Like our first tale, this story starts with a short conversation between Headmaster and Deputy Headmistress. As they often do on big days, they're having a heated whispered discussion. And, like most big days, this one came with a bit of anxiety.
It was dark in Dumbledore's office, and he was having some doubts.
"Minerva, I hate sending them out into the world like this. I almost feel like we're handing them over to Voldemort."
"Voldemort," McGonagall shuddered. "I was disbelieving when we first found out his name.. It literally means Flight from Death." She drew her arms around herself. "Now I believe it."
"Yes, he's absolutely ruthless." Albus Dumbledore's usually warm blue eyes were narrowed in thought. "It doesn't seem fair for them to begin their lives at the beginning of this."
"But Albus, what can we do?"
"Nothing, we've taught them everything we could. Now we just have to have faith in them."
McGonagall snorted. "Though they're extremely intelligent and they've proved excellence, I hate to think that the future of our world could depend on Black and Potter." She grinned affectionately.
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"Oy, Potter, get your ass out of the bathroom already!"
James Potter glanced into the mirror one last time; if he didn't know his speech by now, he wasn't going to learn it in the next few minutes. Resigned, he sighed and walked out of the bathroom and almost into his best friend, Sirius Black.
"Well well well, MISS Potter, I'm glad you're finally done pampering, now if you don't mind, we're going to be late. The Head Boy can't be late for his own ceremony!"
James laughed and hip-checked him. "You're just jealous because I'm sexy."
"Yeah," Sirius said, playfully putting James into a headlock. "About as sexy as Dumbledore."
James laughed. "Hey, mate, do I look ok?"
"Sure," Sirius scratched his head. "You look.. Like James. Anyway, you'll be fine. You know your speech, right?"
"Padfoot, you know the speech isn't what I'm worried about." James adjusted his school robes over his black jeans and turtleneck; it would be the last time he had to wear them. Hogwarts didn't have an official graduation ceremony, but the parents of the 7th year's were invited for a lunch and celebration. At this ceremony, the Head Students made a speech similar to a muggle valedictorian's speech.
"I know I know, but everything will be fine, but let's go, we're late!"
"Lily's probably already there," James said, grinning.
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"And in conclusion," Lily Evans said seriously. "I would like to congratulate you all, and I wish you success." She checked her note-cards and concluded her speech with a smile and slight bow of the head, keeping her eyes on her ever-attentive audience.
The audience, consisting of Alli and twelve stuffed animals which Alli had enchanted, cheered like mad.
"You're gonna knock them dead, Lils."
Lily's nerves were calmed slightly by Alli; Her friend's calling her by her old nickname while lounging with her feet up amongst old toys was so familiar, so wonderfully normal, that Lily forgot for a moment that it was the last day of the beginning of her life.
Life had hardly started for Lily before Hogwarts; now she was leaving, and starting a new life; Sure, she was incredibly excited, but she was also feeling her share of nerves.
"Yeah, hey, Als, do you think I should change the beginning of my speech?"
"Nah, but you should line your eyes." Alli grabbed Lily's face and began applying more make-up.
Lily laughed. "What is with you?" Fashion-loving Alli was usually attentive enough to her own face but respectful to Lily's loathing of make-up. However, today, she was all about Lily's appearance.
"I want you to look good. This is a big day for you, you'll never forget it!" Alli was now playing with Lily's hair.
"Why, because I'm giving a speech?" Lily laughed. "Nobody pays attention during these things anyway, and these people have been seeing me without makeup since I was eleven. I think they can deal with one more day."
"I think they'll be paying attention today," Alli said absently, now packing makeup onto her own face. "Make sure you blow your nose; When Snape was doing his presentation last week in Potions, I couldn't stop staring at the big green thing hanging out of his nose."
"Yeah yeah yeah, we're running late, let's go. You're beautiful." Lily began packing Alli's makeup back into its case in hopes to rush her friend along.
"Today is your day, Lils, not mine."
Lily laughed. "Alli, in your mind, every day is yours."
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Lily was shuffling uncomfortably in her stiff wooden seat. Dumbledore would announce her any minute now; James had asked her to go first so he could study his speech for a few more minutes, and Dumbledore had gone along with it.. Just like he and James had planned.
"And now, may I shift your attention to the ever lovely Lily Evans, who will hopefully grasp your attention better than an old man like myself." Dumbledore gave her a confident smile as he took her hand and led her to the podium that had been stuck at the front of the Great Hall.
Lily smiled and nervously cleared her throat. "Hello, everybody, I'm Lily Evans. Today is a sad day and a happy day. Today is a day for beginnings and endings. When I first got my Hogwarts letter, my dreams came true. I was brought here, along with my peers, and taught things that I had only dreamed about. It was the beginning of my real life. When all of your dreams come true, you work hard to keep them. I studied hard here, because everything I believed in depended on it. When I was made Head Girl, I didn't stop working hard, but I worked harder. Now I have new dreams, and Hogwarts gave these dreams to me. The teachers at Hogwarts, they're amazing, and they really know what they're teaching you. At first, I considered them my teachers, and only that. Now I respect them and hope I can come to consider them my friends.
"That brings me to another thing Hogwarts has given me; Friends. Some friendships are forever," Lily smiled at Alli, who blew her a saucy kiss. "Some friendships are thicker than blood. Some, however, take a while to develop." Now she glanced at the Marauders, then at James, whom she noticed was not studying his speech at all. "For friendship, this is also an ending; we are ending our childhood friendships. Now we're adults, and we won't see each other everyday. It's true that friendships will be tested, but just like every ending, a beginning comes from this. This is the beginning of our friendship as adults; Now we really see who our real friends are, and which ones will be sticking around for the life that begins now.
"Now is our time to live. This is a time for Learning, Living, Loving, and Growing. Just as my life at Hogwarts ends now, my real life begins. Tomorrow, we get on that train for the last time as peers. Once we step off, we live separate lives. Some of us will make the best of these lives, and some will let intimidation ruin their future. I ask you to remember these times, when we were all brought together. If you are a Healer, and you are healing an old schoolmate, remember eating breakfast in this hall. When you see snow, think of how this ceiling would reflect it.
"After all, when the snow melts it becomes Spring. Now is our spring, to bloom. Please, all of you, never forget who you are or how you feel at this very moment, because your character will be tested some day." She glanced over at the Slytherin table; Nobody at the table was looking at her, except for Severus Snape. The rest were either doodling or whispering to each other. Oh well, at least she had tried. She turned her attention back to her focal point and finished. "In conclusion, I would like to congratulate you all, and I wish you success." She grinned wide and added an impromptu "We did it!"
Applause erupted, and James slowly stood up. Lily went to pass him to return to her seat, but he grabbed her arm and held her where she was. She gave him a confused smile and stayed next to him. Not knowing how to balance, she crossed her arms and leaned on her right foot.
"Hello, Ladies and Gents," James said with a wink that had several girls swooning. "I'm James Potter, Head Boy, but of course most of you knew that already." There was appreciative laughter; Lily rolled her eyes playfully at him. "For a while, I had no idea what to say in this speech. I started it about a hundred times, but it never seemed to be right. However, I had faith that our Miss Evans would say the perfect thing and everything that I would like to say. And she did." He smiled at her in a nice, non-cocky way. "I considered saying how much I had learned, referring to ways to break the rules, that is. Kidding, kidding," He said to Professor McGonagall, who's nostrils were flaring dangerously. "In the end, I realized that Hogwarts gave me much more than I knew. Instead of repeating half of Lily's speech, I'm going to talk about the best thing that's happened to me here: I've fallen in love." He smiled at confused Lily and slowly dropped to one knee while pulling a small velvet box out of his pocket.
"Lily Evans," he said in a quieter, deeper voice. "Will you marry me?"
Lily stared at him for a couple seconds, then her eyes widened. Thoughts kept whizzing through her brain, but none of them made sense. Is he serious? Hah, no there's Sirius. Ba- dum- cha! Are my parents here? They've never met James. I wonder if they like him. Hah, Peter's sleeping. I need to work on my speech skills.
Dumbledore patiently cleared his throat. "Lily?"
Lily blinked and realized that the reason the answer wasn't buried in her brain was because she knew it without deep thought. She knelt with James, who was beginning to wince in pain, and practically whispered "Yes."
"WHAT DID SHE SAY?" Sirius yelled, standing on his chair and squinting.
"YES!" Alli yelled back at him, rolling her eyes.
Cheers erupted all around, but neither Lily nor James noticed. They were still kneeling, entranced.
"KISS HER ALREADY!" both Sirius and Alli yelled.
James laughed and leaned in for a simple kiss as he placed a ring on Lily's finger.
"Now," Dumbledore said happily. "Let the feast begin."
And chaos took over.
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Lily knew she should have been at the feast, partying like mad with her friends while she still could. However, she needed just a minute of quiet. She had snuck up to her room, and now she was flipping through pictures of herself and Alli from when they were in grade school. One picture showed toddlers covered in paint, the next two girls in home-made Halloween costumes hugging in the street, and the last, a picture taken of them just a week before in front of the lake. Usual muggle cameras didn't work at Hogwarts, but Lily knew a potion that could develop film.
A sudden knock at the door startled her, and she turned to see James, who had found a way past the girl's staircase years ago, at the door.
"You ok?" He asked, sitting at the bottom of her bed.
"Yea, just.. Absorbing," She said with a giddy laugh. "I'm.. Trying to take this in. We're getting..."
"Married," he finished. He absently traced the pattern on her bedspread.
"You know," Lily said, beginning to pack her photos in her trunk, "I had such mixed feelings about leaving. I mean, I didn't know where I was going from here, and now I'm..."
"Engaged." He finished her sentence again. She just opened and closed her mouth, looking out the window. "Are you sure this is what you want?" he asked, scared she was having second thoughts.
"Yes!" she said, grinning and jumping into his lap. "It's all I've ever wanted."
"Haha, funny, when you told me you'd rather date the giant squid than me, I figured this was what you didn't want."
Lily thumped him with a pillow and bit his nose. "Shut up, you prat." She leaned in to kiss him. He just kissed her back as usual; she sighed.
"James, don't you think it's funny that we've been dating for so long and have never once talked about sex?"
James choked and almost fell off the bed. Now he looked embarrassed. "I figured you wanted to wait," he said quietly. "And I didn't want you to feel uncomfortable or pressured or-" He was cut off by Lily's mouth, which savagely covered his. "Guess not," he wheezed when they broke apart for air.
"That's not why you proposed, is it?" she asked suddenly.
"No! Of course not, I love you."
Lily grinned and rolled her eyes again and said "Yeah yeah yeah," Before covering him entirely.
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Sirius was gazing over the Marauder's Map longingly, trying to figure out exactly what the Marauders should do for their last night.
"Oy, Remus! Peter!" he yelled suddenly and began laughing so hard it sounded like he was barking.
"What," Remus said calmly from his seat across from Sirius. Peter awoke with a loud, animated SNORT and looked around in confusion.
"Wassap?" he said groggily.
"James's and Lily's dots are on top of each other," He said hysterically. Peter immediately got up and thunked down next to Sirius, gazing at the map as if he could actually see them.
"You two are pigs," Remus muttered, not even looking up from his book.
"Aye, but we're lonely pigs, as I just broke it off with Zarah," Sirius said with a coy wink.
"Uh oh," Peter said suddenly; Filch was approaching.
"Mischief Managed," Sirius said and, without skipping a beat, began to shove a piece of cake into his mouth.
"What is that?" Filch demanded once he was upon them.
"Hmmphmmm," Sirius said with his mouth full.
Remus groaned and finally looked up from his book. "It's a bit of parchment, Mr. Filch."
Filch picked it up and began tapping it with his old taped wand; Nothing happened.
"That's odd," Sirius said once he had finally swallowed. "It's supposed to insult anyone magical. Let me see, Filch.. Oh yes, it's supposed to call you a crazy cat-loving old greasy coot. You sure your wand works? OUCH." Remus had kicked him under the table.
"Yes, my wand works," Filch said in a dangerously cool voice. "Did you think graduating made you a better wizard than I? I'm taking this, although I'll ignore the old coot remark, as if I assigned you a detention I'd have to spend more time with you. Which, in case you were wondering, is the last thing I want." With that, the old greaseball stalked away.
"It's ok," Remus sighed. "Someday, somebody'll get it back, and it'll be more use to them than it is for us now that we're done here."
"Ah," Sirius said, a happy look in his gray eyes. "The next generation of Marauders! Peter, hand me that pie."
.X.X.X.
'Yes,' thought Albus Dumbledore, looking around at his students all together for the last time. 'This is a time for beginnings and endings.'
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A/N: yay yay yay It's started. Ok, the preview is a random exerpt from the middle, and thank you to all of the reviewers who said they'd like to read it. I'm posting it on my info page, but if you have any questions, my email address is listed there. Anyway, this chapter is pretty long, don't get too used to it, lol. I gave Lily the graduation speech I would make.. And it worked out kind of good. Ok, next chapter they get to go home, and Lily gets a visit from two Marauders. So, here it is! After my much needed break, I'm back to writing- I couldn't stay away for too long. Hmm, I think I'll get it up soon. My computer is infested with viruses, so updates may take a bit. And it's rated R, because Lily and James are getting married, and.. Well, kids, when two people really love each other... hahaha. Happy Reading, here we go!
-Ria
Oh, PS, think of this chapter as the beginning of a movie, where the credits are still coming up on the screen but the plot is unfolding. That's how I wrote it... If I could have, I would have even put cheesy music in the background. Alas, I am a dork :0)
PPS- Yea, early birthday present for Zarah, sex with Sirius Black.. Ahaha.