Chapter 19

Lily woke as an arm curled round her stomach, a smile starting to spread across her face. For the second time she found herself in an unfamiliar room. James's room. But this time she knew where she was, what she had done, and she felt great.

Not wanting to wake James suddenly, but getting very bored not being able to move, she traced a pale scar on his cheek with her finger until he woke up. Somehow she had never noticed it before, but then she had never been this close to him for such a long space of time.

"Whassat?" he muttered groggily.

"You've got a mark," she told him. He felt where her hand was as he remembered.

"Oh that, Snivellus," he spat.

"After the OWLs," Lily remembered.

"Yeah," he said, seeming surprised,

"You don't forget something like that in a hurry. We'll all need therapy for years,"

"Yeah, that was good. Maybe we should do something like that soon," James replied thinking.

"Just promise me one thing?" she asked. "Never take his pants off again?"

"Definitely," he agreed, "That is something you never want to see twice,"

The rest of the holidays seemed to blur. During the day they wandered around the streets going to restaurants, cafes, shops and shows; during the night............well lets just say that Sirius would have been proud. New Year passed and they had joined the rest of Venice in the celebrations. Getting back at half past four, they were completely exhausted.

Two hours later and they were dragging themselves up. Term started the next day and they had to be back in London by morning. They cleaned themselves up and were all packed when James produced a wrapped up box.

"Happy birthday," he said giving it to her. Carefully she unwrapped it and found a book. It wasn't a normal textbook; it was more like a notebook. The pages inside were blank but were made from the marbled paper she had seen so much of in Venice. The front and back covers were a thicker card and stuck on the front was a red rose. It was beautiful; there was no doubt about that.

"Thought you might get fed up of lilies," he smiled. He was so relieved that she loved it. He had spent ages looking around the city to find something she would like. But James did slightly regret giving it to her as he spent the next hour waiting for her to find somewhere safe to put it.

"Why is this so rough?" she asked as they stepped into the fire.

"Because we have to go through Italy, France and England to get here and back," He could have told her more but was suddenly aware that they were standing in a roaring fire as his toes began to tingle.

Seven hours after their Floo journey and they were back on the Hogwarts Express. James was going to sleep against the window; Lily against James; Sirius against Lily and Isabelle curled up next to him. Sirius, predictably, had a hangover from New Years Eve and was scowling at anyone who moved or spoke too loudly.

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The first event for Lily and James of the term came at the end of February.

"James?" Lily asked him one night. He grunted in reply.

"Belle was talking about her and Sirius's first date tonight," she told him.

"So?" It was the middle of the night, he had Quidditch practice for five hours and he was exhausted.

"When was ours?" For a second, James stopped pretending to sleep. He had no idea when the first time they had gone out was.

"Was it when we went to Diagon Alley?" she asked.

"I thought that wasn't a date!" he grinned. She scowled at him.

"The ball?" he suggested.

'This can't be good!' they both thought guiltily. They hadn't even been going out for sixth months and they had forgotten the first time already.

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"We on for tonight?" Sirius asked James at breakfast the next morning. Concealing a yawn, James agreed and helped himself to coffee.

"I'm going out with Lily tonight," he told him. At the look on his friends face, he quickly added-"But I'll be done by the time you're ready,"

Sirius obviously didn't believe a word he said.

"I promise!"

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Bored out her mind by the day's lessons, Lily returned to her room to sleep for a bit before dinner. Nothing seemed to make her more tired than History of Magic. Professor Binns was incredibly old-so old that the Marauders were taking bets of 2-1 that he would snuff it during a lesson.

She closed her eyes the moment she walked through her doorway, and walked blind over to her bed. Collapsing on to it something didn't feel right. Maybe it was the different material under her, or maybe it was the sound of something snapping. Getting back up she turned around and looked to see what she had broken. A beautiful dress, now with an arse-print right in the middle, was lying underneath two, now broken, lilies. James again. What was he up to this time?

"Are you ready yet?" James called up to her.

"Almost!" He still hadn't told her his plan.

"What are we doing?" she asked confused as she came downstairs.

"We are having a first date," he told her, offering his arm. He had used the Room of Requirement; tonight it was the perfect setting for a romantic dinner.

"This is great. Do you make this?" Lily asked as she ate.

"I..........want to say yes," he said grinning, "But I borrowed an elf. Can't cook to save my life. Why do you think we eat out so much?"

Laughing they finished their meal and went for a walk in the grounds. No one else was out, it was warm outside for a night in February, and the moonlight was shining through the trees was the only light outside. Something flicked in James's brain but he ignored it and it disappeared. Something moved in the trees close to them causing Lily to shudder. Something was still niggling at James. A howl in the distance brought it slamming back to him.

Remus.

Thinking quickly, he realised that he could get Lily home and still get back in time to help Remus.

"Lets get back," he said.

"Why? It's still nice out here," she pointed out.

"Yeah, but.......it's cold...........don't you think it's cold.............you must be cold..........lets go back," he stuttered, looking around desperately and running his hand through his hair. He was losing time.

"What is up with you?" Lily asked completely confused. Somewhere James could hear someone yell, it sounded like Sirius. He didn't have time for this. He would just have to make his excuses and leave. Not more than two seconds later Sirius came stumbling out of the trees, badly bruised but fortunately scratched.

"James! It went wrong! We need Prongs! Now!" he gasped.

"What's Prongs? James what the hell is going on?" Lily demanded.

"Lily, I'm sorry," he told her, his eyes pleading with her. "But I have to go," He kissed her quickly before following Sirius into the trees, leaving her behind, very bewildered.

But Lily was determined to know what he was up to. Slightly behind, she followed them. She watched Sirius disappear in to the dark and then as James looked around before turning his wand and pointing it at his forehead.

What followed was one of the weirdest and most gruesome things Lily had ever seen. James seemed to be shrinking and growing at the same time. His head and neck were much smaller but seemed to be growing again, just at a different angle. His expression was set into concentration. Horrified, she didn't know whether to stay in her hiding place or rush out to help him. She watched as his knees buckled and he landed on the floor, when he didn't get back up again she found she couldn't stay still any longer. The ground underneath crunched as she crept over to him, as he turned around to see what was making the noise, she saw that his eyes were no longer hazel. They were black and starting to stretch out of shape. Turning, he saw her hiding next to one of the trees. Horror-struck, he tried to tell her to run, but his face was rapidly changing into a long snout. It could not have taken more than a few seconds but for Lily and James, it seemed to take forever.

The stag took one last look at Lily before charging off into the forest.

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"Lily?" James said softly, not sure if she was awake. Lily stared back at him, not sure how to react. She had just found out that her boyfriend was an animal. Literally.

"You can't tell anyone," he told her. Lily understood just how much trouble he would be in if she did. This wasn't breaking a stupid school rule, like normal. He would get in a lot more trouble for breaking the law.

"Course I won't!" they sat in silence for a while until Lily spoke.

"So that was Prongs,"

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thanks for reading. Thank you ceritfied-weirdo, emilythesmarmy, melody-dance, haley and burningice22 for reviewing it.

Leo