke around the way she does now, it's as if he managed to leech all of the light out of her eyes." Marlene finished with a glare over to where the Slytherin boy was sitting, his brooding eyes sweeping over the students milling about; always watching, always lurking, but never stepping out into the light.

Alice placed a hand on Marlene's arm, warning her off her predictably destructive train of thought.

"It's alright Marls, at least Lily no longer has anything to do with him. I, for one, am immeasurably glad she's spending more of her time around people who have her best interests at heart. I mean, we all know that James does. But, I've been thinking, and I wonder if, maybe, Lily might also have his best interests at heart, if you know what I mean?" Alice cast a sidelong glance at Marlene, trying to convey with her eyes what she was trying to say.

Marlene, having had the same thought herself, picked up what Alice was putting down immediately.

"I think you might be right, but I doubt she even realises it herself yet. If there's one person on this planet skilled at denial, it's Lily Evans."

Alice laughed at that, and nodded her head in agreement. "Speaking of denial Alice, I heard through the grapevine that you've been spending a lot of time with a certain Head Boy?"

Alice cast her eyes down to her plate, trying to hide her pleased smile and a blush.

"How could you not have told us? Lily and I have been pestering you about him for ages!"

Alice stood up to gather her things as she said "That is precisely why I haven't told you; you're both awful busybodies with no respect for anyone's privacy."

Though her words were sharp, she said them with an affectionate smile that let Marlene know she wasn't entirely peeved.

"Well, at least now I know that there's something to tell! Mark my words, Alice Fortescue, I'll get it out of you sooner or later!" Marlene called after Alice as she walked out of the Great Hall with her books in hand, both girls chuckling to themselves.

Later that day, Marlene and Sirius were strolling through the hallways, having both slipped away from their respective classes because, according to Sirius, they were both "practically geniuses anyway". Marlene had responded to that with a cheeky "Speak for yourself, Mr Black", earning her an affectionate smile and an arm over her shoulders as they ambled along.

Though they were both aware they were looking for an empty broom closet, neither felt the need to voice this intention. Marlene and Sirius had known each other since they were children, though Sirius' parents had made it very clear that he was never to associate with a half-blood such as her.

Marlene had spent her first three years of schooling utterly miserable at Uagadou School of Magic, in the Mountains of the Moon in Uganda. Her parents were working as muggle zoologists researching animals on the African continent, and, wanting a sense of constancy and stability for their daughter that they couldn't give to her whilst travelling, agreed to send her to Uagadou. Although the professors were utterly brilliant and the school itself was magnificent and the harsh beauty of the landscape was breathtaking, Marlene had found her personal life severely lacking, and she desperately missed the dependable nature of the rain and the soft comfort of the English countryside.

So when, in the summer between her third and fourth years, her parents sat her down, and announced that they would be returning to England, and if she would want to join them, she jumped at the opportunity. Starting at Hogwarts had felt for Marlene, just as she knew it had for Lily, like coming home, and being reunited with her childhood companion in James was a blessed comfort. Her fast friendships with Alice and Lily were the light in her life and the joy in her heart, and she couldn't be more grateful to have such wonderful friends.

Over the following year or so, Sirius and Marlene had struck a comfortable balance of quasi-friendship, never really feeling the need to spend any one-on-one time together but they were friendly enough in a group context.

At some point during their fifth year they had both started to acknowledge each other as something more than friends, and their easy-going constitutions and general affability made it easy to be around each other. Their base attraction for each other fuelled their fling at first, but it had been going on six months now, and neither had any desire to end it. Over time, it seemed that they had each grown on each other (no pun intended) in more than a physical sense, gradually finding themselves enjoying the conversation and company of the other more and more.

And so today they made easy conversation, or simply walked in comfortable silence as they roamed Hogwarts, only checking a broom closet every now and again, and finding excuses as to why each was unsuitable.

They meandered through many topics of conversation, from classes to Quidditch, and eventually landed on the topic of their most oblivious friends, James and Lily.

"I heard that you tried to have a little talk with Lily the other evening." Marlene asked Sirius, raising her brows as she looked up at him by her side.

"I have no idea what you are referring to, my dear" Sirius retorted, smiling smugly to himself.

"You can't say things like that to people, least of all Lily" she replied indignantly.

"Relax, Marls, I was already kindly gifted a lecture on the virtues of our red-headed friend from Remus. I don't think she's toying with James anymore. You can relax."

"You don't get it Black, do you?" Marlene playfully shoved his shoulder. "She LIKES him."

"Okay, okay. I'll take your word for it" Sirius chuckled and continued to swagger down the hallway.

"I'm serious!"

"So am I!" Sirius waggled his eyebrows at her.

"Ugh, you're awful!" Marlene said as she rolled her eyes and tried to walk ahead, but Sirius grabbed her wrist and pulled her back to face him. "If you knew Lily the way I do…." They were barely a foot apart now, and as he faced her, she could read the honesty and sincerity, for once, on his handsome face.

"I know all about James and Lily's affinity for each other. If not from hearing that poor sod wax all poetic about her for the last five years, then from what I can see with my own eyes. I'll admit, I have been sceptical about Lily's intentions, but since my so called 'little chat' with Remus, I've been more inclined to observe Evans' behaviour"

"Creepy…" Marlene muttered under her breath with a grin at the boy still grasping her wrists.

Sirius gave her a dry smile and continued; "I know now that her feelings are genuine. I won't get in between them again. And, just for you, my dear, I swear on the grave of my short-lived pet toad Scooby, to make a genuine Sirius Black effort to be better friends with Evans."

"You will?".

He nodded.

"Promise?"

"Promise." He said, kissing her gently on the nose and took her hand.

Her heart gave a little jolt as he laced his fingers through hers, as they walked back towards the charms corridor. They strolled in silence, each grateful for the company of the other, recognising that they were no longer continuing as they always had, but were rather trying something new, and somewhat exciting, for however long it would last.

Later that day, Lily and James walked into their Herbology class teasing one another; Lily about how James put in a surprising amount of effort in their Firebush project, and James about how Lily even LET him do a surprising amount of work on said project.

"I am not a control freak!" she laughed, slogging him on the arm as he mock-winced.

"And I'm not quidditch captain.. Hey this is fun! Let's do it some more!" James turned to his friends, walking just behind them.

"I'm not terrible at Herbology!" Peter chimed in, which earned an amused chuckle from James, Sirius and Remus, and a sound of retort from Lily.

"I'm not the only sane one in this group right now." Remus said dryly, met with various noises of outrage from everyone, including Lily.

"I'm not the disgraced heir to a pureblood fortune built off the filthy money of generations of blood supremacists!" which, needless to say, was met with a beat of silence and looks exchanged between the four others.

The quiet seemed to stretch between them until-

"Way too dark, Sirius…" Peter was the one to break the silence and wrap a consoling arm around Sirius' shoulders.

"I should've known, Wormtail, shouldn't I?" Sirius, unaffected, smiled a good-natured smile and ruffled his friend's hair as they took their seats next to each other.

Professor Sprout waddled in to the classroom, beaming with excitement as today was the day she would receive the projects her students had been working on for the past six weeks. As a personal interest of hers, she wasn't ashamed to admit that a small reason for her setting the project on the firebush was to build her own interest and she was secretly hoping some of her students would come up with some titbit or other that she herself had never thought of before. Honestly, these wonderfully talented students never failed to surprise her, in the best way possible. Merlin, she was eternally grateful to Dumbledore for giving her the best job in the world.

Professor Sprout collected each of the students' essays with an encouraging smile; she was genuinely excited to read them.

Lily pulled their paper from where she had it stashed between two books; 'keeping it perfectly pressed', or so she claimed. She passed it to James on her right, who passed it off with a beaming smile to Professor Sprout, adding "Looking lovely, as always, Pomona.".

Professor Sprout flushed and responded with an immeasurably pleased smile of her own, replying "Always a charmer, Mr Potter" as Lily once again threw her fist into James' left bicep, reprimanding him for his smarmy charm just to earn a good mark.

James, though Lily's fists could never hurt him, clutched his arm and turned towards Lily with a grin plastered on his face.

"What's wrong Evans? We can't all rely on our good looks to earn us A*s on our essays." He said with a teasing chuckle.

"That's clear, Potter, look at that ugly face of yours." she grinned right back at him.

"Touche, Lil" James said with a chuckle, ruffling her hair in a way that he knew she hated, smiling to himself as she playfully pushed his hand away.

James was pleasantly surprised by Lily's feistiness. She was slowly but surely becoming more comfortable around him, but although she had called him ugly plenty of times in the past; she'd never had that cheeky glint in her eye like she did now. Every moment he spent with her was precious and wonderful, and every day he hoped there would be many more in his future.

The Great Hall was decked out in various hues of orange, auburn and red, with pumpkins adorning the tables and bright candles floated high above, amongst the awnings. Halloween treats were piled high, with everything from spider-web patterned pancakes to pumpkin juice.

However, the festive decorations were in stark contrast to the energy Lily immediately noticed when she walked into the Hall that morning. The students were hushed, silent, and the sombre mood in the air was palpable.

Lily scanned the room, looking for her friends to ask them what was going on, when she noticed a large group of people listening intently to something Remus was reading from the morning's paper.

As she neared the group, she could make out the headline of the paper, the print stark and bold, accompanied by an image of the Dark Mark floating in the sky over a suburban street somewhere.

"…managed to escape the scene when the oldest child was able to side-along apparate her siblings to their grandparents home in Dorset. Although one of the children was splinched in the process, they were treated at St Mungo's and no other serious injuries were sustained at the time." Remus read aloud from todays edition of The Daily Prophet, every student listening intently, some with tears streaming down their faces and others with hands over their mouths in silent gasps of horror.

Lily took her usual seat between James and Marlene, questioning in her eyes as she silently sat. Marlene's eyes were welling with tears, and Sirius clutched her hand beneath the table in quiet support, though his own eyes were hollow and haunted.

James quietly turned to Lily, sorrow etched onto his face, and whispered "Another family's been attacked by Death Eaters. The parents were murdered but the three children managed to escape."

Lily's mouth parted in horror, and she looked down into her hands, which were now clasped in her lap. Unconsciously, she shuffled towards James' body, seeking comfort in his heat and his body and his presence.

A single tear fell from Lily's face into her lap, and she swore she could feel her heart breaking for that children that had lost their parents and who she knew would be forever impacted by this despicable attack.

James watched Lily as she processed the information he had offered her. He silently waited for her to speak, allowing her to lean into him but hesitating to place an arm around her, not wanting to upset her silent mourning.

Finally she whispered, her voice thick with heartbreak "Those poor children. Their parents gave up their lives to protect them." Her eyes still fixed on her hands.

James reached out to lightly placed one of his hands over her clasped ones, and quietly responded "They know how much their parents love them. They will survive with their parents' strength, knowing that their parents wanted them to live, for them." He paused, considering his own words before continuing.

"I would have done the same…" he whispered, which caused her to look up at him.

Her eyes were filled with recent sorrow and anger, but shone with a flicker of hope that these children might be able to go on to change the darkness of the world they now lived in.

As she looked up at him, it was as if he could see into her very soul, and he could swear he almost felt their souls intertwining and his heart beating solely for her and her answer to his confession.

"So would I…" she said, her voice barely above a whisper and only audible to him.

Their eyes locked, and then she buried her face into the crook of his neck and circled her arms around his waist. His arms found their place around her shoulders, drawing her to him like he had done after her confrontation with Snape, and like he hoped he would be able to do many times again. She belonged in his arms, just as he did in hers.

The news of the brutal attack spread around the castle like wildfire, the sadness in the air oppressive and all-consuming. There were pockets of scorn, particularly in the Slytherin parts of Hogwarts, where the attack was lauded and remembered with a grin. But, on the whole, the students of Hogwarts mourned the family in their own ways.

Remus, shaken by the news, was more quiet and contemplative, as if anticipating the bloodshed that would accompany such a public attack, and the divisions it would carve amongst the students. He watched the way it affected his friends, wishing they could all do something to stop it.

It wasn't as though Peter was unaffected by the news, but he was able to simply compartmentalise the information to bury his utter terror. To others he may have seemed unmoved, Peter's friends realised that his continued good-nature was his way of coping.

Sirius was haunted by the idea that the attack may have been the responsibility of members of his own family, and his guilt was pervasive. Even James and Marlene were unable to get more than a few words out of their usually effervescent friend in the weeks following.

Marlene, though she was concerned for her friends and for her family back home, became the rock of their little group. Sirius relied wholeheartedly on her strength and stoicism, and even in his silence found solace in her very presence.

Alice didn't so much as pull away from her friends but more so retreated into the arms of Frank Longbottom. His quiet strength and reassuring nature had always been a comfort to her, but now she was unsure how she had ever lived without him.

It seemed they were each coming closer together with those who they truly loved. Although their group may have seemed fractured to an outsider, those inside of it knew that they were reaching out to each other and growing the roots of their relationships.

James and Lily followed much the same trend, though they were both equally concerned with the wellbeing of their friends. They worked tirelessly to comfort their friends, bringing them cups of tea and offering support wherever needed. They dealt with their own grief in private, but usually together, sharing profound conversations on the nature of life and death and fighting for something you believed in, late into the night in the common room with their legs sprawled out on the couch.

And yet, all the while when they were touched by this resounding sadness, they were all affected by a deep anger, fuelling their fire and compulsion to find a way to do something, to join the fight against those responsible. They all desperately wanted to be a part of the light that could pierce through the darkness, and help those who were already taking a stand. They wanted to change the world, and they were willing to do whatever it took.