Chapter 1: A New Beginning-
As Lily sat in the window looking outside, she could hardly believe that it was almost time for her to leave this place forever. Hogwarts had been her home for the past 7 years, and now her time there was to become simply a memory. She turned to look around her room, which she had shared with several other girls since her first night there. She fondly remembered late night gossip and makeover sessions, pillow fights, and Christmas mornings. How was she ever going to say goodbye to this place? It had become her only real home, since her parents had died three years earlier.
Lily looked over to her nightstand and saw the picture that Jemina, one of her roommates, had given her for Christmas that year. It wasn't an ordinary photograph though. Oh, no. It was a magical photo, in which the people moved. Lily smiled as she saw herself and her three best friends, James Potter, Remus Lupin and Sirius Black. They were all smiling and laughing, as James had just "perfected" a new curse. The only trouble was that Lily was too quick for him. she had anticipated his attack and shielded herself, causing the curse to ricochet and land on another friend of theirs, Peter Pettigrew.
"Urinium excretus!" James had yelled, causing Peter to lose total control of his bladder and wet himself. Needless to say, Peter had run off and everyone else had a good laugh, once Lily had finished pounding James with her fists for trying to hit her with that one.
Smiling to herself, Lily gazed fondly at the framed picture and noticed something she could have sworn wasn't there before. She got up from the windowsill and walked over to the nightstand to get a closer look. It was a small black box. "Where did you come from?" Lily wondered out loud. She reached out to it and picked it up cautiously, unsure of what she might find inside it. Something about the box though seemed very familiar to her, almost as though she had encountered it before. She ran her fingers over the outside of the box, feeling a bit of a flutter in her chest. Slowly, she opened it, and the first thing she saw was a beautiful diamond and emerald ring. Lily looked around to see if anyone else was awake yet, but they weren't. She then looked closer at the box, and noticed a small picture was fitted into the top half of it.
It was James Potter. It was James Potter kneeling down on one knee. And then she heard James Potter's voice, "Lily, I love you. I have always loved you, and I always will. I was a fool to ever let you go, and I refuse to ever make that mistake again. Lily Evans? Would you do me the honour of becoming my wife?"
Lily gasped. Lily had dated James briefly in their forth year, but they had decided they were far too good friends to get carried away in a real romantic relationship. However, neither had particularly enjoyed seeing the other dating anyone else.
She then turned her attention back to the ring. She wasn't sure if this was for real, or simply another of James' pranks when she suddenly heard a voice come from behind her.
"Well?"
"James!" Lily felt her eyes fill with tears. "I - I - I don't know what to say. Are you serious?"
"I have never been more serious about anything in my life."
"But, why? Why now?"
"Because I didn't realize what I had until now." James looked into Lily's beautiful green eyes. They really put the emeralds to shame, he thought. "It isn't just the jealousy thing, if that's what you're thinking," he said flat out.
"No, James, I wasn't going to say that. It's just. sudden?" James gave her a look. Lily knew for a fact that it wasn't sudden. She had been dreaming of this moment for the past 3 years, even though they hadn't been together since then. Something told her though that James had felt the same way. And then she said it. "Yes," she whispered, barely loud enough for James to hear.
"Pardon?" James asked, with growing excitement.
"She said 'yes' you big git!" Jemina, Jem to her friends, shouted. "She said yes! Now go and kiss her already, would you? I want to get back to sleep."
Lily tried hard, but couldn't suppress a little giggle at this. James, however, took the opportunity to throw a pillow at Jem's four-poster bed.
"Hey! Watch it," she said.
"Well, I wasn't asking you," he replied indignantly. "I asked Lily."
"And she said 'yes,' as I merely pointed out to you. Now please, for the love of God and all things holy, LET ME SLEEP."
Lily laughed again before practically leaping over her bed and embracing James. "Yes! Yes! Of course!" she exclaimed, pausing only to give him a kiss on the lips. "Now come on, I don't want to wake anyone else up just yet."
Taking James' hand, she led him out of the 7th Years' dormitory and downstairs to the common room where Sirius, Remus and Peter were all waiting impatiently. Well, that's not entirely true. Sirius and Remus were the anxious ones. Peter however simply looked. well, nervous. almost as if he expected something bad to happen.
The moment they heard footsteps, the three jumped up. "Well?" Remus asked, just as Sirius said "Did she say yes?" They looked at each other.
"Was there ever a doubt?" James replied, smiling. "I would like to introduce you both to my fiancé, Lily Evans, soon to be Lily Potter!" he proclaimed triumphantly.
For some reason, Sirius, Remus and Peter suddenly started laughing. "What is it?" James demanded. They were now collapsing from laughing so hard and pointing at him. James then turned around to see Lily standing holding one hand in front of her mouth to hide her giggles, and the other behind her back. "What did you do?!" James caught a glimpse of himself in a mirror on the wall. He couldn't believe it. He suddenly had giant muscles bulging from every part of his body, much like Popeye. "Lily!"
At this Lily couldn't stifle her laughs any longer. "Well, you didn't expect me to suddenly start being easy on you just because we're going to get married, did you?" James did not look amused. "Oh, calm down, James! It was only the musculaturatus gigantium curse. I just thought that your body might want to match your ego for once!" She winked at him, but he scowled. "Oh, fine. Normalarium musculataratus." He returned to normal size. "Honestly, you have no sense of humor any more!" James noticed that her eyes twinkled as she said this.
At this, Sirius couldn't help himself. "No sense of humor, indeed!" he chortled. "You're gonna have a hell of a time keeping this one in line, James."
"And I plan on enjoying every minute of it. Now come on, let's go get some breakfast. I'm starving." And with that, the 5 friends set off for the Great Hall.
When they got to the Great Hall they were surprised to find that they weren't the only ones awake. Remus even checked his watch to make sure that it was in fact 6:30 am. It seemed that nearly the entire school was there already, and everyone turned to look at them as they entered.
"What's going on?" Lily whispered to James.
"I have no idea."
Then, in unison, everyone jumped to their feet, including the professors, Hagrid, and even the headmaster, Dumbledore! Well, everyone except the few people who had bothered to show up at the Slytherin table.
"Congratulations!" they all shouted. "It's about bloody time!" added one particularly feisty Gryffindor 5th year. "We knew you had it in you!" yelled a Ravenclaw girl to James.
"I knew this day would come," Professor Trelawney, the Devination professor, said, leaning over to Professor McGonagall.
"Oh hush!" McGonagall exclaimed. "You have been predicting Potter's death since his first day of classes."
Before another word could be spoken, Dumbledore stood up and raised his goblet. "To one of the finest couples Hogwarts has ever seen." Everyone cheered, despite the early hour. "To James & Lily!"
Startled though they were, neither James nor Lily could stop smiling. "How did they all know?" Lily asked.
"Um.. that would be me. My fault!" Jem appeared out of nowhere, with April and Virginia on either side of her. "When you two finally left this morning, I couldn't go back to sleep. So, I woke these two up and told them the news."
"Well, we were dying to talk about it more," April continued, "but we didn't want to intrude on your moment. So, we--"
Virginia cut her off. "We grabbed our brooms and kinda flew out the window, stopping to chat in front of Hagrid's."
"He overheard us, and was so excited," Jem took over, "that he went right to Dumbledore! From there it was a matter of minutes before all of the paintings were talking."
"And once they know a secret, the whole school does," Virginia concluded.
"Wow. did you guys take out an ad in the Daily Prophet as well, or are there still people left in the world who we can tell?" James asked.
"Who you can tell what, Potter?" snarled a voice behind him.
"Snape." said James, suddenly perking up.
He then turned to Lily. "Please, Lily, please let me tell him," he pleaded. She smiled and nodded.
"Tell me what?"
Sirius and Remus started snickering in the background. Just then, something caught Snape's eye.
It was a slight glint of light. Snape slowly traced the light to its source: Lily's finger! A ring! "No." he hissed.
"Oh yes," said James, gloatingly. "I asked Lily to marry me, and she said yes."
"N- No!" Snape stammered once again, unable to get any other words out. But then he suddenly found them and turned to Lily. "You told me there was nothing! Nothing between you and that, that. Potter!"
"What difference does that make to you, Severus? It's not as though I ever had any sort of arrangement with you," Lily exclaimed.
"And she never will," added James.
Just then, Lucious Malfoy stepped forward. "You keep that mudblood, Potter. She'll be your downfall. Just you wait." After glaring at James for a moment, he turned to Snape. "Come on, before you catch something." he said, grabbing Snape's arm and pulling him to the Slytherin table where they sat down.
"If everyone would please sit down, I have two very important announcements to make," Dumbledore said. "First of all, as you all know, the end of another year is upon us, and it is time to say goodbye to one of the most outstanding 7th year classes Hogwarts has ever seen. I hope that everyone will attend tomorrow's graduation festivities, as I am sure you will all be pleasantly surprised at what we have in store. Secondly, tuck in!" No sooner were the words spoken when the food appeared on all of the tables.
"Weird. that was the first time Dumbledore ever made a speech before breakfast," commented Remus.
"I know! I wonder why today is so special." Lily trailed off.
James looked at her in disbelief. "Um, hi? Remember me?"
"And you are.?" James' jaw dropped. "I'm only kidding. I just didn't realize that everyone would be so excited on our day."
"Your day? Do you not realize what today is? We only have another 48 hours before we're out of here! Forever! This is too cool!" Sirius appeared to be starting on another of his over-excited tangents. "Just another 48 hours until we don't have school any more! No more classes, no more grades, no more tests! NO MORE NOTES ABOUT NOT PRACTICING MAGIC DURING THE SUMMER!" Sirius suddenly realized that it wasn't only James, Lily, Remus and Peter staring at him. it seemed that the entire student body was doing it as well.
"You may step down from your soap box now, Mr. Black," Professor McGonagall said, staring him down.
"Sorry, Professor," he muttered, blushing as all of his friends started to laugh.
After breakfast, all of the students either returned to their house common rooms or else went outside to wander around the grounds. Much to Lily's surprise, this included James, who simply gave her a quick kiss on the cheek, a rushed "love ya!" and then ran off with his friends.
"What the hell?" Lily said, amazed.
"I have no idea." answered Jem. "Come on though, let's go lie out by the lake and maybe actually get you some colour, you pale thing!" She laughed, and joined by the other girls, headed up to the dormitory to change.
The four girls spent a relaxing afternoon lying out on the shore of the lake reading magazines, talking and giggling. Everyone was simply awed by the beautiful ring and how the sun's rays caught it, just perfectly.
Out of nowhere then, a shadow crept across Lily's figure. It was a moment before she recognized her snowy owl, Scarlet. Scarlet dropped a note on Lily's lap and after nipping at her finger gently, flew off, back to the owlry.
"What's that?" Virginia asked.
"It's from James," Lily said dreamily. She then read out loud:
"My dearest fiancée, Meet me tonight outside of the main entrance at 10pm. It has been long enough since we had any time alone, and I can't stand to wait any longer. I'll see you then. Love, with all my heart, James."
"You are sooooo lucky, Lil!" exclaimed April.
"I wish Sirius was more like him," piped in Jem.
Lily giggled before saying "No you don't." And she winked at her.
"Well, we need to find you the perfect outfit to wear! Something sexy, but not scandalous... sleek..." Virginia trailed off.
"I have just the thing!" yelled Jem. And with that, the girls were off, rushing inside to get Lily ready for her big date.
The girls were too excited and anxious to even go downstairs for dinner, which while the boys did think it was rather odd, they didn't approach them about it. "Don't worry about us, Lily, we'll just get something from the house elves later," April assured her.
"Well, if you insist." Lily agreed.
Lily felt as though she was getting ready for the 7th years' ball again. First came the facial scrub, then the mask. Once that was over and done with, April waxed Lily's eyebrows while Virginia set to work on her hair. For once, the pain of the waxing was ignored though, as Lily was too distracted by thoughts of James.
"He is the man I'm going to marry," she whispered to herself, "he is the man I'm going to spend the rest of my life with."
By 9:45 Lily was ready to go. She borrowed a muggle outfit from Jem, since she herself didn't have anything appropriate. It was a sleek black mid- thigh skirt with a small slit on either side. With this she wore an emerald green, off the shoulder, shirt. Completing the outfit was her pair of slightly platform black Mary Janes.
"You look perfect!" squealed Jem.
"Time to go! Wish me luck," Lily said, as she left the room.
"Good luck!" they yelled after her.
Lily made it out there to meet James with 5 minutes to spare. Her heart was pounding in her chest, she was so nervous and excited. This was going to be their first time really alone. They had spent time together before, but there was always someone else lurking around, or else it was in Hosgmeade, surrounded by other students and teachers. Just then a noise came from behind her.
"You made it," James said, calmly. He then took a good look at her in the moonlight, and could hardly believe what he saw. "You look incredible!"
"What, this old thing?" she said, flashing him her prize winning smile. She then noticed that James had not arrived empty handed. "What's all that?" she asked.
"Just a picnic blanket and some dinner, since you didn't make it down to eat earlier."
"You are too sweet."
"Shall we?" James said, beaming with pride as he extended his arm to Lily.
"Thank you, kind sir," she said, accepting his arm. They then walked off, towards a secluded area just inside the Forbidden Forrest.
When they reached an area that seemed private enough, James spread out the blanket and started to set the food out. He even brought out candles for the extra romantic touch. Lily was beside herself with joy.
Well, maybe joy wasn't exactly the right word. Excitement. That's it, thought Lily to herself. She gazed at James lovingly in the moonlight. Before she realized what was happening, James had leaned across the picnic spread and started to kiss her. She had been kissed by James quite a few times before, but never with this fervor. She quickly dismissed any inhibitions and allowed herself to fall into the kiss.
It wasn't until James' hands started to roam from her back to her shoulders and then to her chest that Lily pulled back. "What are you doing?" she breathed.
"Just got into the moment, I guess. I suppose we could stop and go back, if you really want to," James said, rather meanly.
"No, it's not that. it's just. well, it's been a long time, and it seems kind of fast."
"Lily, we're engaged. It's ok," he insisted. And to that, she conceded, if somewhat reluctantly. With that, James kissed her again and picked up where he left off, not noticing that Lily was not completely comfortable with the situation.
Jem, April and Virginia were all sitting in the Gryffindor common room whispering and giggling about Lily and James. "What do you think they're doing now?" an anxious April asked.
"I don't know, but it's gotta be better than this," said Jem, looking around. Virginia responded by throwing a cushion at her. They all laughed.
"Could you believe how quickly he got that snitch?" Sirius exclaimed, his voice coming from the stairs to the boys' dormitory.
"I know! If only we could fly like that!" said Remus.
The boys came into view just then.
"Well, I don't know about you two, but I could definitely do it," said James proudly.
All three girls immediately looked up and screamed.
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE?!" they shouted in unison at James, who looked very surprised.
"Um. I live here? This is the house common room. Since when can't I be here?"
"But- what about Li-?" April started just as James asked "Where's Lily?"
"She's with you! Or she's supposed to be!" cried Jem.
"What are you talking about," James said, confused by the situation.
"She got your owl this afternoon saying to meet her out front, that you wanted some time alone!" April stated.
"What did you think we were getting her all ready for? A relaxing night of chess by the fire!?" declared Virginia.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa." said Sirius. "Lily got an owl from James, which he has no recollection of ever sending, to meet him outside?" The girls nodded.
"I have to find her! She could be in real trouble!" James shouted, bolting out of the common room and through the portrait hole.
"You're running awfully late! She left over an hour ago!" the Fat Lady in the portrait yelled after him.
James raced out of the castle and started to look for Lily immediately. Unfortunately he couldn't find her, and it seemed as though he was yelling for her in vain. He was just about to head back inside to look for her when he heard a yell coming from the forbidden forest.
"Stop it!" It was Lily's voice! James rushed toward the forest as quickly as his legs would carry him, when he heard another voice yell, but this was from behind him.
"Mollusca deceleratus!" it said. Unfortunately, James knew what was coming with those words. his pace immediately slowed down to that of a snail! He was now furious. Barely able to move, he kept hearing Lily's voice screaming out for help. His eyes kept darting around searching for the source of the jinx, while he kept trying to inch his way closer to the edge of the forest to save Lily.
It was all Lily could do to keep the boy she thought was James in line. He kept trying to make more and more moves on her, sneaking his hands under her top, or kissing her with even more passion than before. He refused to stop, no matter what she said.
"James!" Lily said, gasping for air. "What are you doing? GET OFF!" Unfortunately, he was much stronger than her.
"You know you like it," he retorted, covering her mouth with his own to muffle her screams.
The real James was growing desperate. How was he ever going to make it to Lily?
James knew that he didn't have time to reach for his wand. By the time he would have it in his hand, whoever had jinxed him would be able to get there and grab it from him. What he needed was help. Luckily, at that moment, that's what he got.
"Look! He's over there!" shouted Sirius, running out of the castle with Remus. Even Peter was there, lagging behind as usual. "What happened?"
James couldn't explain. He heard himself talking a mile a minute, in his head, but because of the curse, he couldn't manage to move his lips nearly half that fast. Remus caught on immediately though. "We need the counter- curse! What is it?" Sirius and Remus pulled out their wands and tried everything they could think of. Nothing seemed to be helping. They then turned to Peter, who wasn't doing anything at all, other than looking around nervously.
"Peter, what is wrong with you? Come on, you've spent the last 5 months in the library, you have to have seen something like this!" Remus pleaded.
Just then they heard Lily's piercing shriek. "HELP!!!"
"We don't have any time to waste. Remus, you stay here and try to figure this out. I'll try to find Lily." Sirius immediately changed into Padfoot, a big black dog that he had illegally been becoming for the past 6 years, and ran toward the forest. James looked after him with rage in his eyes.
Just then Peter muttered something, barely audible. "Injudicious saunteranew."
"What?" asked Remus.
Peter then reluctantly pulled out his wand and aimed it at James. "Injudicious saunteranew," he said, louder.
Remus looked at him in disbelief as James immediately fell flat on his face. Regaining control of himself, James yelled "Come on, we have no time to lose!" He then changed into his animagi, a beautiful white stag, Prongs, and rushed to the forest.
What happened next, nobody expected. James found Sirius in the forest, and they each changed back to human form. "I think her screams are coming from over there, let's go!" James whispered. And they set off, wands in hand. As they got closer to Lily and the imposter James, the volume of Lily's screams and pleas got louder and clearer. Remus and Peter made it over to them, just in time to hear:
"James, get away! Stop, please stop!" Lily pleaded, tears now streaming down her face. She longed for her wand, but it was upstairs in her bedroom. "James, please. I don't understand why you're doing th- OH MY GOD!" Lily suddenly interrupted herself, as she realized what was going on. "SEVERUS!"
The body that just seconds before had looked exactly like James had suddenly started to transform back into its original form. Severus Snape now stood before Lily, holding her tightly in his grasp, preventing her from running away.
Seemingly from out of nowhere, there came three red flashes of light. James, Sirius and Remus had all performed the full body bind on Snape. Unfortunately, Snape was still holding on to Lily with clenched fists, so when he fell, he pulled her down with him.
James rushed to her aid, prying Snape's hands from Lily's arms. She just couldn't stop sobbing. "Oh, James, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean it to be like this. I should have known."
Lifting her up into his arms, James tried his best to comfort Lily, assuring her that it was over and that she was safe now. "I'm never going to let anyone hurt you, Lily, I swear it on my life." James turned his head to Sirius, Remus and Peter, gesturing toward Snape's motionless body.
Sirius nodded. "We'll take care of him. You just get Lily back inside."
With Lily safe in his arms, James rushed her back towards the castle. She was steadily crying into the small of his neck, unsure of what was going on. James finally got them through the dimly lit corridors and to Gryffindor tower.
"Oh, you poor, poor dear!" the Fat Lady said. "I do hope that everything is alright."
Just then James said "pensata provocazione" and the portrait swung open, granting him access to the common room.
Lily's roommates were awaiting anxiously for their return, but once they saw her fragile state, and the warning look that James gave them, they decided not to ask any questions just yet. James whisked her past them and up the stairs to the boys' dormitory, where he gently set Lily down on his bed. "Are you alright?" he asked gently, sitting beside her. Lily simply nodded through her tears.
Her shirt was torn. James hadn't noticed that before. "I'll kill him. for this, he deserves no less."
"No. you can't do that James," Lily said weakly.
"What? Why not? Lily, he pretended to be me, and then tried. tried to." he sighed deeply. "I don't even want to think about what would have happened if we hadn't gotten there in time."
"You did though. Please, let's not think about it. we don't have to any more."
"You have to tell Dumbledore what happened though. If you don't I will. Snape has to pay for what he did."
Lily looked up at James, looking him right in the eyes. "We will. but please, not tonight. James, this was our last night here. tomorrow we graduate. why put everything at risk right now?" She pulled his arms around her. She felt safe here. She knew she always would. "Can I tell you something though?" she whispered. James nodded, and she took a deep breath. "I knew something was wrong when I first met you- I mean him out there. Something just didn't feel right. I mean, beyond the way he was acting. I couldn't put my finger on it, but I knew it wasn't you. does that make any sense?"
"I know exactly what you mean." He kissed her forehead and pulled his quilt up over her. "Try and get some rest. Tomorrow is a big day. bigger than I would have ever thought."
Chapter 2: Dreams, Premonitions and Graduations
That night, Lily had a very difficult time sleeping. She kept having dreams about what she could only assume was the future. Parts of it looked wonderful. she saw her wedding to James, how happy everyone was. Unfortunately it did not seem that this euphoria was destined to last. She felt as though they were being hunted, and awoke several times in a cold sweat. Knowing that James was there beside her was quite reassuring, but there was still something wrong. something that she was sure had to do with tonight.
Lily shook her head, and snuggled closer to James, who had fallen asleep with his glasses on, and tried to go back to sleep herself. There was a stir of echoes in Lily's head that night, but not echoes of the past- echoes of the future. "No, Dumbledore doesn't have to do it. I will. I'll be your Secret-Keeper," said Sirius's voice. "A son! Lily, our son!" she heard James say. "There he is! Harry Potter! The Boy Who Lived!" said a stranger's voice. Lily found that one to be quite odd, until she heard something even more terrifying. It was her! She heard herself screaming: "No! Not Harry! Please. have mercy. have mercy."
"Lily, Lily!" James shouted. "Get McGonagall, Madam Pomfrey, Dumbledore- whoever you can! Just go now!"
Lily could feel herself being pulled back into the present. By the time she opened her eyes, half of the Hogwarts professors were in the room, along with most of Gryffindor house.
"Most peculiar, indeed," Dumbledore said, examining her through his spectacles. "Ah, yes. How are you feeling, Miss Evans?"
"Fine," she said weakly, despite the fact that her heart was pounding and she was a bit confused by why everyone was in the room.
"Perhaps Mr. Potter should take you to the hospital wing so that Madame Pomfrey can examine you properly," Dumbledore suggested.
"No, sir. I'm fine, really," she insisted.
Dumbledore simply held up his hand, as if to silence her protests. "Just as a precaution, Miss Evans. We want you to be well rested for the graduation festivities this afternoon."
With those words, everyone knew that the matter was settled. The room gradually cleared out and James helped Lily to her feet.
"Really, James. I'm fine! I don't know what all this fuss is about."
"You really have no idea?" Lily shook her head, and James sighed. "Lily, you were screaming terrible things in your sleep. we all thought that you were being killed!"
Lily's eyed opened wide. "What did you say?"
"You were screaming bloody murder," Sirius said.
"You're not helping," James told him. He turned back to Lily. "I tried to wake you. we all did. For about an hour, but nothing worked. You were screaming my name, and my middle name, Harry repeatedly. What were you dreaming about?" He looked at her with great concern.
"Nothing, it was nothing."
"You're lying."
Lily took a deep breath. "He was there," she whispered, "Voldemort. He was trying to kill our son, Harry. I tried not to let him, begging him to show mercy, but it was no use. Then he. he." she broke out into sobs.
"What is it, baby?" he asked, brushing the hair away from her face.
"He killed you." she trailed off.
James was quite taken by surprise at this comment. "He killed me?" Lily nodded, and James kissed her forehead. "It's not going to happen, we're going to be together for a long, long time. It won't end like that."
"But it seemed so real. I could see it perfectly."
"Lily, no. It's not true. Don't worry. Now, come on, let's get you up on the bed so Madam Pomfrey can have a look at you."
"Oh, you poor, poor thing," Madam Pomfrey said, bustling in. "Let's see what we can do for you." She began to examine Lily. "Isn't that a beautiful ring?" she said, looking at Lily's hand. Lily and James both smiled.
"It's been in my family for generations," James said, beaming proudly.
"Isn't that sweet. And what about this one? Another engagement present?"
James and Lily looked at her strangely. "What?" they asked at the same time.
"I don't know why you kids all insist on doing things like this. In my day, we didn't have any of this 'body art' nonsense."
"Body art?" James asked, while Lily, at the same time said, "What are you talking about?"
"This, dear," she said, as a mirror appeared, allowing Lily and James to see a jeweled skull on Lily's right shoulder blade. "Although I never would have imagined you to pick this particular design."
"When did you get that!" James roared.
"I- I don't know! What is it?" Lily stammered.
"Let me try to remove it then," Madame Pomfrey said. She tried 3 different spells, but none of them worked. "Not to worry, I'm sure I've got just the thing for it. Back in a moment."
"James, how? I mean, why can't she get it off of me?"
"I don't know, but I'm sure as hell going to find out."
Just then, Madame Pomfrey returned, accompanied by their charms professor. After three unsuccessful attempts to remove the jewels, he finally was able to get them off. "Onyx! Very interesting. I should like to take these with me, if I may, Miss Evens," he said. She simply nodded. "It is entirely possible that these might be what caused your episode this morning."
Lily shuddered. She didn't want her nightmares to be referred to as an 'episode.' It seemed so psychotic to her. Judging by the way James looked, he felt the same way.
"Professor Dumbledore would like for you two to go and see him now, if you feel up to it, Miss Evans," Madame Pomfrey told her, "Of course why you should, I don't know, since I'm not finished here. But that is quite alright, as I am never able, it seems, to treat my patients as thoroughly as I would like."
"And on that note." James whispered to Lily as he quickly ushered her out of the hospital wing. This caused her to giggle, which meant both her and James smiled for the first time since the day before.
Together they made their way up to Dumbledore's office. When they got to the entrance, James said "Cookie Dough" and it opened. They walked up the stairs and waited to be called in.
"Well, well, come in, come in," Dumbledore said to them, showing them into 2 chairs in front of his desk, before sitting himself down. "How are you feeling, Lily?"
Lily was surprised because until now, he had always called her 'Miss Evans.' "Fine, thank you, Professor. Very anxious about graduation, actually."
"Naturally. You are speaking. Provided you feel up to it, of course."
Now it was James's turn to be surprised again. He didn't know Lily was giving a speech.
"Oh yes, James. Our Lily here is class valedictorian. She will be giving what I expect to be a wonderful speech." Lily blushed slightly. "But, before we go any further into today's activities, I must request that you recount for me the events that unfolded last night. This will not be easy, but it must be done. The sooner, the better."
Heaving a great sigh, and prepared to go into details that even James had not heard yet, Lily began telling the tale of the night before. She told them how she had thought she was meeting James, and about the picnic. About the first kiss, and how she had felt uncomfortable. Tears filled her eyes as she explained how she couldn't stop him from kissing her or his hands from roaming over her body. As she continued, James looked ready to kill. Dumbledore however remained calm and focused on Lily. She then said how she was screaming for help when James's body began to change.
"And that is when you appeared with Mr. Black, correct?" Dumbledore asked, looking at James.
"Yes," he replied, angrily.
"Now, now. We still don't know for certain exactly how things unfolded."
"What?!" James cried. "I'm sorry, Professor, but isn't it obvious?! Snape has been interested in Lily for YEARS and would obviously do anything, and DID do anything he could to have her! He tried to take advantage of her by pretending to be me! And I don't think he was alone either! When I tried to find her, someone cursed me so I could hardly even move to get anywhere near her!"
"James, please, calm down. You may rest assured that there are many of us investigating what happened last night. I will not lie to you and say we are not taking it seriously. Quite the opposite in fact. We believe that there was some dark magic at hand, and the mark that Madame Pomfrey found upon Lily supports that theory very strongly."
"Dark magic?" Lily piped in.
"Yes. The skull mark that you woke up with is the sign of the evil wizard, Voldemort. We have reason to believe that Severus was not acting of his own accord. Now, that is all that I can tell you at this time. Please, do be patient, and I promise that I will notify you of anything as soon as I find out. You have my word on it."
"Lily, I suggest that you and James return to your dormitories and get ready for graduation."
"Come on, hun," James said.
Lily got up to leave, and then turned to face Dumbledore, "Thank you, Professor."
The two of them hurried back to Gryffindor Tower. "We don't have to tell anyone about this if you don't want to," James told her.
"Yeah, I don't think that would be a good idea, especially not today." Then, without thinking, she added "I wonder how Severus is doing?"
"How can you even ask that?! I mean, after all that he did to you!" They arrived at the portrait of the Fat Lady. "Graduation Celebration." The portrait swung open.
"You heard Dumbledore, James. It wasn't his fault."
"Lily, I swear, you forgive far too easily." James still had that murderous look in his eyes when they entered the common room.
"Lily!" shouted Jem.
"It's about bloody time!" yelled Remus. "How are you guys?" he added.
"We're fine, everything is fun," Lily assured everyone. She turned to the girls. "Shall we go upstairs and get ready?" She forced a smile.
"Thought you'd never ask!" squealed April. She grabbed Lily's hand and the four girls made their way up the stairs.
"I love you James! Back down in a bit!" Lily yelled over her shoulder.
"Love you too!"
Once Lily was safely upstairs, and out of earshot, James gestured for Sirius, Remus and Peter to follow him.
"Are you gonna fill us in now?" said Sirius.
"Lily didn't want to talk about it, but after everything you guys saw last night I think you deserve to know what little information I have."
"Why did Dumbledore want to see you?" Peter asked quietly.
James gave him a strange look, but quickly dismissed it. Peter was a strange and nervous boy, but they all trusted him. Why wouldn't they? They had all been friends for as long as any of them could remember.
"He wanted to tell me and Lily who he thinks is behind all of this-"
"Well, duh! We all saw Snape... in fact, we almost killed him," Remus stated.
"Should have finished the job, if you ask me," Sirius piped in.
"I totally agree with you guys, but for some reason, Dumbledore doesn't."
"What are you talking about?" asked Sirius.
"Dumbledore thinks that Snape wasn't acting of his own free will... that someone was controlling him-"
"But that would mean using the Imperious Curse! It's forbidden! One of the Unforgivable Curses!" insisted Remus. "Who would do that?"
"They think it was Voldemort."
Sirius and Remus stared at James. Peter flinched nervously, but the others failed to notice.
"Are- Is- Is he sure?" Peter stammered.
"He has no reason to lie, Peter."
"Right, right."
"Anyway, that's it... Dumbledore said he would keep me and Lily posted... let us know if/when they find anything else out. But you know what? Just before we came in here, Lily was acting all worried about Snape! Can you guys believe that?"
"James, it's Lily... she's like that," said Remus. "I mean, look at me... most people would have turned me away, or worse still, turned me in. But not Lily."
"She's too compassionate for her own good sometimes," Sirius said, with a grin.
"Oh, shut up," said Remus, chucking a cushion at him.
"Guys, this is serious."
"Right, sorry."
"Come on James," Remus said, "Let's go get ready."
And with that, the boys headed upstairs to change into their Hogwarts robes for the last time.
It was just about 3pm when Lily and James (and the others) met in the common room to head out to the graduation ceremony.
"Can you believe it?" April sighed.
"We actually made it!" Sirius said. "And without losing any points for Gryffindor for the last 2 months!"
"That must have been hard for you guys," said Jem.
The boys all had a real affinity for pranks, and had somehow managed to stay out of trouble recently. Something told Lily that this wouldn't last though.
"Let's go downstairs and get seated. This is going to be an interesting afternoon," James suggested.
"I really hope that I don't forget my speech..." Lily added nervously.
"You'll do fine, Lily. You always do," Jem reassured her.
"Thanks," she replied.
The eight of them took a final look around the common room and then headed out of the portrait hole.
"I can't believe it... the next time we come in here we won't be students any more... we'll be official witches and wizards..." Remus said, beaming.
Graduation was scheduled to start at 4 o'clock. All of the graduating students were seated in four sections in front of a large stage that was set on the quidditch field. The sections were for each of the houses, Gryffindor, Slytherin, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff. In the stands were the other students and the graduates' families. Well, most of them. Lily's sister, Petunia, her only living relative now, refused to come.
All of the graduates were present, with the exception of one: Severus Snape. James, Sirius and Remus all seemed to notice this immediately, and started smirking.
Lily hit James' shoulder to stop him from laughing out loud, which unfortunately caused Sirius and Remus to burst out laughing.
They only stopped when Dumbledore stood in front of a large podium and started to speak.
"It has been seven years," Dumbledore began, "since you all first set foot on the Hogwarts Express from Platform 9 3/4, not knowing what your future at Hogwarts would bring.
"Some of you came from families of Witches and Wizards who could be traced back centuries. Others of you joined us from the Muggle world, as you were the first in your families to show signs of true magic. In either instance, it is a proud moment for me to be standing here in front of you.
"Today marks the beginning of the next chapter of your lives. It is up to you to decide where you will go from here, but I have every faith in you all that you will choose wisely and carefully, and make honorable choices that will shape the future of the wizarding world for generations to come.
"That having been said, I am pleased to introduce this year's class Valedictorian, and first Hogwarts student in the past decade to achieve a perfect score on her N.E.W.T.S., Miss Lily Evans!"
There was a roar of applause, particularly from a certain Gryffindor, as Professor Dumbledore helped Lily onto the stage.
"Thank you, Professor," Lily began. "Thank you everyone. Hogwarts has been my home for the last 7 years of my life. I have learned more about the world, magic and life than I ever would have imagined possible.
"I have made friends that I know will last a lifetime, learned many lessons the hard way, and enjoyed every minute of it. Hogwarts has seen me through many milestones in my life, overcoming personal tragedy, and the greatest triumphs. And then, just when I thought that things couldn't get any better, they did.
"I am not leaving here alone. I have my friends, and now a family as well. I met my fiancé here, and I look forward to starting my life with him.
"So, I would like to leave you with these words. Every day is a new beginning. Today, as graduates, we move on to the next task, but we must be sure to keep in mind all of the valuable lessons that we have learned in our time here. We will all meet again, I am certain of it. Congratulations, everyone!"
"And now, it is time for the ceremony. If the graduates from each house would please rise and step onto the stage," Professor McGonagall instructed. Everyone did as they were told, as a large mirror appeared on the stage.
"The first to step through will be Lily Evans!" said Professor McGonagall. "Now, don't be nervous, dear," she said more quietly.
"Alright," Lily whispered, taking a deep breath. She stepped forward and into the mirror. To her surprise, she came out on the other side, no longer wearing her Hogwarts robes, but instead new robes, and had a diploma in her hand as well.
She grinned back at James, and walked off stage.
When James walked through the mirror and came out the other side he was met with wild cheers from his friends, fiancée and family. He immediately ran over to Lily and swept her up in his arms.
They were soon joined by the rest of their friends.
"Just Slytherin is left," commented Sirius.
"I know... I can't wait for Malfoy to cross through... it's just too bad Snape couldn't be here as well," said James.
"Oh no... what are you going to do?" Lily asked, with growing concern.
"You'll see," the three troublemakers grinned.
"Lucious Malfoy," said McGonagall's voice. He stepped toward the mirror, but rather than coming out on the other side with black robes on, his were bright pink, and fireworks were set off around him. Sparklers spelled out "I wish that I could have graduated from the Gryffindor House! Then I wouldn't feel like such a loser!"
James, Sirius and Remus all lost it. They were laughing so hard. Even the girls couldn't completely stifle their laughter. Come to think of it, nobody could, except Lucious and his family.
"You'll pay for this, Potter," Malfoy said under his breath as McGonagall cleared away the mess.
"So it wasn't a wasted two months, after all, huh guys?" asked Jem.
They shook their heads. "Well worth it, the laying low. Nobody suspected a thing..." James trailed off.
"At least now I know where you ran off to yesterday," Lily said, trying to stop smiling. It seemed that nothing could ruin this day for her.
That night, at Lily's request, the Gryffindor graduates all went out to celebrate. They didn't go into Hogsmeade to the Three Broomsticks though, where all of the other graduates were. Oh, no. Lily had a much more interesting idea for them. They went to Hogsmeade, but only to travel somewhere else by floo powder. In fact, the next thing they knew, they were all in muggle clothing at a muggle pub in London.
"This round is on me," Lily said, excitedly. It had been a long time since she was able to use muggle money.
"Are you sure?" asked Jem.
"Of course!"
Two pitchers of beer arrived at their table, with 8 frosted pint glasses.
"Bottoms up!" toasted Lily. Everyone else followed her lead and took a drink.
"Wow! Those muggles don't have it so bad!" said Remus, taking another swig.
The night continued on like that, everyone laughing and enjoying themselves, taking turns buying rounds of drinks.
After about 5 rounds, everyone was feeling rather... happy.
"This is great!" yelled Sirius. "Why didn't we ever sneak out to a muggle pub before?"
Everyone laughed. "I know!" agreed James. "We definitely have to start doing this regularly."
James was sitting with his arm around Lily. She gave him a kiss on the cheek when from out of nowhere they heard a voice from behind them.
"Lily Evans? Is that you?" said a male voice.
Everyone turned to see who was talking.
"Um, yes?" she said, cautiously. "Do I know- Grady!" she exclaimed. "Oh my god! It has been forever!" Lily jumped up and out of James's grasp to hug the strange man. James could feel his blood start to boil.
"I can't believe it's actually you! How are you?" Grady asked. "I have been hoping to run into you forever!"
"It has been years... I'm good... just graduated from school... what about you?"
"Same, I'm heading off to University in the fall though."
"Really? That's great..."
James coughed rather loudly.
"Oh, right! James!" Lily suddenly realized she wasn't the only one there. "Grady, this is James," and she started to go around the table, "Jem, April, Sirius, Virginia, Remus and Peter. We all went to school together."
"Hello," said Grady.
"Hey," "Hello," "What's up?" everyone piped in.
"Well, this is Grady. He and I went to school together, before I... transferred!"
"Oh! A muggle schoolmate!" James declared, rather loudly. Lily shot him a very mean glance that managed to silence him. Sirius and Remus started snickering.
"Won't you join us?" April asked, forcing Sirius to move over.
"Um, sure. Let me just let my friends know," and he walked away for a moment.
"What the hell did you do that for, April?" James demanded.
"He's cute!" she answered. "So why not?"
"This is just so random, running into him here. It's been so long, I've nearly forgotten my life from before Hogwarts..." Lily trailed off.
Lily sat back down next to James and poured herself another pint.
"Why didn't you tell him?" he asked.
"Tell him what?"
James's eyes grew wide, as did everyone else's at the table.
Lily looked around at them. "What?"
"About me? About us?" He grabbed her left hand. "About that?"
"Oh, James, don't worry. Honestly, as if I'd forget about you..."
"Well, just make sure it comes up in conversation now, cos he's coming back."
"Hi again.. sorry that took so long," Grady said awkwardly.
"That's alright! Have a seat!" April offered, patting the now empty chair beside her.
"Thanks," he replied, sitting.
"So, you know Lily from when?" asked Remus.
"We used to go to school together... then her parents said she transferred to a boarding school in France."
"France?!" Sirius started laughing, no doubt thinking of Beaubaxtons. Grady gave Lily an uneasy look. She smiled in response and he felt more at ease.
"I just can't get over how good you look, Lil. The years have been kind to you." He winked at her.
"You don't have to say that." Lily felt James squeeze her hand rather tightly. "OK," she muttered to him before turning back to Grady. "Things are going really well... between graduating and-"
James cut her off. "And getting married, we've got our hands full." He grinned, seeing Grady's stunned expression.
"You're married?"
"No, not yet. Just engaged. In fact, we need to set a date still..." James stated very matter-of-factly.
"Oh, well that's good then," Grady retorted. "There's still hope for the rest of us." He winked again.
James couldn't handle this. He instinctively reached for his wand, but for some reason it wasn't there. He looked at Lily who nodded, whispering "Don't even think about it, I have it and you're not getting it back until we're out of here."
So, since he couldn't use magic, he jumped up and punched Grady in the nose.
The girls screamed and Lily was trying to pry James off of her childhood friend, but she wasn't strong enough. Something had come over him. Sirius and Remus finally had to pry the two apart.
James shouted, "You stay away from her or I will make the rest of your life miserable!" With that, he grabbed Lily and stormed out.
"Jesus Christ, James! What the hell was all that about?!" she yelled in the street.
"What do you think? He was flirting with you and you were playing along!"
"You canNOT be serious about this. You honestly think that if I was going to flirt with another guy that I would be stupid enough to do it with you sitting right there?! Give me a little credit at least!"
"And why should I? That little bastard would have been all over you if it was up to him!"
"I cannot believe that we are arguing about this! I love YOU, James. NOT GRADY. This was the first time I've seen him in OVER SEVEN YEARS. So you know what? I'm going home now. And you, you need to get over yourself."
Lily stormed off toward the Leaky Cauldron where they had arrived without even looking back.
Chapter 3: It Runs in the Family
James was sitting on the curb with a dumbfounded expression on his face by the time the others made it out of the pub.
"Where's Lily?" Jem asked with great concern.
"She left... headed back to school."
"Oh god, what did you do now, James?" Virginia asked.
"Nothing! We just had a fight, that's all..."
"Come on, up you go." Sirius lifted James up to his feet. "I think you've had enough to drink for one night."
"We had better head back too, and try to find Lily," Remus added with a sigh, all the while thinking so much for our fun night out...
It was almost 2am when the seven drunken, exhausted Gryffindors entered into their common room.
"Thank god!" said Jem, losing a battle against the yawn she was trying to suppress.
"I second that," Peter said. "I'm going up to bed."
"You're not gonna help look for Lily?" James asked.
"I'm sure you'll find her, I'm just really tired."
"Yeah, do you guys want help, or do you mind if we go to bed too?" asked April.
"That's fine... just go. We'll manage without you." roared James, heading back toward the portrait hole.
"Wait a sec there, buddy," Sirius said, grabbing the back of James' shirt. "I have a better idea."
"Ooh! Good thinking!" chimed in Remus.
The girls had given up on the guys and headed up to bed. "G'nite!" the yawned from the stairs up to their dorm.
"I'll be right back," said Remus, and he ran upstairs after Peter.
"You, sit, and drink some water," Sirius instructed James, handing him a glass.
"I'm fine," James insisted, starting to turn red again. He now spoke through gritted teeth "I... just... want... to... talk... to... Lily..."
"Ok! I got it!" came Remus's voice from the stairs. He held out the Marauder's Map in front of him, which caused James to calm down a little, even though he still snatched it out of Remus's hands.
"Okay, where is she... where is she..." James was anxiously skimming every inch of the map looking for Lily's name. "There!" he yelled, pointing at the hospital wing.
"Severus? Are you awake?" Lily whispered as she crept toward his hospital bedside.
"Who...?" he answered weakly. "Lily..."
"Shh... it's alright," she said, taking his hand. "Everything is going to be alright..."
"Lily, I don't know what happened... I... I'm sorry," Snape spoke barely above a whisper.
"I know, it wasn't your fault... I'm just sorry that they did this to you."
"No... I mean, really, if I had hurt you at all... I wouldn't be able to live with myself..."
"You didn't though. That's all that matters. Just try to rest," she said, stroking his hand. "You have been a good friend to me, perhaps too good at times..."
"That little slut!" James shouted as he stormed out of Gryffindor common room. Remus and Sirius ran after him. "When I find that little b1tch, I will make her pay for this... and that stupid ass, I don't know why she trusts him! He is evil!"
James was beyond anger, beyond hurt. He was flying somewhere around murderous rampage now. Sirius and Remus knew that they were going to have a hard time controlling him when they found Lily, but it still hadn't occurred to them why.
Sirius and Remus tailed James all the way to the hospital wing, where he came to an abrupt halt. "Shh!" he commanded.
They then tiptoed inside, careful not to make a sound. It was obvious that James was listening for something.
"Lily, really... I am very sorry for everything. I shouldn't have been upset with you about Potter," Snape insisted.
James looked like he was ready to kill both Snape and Lily right about now.
Lily sighed. "I know you don't like him... but I love him. I hope that you can understand that one day..."
"You're too good for him. He doesn't deserve you."
"Oh, and I suppose that she'd be far better off with you?!" demanded James, bursting through the curtain walls.
"James!" Lily exclaimed, just as Snape's eyes narrowed and he practically spat out the word "Potter."
"My god, Lily! Have you no shame? Or dignity?"
"You will watch your mouth around my friends, James!"
"Friends?! How can you consider this slime to be a friend? First, he does nothing but fight with us, your real friends since day 1, and then he practically rapes you! And after all of this, YOU FORGIVE HIM?!"
"I WOULD FORGIVE HIM FOR THAT, SOMETHING WHICH HE HAD NO CONTROL OVER, LONG BEFORE I FORGIVE YOU FOR TONIGHT!"
She then ran out of the room sobbing, leaving the four boys in there all looking rather uncomfortable.
Just then they heard a noise. "Who's there?" came Madam Pomfrey's voice.
"Oh crap! Let's get out of here!" whispered Remus, rather loudly.
Snape and James were still glaring at each other as Sirius grabbed James's arm and dragged him out.
Unsure of how she made it there, Lily somehow found her way back to Gryffindor tower. She climbed up the dormitory stairs and crawled into bed. I really hope that nobody wants to talk right now, she thought to herself as she pulled the covers up over her head and buried her face in a pillow to muffle the sound of her sobs.
"Sometimes I hate you, James Potter," she whispered into the pillow. Lily suddenly felt the loss of her mother, even though she had been dead for several years now. This was definitely supposed to be one of those mother/daughter moments though. Unfortunately, this thought caused Lily to sob even harder. Her body was now shaking, convulsing, her breathing was staggered. She couldn't handle it, but she had nowhere to go.
"What the..?" Lily heard a familiar voice say.
Suddenly the covers were pulled off of her, exposing her poor, shaking, tear-stained body.
"Lily, what are you doing in here?" asked James gently.
"What?" She was genuinely confused. Then she sat up and looked around. Somehow she had went up to the boys' dormitory rather than the girls' and had climbed into James's bed. This realization made her cry even more. "I'm sorry... I'm sorry that you hate me now... I'll go."
She got up, but her legs simply wouldn't carry her. Luckily James caught her and lifted her back onto the bed.
"Guys, can you give us a minute?"
Remus nodded and dragged Peter out of bed and out of the room. Everyone else followed.
James sat next to Lily on his bed. He shook his head. "What am I going to do with you?"
"I don't know," she replied, a faint smile appearing on her face. It quickly disappeared though. "James, your temper really scares me sometimes. This isn't going to work if you don't trust me."
"I know, and I do trust you... it's just other guys that I don't trust..."
"That may be the case, but you have to know that I love you with all of my heart. We were meant to be together, and I'm not about to let some other guy come between us. Please, I beg of you... trust me."
"Lily, I'm trying... and I admit that I overreacted at the Grady situation. But really, Snape!? Come on..."
"James, now is not the time to have me justify my friends to you. Just trust that I know what I'm doing. That's all I ask..."
"Fine," he whispered into the top of her head before giving it a kiss. "I will try..."
Just then they heard a shuffle at the door and the sound of breaking glass.
"Jesus!" exclaimed James. "You guys might as well come in, since you're just going to listen in anyhow..." He then grabbed his wand and the door disappeared, causing Remus Sirius and Peter, along with 4 or 5 other boys to tumble onto the floor.
"Sorry," Sirius muttered as he tried to get up but couldn't, from the weight of everyone else.
Lily couldn't help it, she started to laugh. This made James smile, and he realized that he would go to the ends of the world for that laugh.
"So are you staying in here tonight?" asked Peter, looking rather uncomfortable.
"Yeah, I think so... I don't think I could sleep by myself tonight."
"Good, because I wasn't going to let you leave anyhow," said James. "Here, you can wear these if you want." He offered her a pair of his pajamas, and she gave him a skeptical look. "Honey, they're clean, don't worry."
Sirius and Remus burst out laughing.
"If you say so," Lily said nervously. She got up and went into the bathroom to change.
Lily came out of the bathroom giggling. "They're a little big." It was true. She was a bit shorter than James, so the pajama pants were rather baggy and clown like. Not that she cared though. "It's ok, really... they're cozy. G'nite guys!" And with that, Lily jumped up onto the bed closed the curtains around it. "So..."
James smiled. "So."
"Whatcha thinking?" she cutely asked.
"I dunno," he answered, a troublesome grin appearing on his face. He moved closer to Lily.
"No, oh no.. please don't!" she giggled. James came closer still and started to tickle her. "No! James! Come on, we'll walk everyone else up!" She was laughing as uncontrollably as she had been crying earlier.
"No, we won't... the curtains are sound proof. I cast that spell my first year here... you've obviously never heard Peter snoring."
It was 15 minutes before James finally gave up tickling Lily.
"Thank you," she said, very out of breath but still with a big smile on her face.
"You tired yet, hun?"
"Not on your life." Lily suddenly jumped up and pounced on James, pinning him down. James was surprised by how strong she really was. "Now apologize."
"Never!" he laughed.
"You'd better! You know that I hate being tickled!"
"Nope!"
"Fine then, have it your way." Lily pulled something out from behind her. It was her wand.
"Oh, no, what are you gonna do?"
"Apologize or you'll find out!"
"Whatever, you're bluffing... you wouldn't do anything to me..."
"Oh you think so, huh?" Lily pointed her wand at his face and opened her mouth about to say something.
"Okay! ok! I give... I'm sorry."
"You are so weak... I knew I had to wrapped around my little finger!" Lily leaned down and kissed James so he couldn't respond.
The rest of the night went by far too quickly, at least for Lily and James. It was the first time that they had ever slept in the same bed.
Lily woke up the next morning feeling safer than she had ever felt before. She found herself in James's arms. He was still asleep and breathing lightly on the back of her neck. This is it, she thought. This is how I'm meant to spend the rest of my life.
She pulled James's arms tighter around her and sighed happily. James then started to stir.
"Morning, sunshine," Lily whispered.
"Morning," he said, kissing the back of her head.
"I need to head back to my room... I've got to finish packing, not that I really have anywhere to go." Lily frowned.
"You know you can come stay with me."
"Don't be ridiculous. I'm going back to my parents' house for a while... Petunia agreed to wait on selling it until I knew what I was going to do after graduation."
"I'm surprised she was that agreeable."
"Well, she wasn't really. It's just that my parents stipulated that in their will... otherwise all of the proceeds from the sale would go to me."
The curtain was suddenly opened and Sirius peered in. "Hey... you two lovebirds might want to get up and dressed really quickly. James, your parents are in the common room to help you move your stuff out."
"Oh crap!" yelled James. "Quick! The invisibility cloak! Lily, I'm sorry, but my mother will kill me! We have to get you out of here undetected!"
Lily couldn't help but laugh at this. "Calm down, James! It's not like the world is coming to an end..."
"No, Lily, you don't understand. My parents love you and all, but my mom is very old fashioned when it comes to stuff like this."
"Ok... give me the cloak and I'll go."
"Thank you!" said a relieved James.
Lily gave him a quick kiss, waved goodbye to everyone, and threw on the cloak. "See you guys later," she whispered as she walked out the door and down the stairs.
"Jeez, James. Do you really think that your mom is going to throw a hissy fit just because Lily was in your room?" Remus asked. "I mean, come on... there are a lot worse things..."
"She just doesn't agree with stuff like that, ok? She's more traditional."
"Hah! Right! Isn't she the one who makes you send home a record of the pranks you pulled just so she could use it against you some day?" chimed in Sirius.
"Not exactly... she just likes to know in advance what kind of trouble I'm gonna be causing, that's it."
"Hahaha. Doesn't want to hear it from the owl Dumbledore would send, eh?"
"Oh, shut it, Sirius. At least I don't still get grounded when I stay out past 11pm." James grinned.
"Like that's gonna happen any more anyhow. When do we move into our new flat? Monday?"
"Yeah, baby!" James high 5'd Sirius and Remus.
"It's gonna be so great... no more parents telling us what we have to do, when we have to eat... nothing. Just us!" Remus was really excited. He knew that this also meant he'd have "people" to keep him company when the full moon appeared.
James quickly got dressed and went downstairs to meet his family. When he got there, he was very surprised to find Lily was already on the couch and in an animated conversation with his mother.
"Ahem," he said, signaling his arrival.
"James! There you are darling!" exclaimed his mother, jumping up to give him a hug and a kiss. "I was wondering if you would ever make it downstairs to say hello! And after all, we didn't even get to see you yesterday after your graduation..."
James had been ready for this. His mother was notorious for guilting people. "Sorry, mum. We just had a lot on our minds... very excited, you know."
"Of course you did!" she turned back to Lily. "Look at you, isn't this wonderful? Soon we will all really be family..."
"Marilyn and I were just discussing some preliminary wedding plans, James."
James hadn't expected this. Lily was already on a first name basis with his mother? Oh well, he thought, it was bound to happen one day...
Just then someone came up from behind James and put him in a headlock.
"So, are you going to introduce me, or what?" said a girl's voice.
"Or what!" shouted James.
"You always were the little smartass, weren't you?" she laughed.
"Claire! Really..." said Marilyn.
Claire laughed some more. "Sorry mother." She turned her attention to Lily. "You must be the unfortunate one who for reasons beyond my understanding loves my brother."
Lily tried hard to fight it, but she started to laugh. James was even less pleased when he realized that everyone else in the common room had heard his sister as well and had also started laughing.
"Thanks, Claire. Really... I do so love it when you come to visit."
"Well, what's the point of having a little brother if you can't embarrass him?" She winked at James.
"Shouldn't you be off trying to cure some bizarre disease or something?" James asked.
"Haha. Well, I thought I might as well take a couple of weeks off and see my little baby of a brother actually graduate from the family alma mater. I have to tell you, James, I didn't expect that you actually would... especially not on time... I mean, with all of your pranks and everything." James rolled his eyes. "Now, if you don't mind, I would like to have a conversation with my future sister-in-law. Shall we, Lily?"
"Sure," Lily said, feeling a bit nervous. "We can go up to my room."
"Wow, this brings back a lot of memories," Claire sighed as Lily led her up to the girls' dormitory. "It's been forever since I've been up here. Ohmigod! Look!" She pointed to the 3rd years' room. "That was my room! Do you think they'd mind if I took a look?"
"I doubt it," Lily replied. I think everyone pretty much moved out either before or right after graduation... we're the only ones left."
"Great!" Clair cautiously opened the door. "Wow, it's just as I remember it. Hmm... I wonder..." she thought aloud. Claire then climbed into one of the beds and seemed to be feeling for something along the wall.
"Um... if you don't mind my asking, what are you doing?" asked Lily, rather concerned by Claire now.
"You'll see... just one sec and I should have it. A-ha! There it is!" She pushed something on the wall, and, much to Lily's surprise, a little door popped open and Claire pulled something out of it. "Good as new!"
"What's that?"
"It's a time capsule that my friends and I left here. We hoped that someone would one day come across it, but apparently not!" She was beaming from ear to ear. "No matter. At least we can enjoy what's inside! Let's go to your room and I'll show you."
Leaving everything as they found it, the girls left that room and headed to Lily's.
While the girls were busying themselves upstairs, Sirius and Remus decided to seize the opportunity to tease James even more.
"Is da wittle baby bwothew gonna cwy?" asked Sirius.
"Da poor wittle boy... his big meanie of a sister had to pick on him..."
Remus and Sirius roared with laughter.
"Oh, shut it!" yelled James.
"James! That's enough!" shouted his mother.
James buried his face in his hands as Sirius and Remus pointed and laughed at him even more.
"Who is that?" Lily asked, pointing at a picture of a boy who was smiling and waving.
"That," Claire sighed, "is Marshall Clements. He was my first love. God, it's been years..."
"What happened to him? I mean, do you guys still talk?"
"Alas, no. He was killed by a dragon about 5 years ago. I was devastated, which upset my current bo, causing him to break up with me. Anyway, that's a story for another time." She smiled as she pulled what appeared to be a pocket watch out of the box. "Yes!" Lily looked puzzled. This was one of the great inventions that my roommates and I created in our time here. Look." She opened the pocket watch and showed it to Lily.
"I don't get it... I don't see anything."
"Of course you don't, silly." She looked at the watch. "Gin & Tonic!" she said. Lily watched in awe as a mist of blackness started swirling around in the small case. Claire reached her hand in, and somehow it fit through the tiny casing. When she withdrew it, she had a glass in her hand. "See?"
"That's interesting..."
Claire laughed. "Ordering drinks is only one of the benefits. We used to use it to get the keys out of Filch's office so we could wander the grounds at night, or things like that." She sighed again. "Those were the days..."
Now Lily laughed. "So I see it runs in the family..."
"You have no idea. The Potter troublemaker gene seems to go back generations. You can ask Professor Dumbledore, if you don't believe me."
"I don't doubt it at all." Lily grinned. "I can only imagine what my son will be like in his day here..."
"Already planning on having kids with my psychotic brother, eh?" Claire teased.
"Not yet, Claire... but some day..."
As Lily sat in the window looking outside, she could hardly believe that it was almost time for her to leave this place forever. Hogwarts had been her home for the past 7 years, and now her time there was to become simply a memory. She turned to look around her room, which she had shared with several other girls since her first night there. She fondly remembered late night gossip and makeover sessions, pillow fights, and Christmas mornings. How was she ever going to say goodbye to this place? It had become her only real home, since her parents had died three years earlier.
Lily looked over to her nightstand and saw the picture that Jemina, one of her roommates, had given her for Christmas that year. It wasn't an ordinary photograph though. Oh, no. It was a magical photo, in which the people moved. Lily smiled as she saw herself and her three best friends, James Potter, Remus Lupin and Sirius Black. They were all smiling and laughing, as James had just "perfected" a new curse. The only trouble was that Lily was too quick for him. she had anticipated his attack and shielded herself, causing the curse to ricochet and land on another friend of theirs, Peter Pettigrew.
"Urinium excretus!" James had yelled, causing Peter to lose total control of his bladder and wet himself. Needless to say, Peter had run off and everyone else had a good laugh, once Lily had finished pounding James with her fists for trying to hit her with that one.
Smiling to herself, Lily gazed fondly at the framed picture and noticed something she could have sworn wasn't there before. She got up from the windowsill and walked over to the nightstand to get a closer look. It was a small black box. "Where did you come from?" Lily wondered out loud. She reached out to it and picked it up cautiously, unsure of what she might find inside it. Something about the box though seemed very familiar to her, almost as though she had encountered it before. She ran her fingers over the outside of the box, feeling a bit of a flutter in her chest. Slowly, she opened it, and the first thing she saw was a beautiful diamond and emerald ring. Lily looked around to see if anyone else was awake yet, but they weren't. She then looked closer at the box, and noticed a small picture was fitted into the top half of it.
It was James Potter. It was James Potter kneeling down on one knee. And then she heard James Potter's voice, "Lily, I love you. I have always loved you, and I always will. I was a fool to ever let you go, and I refuse to ever make that mistake again. Lily Evans? Would you do me the honour of becoming my wife?"
Lily gasped. Lily had dated James briefly in their forth year, but they had decided they were far too good friends to get carried away in a real romantic relationship. However, neither had particularly enjoyed seeing the other dating anyone else.
She then turned her attention back to the ring. She wasn't sure if this was for real, or simply another of James' pranks when she suddenly heard a voice come from behind her.
"Well?"
"James!" Lily felt her eyes fill with tears. "I - I - I don't know what to say. Are you serious?"
"I have never been more serious about anything in my life."
"But, why? Why now?"
"Because I didn't realize what I had until now." James looked into Lily's beautiful green eyes. They really put the emeralds to shame, he thought. "It isn't just the jealousy thing, if that's what you're thinking," he said flat out.
"No, James, I wasn't going to say that. It's just. sudden?" James gave her a look. Lily knew for a fact that it wasn't sudden. She had been dreaming of this moment for the past 3 years, even though they hadn't been together since then. Something told her though that James had felt the same way. And then she said it. "Yes," she whispered, barely loud enough for James to hear.
"Pardon?" James asked, with growing excitement.
"She said 'yes' you big git!" Jemina, Jem to her friends, shouted. "She said yes! Now go and kiss her already, would you? I want to get back to sleep."
Lily tried hard, but couldn't suppress a little giggle at this. James, however, took the opportunity to throw a pillow at Jem's four-poster bed.
"Hey! Watch it," she said.
"Well, I wasn't asking you," he replied indignantly. "I asked Lily."
"And she said 'yes,' as I merely pointed out to you. Now please, for the love of God and all things holy, LET ME SLEEP."
Lily laughed again before practically leaping over her bed and embracing James. "Yes! Yes! Of course!" she exclaimed, pausing only to give him a kiss on the lips. "Now come on, I don't want to wake anyone else up just yet."
Taking James' hand, she led him out of the 7th Years' dormitory and downstairs to the common room where Sirius, Remus and Peter were all waiting impatiently. Well, that's not entirely true. Sirius and Remus were the anxious ones. Peter however simply looked. well, nervous. almost as if he expected something bad to happen.
The moment they heard footsteps, the three jumped up. "Well?" Remus asked, just as Sirius said "Did she say yes?" They looked at each other.
"Was there ever a doubt?" James replied, smiling. "I would like to introduce you both to my fiancé, Lily Evans, soon to be Lily Potter!" he proclaimed triumphantly.
For some reason, Sirius, Remus and Peter suddenly started laughing. "What is it?" James demanded. They were now collapsing from laughing so hard and pointing at him. James then turned around to see Lily standing holding one hand in front of her mouth to hide her giggles, and the other behind her back. "What did you do?!" James caught a glimpse of himself in a mirror on the wall. He couldn't believe it. He suddenly had giant muscles bulging from every part of his body, much like Popeye. "Lily!"
At this Lily couldn't stifle her laughs any longer. "Well, you didn't expect me to suddenly start being easy on you just because we're going to get married, did you?" James did not look amused. "Oh, calm down, James! It was only the musculaturatus gigantium curse. I just thought that your body might want to match your ego for once!" She winked at him, but he scowled. "Oh, fine. Normalarium musculataratus." He returned to normal size. "Honestly, you have no sense of humor any more!" James noticed that her eyes twinkled as she said this.
At this, Sirius couldn't help himself. "No sense of humor, indeed!" he chortled. "You're gonna have a hell of a time keeping this one in line, James."
"And I plan on enjoying every minute of it. Now come on, let's go get some breakfast. I'm starving." And with that, the 5 friends set off for the Great Hall.
When they got to the Great Hall they were surprised to find that they weren't the only ones awake. Remus even checked his watch to make sure that it was in fact 6:30 am. It seemed that nearly the entire school was there already, and everyone turned to look at them as they entered.
"What's going on?" Lily whispered to James.
"I have no idea."
Then, in unison, everyone jumped to their feet, including the professors, Hagrid, and even the headmaster, Dumbledore! Well, everyone except the few people who had bothered to show up at the Slytherin table.
"Congratulations!" they all shouted. "It's about bloody time!" added one particularly feisty Gryffindor 5th year. "We knew you had it in you!" yelled a Ravenclaw girl to James.
"I knew this day would come," Professor Trelawney, the Devination professor, said, leaning over to Professor McGonagall.
"Oh hush!" McGonagall exclaimed. "You have been predicting Potter's death since his first day of classes."
Before another word could be spoken, Dumbledore stood up and raised his goblet. "To one of the finest couples Hogwarts has ever seen." Everyone cheered, despite the early hour. "To James & Lily!"
Startled though they were, neither James nor Lily could stop smiling. "How did they all know?" Lily asked.
"Um.. that would be me. My fault!" Jem appeared out of nowhere, with April and Virginia on either side of her. "When you two finally left this morning, I couldn't go back to sleep. So, I woke these two up and told them the news."
"Well, we were dying to talk about it more," April continued, "but we didn't want to intrude on your moment. So, we--"
Virginia cut her off. "We grabbed our brooms and kinda flew out the window, stopping to chat in front of Hagrid's."
"He overheard us, and was so excited," Jem took over, "that he went right to Dumbledore! From there it was a matter of minutes before all of the paintings were talking."
"And once they know a secret, the whole school does," Virginia concluded.
"Wow. did you guys take out an ad in the Daily Prophet as well, or are there still people left in the world who we can tell?" James asked.
"Who you can tell what, Potter?" snarled a voice behind him.
"Snape." said James, suddenly perking up.
He then turned to Lily. "Please, Lily, please let me tell him," he pleaded. She smiled and nodded.
"Tell me what?"
Sirius and Remus started snickering in the background. Just then, something caught Snape's eye.
It was a slight glint of light. Snape slowly traced the light to its source: Lily's finger! A ring! "No." he hissed.
"Oh yes," said James, gloatingly. "I asked Lily to marry me, and she said yes."
"N- No!" Snape stammered once again, unable to get any other words out. But then he suddenly found them and turned to Lily. "You told me there was nothing! Nothing between you and that, that. Potter!"
"What difference does that make to you, Severus? It's not as though I ever had any sort of arrangement with you," Lily exclaimed.
"And she never will," added James.
Just then, Lucious Malfoy stepped forward. "You keep that mudblood, Potter. She'll be your downfall. Just you wait." After glaring at James for a moment, he turned to Snape. "Come on, before you catch something." he said, grabbing Snape's arm and pulling him to the Slytherin table where they sat down.
"If everyone would please sit down, I have two very important announcements to make," Dumbledore said. "First of all, as you all know, the end of another year is upon us, and it is time to say goodbye to one of the most outstanding 7th year classes Hogwarts has ever seen. I hope that everyone will attend tomorrow's graduation festivities, as I am sure you will all be pleasantly surprised at what we have in store. Secondly, tuck in!" No sooner were the words spoken when the food appeared on all of the tables.
"Weird. that was the first time Dumbledore ever made a speech before breakfast," commented Remus.
"I know! I wonder why today is so special." Lily trailed off.
James looked at her in disbelief. "Um, hi? Remember me?"
"And you are.?" James' jaw dropped. "I'm only kidding. I just didn't realize that everyone would be so excited on our day."
"Your day? Do you not realize what today is? We only have another 48 hours before we're out of here! Forever! This is too cool!" Sirius appeared to be starting on another of his over-excited tangents. "Just another 48 hours until we don't have school any more! No more classes, no more grades, no more tests! NO MORE NOTES ABOUT NOT PRACTICING MAGIC DURING THE SUMMER!" Sirius suddenly realized that it wasn't only James, Lily, Remus and Peter staring at him. it seemed that the entire student body was doing it as well.
"You may step down from your soap box now, Mr. Black," Professor McGonagall said, staring him down.
"Sorry, Professor," he muttered, blushing as all of his friends started to laugh.
After breakfast, all of the students either returned to their house common rooms or else went outside to wander around the grounds. Much to Lily's surprise, this included James, who simply gave her a quick kiss on the cheek, a rushed "love ya!" and then ran off with his friends.
"What the hell?" Lily said, amazed.
"I have no idea." answered Jem. "Come on though, let's go lie out by the lake and maybe actually get you some colour, you pale thing!" She laughed, and joined by the other girls, headed up to the dormitory to change.
The four girls spent a relaxing afternoon lying out on the shore of the lake reading magazines, talking and giggling. Everyone was simply awed by the beautiful ring and how the sun's rays caught it, just perfectly.
Out of nowhere then, a shadow crept across Lily's figure. It was a moment before she recognized her snowy owl, Scarlet. Scarlet dropped a note on Lily's lap and after nipping at her finger gently, flew off, back to the owlry.
"What's that?" Virginia asked.
"It's from James," Lily said dreamily. She then read out loud:
"My dearest fiancée, Meet me tonight outside of the main entrance at 10pm. It has been long enough since we had any time alone, and I can't stand to wait any longer. I'll see you then. Love, with all my heart, James."
"You are sooooo lucky, Lil!" exclaimed April.
"I wish Sirius was more like him," piped in Jem.
Lily giggled before saying "No you don't." And she winked at her.
"Well, we need to find you the perfect outfit to wear! Something sexy, but not scandalous... sleek..." Virginia trailed off.
"I have just the thing!" yelled Jem. And with that, the girls were off, rushing inside to get Lily ready for her big date.
The girls were too excited and anxious to even go downstairs for dinner, which while the boys did think it was rather odd, they didn't approach them about it. "Don't worry about us, Lily, we'll just get something from the house elves later," April assured her.
"Well, if you insist." Lily agreed.
Lily felt as though she was getting ready for the 7th years' ball again. First came the facial scrub, then the mask. Once that was over and done with, April waxed Lily's eyebrows while Virginia set to work on her hair. For once, the pain of the waxing was ignored though, as Lily was too distracted by thoughts of James.
"He is the man I'm going to marry," she whispered to herself, "he is the man I'm going to spend the rest of my life with."
By 9:45 Lily was ready to go. She borrowed a muggle outfit from Jem, since she herself didn't have anything appropriate. It was a sleek black mid- thigh skirt with a small slit on either side. With this she wore an emerald green, off the shoulder, shirt. Completing the outfit was her pair of slightly platform black Mary Janes.
"You look perfect!" squealed Jem.
"Time to go! Wish me luck," Lily said, as she left the room.
"Good luck!" they yelled after her.
Lily made it out there to meet James with 5 minutes to spare. Her heart was pounding in her chest, she was so nervous and excited. This was going to be their first time really alone. They had spent time together before, but there was always someone else lurking around, or else it was in Hosgmeade, surrounded by other students and teachers. Just then a noise came from behind her.
"You made it," James said, calmly. He then took a good look at her in the moonlight, and could hardly believe what he saw. "You look incredible!"
"What, this old thing?" she said, flashing him her prize winning smile. She then noticed that James had not arrived empty handed. "What's all that?" she asked.
"Just a picnic blanket and some dinner, since you didn't make it down to eat earlier."
"You are too sweet."
"Shall we?" James said, beaming with pride as he extended his arm to Lily.
"Thank you, kind sir," she said, accepting his arm. They then walked off, towards a secluded area just inside the Forbidden Forrest.
When they reached an area that seemed private enough, James spread out the blanket and started to set the food out. He even brought out candles for the extra romantic touch. Lily was beside herself with joy.
Well, maybe joy wasn't exactly the right word. Excitement. That's it, thought Lily to herself. She gazed at James lovingly in the moonlight. Before she realized what was happening, James had leaned across the picnic spread and started to kiss her. She had been kissed by James quite a few times before, but never with this fervor. She quickly dismissed any inhibitions and allowed herself to fall into the kiss.
It wasn't until James' hands started to roam from her back to her shoulders and then to her chest that Lily pulled back. "What are you doing?" she breathed.
"Just got into the moment, I guess. I suppose we could stop and go back, if you really want to," James said, rather meanly.
"No, it's not that. it's just. well, it's been a long time, and it seems kind of fast."
"Lily, we're engaged. It's ok," he insisted. And to that, she conceded, if somewhat reluctantly. With that, James kissed her again and picked up where he left off, not noticing that Lily was not completely comfortable with the situation.
Jem, April and Virginia were all sitting in the Gryffindor common room whispering and giggling about Lily and James. "What do you think they're doing now?" an anxious April asked.
"I don't know, but it's gotta be better than this," said Jem, looking around. Virginia responded by throwing a cushion at her. They all laughed.
"Could you believe how quickly he got that snitch?" Sirius exclaimed, his voice coming from the stairs to the boys' dormitory.
"I know! If only we could fly like that!" said Remus.
The boys came into view just then.
"Well, I don't know about you two, but I could definitely do it," said James proudly.
All three girls immediately looked up and screamed.
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE?!" they shouted in unison at James, who looked very surprised.
"Um. I live here? This is the house common room. Since when can't I be here?"
"But- what about Li-?" April started just as James asked "Where's Lily?"
"She's with you! Or she's supposed to be!" cried Jem.
"What are you talking about," James said, confused by the situation.
"She got your owl this afternoon saying to meet her out front, that you wanted some time alone!" April stated.
"What did you think we were getting her all ready for? A relaxing night of chess by the fire!?" declared Virginia.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa." said Sirius. "Lily got an owl from James, which he has no recollection of ever sending, to meet him outside?" The girls nodded.
"I have to find her! She could be in real trouble!" James shouted, bolting out of the common room and through the portrait hole.
"You're running awfully late! She left over an hour ago!" the Fat Lady in the portrait yelled after him.
James raced out of the castle and started to look for Lily immediately. Unfortunately he couldn't find her, and it seemed as though he was yelling for her in vain. He was just about to head back inside to look for her when he heard a yell coming from the forbidden forest.
"Stop it!" It was Lily's voice! James rushed toward the forest as quickly as his legs would carry him, when he heard another voice yell, but this was from behind him.
"Mollusca deceleratus!" it said. Unfortunately, James knew what was coming with those words. his pace immediately slowed down to that of a snail! He was now furious. Barely able to move, he kept hearing Lily's voice screaming out for help. His eyes kept darting around searching for the source of the jinx, while he kept trying to inch his way closer to the edge of the forest to save Lily.
It was all Lily could do to keep the boy she thought was James in line. He kept trying to make more and more moves on her, sneaking his hands under her top, or kissing her with even more passion than before. He refused to stop, no matter what she said.
"James!" Lily said, gasping for air. "What are you doing? GET OFF!" Unfortunately, he was much stronger than her.
"You know you like it," he retorted, covering her mouth with his own to muffle her screams.
The real James was growing desperate. How was he ever going to make it to Lily?
James knew that he didn't have time to reach for his wand. By the time he would have it in his hand, whoever had jinxed him would be able to get there and grab it from him. What he needed was help. Luckily, at that moment, that's what he got.
"Look! He's over there!" shouted Sirius, running out of the castle with Remus. Even Peter was there, lagging behind as usual. "What happened?"
James couldn't explain. He heard himself talking a mile a minute, in his head, but because of the curse, he couldn't manage to move his lips nearly half that fast. Remus caught on immediately though. "We need the counter- curse! What is it?" Sirius and Remus pulled out their wands and tried everything they could think of. Nothing seemed to be helping. They then turned to Peter, who wasn't doing anything at all, other than looking around nervously.
"Peter, what is wrong with you? Come on, you've spent the last 5 months in the library, you have to have seen something like this!" Remus pleaded.
Just then they heard Lily's piercing shriek. "HELP!!!"
"We don't have any time to waste. Remus, you stay here and try to figure this out. I'll try to find Lily." Sirius immediately changed into Padfoot, a big black dog that he had illegally been becoming for the past 6 years, and ran toward the forest. James looked after him with rage in his eyes.
Just then Peter muttered something, barely audible. "Injudicious saunteranew."
"What?" asked Remus.
Peter then reluctantly pulled out his wand and aimed it at James. "Injudicious saunteranew," he said, louder.
Remus looked at him in disbelief as James immediately fell flat on his face. Regaining control of himself, James yelled "Come on, we have no time to lose!" He then changed into his animagi, a beautiful white stag, Prongs, and rushed to the forest.
What happened next, nobody expected. James found Sirius in the forest, and they each changed back to human form. "I think her screams are coming from over there, let's go!" James whispered. And they set off, wands in hand. As they got closer to Lily and the imposter James, the volume of Lily's screams and pleas got louder and clearer. Remus and Peter made it over to them, just in time to hear:
"James, get away! Stop, please stop!" Lily pleaded, tears now streaming down her face. She longed for her wand, but it was upstairs in her bedroom. "James, please. I don't understand why you're doing th- OH MY GOD!" Lily suddenly interrupted herself, as she realized what was going on. "SEVERUS!"
The body that just seconds before had looked exactly like James had suddenly started to transform back into its original form. Severus Snape now stood before Lily, holding her tightly in his grasp, preventing her from running away.
Seemingly from out of nowhere, there came three red flashes of light. James, Sirius and Remus had all performed the full body bind on Snape. Unfortunately, Snape was still holding on to Lily with clenched fists, so when he fell, he pulled her down with him.
James rushed to her aid, prying Snape's hands from Lily's arms. She just couldn't stop sobbing. "Oh, James, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean it to be like this. I should have known."
Lifting her up into his arms, James tried his best to comfort Lily, assuring her that it was over and that she was safe now. "I'm never going to let anyone hurt you, Lily, I swear it on my life." James turned his head to Sirius, Remus and Peter, gesturing toward Snape's motionless body.
Sirius nodded. "We'll take care of him. You just get Lily back inside."
With Lily safe in his arms, James rushed her back towards the castle. She was steadily crying into the small of his neck, unsure of what was going on. James finally got them through the dimly lit corridors and to Gryffindor tower.
"Oh, you poor, poor dear!" the Fat Lady said. "I do hope that everything is alright."
Just then James said "pensata provocazione" and the portrait swung open, granting him access to the common room.
Lily's roommates were awaiting anxiously for their return, but once they saw her fragile state, and the warning look that James gave them, they decided not to ask any questions just yet. James whisked her past them and up the stairs to the boys' dormitory, where he gently set Lily down on his bed. "Are you alright?" he asked gently, sitting beside her. Lily simply nodded through her tears.
Her shirt was torn. James hadn't noticed that before. "I'll kill him. for this, he deserves no less."
"No. you can't do that James," Lily said weakly.
"What? Why not? Lily, he pretended to be me, and then tried. tried to." he sighed deeply. "I don't even want to think about what would have happened if we hadn't gotten there in time."
"You did though. Please, let's not think about it. we don't have to any more."
"You have to tell Dumbledore what happened though. If you don't I will. Snape has to pay for what he did."
Lily looked up at James, looking him right in the eyes. "We will. but please, not tonight. James, this was our last night here. tomorrow we graduate. why put everything at risk right now?" She pulled his arms around her. She felt safe here. She knew she always would. "Can I tell you something though?" she whispered. James nodded, and she took a deep breath. "I knew something was wrong when I first met you- I mean him out there. Something just didn't feel right. I mean, beyond the way he was acting. I couldn't put my finger on it, but I knew it wasn't you. does that make any sense?"
"I know exactly what you mean." He kissed her forehead and pulled his quilt up over her. "Try and get some rest. Tomorrow is a big day. bigger than I would have ever thought."
Chapter 2: Dreams, Premonitions and Graduations
That night, Lily had a very difficult time sleeping. She kept having dreams about what she could only assume was the future. Parts of it looked wonderful. she saw her wedding to James, how happy everyone was. Unfortunately it did not seem that this euphoria was destined to last. She felt as though they were being hunted, and awoke several times in a cold sweat. Knowing that James was there beside her was quite reassuring, but there was still something wrong. something that she was sure had to do with tonight.
Lily shook her head, and snuggled closer to James, who had fallen asleep with his glasses on, and tried to go back to sleep herself. There was a stir of echoes in Lily's head that night, but not echoes of the past- echoes of the future. "No, Dumbledore doesn't have to do it. I will. I'll be your Secret-Keeper," said Sirius's voice. "A son! Lily, our son!" she heard James say. "There he is! Harry Potter! The Boy Who Lived!" said a stranger's voice. Lily found that one to be quite odd, until she heard something even more terrifying. It was her! She heard herself screaming: "No! Not Harry! Please. have mercy. have mercy."
"Lily, Lily!" James shouted. "Get McGonagall, Madam Pomfrey, Dumbledore- whoever you can! Just go now!"
Lily could feel herself being pulled back into the present. By the time she opened her eyes, half of the Hogwarts professors were in the room, along with most of Gryffindor house.
"Most peculiar, indeed," Dumbledore said, examining her through his spectacles. "Ah, yes. How are you feeling, Miss Evans?"
"Fine," she said weakly, despite the fact that her heart was pounding and she was a bit confused by why everyone was in the room.
"Perhaps Mr. Potter should take you to the hospital wing so that Madame Pomfrey can examine you properly," Dumbledore suggested.
"No, sir. I'm fine, really," she insisted.
Dumbledore simply held up his hand, as if to silence her protests. "Just as a precaution, Miss Evans. We want you to be well rested for the graduation festivities this afternoon."
With those words, everyone knew that the matter was settled. The room gradually cleared out and James helped Lily to her feet.
"Really, James. I'm fine! I don't know what all this fuss is about."
"You really have no idea?" Lily shook her head, and James sighed. "Lily, you were screaming terrible things in your sleep. we all thought that you were being killed!"
Lily's eyed opened wide. "What did you say?"
"You were screaming bloody murder," Sirius said.
"You're not helping," James told him. He turned back to Lily. "I tried to wake you. we all did. For about an hour, but nothing worked. You were screaming my name, and my middle name, Harry repeatedly. What were you dreaming about?" He looked at her with great concern.
"Nothing, it was nothing."
"You're lying."
Lily took a deep breath. "He was there," she whispered, "Voldemort. He was trying to kill our son, Harry. I tried not to let him, begging him to show mercy, but it was no use. Then he. he." she broke out into sobs.
"What is it, baby?" he asked, brushing the hair away from her face.
"He killed you." she trailed off.
James was quite taken by surprise at this comment. "He killed me?" Lily nodded, and James kissed her forehead. "It's not going to happen, we're going to be together for a long, long time. It won't end like that."
"But it seemed so real. I could see it perfectly."
"Lily, no. It's not true. Don't worry. Now, come on, let's get you up on the bed so Madam Pomfrey can have a look at you."
"Oh, you poor, poor thing," Madam Pomfrey said, bustling in. "Let's see what we can do for you." She began to examine Lily. "Isn't that a beautiful ring?" she said, looking at Lily's hand. Lily and James both smiled.
"It's been in my family for generations," James said, beaming proudly.
"Isn't that sweet. And what about this one? Another engagement present?"
James and Lily looked at her strangely. "What?" they asked at the same time.
"I don't know why you kids all insist on doing things like this. In my day, we didn't have any of this 'body art' nonsense."
"Body art?" James asked, while Lily, at the same time said, "What are you talking about?"
"This, dear," she said, as a mirror appeared, allowing Lily and James to see a jeweled skull on Lily's right shoulder blade. "Although I never would have imagined you to pick this particular design."
"When did you get that!" James roared.
"I- I don't know! What is it?" Lily stammered.
"Let me try to remove it then," Madame Pomfrey said. She tried 3 different spells, but none of them worked. "Not to worry, I'm sure I've got just the thing for it. Back in a moment."
"James, how? I mean, why can't she get it off of me?"
"I don't know, but I'm sure as hell going to find out."
Just then, Madame Pomfrey returned, accompanied by their charms professor. After three unsuccessful attempts to remove the jewels, he finally was able to get them off. "Onyx! Very interesting. I should like to take these with me, if I may, Miss Evens," he said. She simply nodded. "It is entirely possible that these might be what caused your episode this morning."
Lily shuddered. She didn't want her nightmares to be referred to as an 'episode.' It seemed so psychotic to her. Judging by the way James looked, he felt the same way.
"Professor Dumbledore would like for you two to go and see him now, if you feel up to it, Miss Evans," Madame Pomfrey told her, "Of course why you should, I don't know, since I'm not finished here. But that is quite alright, as I am never able, it seems, to treat my patients as thoroughly as I would like."
"And on that note." James whispered to Lily as he quickly ushered her out of the hospital wing. This caused her to giggle, which meant both her and James smiled for the first time since the day before.
Together they made their way up to Dumbledore's office. When they got to the entrance, James said "Cookie Dough" and it opened. They walked up the stairs and waited to be called in.
"Well, well, come in, come in," Dumbledore said to them, showing them into 2 chairs in front of his desk, before sitting himself down. "How are you feeling, Lily?"
Lily was surprised because until now, he had always called her 'Miss Evans.' "Fine, thank you, Professor. Very anxious about graduation, actually."
"Naturally. You are speaking. Provided you feel up to it, of course."
Now it was James's turn to be surprised again. He didn't know Lily was giving a speech.
"Oh yes, James. Our Lily here is class valedictorian. She will be giving what I expect to be a wonderful speech." Lily blushed slightly. "But, before we go any further into today's activities, I must request that you recount for me the events that unfolded last night. This will not be easy, but it must be done. The sooner, the better."
Heaving a great sigh, and prepared to go into details that even James had not heard yet, Lily began telling the tale of the night before. She told them how she had thought she was meeting James, and about the picnic. About the first kiss, and how she had felt uncomfortable. Tears filled her eyes as she explained how she couldn't stop him from kissing her or his hands from roaming over her body. As she continued, James looked ready to kill. Dumbledore however remained calm and focused on Lily. She then said how she was screaming for help when James's body began to change.
"And that is when you appeared with Mr. Black, correct?" Dumbledore asked, looking at James.
"Yes," he replied, angrily.
"Now, now. We still don't know for certain exactly how things unfolded."
"What?!" James cried. "I'm sorry, Professor, but isn't it obvious?! Snape has been interested in Lily for YEARS and would obviously do anything, and DID do anything he could to have her! He tried to take advantage of her by pretending to be me! And I don't think he was alone either! When I tried to find her, someone cursed me so I could hardly even move to get anywhere near her!"
"James, please, calm down. You may rest assured that there are many of us investigating what happened last night. I will not lie to you and say we are not taking it seriously. Quite the opposite in fact. We believe that there was some dark magic at hand, and the mark that Madame Pomfrey found upon Lily supports that theory very strongly."
"Dark magic?" Lily piped in.
"Yes. The skull mark that you woke up with is the sign of the evil wizard, Voldemort. We have reason to believe that Severus was not acting of his own accord. Now, that is all that I can tell you at this time. Please, do be patient, and I promise that I will notify you of anything as soon as I find out. You have my word on it."
"Lily, I suggest that you and James return to your dormitories and get ready for graduation."
"Come on, hun," James said.
Lily got up to leave, and then turned to face Dumbledore, "Thank you, Professor."
The two of them hurried back to Gryffindor Tower. "We don't have to tell anyone about this if you don't want to," James told her.
"Yeah, I don't think that would be a good idea, especially not today." Then, without thinking, she added "I wonder how Severus is doing?"
"How can you even ask that?! I mean, after all that he did to you!" They arrived at the portrait of the Fat Lady. "Graduation Celebration." The portrait swung open.
"You heard Dumbledore, James. It wasn't his fault."
"Lily, I swear, you forgive far too easily." James still had that murderous look in his eyes when they entered the common room.
"Lily!" shouted Jem.
"It's about bloody time!" yelled Remus. "How are you guys?" he added.
"We're fine, everything is fun," Lily assured everyone. She turned to the girls. "Shall we go upstairs and get ready?" She forced a smile.
"Thought you'd never ask!" squealed April. She grabbed Lily's hand and the four girls made their way up the stairs.
"I love you James! Back down in a bit!" Lily yelled over her shoulder.
"Love you too!"
Once Lily was safely upstairs, and out of earshot, James gestured for Sirius, Remus and Peter to follow him.
"Are you gonna fill us in now?" said Sirius.
"Lily didn't want to talk about it, but after everything you guys saw last night I think you deserve to know what little information I have."
"Why did Dumbledore want to see you?" Peter asked quietly.
James gave him a strange look, but quickly dismissed it. Peter was a strange and nervous boy, but they all trusted him. Why wouldn't they? They had all been friends for as long as any of them could remember.
"He wanted to tell me and Lily who he thinks is behind all of this-"
"Well, duh! We all saw Snape... in fact, we almost killed him," Remus stated.
"Should have finished the job, if you ask me," Sirius piped in.
"I totally agree with you guys, but for some reason, Dumbledore doesn't."
"What are you talking about?" asked Sirius.
"Dumbledore thinks that Snape wasn't acting of his own free will... that someone was controlling him-"
"But that would mean using the Imperious Curse! It's forbidden! One of the Unforgivable Curses!" insisted Remus. "Who would do that?"
"They think it was Voldemort."
Sirius and Remus stared at James. Peter flinched nervously, but the others failed to notice.
"Are- Is- Is he sure?" Peter stammered.
"He has no reason to lie, Peter."
"Right, right."
"Anyway, that's it... Dumbledore said he would keep me and Lily posted... let us know if/when they find anything else out. But you know what? Just before we came in here, Lily was acting all worried about Snape! Can you guys believe that?"
"James, it's Lily... she's like that," said Remus. "I mean, look at me... most people would have turned me away, or worse still, turned me in. But not Lily."
"She's too compassionate for her own good sometimes," Sirius said, with a grin.
"Oh, shut up," said Remus, chucking a cushion at him.
"Guys, this is serious."
"Right, sorry."
"Come on James," Remus said, "Let's go get ready."
And with that, the boys headed upstairs to change into their Hogwarts robes for the last time.
It was just about 3pm when Lily and James (and the others) met in the common room to head out to the graduation ceremony.
"Can you believe it?" April sighed.
"We actually made it!" Sirius said. "And without losing any points for Gryffindor for the last 2 months!"
"That must have been hard for you guys," said Jem.
The boys all had a real affinity for pranks, and had somehow managed to stay out of trouble recently. Something told Lily that this wouldn't last though.
"Let's go downstairs and get seated. This is going to be an interesting afternoon," James suggested.
"I really hope that I don't forget my speech..." Lily added nervously.
"You'll do fine, Lily. You always do," Jem reassured her.
"Thanks," she replied.
The eight of them took a final look around the common room and then headed out of the portrait hole.
"I can't believe it... the next time we come in here we won't be students any more... we'll be official witches and wizards..." Remus said, beaming.
Graduation was scheduled to start at 4 o'clock. All of the graduating students were seated in four sections in front of a large stage that was set on the quidditch field. The sections were for each of the houses, Gryffindor, Slytherin, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff. In the stands were the other students and the graduates' families. Well, most of them. Lily's sister, Petunia, her only living relative now, refused to come.
All of the graduates were present, with the exception of one: Severus Snape. James, Sirius and Remus all seemed to notice this immediately, and started smirking.
Lily hit James' shoulder to stop him from laughing out loud, which unfortunately caused Sirius and Remus to burst out laughing.
They only stopped when Dumbledore stood in front of a large podium and started to speak.
"It has been seven years," Dumbledore began, "since you all first set foot on the Hogwarts Express from Platform 9 3/4, not knowing what your future at Hogwarts would bring.
"Some of you came from families of Witches and Wizards who could be traced back centuries. Others of you joined us from the Muggle world, as you were the first in your families to show signs of true magic. In either instance, it is a proud moment for me to be standing here in front of you.
"Today marks the beginning of the next chapter of your lives. It is up to you to decide where you will go from here, but I have every faith in you all that you will choose wisely and carefully, and make honorable choices that will shape the future of the wizarding world for generations to come.
"That having been said, I am pleased to introduce this year's class Valedictorian, and first Hogwarts student in the past decade to achieve a perfect score on her N.E.W.T.S., Miss Lily Evans!"
There was a roar of applause, particularly from a certain Gryffindor, as Professor Dumbledore helped Lily onto the stage.
"Thank you, Professor," Lily began. "Thank you everyone. Hogwarts has been my home for the last 7 years of my life. I have learned more about the world, magic and life than I ever would have imagined possible.
"I have made friends that I know will last a lifetime, learned many lessons the hard way, and enjoyed every minute of it. Hogwarts has seen me through many milestones in my life, overcoming personal tragedy, and the greatest triumphs. And then, just when I thought that things couldn't get any better, they did.
"I am not leaving here alone. I have my friends, and now a family as well. I met my fiancé here, and I look forward to starting my life with him.
"So, I would like to leave you with these words. Every day is a new beginning. Today, as graduates, we move on to the next task, but we must be sure to keep in mind all of the valuable lessons that we have learned in our time here. We will all meet again, I am certain of it. Congratulations, everyone!"
"And now, it is time for the ceremony. If the graduates from each house would please rise and step onto the stage," Professor McGonagall instructed. Everyone did as they were told, as a large mirror appeared on the stage.
"The first to step through will be Lily Evans!" said Professor McGonagall. "Now, don't be nervous, dear," she said more quietly.
"Alright," Lily whispered, taking a deep breath. She stepped forward and into the mirror. To her surprise, she came out on the other side, no longer wearing her Hogwarts robes, but instead new robes, and had a diploma in her hand as well.
She grinned back at James, and walked off stage.
When James walked through the mirror and came out the other side he was met with wild cheers from his friends, fiancée and family. He immediately ran over to Lily and swept her up in his arms.
They were soon joined by the rest of their friends.
"Just Slytherin is left," commented Sirius.
"I know... I can't wait for Malfoy to cross through... it's just too bad Snape couldn't be here as well," said James.
"Oh no... what are you going to do?" Lily asked, with growing concern.
"You'll see," the three troublemakers grinned.
"Lucious Malfoy," said McGonagall's voice. He stepped toward the mirror, but rather than coming out on the other side with black robes on, his were bright pink, and fireworks were set off around him. Sparklers spelled out "I wish that I could have graduated from the Gryffindor House! Then I wouldn't feel like such a loser!"
James, Sirius and Remus all lost it. They were laughing so hard. Even the girls couldn't completely stifle their laughter. Come to think of it, nobody could, except Lucious and his family.
"You'll pay for this, Potter," Malfoy said under his breath as McGonagall cleared away the mess.
"So it wasn't a wasted two months, after all, huh guys?" asked Jem.
They shook their heads. "Well worth it, the laying low. Nobody suspected a thing..." James trailed off.
"At least now I know where you ran off to yesterday," Lily said, trying to stop smiling. It seemed that nothing could ruin this day for her.
That night, at Lily's request, the Gryffindor graduates all went out to celebrate. They didn't go into Hogsmeade to the Three Broomsticks though, where all of the other graduates were. Oh, no. Lily had a much more interesting idea for them. They went to Hogsmeade, but only to travel somewhere else by floo powder. In fact, the next thing they knew, they were all in muggle clothing at a muggle pub in London.
"This round is on me," Lily said, excitedly. It had been a long time since she was able to use muggle money.
"Are you sure?" asked Jem.
"Of course!"
Two pitchers of beer arrived at their table, with 8 frosted pint glasses.
"Bottoms up!" toasted Lily. Everyone else followed her lead and took a drink.
"Wow! Those muggles don't have it so bad!" said Remus, taking another swig.
The night continued on like that, everyone laughing and enjoying themselves, taking turns buying rounds of drinks.
After about 5 rounds, everyone was feeling rather... happy.
"This is great!" yelled Sirius. "Why didn't we ever sneak out to a muggle pub before?"
Everyone laughed. "I know!" agreed James. "We definitely have to start doing this regularly."
James was sitting with his arm around Lily. She gave him a kiss on the cheek when from out of nowhere they heard a voice from behind them.
"Lily Evans? Is that you?" said a male voice.
Everyone turned to see who was talking.
"Um, yes?" she said, cautiously. "Do I know- Grady!" she exclaimed. "Oh my god! It has been forever!" Lily jumped up and out of James's grasp to hug the strange man. James could feel his blood start to boil.
"I can't believe it's actually you! How are you?" Grady asked. "I have been hoping to run into you forever!"
"It has been years... I'm good... just graduated from school... what about you?"
"Same, I'm heading off to University in the fall though."
"Really? That's great..."
James coughed rather loudly.
"Oh, right! James!" Lily suddenly realized she wasn't the only one there. "Grady, this is James," and she started to go around the table, "Jem, April, Sirius, Virginia, Remus and Peter. We all went to school together."
"Hello," said Grady.
"Hey," "Hello," "What's up?" everyone piped in.
"Well, this is Grady. He and I went to school together, before I... transferred!"
"Oh! A muggle schoolmate!" James declared, rather loudly. Lily shot him a very mean glance that managed to silence him. Sirius and Remus started snickering.
"Won't you join us?" April asked, forcing Sirius to move over.
"Um, sure. Let me just let my friends know," and he walked away for a moment.
"What the hell did you do that for, April?" James demanded.
"He's cute!" she answered. "So why not?"
"This is just so random, running into him here. It's been so long, I've nearly forgotten my life from before Hogwarts..." Lily trailed off.
Lily sat back down next to James and poured herself another pint.
"Why didn't you tell him?" he asked.
"Tell him what?"
James's eyes grew wide, as did everyone else's at the table.
Lily looked around at them. "What?"
"About me? About us?" He grabbed her left hand. "About that?"
"Oh, James, don't worry. Honestly, as if I'd forget about you..."
"Well, just make sure it comes up in conversation now, cos he's coming back."
"Hi again.. sorry that took so long," Grady said awkwardly.
"That's alright! Have a seat!" April offered, patting the now empty chair beside her.
"Thanks," he replied, sitting.
"So, you know Lily from when?" asked Remus.
"We used to go to school together... then her parents said she transferred to a boarding school in France."
"France?!" Sirius started laughing, no doubt thinking of Beaubaxtons. Grady gave Lily an uneasy look. She smiled in response and he felt more at ease.
"I just can't get over how good you look, Lil. The years have been kind to you." He winked at her.
"You don't have to say that." Lily felt James squeeze her hand rather tightly. "OK," she muttered to him before turning back to Grady. "Things are going really well... between graduating and-"
James cut her off. "And getting married, we've got our hands full." He grinned, seeing Grady's stunned expression.
"You're married?"
"No, not yet. Just engaged. In fact, we need to set a date still..." James stated very matter-of-factly.
"Oh, well that's good then," Grady retorted. "There's still hope for the rest of us." He winked again.
James couldn't handle this. He instinctively reached for his wand, but for some reason it wasn't there. He looked at Lily who nodded, whispering "Don't even think about it, I have it and you're not getting it back until we're out of here."
So, since he couldn't use magic, he jumped up and punched Grady in the nose.
The girls screamed and Lily was trying to pry James off of her childhood friend, but she wasn't strong enough. Something had come over him. Sirius and Remus finally had to pry the two apart.
James shouted, "You stay away from her or I will make the rest of your life miserable!" With that, he grabbed Lily and stormed out.
"Jesus Christ, James! What the hell was all that about?!" she yelled in the street.
"What do you think? He was flirting with you and you were playing along!"
"You canNOT be serious about this. You honestly think that if I was going to flirt with another guy that I would be stupid enough to do it with you sitting right there?! Give me a little credit at least!"
"And why should I? That little bastard would have been all over you if it was up to him!"
"I cannot believe that we are arguing about this! I love YOU, James. NOT GRADY. This was the first time I've seen him in OVER SEVEN YEARS. So you know what? I'm going home now. And you, you need to get over yourself."
Lily stormed off toward the Leaky Cauldron where they had arrived without even looking back.
Chapter 3: It Runs in the Family
James was sitting on the curb with a dumbfounded expression on his face by the time the others made it out of the pub.
"Where's Lily?" Jem asked with great concern.
"She left... headed back to school."
"Oh god, what did you do now, James?" Virginia asked.
"Nothing! We just had a fight, that's all..."
"Come on, up you go." Sirius lifted James up to his feet. "I think you've had enough to drink for one night."
"We had better head back too, and try to find Lily," Remus added with a sigh, all the while thinking so much for our fun night out...
It was almost 2am when the seven drunken, exhausted Gryffindors entered into their common room.
"Thank god!" said Jem, losing a battle against the yawn she was trying to suppress.
"I second that," Peter said. "I'm going up to bed."
"You're not gonna help look for Lily?" James asked.
"I'm sure you'll find her, I'm just really tired."
"Yeah, do you guys want help, or do you mind if we go to bed too?" asked April.
"That's fine... just go. We'll manage without you." roared James, heading back toward the portrait hole.
"Wait a sec there, buddy," Sirius said, grabbing the back of James' shirt. "I have a better idea."
"Ooh! Good thinking!" chimed in Remus.
The girls had given up on the guys and headed up to bed. "G'nite!" the yawned from the stairs up to their dorm.
"I'll be right back," said Remus, and he ran upstairs after Peter.
"You, sit, and drink some water," Sirius instructed James, handing him a glass.
"I'm fine," James insisted, starting to turn red again. He now spoke through gritted teeth "I... just... want... to... talk... to... Lily..."
"Ok! I got it!" came Remus's voice from the stairs. He held out the Marauder's Map in front of him, which caused James to calm down a little, even though he still snatched it out of Remus's hands.
"Okay, where is she... where is she..." James was anxiously skimming every inch of the map looking for Lily's name. "There!" he yelled, pointing at the hospital wing.
"Severus? Are you awake?" Lily whispered as she crept toward his hospital bedside.
"Who...?" he answered weakly. "Lily..."
"Shh... it's alright," she said, taking his hand. "Everything is going to be alright..."
"Lily, I don't know what happened... I... I'm sorry," Snape spoke barely above a whisper.
"I know, it wasn't your fault... I'm just sorry that they did this to you."
"No... I mean, really, if I had hurt you at all... I wouldn't be able to live with myself..."
"You didn't though. That's all that matters. Just try to rest," she said, stroking his hand. "You have been a good friend to me, perhaps too good at times..."
"That little slut!" James shouted as he stormed out of Gryffindor common room. Remus and Sirius ran after him. "When I find that little b1tch, I will make her pay for this... and that stupid ass, I don't know why she trusts him! He is evil!"
James was beyond anger, beyond hurt. He was flying somewhere around murderous rampage now. Sirius and Remus knew that they were going to have a hard time controlling him when they found Lily, but it still hadn't occurred to them why.
Sirius and Remus tailed James all the way to the hospital wing, where he came to an abrupt halt. "Shh!" he commanded.
They then tiptoed inside, careful not to make a sound. It was obvious that James was listening for something.
"Lily, really... I am very sorry for everything. I shouldn't have been upset with you about Potter," Snape insisted.
James looked like he was ready to kill both Snape and Lily right about now.
Lily sighed. "I know you don't like him... but I love him. I hope that you can understand that one day..."
"You're too good for him. He doesn't deserve you."
"Oh, and I suppose that she'd be far better off with you?!" demanded James, bursting through the curtain walls.
"James!" Lily exclaimed, just as Snape's eyes narrowed and he practically spat out the word "Potter."
"My god, Lily! Have you no shame? Or dignity?"
"You will watch your mouth around my friends, James!"
"Friends?! How can you consider this slime to be a friend? First, he does nothing but fight with us, your real friends since day 1, and then he practically rapes you! And after all of this, YOU FORGIVE HIM?!"
"I WOULD FORGIVE HIM FOR THAT, SOMETHING WHICH HE HAD NO CONTROL OVER, LONG BEFORE I FORGIVE YOU FOR TONIGHT!"
She then ran out of the room sobbing, leaving the four boys in there all looking rather uncomfortable.
Just then they heard a noise. "Who's there?" came Madam Pomfrey's voice.
"Oh crap! Let's get out of here!" whispered Remus, rather loudly.
Snape and James were still glaring at each other as Sirius grabbed James's arm and dragged him out.
Unsure of how she made it there, Lily somehow found her way back to Gryffindor tower. She climbed up the dormitory stairs and crawled into bed. I really hope that nobody wants to talk right now, she thought to herself as she pulled the covers up over her head and buried her face in a pillow to muffle the sound of her sobs.
"Sometimes I hate you, James Potter," she whispered into the pillow. Lily suddenly felt the loss of her mother, even though she had been dead for several years now. This was definitely supposed to be one of those mother/daughter moments though. Unfortunately, this thought caused Lily to sob even harder. Her body was now shaking, convulsing, her breathing was staggered. She couldn't handle it, but she had nowhere to go.
"What the..?" Lily heard a familiar voice say.
Suddenly the covers were pulled off of her, exposing her poor, shaking, tear-stained body.
"Lily, what are you doing in here?" asked James gently.
"What?" She was genuinely confused. Then she sat up and looked around. Somehow she had went up to the boys' dormitory rather than the girls' and had climbed into James's bed. This realization made her cry even more. "I'm sorry... I'm sorry that you hate me now... I'll go."
She got up, but her legs simply wouldn't carry her. Luckily James caught her and lifted her back onto the bed.
"Guys, can you give us a minute?"
Remus nodded and dragged Peter out of bed and out of the room. Everyone else followed.
James sat next to Lily on his bed. He shook his head. "What am I going to do with you?"
"I don't know," she replied, a faint smile appearing on her face. It quickly disappeared though. "James, your temper really scares me sometimes. This isn't going to work if you don't trust me."
"I know, and I do trust you... it's just other guys that I don't trust..."
"That may be the case, but you have to know that I love you with all of my heart. We were meant to be together, and I'm not about to let some other guy come between us. Please, I beg of you... trust me."
"Lily, I'm trying... and I admit that I overreacted at the Grady situation. But really, Snape!? Come on..."
"James, now is not the time to have me justify my friends to you. Just trust that I know what I'm doing. That's all I ask..."
"Fine," he whispered into the top of her head before giving it a kiss. "I will try..."
Just then they heard a shuffle at the door and the sound of breaking glass.
"Jesus!" exclaimed James. "You guys might as well come in, since you're just going to listen in anyhow..." He then grabbed his wand and the door disappeared, causing Remus Sirius and Peter, along with 4 or 5 other boys to tumble onto the floor.
"Sorry," Sirius muttered as he tried to get up but couldn't, from the weight of everyone else.
Lily couldn't help it, she started to laugh. This made James smile, and he realized that he would go to the ends of the world for that laugh.
"So are you staying in here tonight?" asked Peter, looking rather uncomfortable.
"Yeah, I think so... I don't think I could sleep by myself tonight."
"Good, because I wasn't going to let you leave anyhow," said James. "Here, you can wear these if you want." He offered her a pair of his pajamas, and she gave him a skeptical look. "Honey, they're clean, don't worry."
Sirius and Remus burst out laughing.
"If you say so," Lily said nervously. She got up and went into the bathroom to change.
Lily came out of the bathroom giggling. "They're a little big." It was true. She was a bit shorter than James, so the pajama pants were rather baggy and clown like. Not that she cared though. "It's ok, really... they're cozy. G'nite guys!" And with that, Lily jumped up onto the bed closed the curtains around it. "So..."
James smiled. "So."
"Whatcha thinking?" she cutely asked.
"I dunno," he answered, a troublesome grin appearing on his face. He moved closer to Lily.
"No, oh no.. please don't!" she giggled. James came closer still and started to tickle her. "No! James! Come on, we'll walk everyone else up!" She was laughing as uncontrollably as she had been crying earlier.
"No, we won't... the curtains are sound proof. I cast that spell my first year here... you've obviously never heard Peter snoring."
It was 15 minutes before James finally gave up tickling Lily.
"Thank you," she said, very out of breath but still with a big smile on her face.
"You tired yet, hun?"
"Not on your life." Lily suddenly jumped up and pounced on James, pinning him down. James was surprised by how strong she really was. "Now apologize."
"Never!" he laughed.
"You'd better! You know that I hate being tickled!"
"Nope!"
"Fine then, have it your way." Lily pulled something out from behind her. It was her wand.
"Oh, no, what are you gonna do?"
"Apologize or you'll find out!"
"Whatever, you're bluffing... you wouldn't do anything to me..."
"Oh you think so, huh?" Lily pointed her wand at his face and opened her mouth about to say something.
"Okay! ok! I give... I'm sorry."
"You are so weak... I knew I had to wrapped around my little finger!" Lily leaned down and kissed James so he couldn't respond.
The rest of the night went by far too quickly, at least for Lily and James. It was the first time that they had ever slept in the same bed.
Lily woke up the next morning feeling safer than she had ever felt before. She found herself in James's arms. He was still asleep and breathing lightly on the back of her neck. This is it, she thought. This is how I'm meant to spend the rest of my life.
She pulled James's arms tighter around her and sighed happily. James then started to stir.
"Morning, sunshine," Lily whispered.
"Morning," he said, kissing the back of her head.
"I need to head back to my room... I've got to finish packing, not that I really have anywhere to go." Lily frowned.
"You know you can come stay with me."
"Don't be ridiculous. I'm going back to my parents' house for a while... Petunia agreed to wait on selling it until I knew what I was going to do after graduation."
"I'm surprised she was that agreeable."
"Well, she wasn't really. It's just that my parents stipulated that in their will... otherwise all of the proceeds from the sale would go to me."
The curtain was suddenly opened and Sirius peered in. "Hey... you two lovebirds might want to get up and dressed really quickly. James, your parents are in the common room to help you move your stuff out."
"Oh crap!" yelled James. "Quick! The invisibility cloak! Lily, I'm sorry, but my mother will kill me! We have to get you out of here undetected!"
Lily couldn't help but laugh at this. "Calm down, James! It's not like the world is coming to an end..."
"No, Lily, you don't understand. My parents love you and all, but my mom is very old fashioned when it comes to stuff like this."
"Ok... give me the cloak and I'll go."
"Thank you!" said a relieved James.
Lily gave him a quick kiss, waved goodbye to everyone, and threw on the cloak. "See you guys later," she whispered as she walked out the door and down the stairs.
"Jeez, James. Do you really think that your mom is going to throw a hissy fit just because Lily was in your room?" Remus asked. "I mean, come on... there are a lot worse things..."
"She just doesn't agree with stuff like that, ok? She's more traditional."
"Hah! Right! Isn't she the one who makes you send home a record of the pranks you pulled just so she could use it against you some day?" chimed in Sirius.
"Not exactly... she just likes to know in advance what kind of trouble I'm gonna be causing, that's it."
"Hahaha. Doesn't want to hear it from the owl Dumbledore would send, eh?"
"Oh, shut it, Sirius. At least I don't still get grounded when I stay out past 11pm." James grinned.
"Like that's gonna happen any more anyhow. When do we move into our new flat? Monday?"
"Yeah, baby!" James high 5'd Sirius and Remus.
"It's gonna be so great... no more parents telling us what we have to do, when we have to eat... nothing. Just us!" Remus was really excited. He knew that this also meant he'd have "people" to keep him company when the full moon appeared.
James quickly got dressed and went downstairs to meet his family. When he got there, he was very surprised to find Lily was already on the couch and in an animated conversation with his mother.
"Ahem," he said, signaling his arrival.
"James! There you are darling!" exclaimed his mother, jumping up to give him a hug and a kiss. "I was wondering if you would ever make it downstairs to say hello! And after all, we didn't even get to see you yesterday after your graduation..."
James had been ready for this. His mother was notorious for guilting people. "Sorry, mum. We just had a lot on our minds... very excited, you know."
"Of course you did!" she turned back to Lily. "Look at you, isn't this wonderful? Soon we will all really be family..."
"Marilyn and I were just discussing some preliminary wedding plans, James."
James hadn't expected this. Lily was already on a first name basis with his mother? Oh well, he thought, it was bound to happen one day...
Just then someone came up from behind James and put him in a headlock.
"So, are you going to introduce me, or what?" said a girl's voice.
"Or what!" shouted James.
"You always were the little smartass, weren't you?" she laughed.
"Claire! Really..." said Marilyn.
Claire laughed some more. "Sorry mother." She turned her attention to Lily. "You must be the unfortunate one who for reasons beyond my understanding loves my brother."
Lily tried hard to fight it, but she started to laugh. James was even less pleased when he realized that everyone else in the common room had heard his sister as well and had also started laughing.
"Thanks, Claire. Really... I do so love it when you come to visit."
"Well, what's the point of having a little brother if you can't embarrass him?" She winked at James.
"Shouldn't you be off trying to cure some bizarre disease or something?" James asked.
"Haha. Well, I thought I might as well take a couple of weeks off and see my little baby of a brother actually graduate from the family alma mater. I have to tell you, James, I didn't expect that you actually would... especially not on time... I mean, with all of your pranks and everything." James rolled his eyes. "Now, if you don't mind, I would like to have a conversation with my future sister-in-law. Shall we, Lily?"
"Sure," Lily said, feeling a bit nervous. "We can go up to my room."
"Wow, this brings back a lot of memories," Claire sighed as Lily led her up to the girls' dormitory. "It's been forever since I've been up here. Ohmigod! Look!" She pointed to the 3rd years' room. "That was my room! Do you think they'd mind if I took a look?"
"I doubt it," Lily replied. I think everyone pretty much moved out either before or right after graduation... we're the only ones left."
"Great!" Clair cautiously opened the door. "Wow, it's just as I remember it. Hmm... I wonder..." she thought aloud. Claire then climbed into one of the beds and seemed to be feeling for something along the wall.
"Um... if you don't mind my asking, what are you doing?" asked Lily, rather concerned by Claire now.
"You'll see... just one sec and I should have it. A-ha! There it is!" She pushed something on the wall, and, much to Lily's surprise, a little door popped open and Claire pulled something out of it. "Good as new!"
"What's that?"
"It's a time capsule that my friends and I left here. We hoped that someone would one day come across it, but apparently not!" She was beaming from ear to ear. "No matter. At least we can enjoy what's inside! Let's go to your room and I'll show you."
Leaving everything as they found it, the girls left that room and headed to Lily's.
While the girls were busying themselves upstairs, Sirius and Remus decided to seize the opportunity to tease James even more.
"Is da wittle baby bwothew gonna cwy?" asked Sirius.
"Da poor wittle boy... his big meanie of a sister had to pick on him..."
Remus and Sirius roared with laughter.
"Oh, shut it!" yelled James.
"James! That's enough!" shouted his mother.
James buried his face in his hands as Sirius and Remus pointed and laughed at him even more.
"Who is that?" Lily asked, pointing at a picture of a boy who was smiling and waving.
"That," Claire sighed, "is Marshall Clements. He was my first love. God, it's been years..."
"What happened to him? I mean, do you guys still talk?"
"Alas, no. He was killed by a dragon about 5 years ago. I was devastated, which upset my current bo, causing him to break up with me. Anyway, that's a story for another time." She smiled as she pulled what appeared to be a pocket watch out of the box. "Yes!" Lily looked puzzled. This was one of the great inventions that my roommates and I created in our time here. Look." She opened the pocket watch and showed it to Lily.
"I don't get it... I don't see anything."
"Of course you don't, silly." She looked at the watch. "Gin & Tonic!" she said. Lily watched in awe as a mist of blackness started swirling around in the small case. Claire reached her hand in, and somehow it fit through the tiny casing. When she withdrew it, she had a glass in her hand. "See?"
"That's interesting..."
Claire laughed. "Ordering drinks is only one of the benefits. We used to use it to get the keys out of Filch's office so we could wander the grounds at night, or things like that." She sighed again. "Those were the days..."
Now Lily laughed. "So I see it runs in the family..."
"You have no idea. The Potter troublemaker gene seems to go back generations. You can ask Professor Dumbledore, if you don't believe me."
"I don't doubt it at all." Lily grinned. "I can only imagine what my son will be like in his day here..."
"Already planning on having kids with my psychotic brother, eh?" Claire teased.
"Not yet, Claire... but some day..."