The first month of school passed by, without much incident, except that Remus had once again gone to "visit his mother" (when he returned he looked sick himself) and the Marauders were now serving yet another detention given by their Divination teacher, Professor Torres, for "destroying the true Seer aura".

The weekend before October, Professor McGonagall pulled Lily aside after a surprise quiz by Professor Kettleburn in Care of Magical Creatures.

"Miss Evans, may I have a word with you after dinner tonight, at eight o'clock in my office?"

Lily nodded and set off to find her friends, who'd gone ahead of her. She found them sitting by the lake, eating some pastries that Sirius had nicked from the kitchens, and sat between Remus and Dana.

"So, Lily Flower," Lily beamed, James hadn't called her that for a while, "What did McGonagall want?"

Before she could reply, Sirius interrupted her. "She wants to know why you haven't been going to any Prefect meeting, you nutter!"

James smoothly said, "Well, just tell her that being me is very hard, so I might not have enough time in my schedule for such Prefect meetings."

Clara asked, "What did she really want, Lils?"

"Well, I don't know yet, but I'm supposed to go to her office tonight at eight. D'you reckon it's something I did?" Lily wondered.

Dana reassured her. "Nah, it's just probably something to congratulate the girl who's got the highest marks of our year and fifth year."

Peter, who'd been dozing off under a tree nearby, jumped up, and squeaked, "I've to go to the bathroom."

They ignored him and kept on talking. "So, how's Quidditch going?" Remus asked.

Oh, I'm doing great, I don't know about Jamesie boy here is, though, might be tired from all those midnight talks with a certain redhead!" This earned him a whack from a furiously red James, "Snape'll never know what hit him when I aim the Bludger at his big nose. If we're lucky enough, Prinny will get a replacement nose for him that's much smaller." (Sirius was a Beater)

Remus sighed. He really loved Quidditch and enjoyed it as much as James and Sirius did but he couldn't play because of his "condition".

Unfortunately, the girls heard him sigh and turned their attention to him. Now, he looked weak and tired as ever.

They exchanged worried looks. "Are you all right there, Remus?" Clara asked.

"Yes, it's just, uh, my mother, she's not doing so well," he said softly.

Clara, Dana and Lily gave doubtful nods and went back to Quidditch, in which Sirius kept making plans about aiming Bludgers at every part of Snape's body.

Their conversation turned to the next Hogsmeade weekend.

"Remus, what do you want to do first besides Zonko's next Hogsmeade visit?" James asked.

He said thoughtfully, "Since it's getting colder now, nearing autumn, let's get some Butterbeers in the Three Broomsticks. That ok?"

Dana said, "I think we, meaning us girls, should check out the new branch of Madam Malkin's."

Sirius asked, "Whatever for?"

Clara sighed and gave the other girls a look that plainly said, 'Could guys get any stupider' and said slowly, as if explaining something to a toddler, "We've to find dress robes for the Yule ball. Duh, Siri."

"And, uh, James, Sirius, remember you need to, ah, get the rest of the ingredients for your, er, potion? With Peter?" Remus hinted, his voice getting softer as he tried to make himself audible only to his fellow Marauders. Confusion clouded the two boys' faces and suddenly, realization dawned on their features as they remembered their Animagus potion, sitting in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom on the second floor, waiting to be brewed.

Sirius nodded and curtly said, "Don't worry, Remmie boy, we'll get the, er, ingredients."

Clara, Lily and Dana, of course, had no idea what they were talking about and the Marauders were never this concerned over a potion. Dana asked what the time was. . James casually checked his watched and his eyes nearly popped out of his head. "Bloody hell! Lily, we're late for Divination! And you lot! You're late for Ancient Runes. C'mon!" (a/n: I decided that the fourth and fifth year Gryffindors should share all their classes. :p)

They jumped up and started making their way to the North Tower. Panting, they ran up the staircases and when they reached the trapdoor, their faces were lined with beads of sweat. Reaching upwards, James pulled the rope down and they stumbled up the ladder in to the room of Professor Angelo Torres.

"I saw you coming. Please, take a seat. We were just getting in on advanced crystal ball reading along with palmistry," said the teacher.

James and Lily set off in a corner, sat down on the poufs and listened to Torres.

"If you take your partner's hand in one hand and rest the other on the base of the ball, it will result in something. You have to concentrate on the person whose future you are reading. Three figures will appear, in this order: the first one will be your end, or, otherwise, how your soul will depart. The second will be your true love, or rather, the person you are destined to spend your life with. And the third is just a figure to show what the future holds most dear for you. You may begin," explained the young professor.

James took Lily's hand in his right (they both felt the same surge of electricity when James hugged Lily) and she blushed pink. He avoided her eyes and placed his left hand at the black circular podium supporting the crystal ball and gazed into it intently. What he saw about Lily surprised him.

The first figure was a flash of green light coming from a wand, and as quickly as it had come, it was gone. He watched more intently, as the second figure arrived. It shocked him even more than the first figure did.

Standing right in the middle of the crystal ball, prancing proudly, in its tall and broad glory, was a stag.

A stag.

A stag was what James was planning to be for his Animagus form. The impact of this sight on James was more than any surprise he ever received. He didn't realize his brow was furrowed and that Lily was watching him.

"What's wrong, James?" she asked, concerned. When he didn't answer, he gently prodded his upper forearm and he looked at her.

"What- oh, nothing. It's nothing." And he quickly focused on the crystal ball again.

The stag had disappeared and in its place was the third figure. A baby. Not just any baby but one with messy black hair and startling green eyes.

'Is that, James wondered to himself, 'Is that Lily's and my baby?'

He tore his gaze away from the now giggling baby boy and looked at Lily. Her emerald eyes shone brightly despite the fogginess of the classroom. She looked bored to death and she was staring blankly at a corner behind James.

'Probably daydreaming,' James concluded. He waved his left hand over Lily's eyes and when she didn't take notice, he snapped his fingers. She blinked rapidly and gave a questioning stare.

"Your turn."

Lily nodded and placed his left hand in her right. Her left hand went to the ball's base. She focused intently on the swirling masses of gray and concentrated on James.

A flash of green light coursed through the ball. She was stunned for a few minutes before the second figure arrived. If Lily was taken by surprise during the first figure, her astonishment couldn't compare to what she felt when she saw who, or rather, what James would spend his life with.

A lily stood, amidst the misty smoke. A lily. The flower that she had been named after. It was there.

She gaped at it and her eyes went wide. Lily shook her head, as if trying to shake out what she just saw. James looked at her and wondered if she saw herself n his future, since her reaction was unlike his when he saw a stag in her future.

And the last figure came moments after the lily faded away. It was blurry at first but it became clearer as the fog lifted upwards. A baby (was it a boy or a girl?) that had unruly black hair and surprisingly, emerald eyes. 'That baby.Is he James' and mine?' she wondered.

"That's enough for today. Class dismissed," Professor Torres announced.

James and Lily had come to an unspoken agreement not to talk about what they had seen. They headed off to dinner.