Lily stared at James who was sleeping next to her with a half smile on his face. He was so quiet and childlike when he was asleep, looking not a day older than fifteen. She liked to watch his facial expressions change as his dream changed, but tonight he had had the same half smile on his face.

He shuffled a little bit in his sleep and brought his hands up to Lily's hair and played with it like Rose used to. He wrapped it around his fingers and stroked it lovingly. Lily smiled as she saw his smile grow wider. She grasped James' hand that was playing in her hair and held it close to her as she scooted closer to him. She let go of his hand and played with his hair, stroking it as if he were a fluffy dog of some sort.

Lily smiled as James' hazel eyes fluttered open to meet hers. He smiled and closed his eyes again, rolling closer to Lily and moving one of his hands to fiddle with the necklaces around his neck like he always did. He told her that it made him happy to see her wearing them every day. His other hand continued to tangle itself in her hair as he opened his eyes again.

"Why are you still up?" he asked sleepily.

"The storm woke me up," Lily shrugged.

James listened hard and heard for the first time that rain was hitting the roof. "You are a light sleeper," he commented as he cuddled into her.

"I know," said Lily as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

James laughed lightly. "Guess what tomorrow is?" he whispered.

Lily shrugged. "What?"

"Someone's birthday," he smiled as he kissed her.

"Whose?" Lily asked.

James rolled his eyes. "Yours," he said.

"Actually, that would be today," she said as she pointed to the clock that read two am.

James laughed. "I guess so. Happy birthday, birthday girl," he said, kissing her again.

Lily held him tighter as he continued to kiss her, their passion increasing with each second. "What do you want for your birthday?" James asked as he nibbled on her lower lip.

Lily kissed him again. "I dunno," she replied.

"Come on, you can't not know what you want for your birthday," he commented as he tickled her stomach.

Lily giggled. "Come on James, you know I'm incredibly ticklish.

James stopped tickling her for a second. "Actually, I didn't know that," he said.

Lily tried to roll out of bed as she saw James' trade mark grin spread across his face. James' Quidditch reflexes were too good; he caught her around the waist as she reached the carpeted floor. "James please!" Lily pleaded as his hands drew nearer to her stomach.

He rolled off the bed, his grin growing wider. He ran his fingers down her stomach and saw Lily smile slightly. James tickled her again, without showing any mercy. It wasn't too long before Lily was laughing so hard that she was crying and screaming for him to stop. She wiggled and squirmed under his grasp and finally managed to roll onto her stomach. She continued to laugh as James tried with all of his might to roll her over again.

"James! I can't breath!" Lily gasped as she continued to laugh.

James gave up trying to tickle her and let her regain her normal breathing. Lily looked up at him. James stood up and offered her a hand. She looked at it skeptically. "You expect me to trust you after that?" she asked.

"Come on Lily, I won't do it again," he said.

Lily put out her hand and James pulled her to her feet. She pulled her arms protectively over her stomach as he drew nearer to her. "James," she said warningly.

"I said that I wouldn't do it again, and I always keep my promises, do I not?" he smiled at her.

He had a point. He always did keep his promises to her. Lily slowly removed her arms from her stomach. "So what do you want to do today?" James asked as he wrapped his arms around Lily.

Lily shrugged again. "I dunno," she replied as she leaned back into him.

"You have to give me something to work with here," James said as he rested his chin on her head.

Lily sighed. "I don't want to do anything special. I just want to spend my day with you," she said.

"Oh so spending time with me isn't special?" he said, sounding offended.

Lily pretended to think it over. "No, not really," she decided.

James moved his hands over her stomach. "You sure about that?"

Lily changed her answer quickly and James smiled. "Thought you'd change your mind," he whispered as he kissed her neck lovingly.

Lily closed her eyes as James' hands caressed her hips and lower back. She reached her hands back and started pulling at James' hair, loving how soft it was between her fingers. He lightly nipped her neck lightly and Lily felt a shiver run down her spine. She slowly turned around in James' grasp and was greeted by a hungry sort of kiss. Lily kissed him back and felt herself being lowered down to the mountain of pillows that were on the bed below.

Lily screamed into James' mouth as the room was illuminated by a flash of lightning and their house shook with the roll of thunder. James groaned as Lily wiggled out of his grasp and went to look out of the window in their room. "Lily it's just a bit of..."

Lily screamed and clapped her hand to her mouth. James ran over to the window and saw what she was looking at. Their favorite willow tree with the thick branches that kept them hidden from view when they didn't want to be seen was covered with orange flames from the lightning bolt's intense heat. "Shit..." was all James could say as they stood their, frozen in place, as their backyard continued to burn.

"We have to do something!" called Lily as she finally started to move to the bedroom door.

James dashed after her. "You stay inside, I'll take care of it," he told her as he grabbed his wand and threw on a t-shirt.

Lily sat on the couch in the living room and watched as James calmed the blazing fire and used a simple Herbology spell to fix most of the damaged branches. He came back inside, soaked from the rain. "How bad is it?" asked Lily as James shook out his hair.

"I don't think that we are going to be able to hide near it anymore, all of the branches are pretty much gone. I fixed it the best that I could," James said as he removed his shirt to wring it out.

Lily smiled lightly. "I'll bring you down another shirt," she said.

"Thanks," James replied. "Bring me another pair of shorts while you're at it."

Lily nodded and went up the stairs.

Six hours later Lily found herself looking at a sleepy James who was stretching and getting ready to cook her breakfast for her birthday. He kissed her and left her to take her shower and get dressed as he busied himself in the kitchen.

Lily kept her ears and nose on the alert for any sound that James was having troubles or any smells that James was having troubles. Surprisingly, she didn't detect any. She peeked out of the bathroom wearing her fluffy white towel and saw James smiling at her from their bed. "I thought you were making breakfast," Lily said as she ran over to her dresser and grabbed something to wear.

"I already did," James said casually, watching Lily walk across the room in her fluffy towel.

Lily left the door cracked open so she could talk to James as she was changing. "Really? What, may I ask, are we having for breakfast?" she asked as she slid into her skirt and pink shirt.

"It's a surprise," James said as he approached the bathroom door. Lily exited just as he reached it, fully clothed, and much to his disappointment.

"I like surprises," Lily said as she walked past James and down the stairs.

James caught her around the waist on the last step. "Happy birthday," he whispered in her ear as he walked with her into the kitchen.

Lily saw a stack of pancakes sitting in the middle of the table along with a thin, tall, wrapped, gift. She looked curiously at it, but James told her to eat and open it later.

"I must say," Lily said as she finished her last pancake, "you out did yourself with breakfast."

"Awww...thanks Lily flower," James said as he handed her the thin gift.

Lily opened it and saw an odd looking plant. "What is it?" she asked.

"It is a specially designed willow tree. It grows ten times as fast as a normal willow and its branches will be covered in white lilies," James said.

"It's wonderful James!" said Lily.

James gave her a kiss. "Do you want to plant it?" he asked her.

Lily nodded, slightly speechless. "When will it be big enough to sit under?" she smiled.

"With a special charm to speed it's growing even more....about eight this evening," he said.

Lily smiled as she walked out of the back door. "Where should we put it?" she asked.

James shrugged. "You get a perfect view of the sunset on that little hill right there," he said.

Lily nodded. "You're right. Come on, let's go!" she said enthusiastically.

James raised his wand in preparation to magically create a hole in the ground to place the tree in, but Lily suddenly stopped him. "Can we do this the muggle way?" she asked.

James gave her a questioning look. "What? Like dig with shovels and get all dirty?"

Lily nodded. "It'll be fun," she smiled as she summoned a few shovels.

James shrugged and started to dig with Lily.

Before they knew it, they were both sweaty and dirty. Lily wiped her brow as she and James finished packing in the dirt around the tree. James preformed an automatic watering charm as well as the super growth charm on the little tree. Lily grabbed his hand when he was done and started running down the hill. "Where are we going?" James asked.

Lily slowed down a bit and muttered something, pointing her wand at the puddle a few yards in front of them. James saw it magically expand and smiled as he understood what Lily was doing. Lily smiled back as she began running toward the pond that had previously been a rain puddle. They counted to three and jumped in, hand in hand.

Lily let out a sigh as she floated over to James who was relaxing in the refreshing water. He smiled at her and moved her wet red hair behind her ears as she reached him. James smiled as he kissed her softly on the lips. Lily kissed him back, outlining his lips with her tongue. James pulled her closer to him as his tongue met hers and felt her hands go to his wet hair.

A chill ran up Lily's spine as one of James' cold hands found its way under the back of her shirt causing her to press herself closer against him. He massaged her lower back as she continued to play in his messy hair. She felt him pulling her shirt up when she pulled away slightly. "James, we're outside," she gasped.

"So, the Rileys are on vacation, and little old Miss Rolder is too old to walk to her back window," said James referring to their neighbors.

Lily pulled her shirt back down. "Still James, we are outside," she said.

"You never said that under the willow tree," he said, grinning.

"That is because nothing could ever make its way through or see through the branches of the willow tree. I would feel kind of exposed out in the open," she blushed.

James sighed and nodded. "I guess your right," he said as he led her out of the pond.

"Where are we going?" Lily asked him as he pulled her out.

"We have to shower if we want to make our lunch reservations in Hogsmead at one," James said as he picked her up and carried her off to the house.

James lunch reservations ended up being a cover up for what they were really doing. Instead of going to a restaurant James took her to the Shrieking Shack for an indoor picnic like he had done for Valentine's Day the year before.

It turned out to be a disaster, much to James' dismay. He had forgotten to fix one thing in the Shrieking Shack: the holes in the roof. It had started storming again and they both got completely drenched in rain water.

That was the least of it.

A sound started to echo in the distance that made Lily panic. She remembered the sound from when she was a small child. It was loud and whenever she heard it she always remembered what had happened the first time she had heard it. She had been five at the time when she first heard the deafening noise. She had gone outside to see what it was with her cat Ginger in her arms. The winds were strong and Ginger became deathly afraid and ran out of Lily's arms just as her father pulled her down into the cellar of their house. She never saw poor Ginger again.

James had never heard the echoing sound before and had a hard time understanding why Lily had forced them to go into the cellar of the shack and why she wouldn't let him go back upstairs to check it out.

Lily explained to him what was happening and James looked out of the small window in the cellar of the shack to see that the sky was a nasty color and rain was pouring all over the place. He had a new word added to his vocabulary that day: tornado.

After an hour of Lily's panicking, the tornado passed and they apparated straight home, thankful that their house hadn't been effected by the storm.

James held Lily on the couch, apologizing for the terrible day when Lily kissed him. "James, it really is okay. Worse things could have happened and you know it," she said.

"Yeah, but still, it didn't turn out the way I wanted to," James sighed.

"There have been many things that haven't turned out they way you wanted to. Honestly, where would we be if everything had turned out the way that we wanted them to?" Lily asked.

James thought for a moment. "Well you would have started dating be back in our third year, I would have scored higher on my OWLs and NEWTs, neither of our parents would be dead, Amy wouldn't be dead, Rose would be hugging and kissing us, and you would be holding our new born baby boy," sighed James, smiling at Lily.

"If only we could be in control over our lives, but we can't. We have to take what comes our way, whether we like it or not," said Lily as a tear rolled down her face. "What do you think Rose would be doing right now?"

James sighed as he felt tears build up behind his eyes. "Sitting here with us in front of the fire place, maybe playing with your hair or my glasses," he said.

"I wish she was still here with us James," Lily said as she curled up into him.

"Me too Lily, me too, but what happened, happened and we can't change that," he said as he squeezed her shoulders.

"I know," she replied weakly.

"How about we go get some tea?" James suggested, leading Lily to the kitchen.

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"So Peter decided to bring a friend along with him?" Lily inquired as they walked into Remus' living room.

James nodded. "Supposedly they met at a Quidditch match a few weeks ago. He said that he had never met a girl so enthusiastic about Quidditch before."

"It is about time that Peter got himself a girlfriend," commented Lily, softly.

James saw Sirius' face in the back window. He waved them to go out back and then disappeared. "Peter said that they are just good friends," James said as he opened the sliding glass door to the back porch.

"Well I can see why," said Lily as she spotted who must have been Peter's friend.

James cringed. "Ikes, he could have done better than that," he said.

Peter's friend was unusually tall and skinny, with long black hair and reddish eyes. Lily nervously approached where the stranger and the rest of the group was standing around the fire pit. "Lily! James! You made it!" said Remus.

"This is Peter's friend Veronica," said Sirius, shivering slightly.

"Pleased to meet you," Veronica said in a spine chilling voice.

James shivered as he shook her cold bony hand. "James Potter and this is my wife Lily," James said wrapping a protective arm around Lily for some reason.

Lily nodded in Veronica's direction, avoiding her eyes and not shaking her hand. "Let's sit down," Remus said, motioning to the plastic white table a few yards away from where they were standing.

It was probably the most James had ever lied in his whole life. There was something he didn't like about Veronica and he wasn't about to tell her the truth about all of the personal questions that she was asking. He received odd looks from his friends, but Lily supported him and lied right along with him.

By the end of the meal they had created a whole new life for themselves. They were currently living in an apartment just outside of London where James worked at a near by Quidditch shop (originally he had said he was a security person for the Ministry of Magic, but Veronica said that she had seen his name in the papers for being some sort of Quidditch star so James had to change his story), Lily worked as a waitress at a restaurant in the city (he had received a hard kick for that one), they had a cat named Rose, and they were waiting to adopt a child from China as they couldn't have children on their own.

It was semi-believable, but James had to think really hard to come up with everything and remember it all. Lily never spoke at all, apparently not happy with this mock-life that James had created for them. Sirius had almost started laughing in the middle of dinner, but Remus had stopped him, obviously understanding what James was doing.

The conversations turned to Veronica, courtesy of Sirius. Her story was undoubtedly made up, but James had to give her a point for her excellent lying skills, if he wasn't a Marauder, he wouldn't have known at all that her story was made up. Sirius wasn't falling for it and James could tell that Remus wasn't either.

She had grown up in London, attended Hogwarts, became Head Girl, won a special services award to the school, got a criminal sent to Azkaban, started Auror training, and was now living in London by her own lonesome self. Load of B.S. according to James.

Lily and James offered to clear the table for Remus as he always made a point of doing it when he was at their house. James carried the plates and Lily carried the cups and cutlery. Once they were safe inside of the kitchen Lily threw James a look. "A waitress at a restaurant huh?" she said.

James shrugged. "We had to back up why we were living in an apartment, and to do that we needed low paying jobs. Besides, I like picturing you in one of those barely-there uniforms," he winked, kissing her cheek.

Lily rolled her eyes. "I don't like her James," she said as she magically cleaned the dishes.

"There is something strange about her, I'll give you that," said James as he whisked the cutlery into their proper drawers.

"I think that we should leave," Lily whispered.

"Come on Lily, we can't let her ruin our evening," said James.

"She already has," grumbled Lily.

"Well I haven't seen everybody in weeks," complained James as he rubbed Lily's shoulders.

She glared at him. "And I have?"

"Well you saw Remus," James offered.

"James, I think we should go," she stated again.

"But it will be fun here," he said.

Lily raked her mind for some way that she could get them out of this little get together. She put on her little mischievous smile. "We could have fun at home too," she said as she kissed him.

It worked. Ten minutes later they were safe at home, under the refuge of the blue quilt on their bed.

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"I swear my lord! It was them who lied! Not me! What I tell you is true! They don't live in an apartment!" Peter shrieked.

"How can I trust that you aren't covering for your friends?" Voldemort asked.

"My loyalty lies with you my lord," Peter said, bowing to his master.

"I have to give you credit for the disguise, it was pretty good," Voldemort said.

"They will never suspect anything, my lord," said Peter.

"When is the next of these get together things?" asked Voldemort.

"The week after next at my place, why?"

"It would be rather strange if you only brought your friends to one of these little parties now wouldn't it? Besides the Potters left so soon, I didn't get to know enough about the family I have been mercilessly torturing," Voldemort smiled.

A/N- I think that that was one of my longest chapters!!! Anyway, I hope you liked it!! I don't know how long it is going to be until I post again, but I would like to thank you all for reviewing this fic so much and showing so much support. (211 reviews, are you guys the best or what!!!!) I would like to ask you all for a favor. Recently I have started an account on under the same pen name, TearFromABlueRose ) and I would really appreciate it if you would take the time to read and possibly review some of my original story ideas. I would recommend Unseen Hero, Tear From A Blue Rose (them poem that I made up to go along with my pen name), and My Unseen Hero (the poem my fic Unseen Hero is based off of). Well I hope that you will check them out if you get a free second, I need some support on Thanks! Till next post.......