A/N: Sorry this took so long to get out. There were many things to get in the way: Vacation, work, procrastination, which ever excuse you'd like to have. But, the important thing is, it's here now, right? I apologize profusely for being delayed on this, and I know it's short, but it's here!

Disclaimer: Do not sue, because I don't own anything of interest except for Lazy MWPP Writers, and you wouldn't want that because…er…because you wouldn't want to own a mailing list as fun as that one. ;o)

Enjoy!

Illicit Love

Chapter Sixteen

Power of a Woman

Considering how Lily looked, it was hard for James not to imagine that she was significantly all right. She just beamed at him, then licked her ruby-painted lips and sashayed extremely seductively over to the Gryffindor table, all eyes on her. James's mouth was going drier with each sway of her hips, each subtle movement of her breasts. He thought he was going to die.

And considering the Vampire teeth she had and the way she was looking at him, he probably was.

"I did it," Lily said when she reached the table. She placed a pale hand on her very shapely hip and the other upon Sirius's shoulder. He and Remus and Peter couldn't help noticing, like James, that Lily was – there was not other word to describe her – hot. A smoking gun – not that the four boys had ever seen a real gun, except for Sirius who had seen one on the telly in Brazil, but when they imagined how something mythical like a smoking gun would look, that's was Lily.

"Uh, Lily…?" Sirius said.

"Yes?" She stared at him with her stunning eyes, daring him to speak up. He just swallowed his next statement and continued to look her up and down.

"Lily," James tried. "You – you – well, you've got –" he pointed to his mouth. To his surprise, Lily scowled.

"I've been locked up in the Ramortia Dungeons for twenty-four hours, forced to don a torture device called a girdle, I've been bitten twice on the neck by Josephine Ramortia's Vampire mother, don't mess with me!"

"Josephine's mother is a Vampire?" Remus said. "I wouldn't have guessed; she's so shag-a-delic."

"Ew," James said with a shudder.

"No, no, I have to agree," Sirius said.

"Me too," Lily said. The boys looked at her in shock. "No, not to me! I don't want her, but I think I would if I were a male." She smiled, showing her fangs again.

"Uh…Lily, your teeth…"

Lily lifted her hand and touched her Vampire fangs, then shook her head with a slight laugh.

"I forgot about that," she said, then took hold of one fang and pulled it out, then did the same to the other.

"You're not a Vampire?"

"Sadly, no," Lily said. "Mina gave me those damn teeth to help me get used to them before turning me into a Dark Diva. Do you know how nasty blood tastes? Remind me never to be a Vampire for Halloween now that I know what people taste like."

"Huh?" Peter said.

"Never mind." She shuddered at the thought of all the people she watched Josephine kill and all the different types of blood that she had to taste. "The important thing is, I'm back, and unharmed except for the hideous mark on my neck."

"How did you escape?"

Lily knitted her brow. How did she escape? She recapped the events of that morning. She had had an eventful morning full of more blood tasting, quite the hearty breakfast in Mina's point of view. But the blood from the night before had made her ill. She was slightly worried about diseases, but Mina had assured her that she would be rid of all viruses and bacteria when she received the Dark Gift.

"Well, I was supposed to be using my seductive powers on my own to find my prey, and I decided that the one person I wanted was at Hogwarts." She winked at James. "So, when she wasn't keeping mental tabs on me, I went into a wizard pub and flooed all the way to Hogsmeade, then came here by carriage, using my charms."

"Lily, I'm surprised at you," Remus said. "Using good looks to trick people…"

Lily grinned innocently and stood with an air of haughtiness. "Well, it's not everyday that you get to look like this."

"I'll say," James teased. Lily smacked his arm playfully.

"A quick roll in the hay with that cute guy who runs the horse-drawn carriages through Hogsmeade during the winter, and I got here, safe and sound."

"Quick roll in the hay?" James echoed, knitting his brow. "You don't mean you –,"

"No, wrong expression. Anyway. I told him I'd pay him, but he wouldn't let me. Said something about a pretty woman freezing to death. Very chivalric."

"You should take lessons," Sirius said to James. "Then you'd have quick rolls in the hay more often."

"Whatever," James grumbled, turning pink. Lily laughed.

"Well," she said slyly. "Being in this bustier, I can't reach around my own back to undo it. So I would be eternally grateful if you would…undress…me." She winked and James turned even pinker.

"Wait. What about your father, Lily?" Remus asked. "That's the whole reason you ventured off thickly into the night to the Ramortia House, wasn't it?"

"It was a diversion. He's not dead."

"What?" Peter asked. "But what about his keys?"

"I said the same thing, Pete. 'What about his keys?' Well, turns out that Mina created a diversion in the wizarding world, and made it look like there was an attack at my dad's business. All owls on the subject were intercepted and forged. That's why there was never a funeral announcement. And I knew something wasn't right anyhow. I mean, I am a witch, with odd powers, and I am my father's flesh and blood. It was a daughter's instinct to try to find out what was wrong. And a little bit of unbelief and insanity," she added as an afterthought.

"No," she continued. "Mina just wanted me to go to her house so I could become her heir. She kidnapped James just so she could plant the keys in the house and have him pick it up."

"Why did she want you as her heir instead of her snotty daughter?" Sirius asked.

Lily shook her head. "Conflict between women. Josephine hates her mother and what she is, so they were trying to prove a point to each other. Actually, it's kind of funny. She picked me because she knew I had James wrapped around my finger and that Josephine was nowhere near that. So she was trying to prove that her way can get a man better than Josephine's way. But the funny thing is, she was playing dirty."

"How do you mean?" Remus wanted to know.

"Well, I already had James, so he'd love me no matter what way I was, and no way Josephine was. So, it was all a setup." She shrugged casually then frowned. "Dirty rotten Vampires. But I'd love to be one, they're so beautiful and sexy and charming."

James looked at Lily with love full in his eyes.

"You're already all those things to me," he said softly. "Now let's go up those stairs. Right now. Head Girl missing in action for two days, and I have official business to take care of with you, being Head Boy, of course."

"Of course," Sirius said, elbowing Lily lightly.

* * *

Later that night, Lily owled the set of keys James had found to her father. He had written a hasty note back, saying he had looked all over for those keys and asked how had they come to Lily. She just scribbled one sentence: It's a long story, too incredible to believe.

"They worry about you, don't they?" James asked, his arms around Lily's waist as they watched James's snowy owl fly off into the sunset. "They care what happens to you."

"That's what parents are for," she replied, leaning into James.

"Well, yeah, but I mean, they want what's best for you, that's why your mum is always playing match maker and your dad wishes you went to Charlotte McKenzie Preparatory Academy."

"Did I tell you about that?"

"No, I overheard your father talking about it to your mother that night I was at your house."

"You did?" She shifted to look at him. He shrugged.

"Well, my parents' only wish for me was to go to school and be everything. Not everything I could be, but to be everything. Head Boy, Quidditch Captain, Minister of Magic, all those things we've already discussed." He sighed. He was slowly getting over the fact that if he lived life, he was going to disappoint his parents. The thought scared the hell out of him, but he knew that whatever happened in life, it wouldn't be his family he relied on anymore.

"I love you, Lily," he whispered.

"You really do?" she asked in return, smiling softly.

"I really do."

"I love you too."

* * *

November snowed into December, and December blizzards brought January to the students at Hogwarts. Classes had resumed a few weeks earlier, and the terror of the N.E.W.T.s to the seventh years.

James and Lily were working together on a particularly nasty potion in Potions lesson, with Sirius and Remus across from them. Peter was working with two Ravenclaw boys a few tables away.

"We're going to be out of here soon, you realize?" Sirius said, adding peppered Mandrake leaves. "There's not a lot of time left for pranks." He looked at Lily. "And you still owe me from the end of last year, remember?"

"Ah, true. I do remember, Master Sirius," Lily said, crushing dried beetle eyes. "But I'm waiting for the perfect time to prove to you that I could outwit you."

"I'm beginning to get impatient," Sirius said. "We've had no excitement around here."

"Rome wasn't built in a day, you know."

"Yes, well, that's only because they people who built Rome were geniuses, not wizards."

"Well then, Sirius, if it makes you feel any better, Rome was destroyed in one day."

"That's a great consolation to me, thanks Lily," he replied sarcastically. "So, what are you saying, you plan on ambushing me and wrecking me in some way?"

Lily just smirked and tapped her nose knowingly. James grinned widely. He had been helping her plan the ultimate prank during the winter holiday, and it was turning out quite nicely, he thought.

"I suppose I'll just have to wait then, and act surprised and hurt when your wimpy prank does come about."

Lily added blue orris root that had been picked at midnight to the potion, and it made a loud boom! before turning to a frothy, purple substance. She looked up at Sirius, who was shocked and staring at her cauldron. She was the first person in the classroom to get that part of the potion right.

"Never underestimate the power of a women," she said, before Professor McKell could come over and pat her on the back.

As James poured the potion into a vial and put a stopper on it, he had to agree with her. The power of a woman should never be underestimated. He should have at least known that much from his sister. And from the events that Lily told him took place while she was away months ago with the Dark Diva Mina Ramortia.

Besides, it was Lily that made him the person he was changing vastly into. He smiled as he wrote his and Lily's names on the label. He knew that he loved her and that he was going to spend the rest of his life with her if she'd let him.

Only then did he realize what he had written on the label of the vial. It was a simple mistake, and he corrected it quickly, but he couldn't get the picture of the scrawled writing upon the glass out of his head.

Lily and James Potter.

* * *

A/N: I apologize again that this took so long to get out. There was another fact of writer's block on this too. But, I'm getting over it and I've got plans for this story now. It's wonderful!

Well, seeing as there isn't much more to say, we'll move onto the thank-you's

* * *

THANK-YOU'S

* * *

Pixie Ice Princess – I didn't forget about this story either, I just had a major breakdown when it came to even thinking about writing anything after reading Order of the Phoenix. I felt very discouraged about what I was writing, but I'm over it now, so don't worry. I'm going to try to be a better writer when it comes to this story. I've got a really easy school schedule this year, so it looks like I'll be able to write more (I hope!).

H

Kitteh

Lady Reaper of the Shadows – cool name!

LilyQueen

Canadiangal

Anarane Anwamane

Imlosnoches

Amyli

MeLisSa

Fredngeorgegirl

The Lady Lillian – Yeah, I'd imagine that Lily would be a little more scared, but then I figured that Lily was going off by herself to somewhere she didn't know, so she was already a bundle of nerves about it. I dunno. I guess it didn't strike me as a situation that she would be frightened to be in. I tried to portray her more as wondering something like "What the hell?", if you know what I mean. But that's a really good question, and thanks for asking!

Me

Trickster-Jaina-Fel

Mystikalolo

Cool Like Ice

Shivani

UnforgivenChild

everblue3 – Yes, sadly, this isn't my favorite story of mine either. Ooo…I would love to check out your new story (which probably isn't so "new" anymore, as I haven't been available to do much but sleep in my free time). Thanks for your honest opinion!

Brilliant, Just Brilliant

Lindsey

Tezka

Uknowwhoslittleprincess – That's a great joke too! I love all the jokes you send me, they just make me laugh. They brighten my day, I tell you, because it's not everyday you get to hear jokes that aren't politically incorrect or offensive (some of the guys I hang out with are a bit crude, and they hardly make me laugh!).

Ljpottafreak

Cheeky Girl

* * *

THANK YOU!!!

* * *

Now, I know that this probably didn't turn out how you expected it, and I'm sorry if you were hoping that Lily would really be a Dark Diva (even she was hoping!), but Lily decided (as I certainly didn't) that she wanted to be with James, and not sucking blood the rest of her life.

So, it's time for my chapterly bribe. *winks*

All reviewers will receive two things: An ice cold glass of lemonade in honor of the ending summer, and free membership to the Lazy MWPP Writers.

Okay, I know what you're thinking…membership is already free…but, there are perks to having it. One example is, if you read any of my stories or Zetta's stories, the chapters will be posted there a few days earlier than they will here at ff.net. Doesn't that sound like a good deal?

No?

Well, maybe you should join us anyway, because we have lots of fun. I've never had so much fun at a mailing list. And I promise you will too. I mean, honestly, all we do is procrastinate, then try to convince ourselves not to procrastinate, then we procrastinate even more. But, seriously, we've got lots of fun things planned, so, if you're a writer or a lurker or an artist or just plain lazy, we would love for you to join us, and bring your art, your stories, and your ideas that can be bounced off each other.

Until next time, dear readers,

Loves from Lavender