She lay there, stunned, for a few minutes, and then sat up, holding her head between her two palms, shaken and rather terrified.  It had just sunk in that she had been in the middle of a battle—that she had been helping the same person that had lied to her, and that she also had performed a complicated bit of surgery, and the patient was still alive.  Exhausted, Lily closed her eyes as she sank onto her pillow, murmuring a few words before she fell asleep.

"Thank the Lord for that Anatomy class."

The next day, she slept all through breakfast and lunch, and only left her bed and her book to change the torn and ripped black school robes for some clean, non-bedraggled ones and to take a long, cold bath in the prefect's bathroom, which she liked much better, as not that many people used it.  But for safety's sake, she had donned her bathing suit.

That evening, Lily had just stepped out of the bathtub and into had nightgown when the rest of the school came back from the Quidditch game.  Although she wasn't the greatest admirer of that game, she nevertheless besieged the spectators with questions.  Joining Amanda in front of the fire, where she'd cornered James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter, they soon got all they wanted to hear and more.

James was one of the most excited.  "You should have seen the third Wronski Feint!  Whistler, that Italian Seeker, got three inches over the ground before he swerved back up!  I could never have done that!"

Sirius slapped him on the shoulder.  "Of course not; he's been playing Quidditch for ages.  I liked the Japanese mascots, though."

Remus, Eva, and James all burst into snorts of laughter.  Loud snorts.  They lasted for a good five minutes, and then they only stopped because Lily and Amanda were tugging at their robes, asking what on earth was so funny.

James snorted an extra time for good measure.  "They brought veelas.  Except, of course, they were the Japanese kinds, not the Bulgarian, and they were wearing all sorts of ceremonial costumes and things.  Sirius here jumped off the Top Box, right down onto the field."  That set them off again.

When everyone had sufficiently calmed down, Lily asked something no one had answered yet.

"So, who won?"

They all stared at her.  "You mean we didn't tell you?  They're still at it.  Score was one hundred to three fifty when we left."

"Oh."  Lily's surprise must have been evident.  "Isn't there a limit as to how long these things can last?"

"Nope."  James shook his head.  "Not as long as the Snitch isn't caught.  I hope this one breaks the record!"

"Oh, that'd be neat!"  Remus had joined in. 

James immediately turned to him.  "Remus, old friend, ten Galleons on three months?"

"You're on!"

That night, Lily was tossing and turning restlessly.  She'd woken up so late that morning that she wasn't tired at all, and finally she swung her feet out of bed, flung her cloak around her shoulders (it was a bit cold, for once), picked up The Grapes of Wrath, and flitted down to the common room.  But when she was coming down the shadowy dormitory corridor, she heard muffled footsteps and immediately shrank back into the cold marble walls. 

"Get off!  You're pushing again!"

"I'm sorry!"

"You'd better be!  I'm getting sick of this!  And you're getting out once we're in the library."

"Why?"  This last remark was one of the most aggravating whines one could ever hope to avoid, and therefore, Lily had no doubt it came from Peter Pettigrew.

"Because it's just a bit hard to look for a book with four people under a cloak."

"James, will you shut up?"

"Don't tell me he's not annoying you!"

"He is, but don't kick up that much of a fuss over it!"

"Fine then."

"Fine!"

"Fine!"

Remus' tired voice seeped into the sagging cushions of the common room furniture.  "Will both of you just shut up?"

Lily could imagine the somewhat shamefaced expressions on James' and Sirius' faces.  "All right, Moony, old pal."

"Moony?"  Remus was faintly surprised.

"Yeah.  You're Moony now.  Come on; we've got to get down there." 

They suited the action to the word; the portrait creaked noisily as they opened it and swished off.  Losing no time, Lily followed, her book lying forgotten on a table.

They pulled off the cloak once they were in the library, making their silent way for Madam Pince's office.  James pulled out his wand.

"Alohomora!"

Something inside the door clicked, but it didn't swing open.  Exasperated, James pulled something from his pocket, pushed it inside the lock, and twisted it a few times.  When he pulled the door open, they all turned towards each other and grinned.

"Who knows, Pince could be more related to Muggles than we guessed!"

"Why couldn't we open it with magic, but you could with a Muggle method?"

James shrugged.  "Search me.  Come on; let's go!"  They vanished inside the office, and soon they emerged, Sirius holding a book in his hands.

"Look!  The Complete Guide to Animagi Transformations!"

Remus grinned.  "Wonderful job, old buddy, old pal.  Come on; let's get out of here."

"Why so?"  James had a mischievous grin on his face.  "Just think of the stuff we could find out!"

Just then, Madam Pince walked sleepily into the library, in an olive dressing gown and slippers.  The boys and Lily ducked.

"On second thought," James whispered, "maybe we should leave."

They did, too.  They didn't lose an instant before leaving the library and stowing the book away in Remus' trunk, and, vaguely disappointed that nothing else had happened, Lily regained her bed.  She comforted herself, however, with the promise of some wonderfully interesting possible blackmail adventures to come.

Monday morning the Great Hall was filled with nothing but Quidditch chatter as the plates filled and the daily mail and random newspapers were delivered.  Even Lily was starting to get swept up in the excitement of it as they left the Great Hall for their first class.

No one was quite used to seeing Professor Binns enter the room through the blackboard yet, and several people were still letting out odd little screams whenever he did it.  It was unnerving, seeing the ghost of your teacher glide through an apparently solid blackboard, pick up transparent pieces of parchment, and drone on about the Civil War of 1243 among the Bohemian something-or-others or the assassination of the Duke of Hogsmeade in the year 948.  It was something you had to get used to, but it was hard to do.  Still, the students were adjusting relatively well, and they had overcome their disappointment when Professor Dumbledore refused to insist that Professor Binns retire.

The whole week was filled with bets of Italy against Japan, including how long the match would last.  The school was tentative for the week till they received the news that the game was still going on Friday night.  No one waited for Saturday morning.  By unanimous vote, the Quidditch fans left Friday evening.

Lily and Amanda were stuck at Hogwarts again, doing absolutely nothing.  Even Amanda had finished her homework by Saturday, and Sunday was a terribly boring day for them.  Lily had meanwhile developed different ways for her chessmen to kill pawns; one being to jump on them till the were flattened, another to run spears or swords through their necks, hearts, heads, or torso area, depending on the piece, doing a few karate moves and strangling the piece with its own collar, and, of course, plinking it off of the board, plinking being snapping one's fingers right behind the chess piece and watch it rocket off of the board.  Lily reserved that special privilege for herself and the Queen, who could do the same thing with her scepter and a borrowed sword.

When Lily had plinked the last of Amanda's pawns off of the board and watched her knight flatten the opposing queen, her friend was starting to get more than sleepy. 

"Lily, can we wrap this up for today?"

"Why?"

"My head's starting to hurt."

"You haven't been doing a thing!"

"Exactly.  I'm exhausted."

Lily rolled her eyes.  "All right then.  I'm going outside."

Amanda gestured lazily towards the sheets of rain hitting the windowpane.  "Lily, in case you haven't noticed, we've got the Hogwartian Ocean forming outside."

Lily looked.  "I didn't notice.  That should tell you something."

"It does.  You're mentally deranged."
"Besides that."

"I'm going to bed.  Have fun getting drenched."

Lily smiled as Amanda stood up.  "I've changed my mind."

"I haven't.  Good night."

"Good night," Lily echoed, but Amanda was already out of the room.  Lily shifted a bit on the armchair, and the cold weight of the necklace touched her skin.

"Should I," she whispered to herself.  "Should I?"

It took several minutes for her to decide, but she finally gave up and pulled the necklace out.  "If I die in a battle, everyone on this earth and beyond may reserve the right to say:  'I told you so.'"  She hit the necklace against the wooden parts of the armchair, and busied herself with trying not to hurl as she was flung through the darkness again.

She landed in the Alendoren Cove with a somewhat softer thump this time.  She sniffed the air, glanced hurriedly around, and noticed, to her relief, that this time the inlet was quiet, with no ear-splitting screams or cracks.  Lily made her way quietly to the cave she had met Tom in the last times.  He was there, as was Litharelen, with her arm still in the sling, both of them smiling at each other over Svordsja's back,; they were tending her flank with some sort of ointment. 

Lily harrumphed loudly, and both of them jumped up.  Litharelen's smile stretched all over her delighted face. 

"Lily!  Oh, my goodness!"  She raced for the redhead standing in the cave's door.  "I don't know how to thank you for what you did!"  She hugged her tightly, letting go when Lily started to exaggerate a choking sound.  "I'm sorry.  But really—I would have died—and so would Svordsja—if it hadn't been for you.  I don't know how to thank you!"  She hugged Lily again, and when she pulled away, the glint of something on her left ring finger caught Lily's eye.

"Lith, let me see that!"  She took the elf-nymph's hand in hers, and smiled as the delicate entwine of silver thread with a dark green emerald in the middle caught the light.

"Lith!  Who—"  She stopped as Tom looked up at Litharelen with a faint blush on his cheeks.  "Really?  Oh, I'm so happy for both of you!"  She hugged Litharelen and Tom.  "When's the wedding?"

Tom shrugged.  "I don't know…I guess we're just going to be engaged for the time being."

Lily smiled again.  "Well, send me an owl when you've fixed the date.  "I want to be there!"

Litharelen blushed.  "I will!"

Lily came back to Hogwarts when the moon was rising outside.  She quickly slipped into her bed, smiling as she thought of Litharelen and Tom's happy faces as they told her the news.

The Quidditch game was still on two weeks later, and it looked like James was going to be winning his three-month bet, seeing that it was already up to one.  The weekends at Hogwarts Lily and Amanda were spending alone were getting to be dreaded by Amanda.  She didn't have the Alendoren Cove to look forward to; she had her pillow.  And while her friend was sleeping, Lily would take frequent trips to the Albanian inlet.

Litharelen healed quickly, and in three weeks her arm was as good as new, as Lily had been looking up several healing charms.  The long scar that ran between her eye and her ear was almost gone; one couldn't tell that it had been there if a closer long look wasn't taken.  And Tom, though he did spend an awful lot of time with Litharelen, used up the rest of his time with several older wizards, among them Nott and Crabbe and Goyle, and others who had been fighting at that battle.  They busied themselves among Tom's seemingly inexhaustible library, searching for curses and things of that sort. 

Lily spent most of the time there riding, acting as a scout.  She had volunteered for this; she had heard Tom say that he needed someone to search for Ministry hideouts in the area, and Lily had told him she'd do it.  He was reluctant at first, but finally gave in; he was becoming bit more protective of her ever since she had saved Litharelen.  So she was usually to be found on top of Svordsja's back, thundering over the sands. 

She hadn't found anything or anyone so far; no one seemed to be in the area for a radius of five miles, so these rides were quickly turning into enjoyable excursions.  Lily ignored the fact that she could very well be killed or taken prisoner while she was working against the Ministry.  She still didn't know why she was helping Tom; it was like there was a sort of bond that made her do so.  It was still dangerous for her to visit him; she hadn't forgotten that he wanted her necklace badly, above all else, but all these dangers enveloped the Albanian coast in a mysterical atmosphere, one of fantasy and exotic tales and classic novels.  Lily was living in a fantasy world come to life, and she was enjoying herself beyond anything she had ever imagined.  It was as if she were a character in an adventure story; one that pushed excitement and danger and everything she'd ever dreamed of together, and the result was her life. 

The students were getting even more excited as a month and a half of the Quidditch game went on. They would return every Sunday night with their pockets full of souvenirs and their mouths full of replays.  One Tuesday night, after everyone had gone to bed except Lily, Amanda, Sirius, and James, the girls were pumping the boys for more about the match.

"So, what happened when they almost caught the Snitch?"

James grinned.  "It was awesome.  The Snitch was right next to the commentator box, and then both Seekers rush towards it—" he stood up and began acting it out—"and then Rafer, that Italian Beater, sends this mean Bludger towards both of them, and they swerve.  Missed it by an inch."  James plopped back down into his armchair.  "Blasted Bludger."

Lily laughed as Amanda stood up.  "I'm exhausted.  You keep on chatting; I'm going to bed.  Coming, Lily?"

Lily shook her head lazily.  "Too tired.  You go; I'll come once I can persuade my limbs to move."

"I see."  Amanda nodded.  "Which would involve—"

James, Sirius, and Lily cut her off.  "Work."

Amanda grinned.  "You've been around Lily too much.  I'll see you three in the afternoon."

Sirius looked puzzled.  "Afternoon?"

"Sure."  Amanda shrugged.  "I'll probably sleep in."

Frowning, James checked his watch.  "Manda, it's Sunday."

"So?"

"Hum."  Lily frowned.  "Amanda, do you know how much your grade will be influenced if you don't attend a class?  You might as well be failing with no chance of pulling up your grade, and wherever you wish to work will not be a possible job for you if your grades aren't high, seeing that no one wishes to employ someone who has failed their fourth year—"

"SHUT UP!"  All three others had joined in on this cry.  Lily glared.

"—their fourth year, you will most likely be living on the goodwill of friends and be an embarrassment to those of us hardworking, smart,--"

Sirius turned to James.  "What say we gag her?"

Amanda snorted.  "Everyone in favor, say 'Aye'."

"Aye!"

"Aye!"

"--and all this will come of your refusing to do your duty and attend your class which it is your honor to be able to attend—"

James joined in, decidedly.  "AYE!"

Amanda brushed a few sparks off of her robes as she turned for the dormitory stairs.  "I'll be going then."

Lily and James nodded.  "See you tomorrow at lunch, then."

Sirius yawned twice.  "I don't know about you two, but seeing that it's midnight, I'm hitting the sack."

Lily raised amused eyebrows.  "And since when do you own a punching bag that you hold boxing fights with in the middle of the night?"

James laughed as Sirius shrugged.  "Been doing it ever since I was three.  Excuse me, please.  I need to hit something."  Yawning again, he left the common room.

Turning sharply to Lily, James hit her lightly on the shoulder.  "Do you realize that we haven't had a fight in over a month?"

Lily shrugged his hand away.  "I know. You haven't been here."

"Which, in this case, is a good thing."

"For you."

"I know.  You enjoy fights."

"Um."

"So…"  James cast around for a good topic.  "You wish you'd gotten tickets?"

"For what?"

"The Quidditch World Cup, brainless."

"I do not, creature with a negative score on the amount of brain cells."

"Lily?"

"Hum?"

"Shut up."

"Make me."

"All right."  He reached over to clap a hand over her mouth, but quicker than he could blink, she had his wrist in a death grip, twisting it away from her.

"OUCH!"

"I'm not shutting up, in case you haven't noticed."

"I have.  LET GO!"

"Never do that again."

He winced for the thirtieth time.  "All right!"

"Good."  She let go, and he pulled back, massaging his wrist.  Soon, however, he stopped, looking up at her.

"Lily?"

"What is it now?"

"Teach me how to do that."

"Why?"

"So you can't do that to me, for one."

"Which is exactly why I'm not going to."

"Lil, please!"

"Maybe.  Are you going to let me go to bed?"

"All right—hold it.  I want to know something."

"Oh, dear God."  Lily rolled her eyes.  "What?"

"You're frequently gone from Hogwarts.  Why?"

Uh-oh.  "Oh, am I?" 

"You're bluffing."

"No, I'm stalling.  There's a difference."

"Oh well.  Where are you when you're not here?"

"I'm not off with Severus, in case you were wondering that."

"I wasn't."  He shivered.  "That would just be—well, wrong.  But seriously, you're always quiet—and about a month ago, after we were gone to the Quidditch Cup, you had a sort of odd scar on your arm; looked like you ran into a thornbush or something."

"Bingo."

"You ran into a thornbush?"

"Genius."  This wasn't a lie.  Lily had received that scar when she had been riding through a small forest, and there was a clinging vine with thorns that seemed to have taking a liking to her. 

"Uh-huh.  Sure.  Bluffing won't work.  There aren't any at Hogwarts."

Lily wrinkled her nose.  "I'm starting to hate you."

"Don't.  I've learned all this from you."

"I hate myself."

"Don't.  You're not very easy to hate; you know that?"

"You didn't think so last year."

He waved that away.  "I said it wasn't easy.  Not saying it can't be done.  But really, you are pretty easy to like, when you aren't holding lethal weapons."

"Um—thanks?"

"You're welcome.  That is—well, that was meant to be a compliment—I guess."

Lily nodded.  "I know.  And I said 'thanks'."

"Welcome."  They sat in silence for a few minutes till James broke it.  "Lil?"

"Um?"

"You still haven't answered my question.  Where've you been?"

Lily shook her head lazily, though her insides were quaking frantically as though she had swallowed a litter of Mandrakes that had decided to yank at the lining of her intestines.  Yank hard.  "Is that any of your concern?"

James wasn't taking any stalling this time, Lily realized.  "Lil, stop that.  There's something going on, and it isn't some silly intrigue with a Slytherin."

"Why do you care?"

"I care."

"Uh-hum."  Lily settled back in her seat, determined not to reveal anything, though she knew it was going to be difficult.

"So?  I've got all night."

"You're not going about this the right way."

He frowned.  "Lil, really.  I've got a feeling that I'm the one with the advantage here.  And I promise, I won't spill what you might tell me to anyone."

Lily couldn't repress the small scornful laugh that burst out, and James scowled. 

"Really!  Whether you believe it or not, I can keep secrets!"

She had control of herself by now, so she only let out a small snort.  "James Potter, you couldn't keep a secret to save your life."

"How do you know," he challenged.

Lily just looked at him, and James wrinkled his nose.  "Never mind."

"I thought so."

"You would.  But, Lily, back to what I asked you at first."

"What about it?"

He put a hand on her knee.  "Lil, you can trust me with anything.  I promise you, you'll need someone to be there for you when whatever this is gets more serious.  I'll be there for you."

Lily almost melted.  His deep blue eyes were so trusting, and she felt drawn to something that pushed her to reveal what she knew, what she had experienced, what she had gone through and what she was hiding.  She opened her mouth slightly; her lips just covered her teeth.  And then—and then—Tom's red, blazing eyes flashed in front of her gaze, and she drew back.

"Well then, you'll just be waiting till that time does come, won't you?" 

She watched James draw back, disheartened and a bit hurt.  Out of filmy, glazing eyes she saw him push his chair back and walk up to his dormitory, and when she was quite sure he had gone, she dropped her head onto her chest and closed her eyes.

Lily had been awake all night; her eyelids had refused to drop and her mind had been spinning around in circles, shouting at her and whirling and thumping the sides of her skull till she thought that her head would simply give under all the pressure and she'd be found dead in the morning with an extremely large hole on the side of her head.  But when the next day dawned, her cranium was still as whole as it could get, being hers, and it was a school morning.  Lily groaned as she stood up from the armchair and shook the long, now a darker red, hair back from her front and shoulders, wishing with all her might that Hogwarts served coffee at breakfast.  Unfortunately, however, this was only given to seventh years and teachers, so Lily was out of luck.  Still, she took herself downstairs to the Great Hall and slid into a chair, dumping as much of the chocolate syrup onto her breakfast as possible. 

Eva entered, sitting down next to her.  "Someone's got an insane craving for chocolate."

Lily shook her head.  "For coffee.  But Hogwarts doesn't serve us coffee."

"I noticed.  So you're turning to chocolate?"

Lily nodded as she numbly poured it into her milk glass. 

"Lily!"

"What?"

"That's disgusting!  Stop it!"

"Stop what?"  Lily looked down and saw that she'd covered a plate of eggs and toast, among other things, with liquid chocolate.  She set the bottle back down.  "Oh."

"Lily, that's nasty!"

"I know.  But you'll live."

"You might not!  Look at that—you'll either be dead from so much sugar or you'll be—you'll be a—a—"  She stopped, stuck for a synonym, and just then Amanda appeared over her left shoulder and dropped a suggestion of her own onto the table.  

"Like a Muggle cheerleader throwing a fit because her pom-poms got stuck in her curls."

Eva smiled as she saw Lily's listless look turn to a disgusted frown.  She pushed her plate away and helped herself to Eva's plate. 
"Thanks."

"Lily!"

Eva poked Amanda in the side.  "It's better than eating—" she gestured over at Lily's other plate, and for lack of a better word, gave the nicest description she could come up with—"that"

Lily didn't hear her; James and Sirius had just entered the Hall.  James looked over at her out of eyes with gray rings around them, questioning, almost, and she quickly pulled out a book, something rushing in her ears, something mixed with quite a bit of annoyance.

By the beginning of Potions, however, Lily was almost as usual, taking her pages of notes and giving somewhat annoying bits of advice; annoying because it was frustrating to be confronted with someone who obviously knew much more about the subject than the advisee did.  Eva looked relieved; Amanda hadn't noticed, and James and Sirius were too caught up with the problem of how to extinguish Sirius' hair before Professor Cauldwell noticed that Sirius had bright blue flames on the side of his head.

In Anatomy, Professor Maar took his time entering the classroom, and when he did, the students were on the edge of their seats; they could see that he had brought an animal with him.  He was carrying something wrapped in blankets, and it struggled every so often; it kicked as it was gently laid down on the desk.  Quickly, without hesitation, Professor Maar drew aside the leather-like covering, and the small golden head of a baby unicorn poked jerkily out of the blankets.