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Lily woke up first the sun from the open common room curtains blinding her. She turned and buried into the warmth beside her.
Wait, she thought. Warmth? Her eyes fluttered open again and she took in her surroundings. She was curled up next to James, spooned against his body and his arms wrapped around her slim waist. They had fallen asleep in the common room doing research the night before. Lily groaned deciding it was too early. James shifted slightly and Lily looked up into his half-lidded hazel eyes. Some one else groaned breaking Lily's gaze. Alaura was awake. She rolled over on the couch she and Sirius had ended up sharing and fell with a squeak and a crash to the floor. Lily grinned as she also rolled over, though more carefully than Alaura and with the support of James' arms around her middle, so she was facing away from James but still in his embrace. It seemed too right to break.
Alaura's squeal had woken Sirius, who instead of watching Alaura and making sure she was okay, was watching Lily and James who seemed perfectly comfortable looking like a couple.
"Did something happen last night that I don't know about?" Alaura looked at him confused before following his line of vision to Lily and James.
"When did you two become all coupley?" Lily blushed.
"I'm comfortable," she grumbled. James, in turn, buried his face in her hair.
It smells slightly of apples, he thought, subconsciously hugging Lily closer to his body. Lily sighed both in resignation and contentment. (A/N: Talented isn't she!)
"As much as I hate to say this we should probably get cleaned up and head down to breakfast," she said moving to sit up.
"No," James replied pulling her back down to him.
"James!" Lily exclaimed struggling against him.
"Lily!"
"We really have to go!"
"But I want to stay!"
"Its our best morning!"
"Huh?" Lily sighed again but stopped struggling.
"Double charms and transfiguration."
"Well why didn't you just say so? I'm not missing out on such an amazing morning of dullness," he said sarcastically.
"You can't afford to skip the class, James." Alaura and Sirius watched with amusement as James and Lily argued like a married couple.
"What time is it?" Liandra asked groggily interrupting Lily and James.
"Damn it all," Alaura mumbled more to herself than anyone else, but Sirius heard. He laughed.
"You and me both," he replied cheekily.
"Time for breakfast," Lily said resolutely yanking herself out of James' warm embrace. "I am going to go take a shower and change. I will meet you back down here in about ten," she finished quickly floating books after her. James sighed straightening up.
"Well Jamsie my boy, I would like to take the honours of being the first of us to snag one of the lovely ladies," Sirius said motioning to where Lily had disappeared just seconds before.
"Ha! Lils hasn't said anything yet, dear Sirius. Though if some one went up there now she'd probably go all red in the face. Tomato time!" Alaura replied grinning.
"Alaura's right. I haven't snagged any one… yet."
"That's the spirit!" Sirius cheered.
"Just ask her James. She'll say yes," Liandra suggested quietly. James ran a hand through his unruly black hair.
"Thanks Liandra, thanks."
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Breakfast was a quiet affair, every one was tired and lost in their own thoughts. Lily dropped her fork down onto her plate with a loud clang.
"What?" Alaura groaned holding her head but Lily wasn't listening. She was to busy packing things back into her bag.
"I'll see you in charms," she said a little too cheerily rushing out of the hall. James watched her go.
"Tell her!" Remus, Liandra, Alaura and Sirius all exclaimed at once. James ignored them turning back to his barely touched eggs.
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Lily rushed through the hallways of Hogwarts. Why did this all seem so familiar? Down to the dungeons she ran, pushing unsuspecting Slytherins out of her way without a thought as to who they could be. She reached the picture of fruit that led to the kitchens pausing only a moment to get her bearings before rushing on. She came to a carved wooden door. Across from the door was a tapestry of an angel. Lily gasped. She had visited this place so often in her dreams. She reached out and touched the tapestry…
"Back again are you?" Lily spun quickly feeling the swish of fabric against her ankles. She looked down and noticed she was wearing a dress. It was the purest of whites and what she guessed was silk. She faced the blonde man in front of her.
"Again?" He nodded.
"Yes again. Have you not been coming every night?" Lily took a second to grasp her surroundings. She was standing in a grassy meadow. The sky was the sheerest of blues and the sun's rays rained down on her giving her a sense of warmth. She was dreaming?
"In my dreams, yes but never when I'm awake." The man nodded.
"You found our tapestry," he said changing the subject abruptly. Lily nodded.
"As you said, I come in my dreams."
"But have you ever been here? We watch over you Lily Evans. We watched you last night as you searched for information on the opening to our world. You will not find it in books. Only the one destined to open the Seal will be able to." Lily took a moment to absorb everything the man had said.
"Let me guess," she began, her voice slightly sarcastic, "you can't tell me who that is, can you?" The man smiled sadly.
"When the smart ones come I wish we could." This was a new voice. Lily's eyes widened as she watched a single ball of white light turn into a young girl. The girl's eyes were lavender, her hair dirty blonde. She looked about eleven, and was wearing a dress similar to Lily's.
"We've been guarding the Seal for years. Unfortunately the time has come where we are not as safe as we could be. Our very existence is threatened by extinction, Lily. The Seal must be opened."
"Why?" She didn't bother asking how the girl knew her name, that didn't matter. The girl sighed, shaking her head.
"That information is located within your world and therefore we are unable to tell you this. I know, it is not fair. Why don't we just tell you and then you won't have to look for the details in the many books of your world. If we tell you verbally, we run the risk of some one else figuring everything out before." Lily looked confused but before she could say anything, she was whisked away into darkness. She didn't know where she was but she couldn't see a thing. Her dress was gone and she was once again dressed in her Hogwarts robes. She spun in a slow circle looking for movement.
My wand! She reached into her robes. It wasn't there.
Great, she thought. How am I supposed to protect myself if anything attacks? As if on cue, she was bowled over from behind, knocking the wind out of her. She groaned as she rolled over facing upwards on what she could only guess was stone. The uneven-ness and slimy feel of the surface gave it away more than the stiffness and solid feeling. Out of the corner of her eye Lily saw something glint. If you asked her how, she wouldn't be able to tell you but the glint streaked towards her chest. She screamed…
And sat bolt upright in a white room. She was in the hospital wing. James was the first one to come speeding through the closed curtains at her scream. Alaura and Liandra weren't too far behind.
"Lily, what happened?" James asked but Lily wasn't listening. She was too busy going over what had happened. It was a dream, of that she was sure, but it was so much different than her dreams at night. Those ones always ended happy. This one ended with – what she was sure of as – her getting killed.
"Lils?"
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