James pulled upward on his broom slightly to elevate a few inches, reaching for the tree knothole. He withdrew his hand holding a torn strip of film, and flew back to his house, entering through his bedroom window.
Lily was there, waiting for him. James propped his broom against the wall and pulled the window curtains shut, and then turned to her.
There was a moment of extremely uncomfortable silence.
"Hi," Lily said finally.
James handed her the Omniocular film and pointed to the floor, where other exposed rolls of film were spread out. To business first. Work was easier to talk about.
"They've been watching me since June."
"Oh, my God," Lily mumured. "Why?"
"No clue. I found the first one in the tree across the street, and Sirius found those in trees all around the perimeter of the property. When we realized they weren't randomnly dropped I used the Point Me spell to find them all."
Lily pointed to some ashes on the carpet. "What's that?"
"It was a piece of parchment. A black owl brought it. It was a note telling me where to find the first roll of film."
"Someone tipped you off? Who was it from?"
"There was no signature. The ink burst into flames before I could look at it too carefully."
There was silence, but that was okay. They were both wondering who might have done such a thing.
"A black owl? That means it came from . . ."
"Someone's had a change of heart," James muttered, and stuffed his hands in his pockets.
"Potter, the jury's made their decision," Lily whispered, looking at him intensely.
"I know. They won't release it until the morning."
"They haven't even told you?" Lily's voice trembled. "Well . . . they let you go tonight, that means something, doesn't it?"
"Maybe," James shrugged, and turned away. Maybe not, said the voice in the back of his head. "If they took what anything you said under consideration, I know I'll be fine." He looked at her. "I haven't thanked you for that."
She averted her eyes. "I feel like I should thank you. I didn't notice it until this whole court thing came up, but, erm . . . these past few months . . . I've missed you." If Lily had had the confidence to look at him again, she would have noticed how expressive his hazel eyes were upon hearing her words. "I know you were worried about me in there . . . but . . . besides the -- the deaths, and the possibility of you going to jail, and everything . . . I liked working with you again."
"Reminds you of the old days, doesn't it?" James said smilingly. Hogwarts days. Head Boy and Girl days, when they spent the majority of their time together, keeping order, helping students, abusing their priveleges to skip class.
Lily's gaze fell on the Omnioculars on the floor. "The old days weren't as scary," she said, attempting a joke that quickly slipped into despair.
James' gaze softened, and he put one hand on Lily's shoulder. They were very close together; James inclined his head slightly to press his forehead against hers, and they stood like that for a very long time, eyes closed, drawing comfort and hope, and praying that the dawn would not bring James's eternal confinement.
"Are you planning to stay the night?" James whispered after a while. Lily shifted.
"Petunia hit the roof when I didn't come home last night."
"Oh, yeah. I'd forgotten you're already in solitary confinement. What have I been complaining about?"
Lily grinned and stepped away from him. "I'll stay, if you promise to get some rest."
That night, James fell asleep happy. He didn't know what would happen tomorrow, he didn't know who had given him the tip, he didn't know who else in the Ministry had helped Malfoy rig his trial. He knew only one thing for certain: that Lily was snuggled beside him warmly, in her blue silk pajamas that he so liked to dream about.
~*
THE NEXT MORNING -- DECEMBER 24, 1979 -- GODRIC'S HOLLOW
James pulled back the covers, careful not to disturb Lily. The screech of the owl bringing him the Daily Prophet was what had woken him.
He padded down the stairs slowly, feeling detached . . . feeling as though he weren't really there, like he was walking in a dream. He picked up the Daily Prophet and unrolled it.
There was a one-word headline occupying half of the front page. The letters stared up at him for a moment not registering -- not understanding -- he laughed, dropped the paper on the table, picked it up, looking closer, to make sure, to be sure -- and he knew that the huge bold words above his picture screamed 'GUILTY'.
"James?" Lily's voice filtered through to him. James turned away from the paper on the kitchen table to meet Lily's concerned green eyes, smoothing hair back from his face. Sirius was behind her, holding up the Daily Prophet. James clutched at the covers, frantic -- "I knew it. I knew they could never let me --"
"Shh, James," Lily whispered, sitting next to him on the bed. "It was just a dream."
Sirius tossed him the paper, folded to an inside page. "Looks like you weaseled through the law once again. You're getting nearly as good at it as I am."
James stared at him, then down at the paper. He sat up to read the tiny column on the bottom of the last page, as unnoticable as Fudge could make it.
Then he looked up and laughed. Lily smiled at him, the first bright, true smile he had seen from her in -- months. James looked at Sirius, then the paper, then at Lily, and back to Sirius. Lily looked up at him too.
"We're going to kiss now," she told him.
"What?" Sirius said, taken aback.
"You asked for a warning before we smooch; we're going to do that now."
Sirius wrinkled his face in astonished disgust. "What a way to celebrate your freedom." He rolled his eyes and left.
Lily turned her eyes, full of light, on James; he cupped her face in his hands and kissed her as the sun rose outside on the fresh Christmas morning. They parted afterwards; James pulled her silken body close to his, his hazel eyes reflecting Lily's happiness combined with the early light.