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Chapter 18- Coming and Going

Lily was released from the hospital wing the next afternoon, once Madam Pomfrey could tell Lily wasn't going to have anymore episodes. Lily had taken the potion from St. Mungo's, retrieved by Sirius from her room, an hour after fainting. The potion seemed to have a greater effect than she expected. Strength came flooding back during her time at the hospital wing.

Lily was released just in time for potions. Just my luck, she thought while walking down a long, dark corridor, and into an equally dark room. At the front of the room was a thin older woman with short brown hair. She looked around and saw James motioning at the seat next to him. This was one of the few classes that all the Marauders didn't participate in. Sirius, never having cared for Professor Riddle, gave it up at the end of his fifth year and Peter couldn't qualify in the class. Remus sat with Samantha at one table and James waited as Lily took the seat next to him. "Where's Riddle?"

"I guess he went A.W.O.L. on us or something, because he wasn't here yesterday either, and none of the students seem to know why," James explained. "How are you feeling?" Concern filled James's eyes, as he looked at Lily waiting for her answer.

"Better than I have for a long time," she said honestly. "I feel a hundred times better."

"Good," James smiled really big. "Very good."

Lily and James worked on the potion, and Lily noticed Severus looking back at her every so often. Once, while James was looking away and Snape was once again looking back at Lily, she smiled at him. Severus smiled back, hoping that the smile meant she was okay. He turned back to his work when his partner, Lucius Malfoy, nudged him.

"What are you guys doing tonight?" Lily asked, adding in the sliced Boomslang.

"We were going to visit you, but seeing as your out," James said. "Why don't we take a stroll around the lake? If you're feeling well that is," he said.

"I suppose," Lily said, adding another ingredient as James stirred.

"All right, just after dinner?"

"You aren't going to set up a port key this time, right?" Lily asked with a smirk.

"No, I won't. I think I'll go traditional tonight."

Lily put make up on for the first time in weeks. She had been using mascara everyday, but found that it took too much energy to really try looking nice, so she didn't bother. Not that many people thought she looked bad either. Tonight, though, she just wanted to feel normal, forget about the disease and everything that went along with it, and remember that she was a seventeen year old girl whose boyfriend was taking her out for a romantic moonlight stroll, even though she didn't know just how romantic it would be.

Lily still had to pack a small bag of clothes for that weekend, but figured she could put it off until the next morning. She would be going to Mrs. Figg's around ten to be in time for her appointment at eleven.It didn't matter to Lily about when she needed to be ready at the moment, however, which was unusual for the girl who usually stressed out at the idea of procrastinating.

Lily put on her sapphire earrings just as James came to take her out. "You ready?"

"Yes," she said, turning around, appreciating the reaction James had to her self make over.

"Look beautiful," he said, putting his hands in his jean pockets, blushing a bit while leaning against the wall to still look cool.

"You don't look so bad yourself," Lily said, going toward him. He stood up and offered an arm, leading the way to the Hogwarts grounds. "Thanks again for taking notes for me."

"It was nothing," James said as they got to where the stars could be seen clearly. "Just tell me if you get tired," he said as they started walking around the grounds, fingers entangled with one another. They walked, talking about nothing of great importance or seriousness, which is what Lily had been looking forward to all day.

"Did you know, that in North Carolina in America, it is against the law to plow your fields with an elephant?" James asked, contributing to the latest silly discussion.

Lily laughed. "No I didn't know that," she admitted. "How about the law in France that states between the hours of 8am and 8pm 70% of the music played on the radio must be by French composers."

"No way," James said. "In Cambodia water guns are not allowed in New Year's celebrations." Both of them started laughing over this one and sat down near the willow tree.

"Okay, I don't think I can beat that one," she said. Soon the laughter subsided and they just looked at each other. Lily looked away after a minute and blushed while looking down. "Thank you James."

"For what?"

"For being there this entire time," Lily said, looking at him now that she had an excuse to, besides the fact that they were dating.

"That's what friends are for right?"

"Right," she said.

There was another moment of silence. "I want to show you something," James said, standing then offering Lily a hand.

"What is it?" Lily asked.

"A surprise," he said.

James lead the way into the green house. "What are we doing here?" Lily asked, as James opened the door conveniently left open as a favor.

"I told you it's a surprise," James said. They walked around until they came to a single blue morning glory bloom, alone in its pot of soil. "You like it?"

"Yeah, it's beautiful," Lily said, honestly, but didn't know where this was leading.

"Pick it," James said.

"What? If I do that it won't-"

"Just trust me, pick it," James said, his smile growing.

Lily did so, and it didn't do anything. James helped her place it between her middle and ring fingers on her right hand. Lily was completely confused by now, but gave James the benefit of the doubt that James knew what he was doing.

James took out his wand, held the tips of Lily's fingers and encircled the flower, concentrating on what he was doing. Lily gasped as the flower took form of a silver ring, which fit itself around her finger, and the petals of the flower kept form while turning sapphire. "I thought I'd complete the set," James said as Lily stared at it in shock.

"Thank you," Lily said, finally finding at least those two words.

"It's a promise ring," James informed her.

"What promise is it that I'm making," Lily asked, worried about the answer a bit.

"That you'll never break my heart," James said, taking her hands and pulling Lily closer to him.

"I promise," Lily said.

Lily still couldn't get over how wonderful the night had been the next morning while she was packing. Mornings had usually been the worst when it came to feeling ill, but she figured her natural high must have helped because she didn't feel anything but happiness this morning. She finished folding a shirt and was closing her suitcase when James came in, picking her up around the waist, twirling her around and setting Lily back on solid ground once more. "How's my favorite girl this morning?"

"Good," Lily said, smiling wide.

"Great, are you coming to breakfast?"

"I can't," Lily said. "I'm going to Mrs. Figg's in ten minutes, and I probably shouldn't eat before the tests anyway. I'm sure Dad will take me for brunch after."

"Okay," James said, and Lily found it odd that there was no concern there when she talked about what she was going to do. "We'll see you Sunday night?"

"Yes," Lily answered lifting the suitcase. "And can you take notes for me again?"

"You know," James said shaking his head, "you really need to start doing your own work."

"Don't even," Lily said, punching James playfully in the stomach. "This coming from notes moocher of the century!"

"I'll take notes," James said, rolling his eyes, then leaning in to give her a kiss. "Just take care of yourself."

"I will," Lily said. They kissed again before Lily had to leave and go to Hogsmeade.

"I would like to send some things into a lab to get further testing," Dr. Grusso said the day after the tests had been run.

Josh, Lily and Petunia had all come to this appointment. "Why? Did they not come out correctly?" Josh asked, the pit of his stomach dropping further than it usually did with these appointments.

"We aren't sure, so we're just going to check the results more carefully before we say anything," he informed them.

"How long with that take?" Lily asked. It wasn't as if it wasn't hard enough to do these, but now they were prolonging it.

"About a week," Dr. Grusso said, placing the files in a manila envelope. "We'll send it to you as soon as we get it back. I apologize for the wait. I'm sure none of this can be easy, but we just want to be sure of some things."

This can't be good, Lily thought, but didn't say anything that might upset their father. They left the doctor's office and made their way to the car. "Well, I suppose we should go somewhere to eat," Josh said, knowing Lily hadn't eaten yet.

They went to a small café and ordered. "I don't know if this is the right time," Petunia started, and despite the current concerns, had a smile on her face, "but I wanted to tell you both at the same time that Vernon proposed."

Lily's jaw dropped. She hadn't realized things had become this serious between the two of them. "When?" Lily asked. Josh was in even bigger shock.

"He asked last night, but we haven't set a date. I wanted to make sure everyone can make it," Petunia looked as though she had slept with a coat hanger in her mouth. "Isn't it wonderful Dad?"

Josh snapped out of his state of shock. "Of course it is, sweet pea," he said. Standing and hugging his oldest child. Lily followed.

"Congratulations," Lily whispered in Petunia's ear. She didn't like Vernon too much, but that didn't mean she had to put down her sister's choice.

"Thanks," Petunia said, squeezing tighter.

They sat down and had lunch, and a toast to the newly engaged family member.

A/N: A lot of fluff and such, but there's also a lot of hints and subtleties so I hope you caught them. This story is coming to its end, but I'm not quite sure where I want to end it or how to do so. It might take me a bit to figure that out, so if you're getting tired of these long update periods, please have patience and know I'm trying to make it good. Thank you to everyone who's reviewed and I hope you keep doing so. If you haven't reviewed for me yet please do!

Thank you:

XODanielle03oX: I'm getting around to your stories I promise! I just wanted to update this first, then I'll read at least one of them before I go home this afternoon. I'm glad you like this story and thank you for reviewing.

Elle: Your right that Lily can't die….yet, but I'm not making this AU. Thank you for reviewing =)

Leoking: If you look at things from James's perspective I think you might understand why he would be so violent. Not to mention that he doesn't care about hexing and cursing for no reason at all, so I think if he thought Snape did something, there would be heck to pay. I think fluff is fun, though I'm glad someone likes how I word it, because I almost feel stupid writing the sappy stuff, but I do it anyway. Thank you for reviewing for both this and Blood is Thicker.

Emma3: I'll try to keep updating quickly, since I'm so close and I want to finish it.

Bitter heart: I wouldn't stress over it too much, seeing as it's a bit late in the story to open another can of worms, though I have a can opener in hand (muahahahacoughcough sorry hairball) anyway, I hope you like this chapter and sorry if the last chapter was rushed, but I just wanted the events to happen and for it to all seem very compact, which it was.

Winter-wildcat: Sorry if I left it where you don't like this time, which I have a feeling that I did. I think I've been building things up to a breaking point a lot lately and hopefully it's not too stressful for you =) Thank you for your review.

JamieBell: I agree with the hoping I've never treated anyone that way, but also look at it from James's side: all he sees is that after they give her the potion, she faints and Snape has never liked them anyway, so why would James put it past him to sabotage it for his own means. It is very good that Remus has a good head on his shoulders. Hope you've had fun at camp!

KSO: Hope you like this one, and thank you for your reviews as always!

Katkit: It's already in the text, if you want to know why Lily fainted. There isn't some big explanation or event, she just kind of wore herself out more than she knew and fainted. Simple as that =) thanks for your reviews, at whatever time it is. Of course I don't want you to loose sleep and faint over it either =)

Animalluvr75: Here you go: ASAP. Sorry it wasn't sooner.

Zayne: Don't die on me! Please! Here's your reason to live! JK! Hehehe. Hope you like this chapter and I'm getting to a close with this one, just to let you know.

Seed-of-flame: I wanted you to feel sorry for Snape…. So that shows that I'm doing well with my persuasion in writing…hmmmm interesting. I like the relationship between Petunia and Lily in this one, because I don't think anyone would just all the sudden hate their sister like most people portray. I'm not sure if you've read it or not, but you might like Resentment if you like that part of it.

Josephine Sawyer: I'm sorry, I've really been trying to keep the chapters longer, but for some reason that ability has been slipping me lately. I hope you like this one (it's almost 2,000 words I think) although there isn't a lot of major action. I don't think Snape is in denial about his feelings as much as he just doesn't want to wear his heart on his sleeve. I think the 'no' thing comes from being angry at himself, thinking he had made a mistake, and knowing what that could mean for Lily. I'm glad you're looking forward to more story, but I warn you that this one is coming to a close. I would, however, love to see your name on some reviews of my newest story 'Blood is Thicker'….please? Pretty please? With a cockroach cluster on top?