Chapter 38 Temporary Asylum
The next few weeks following Snape's near-execution and Lily and James' revelation of their deepest secrets passed uneventfully for the Gryffindors, the next weeks filled with nothing more dramatic than homework, NEWT practice tests, and, of course, the occasional Marauder prank, which saved life from becoming unspeakably dull.
The Easter holidays were fast approaching, which was causing mixed feelings among the Gryffindor seventh years. Lily for one was somewhat less than enthusiastic; Mrs. Evans had written to Lily to inform her that Petunia would be staying with them for a few days after Easter while Vernon was away on a business trip; Petunia's hatred of Lily was eclipsed only by her fear of staying alone, it seemed.
The Marauders, on the other hand, could barely contain their excitement at the prospect of the coming holidays. In their second year, James, Sirius, Peter, and Remus had made a pact to take their Apparition tests together, and, finally, they were all seventeen and eligible for the test. Remus and Peter were both enthusiastic at the prospect of being able to Apparate from one place to another without having to bother with Floo powder, Portkeys, or other less convenient forms of transportation. Sirius was positively gleeful considering all of the fresh trouble the Marauders could get themselves into once they could Apparate and was in fact already planning it, and James, when he wasn't helping Sirius plan various forms of mayhem, was blissfully contemplating the surprised, admiring look on Lily's face when he Apparated to her house after passing his test with flying colors.
Having agreed not to tell anyone that they were taking their Apparition tests, the Marauders prepared for it in secret for a few hours every night, spending most of their time helping Peter, who struggled with it as he seemed to with almost everything.
Unbeknownst to the Marauders, Alice, Dorcas, and Kathleen were all preparing for the Apparition test as well. Kathleen had made the appointments for them after Morwenna had taken it during the last Hogsmeade weekend. Much less arrogant than the Marauders, who naturally assumed that there was no doubt that they would all pass, the girls all agreed not to tell anyone in case, as Alice reasonably pointed out, they failed it. Then they wouldn't have to explain to anyone why they didn't have their Apparition licenses. Lily had decided to wait to take hers because it would cause too many complications with Petunia in residence.
In spite of all of the time James was spending preparing for his Apparition test in secret, things were going extremely well between Lily and James. Sharing secrets inevitably brings people closer together, and Lily and James were no exception to this. They spent even more time together than they had before, which was amazing with their busy schedules, and each received a good amount of ribbing from their respective friends about their sickening state of happiness, which really was a bit rich coming from Frank, Alice, Remus, and Kathleen.
Refusing to be parted from Lily for an entire week, James had invited her to tea with his parents on Tuesday and had promised to take Lily, who was eager to escape Petunia as much as possible, to Diagon Alley at least once later in the week. Sirius complained loudly and often that Lily was stealing his best mate and the one prank-playing companion who was his equal, this last statement causing much indignation on Peter and Remus' parts, but neither Lily nor James paid Sirius any attention.
Sirius was still saying it on the Hogwarts Express a week later when James refused to smoke the Slytherin first years out of their compartment with Sirius in favor of staying with Lily in the Head compartment. Muttering under his breath about short leashes and lack of balls, Sirius nonetheless subsided into a corner of the Head compartment to play chess with Dorcas. James roundly ignored his best friend; he was too wrapped up in Lily to care overmuch, and Sirius was mostly joking anyway.
At King's Cross Station, a still grumbling Sirius waited impatiently while James and Lily said goodbye to each other, a process that took at least fifteen minutes, most of it spent in a liplock, or so Sirius was convinced. Finally Lily set off to find her parents and James turned to Sirius so they could make their way through the crush to Mr. and Mrs. Potter.
"Took you long enough," Sirius grumbled good-naturedly, flicking his wand over his trunk to make it light enough to carry without maiming himself.
"This from the former reigning snogging champion of Hogwarts," James snorted, just the slightest bit tired of Sirius' running commentary on his love life.
"At least I never made YOU watch," Sirius replied.
"Nobody made you watch; 's'not my fault if Peter's rubbing off on you," James retorted.
"Beg to differ with THAT; if I want to spend any time at all round you outside of getting ready for the Apparition test or Quidditch practice I'm forced to watch you and Lily because all the pair of you do is make cow eyes at each other and SNOG LEFT, RIGHT, AND CENTER!" Sirius snapped back.
"Hi, Mum and Dad," James said sheepishly, his ears red. He and Sirius had reached Mr. and Mrs. Potter in time for them to hear that last statement, though even if he and Sirius had been standing on the other end of the platform during a thunderstorm Mr. and Mrs. Potter doubtless still would have heard. Sirius had not troubled himself with such details as using his indoor voice.
To James' everlasting relief, neither of his parents commented on Sirius' observation, they both looked a bit startled but thankfully had the tact to greet James and Sirius normally and lead them out of the station to the waiting Ministry car.
Happily unaware of her boyfriend's embarrassment, Lily was making her way through the station to the information desk where she'd met her parents at every holiday since she was eleven. Concentrating as she was on not getting walloped by passerby's' baggage, Lily didn't notice the voice calling her name until someone touched her arm. Startled, Lily spun to look into Dorcas' smiling face.
"Dorcas! You startled me," Lily exclaimed, smiling nonetheless.
"Sorry," Dorcas replied. "I tried to catch you before you left the platform, but you were – er – busy." Seeing Lily blush, Dorcas grinned but tactfully moved onto her point. "I – and Alice and Kathleen too – wanted to see if you wouldn't change your mind about the Apparition test on Monday. I know your sisters a complete nutter, but can't you manage something?"
Lily hesitated; she DID want to take the test with her friends, but Petunia's nerves, not to mention their relationship, probably wouldn't withstand seeing Lily perform such an overtly magical act.
"Go on then, Lily," Dorcas wheedled, seeing Lily's hesitation. "It'll be easier to take the test with your friends; strength in numbers and all that. Kathleen made you an appointment."
"All right," Lily acquiesced, smiling. She really did want to Apparate, and maybe she could refrain from doing it in front of Petunia.
"Great!" Dorcas grinned broadly. "See you Monday then."
"See you," Lily echoed as Dorcas moved away in the crowd.
Easter Sunday was torturous for Lily. She and her parents went to Petunia and Vernon's house in Surrey for the holiday, an arrangement no one was particularly pleased about. Needless to say, neither Vernon nor Petunia was happy to see Lily and both were unreasonably terrified that Lily would do something that might be construed as abnormal by their neighbors. Glancing up and down the row of identical houses on Privet Drive that seemed to house neighbors as dull and run of the mill as Petunia and Vernon aspired to be, Lily rolled her eyes in exasperation but decided against a retort. One really had to pick one's battles with the Dursleys.
Finally, after hours of admiring Petunia's dull, prim house, listening to the Dursleys brag about everything under the sun, and an interminable dinner featuring a ham that very much resembled Vernon, the Evanses plus Petunia climbed into the car and made their way back to London. Finally Lily could start enjoying her holiday.
The Marauders arrived at the Ministry of Magic in excessively high spirits on Monday to take their Apparition tests. Two hours later, Sirius, Remus, James, and Peter filed back into the waiting area, all of them grinning ear to ear and brandishing Apparition licenses. They had all passed, even Peter, who had lost his head a bit during the practical part of the exam and had come rather close to splinching himself. Peter took his mates' teasing jovially, too happy and relieved to have passed to care overmuch about the jokes at his expense.
Preoccupied with Apparating to Lily's house and bringing her to celebrate with them, James thought he was hallucinating when he saw Lily sitting beside Alice and Dorcas in the waiting area.
"Lily?" James asked dumbfoundedly. Lily glanced up and broke into a dazzling smile when she saw who had spoken to her.
"James! What are you doing here?" Lily stood up to give her boyfriend a delighted hug which James returned slightly less enthusiastically; he was a bit disappointed to have lost the opportunity to surprise Lily and traumatize Petunia all in one go.
"We just took our Apparition tests," James explained.
"Us too," Alice put in. "We're just waiting for Kathleen to finish up," she added with a smile at Remus. Kathleen Apparated in with a pop just then, rendering questions as to whether or not she'd passed unnecessary, and greeted Remus with delight. As Frank and Morwenna were already waiting to celebrate or commiserate with the girls in the Leaky Cauldron, the Marauders, who had been planning to make their way to a pub eventually anyway, agreed to join them.
The Gryffindors' celebration went on for hours through the afternoon and into the evening with loads of toasting, laughing, and unnecessary Apparating taking place. Everyone got at least a bit tipsy, if not downright pissed, and it was very nearly dark by the time they emerged.
Peter, who had quite foolishly tried to go drink for drink with Sirius, was now weaving and wobbling all over the sidewalk, giggling constantly over a joke nobody else really understood.
"He's completely sloshed," Remus noted with disapproval, watching as James hastily grabbed the tail of Peter's jacket to prevent him from performing a swan dive into the pavement.
"And I s'pose you're perfectly sober after – what was it – SIX buttered rums?" Sirius drawled, probably the most presentable of the lot of them despite the amount of drinks he himself had put away.
Remus flushed a bit darker but chose not to dignify Sirius' observation with a comment, wrapping his arm a bit more firmly round Kathleen and looking straight ahead in lieu of an answer. Kathleen, however, had found Sirius' remark quite amusing and was practically doubled over with laughter despite Remus' quelling stare.
"I guess someone will have to take him home," Sirius remarked to James, having decided to go in search of friendlier company till Remus had recovered from his snit.
"Home?!" Peter squeaked, looking horrified. "Can't do that. M'mum'll kill me, see if she don't!"
"Oh right," James said thoughtfully, wincing. "Forgot about Mrs. Pettigrew." Everyone present who was acquainted with Peter's mum cringed at the thought of what she would do if she were to catch her son in his present state.
Noticing his friends' reactions, Peter now seemed close to tears at the thought. "Wha' should I do?" he almost sobbed.
"You can stay the night at my house," Remus offered a bit reluctantly. The look of relief on Peter's face was profound.
"Don't wet yourself, Wormtail," Sirius interjected gruffly before Peter could embarrass himself further. "Remus and I'll take you to his place till you've sobered up." Remus shot Sirius a grateful look; he hadn't been looking forward to escorting a drunk and giddy Peter by himself.
That settled, the other arrangements were quickly taken care of. The four Quidditch team members, James, Sirius, Frank, and Dorcas, seemed, rather suspiciously, to be the best at holding their drink, so the others who were not as able were assigned to them. Calling good-byes over their shoulders, the Gryffindors dispersed into the night.
James and Lily, who could at worse be called tipsy, took a rather wobbly Morwenna to the house she shared with her grandmother near Diagon Alley before making their way to the Evans house. Lily, remembering the "Don't Ingurgitate and Apparate" posters in the Apparition office, was wary of trying to Apparate home while under the influence, but James scoffed at the idea and, not relishing the thought of trying to buy Floo powder, or, worse, using Muggle transportation, at this time of day, did his best to convince Lily to try it.
Lily and James continued to argue the point as they started up Diagon Alley, both firmly convinced they were in the right. The usually bustling street was essentially deserted now; though Diagon Alley was one of the safer places in the wizarding world, no one wanted to tempt fate, or, more accurately, the Death Eaters by presenting an easy target.
There seemed to be a sharp drop in temperature as Lily and James approached the turning to Knockturn Alley, and Lily shuddered, remembering her close call there with Severus Snape. But Lily kept shaking for some reason she couldn't understand, and suddenly she could see her breath in the mild spring night. Lily's mind no longer seemed to be under her control. Despite her efforts to shake them off, Lily suddenly was unable to stop herself from remembering every bad thing that had ever happened to her: Petunia recoiling from her and calling her a freak when Lily had gotten her Hogwarts letter, other children whispering about her in primary school when she'd accidentally done odd things, Slytherins calling her a Mudblood, Bellatrix's attack in the Potions corridor, the Marchbanks' ball, and Voldemort advancing on her and James................
Nearly dumb with terror, Lily glanced round at James, who looked almost as bad as she felt. Wordlessly James reached out and took Lily's hand, and Lily returned the grip convulsively. Before she could prevent her teeth from knocking together long enough to ask what was happening, Lily realized that they were not alone.
Three hooded figures were gliding toward Lily and James from Knockturn Alley, their breath rattling ominously in the silence. Lily couldn't make out their faces, and as they came closer, Lily realized that this was because they didn't seem to have faces, only hands, gray, scaly, scabbed, clammy hands. Lily's head screamed at her feet to move away, but nothing happened, the figures were coming still closer. They were in touching distance now, Lily thought, and as if in answer, one of the figures stretched its clawlike, glistening hand out toward Lily..............
James watched in horror for a precious instant as the hand moved forward before he could collect himself enough to move back, jerking Lily along with him just before the fingertips could make contact with Lily's skin. Shivering with cold, terrible memories crowding his head, James managed to pull himself and Lily away from the dementors, moving as quickly as he could in his clumsy state.
The cold lessened and the memories eased as James and Lily got further away from the dementors. Able to move more quickly now, they broke into a run, still hand in hand.
Pausing to catch their breath, James wondered frantically for a moment what the easiest and quickest way back to Lily's house was before he remembered belatedly that they could Apparate now. Lily could hardly object now, James thought. Besides, any lingering effects that alcohol may have had had worn off in their encounter with the dementors.
"Lily?" James asked hesitantly. She looked terribly pale and continued to shiver violently. "Do you think you can concentrate enough to Apparate to your house?" Peter's near-splinching remained fresh in James' mind.
"Y-yes," Lily got out through her chattering teeth. Not wasting any more time in case they were being followed, Lily and James quickly pulled out their wands, and, bracing themselves, Disapparated from Diagon Alley.
Petunia Evans Dursley was alone in her parents' house; Mr. and Mrs. Evans had gone out to dinner on the coast and had phoned a bit ago to say that a rainstorm had caused mudslides on the roads and that they would be spending the night at an inn. Not wanting to engage in needless conversation with her sister, Petunia had left a note for Lily about their parents' whereabouts propped on the table in the foyer. Lily could read it when she came home.
If she ever came home, anyway. Mr. and Mrs. Evans had been rather surprised when Petunia had reported that Lily hadn't come home yet. Petunia was a bit suspicious herself. Lily had gone somewhere with that awful boy; no doubt he was responsible for Lily throwing away her last shreds of respectability.
Petunia shuddered a bit; she truly did hate being alone at night. How irksome that she'd come to stay with her parents to avoid it and here she was alone anyway. Irritated at her family's lack of consideration for her sensibilities, Petunia decided to take a hot bath to ease her vexation.
She was just fetching a towel from the linen closet in the upstairs hallway when she heard a loud popping noise in the foyer downstairs. Nervous, Petunia moved as quietly as she could to the banister to find the source of the noise. To her shock, Petunia saw her sister's awful boyfriend standing in the foyer. Before she could react properly to this, there was another loud pop and Lily appeared in the foyer next to him.
Furious and terrified at these overt displays of unnatural activity, Petunia opened her mouth firmly to scream, but the sound caught in her throat when she had a proper look at Lily.
Petunia's younger sister was white as a sheet and shaking with cold, her obscenely red hair wild round her shoulders. The awful boy looked nearly as bad as Lily did, studying Lily with a worried expression.
Curious now and concerned in spite of herself, Petunia stepped back a bit into the shadows to watch and listen undetected.
"Are you all right, Lily?" James asked intently, trying to rub some warmth into Lily's arms.
"Yeah," Lily managed to say from between blue lips. "Wh – what were those things?"
"Dementors," James replied, running a hand through his disheveled hair. "They guard Azkaban, the wizard prison. Don't know what they were doing in Knockturn Alley, though."
"Remind me never to go to prison then," Lily made an attempt at humor. Petunia felt a chill run up and down her spine, not liking to think about the kind of creature that could cause her fearless sister to shake like a leaf.
"Is anyone here?" James asked, looking about him but not spotting Petunia at the banister. Noticing the paper on the table, Lily quickly read through Petunia's note.
"My parents will be gone overnight," Lily told James, "and I don't know where Petunia is." She shrugged, still hugging herself for warmth.
"I don't want to leave you alone right now," James said, frowning. "Why don't you come home with me?"
"Well.........For a bit, anyway," Lily consented, not any more eager to be left alone than James was to leave her. With that, Lily and James raised their wands again and disappeared, leaving more loud pops in their wake.
Petunia sank down on the top step, shaken by the scene she had just witnessed. For the first time, Petunia found herself wondering about the world to which her sister belonged, about the things Lily could do and the dangers she faced. What would Lily tell her about being a witch if Petunia asked her about it and if she, Petunia, were a witch, how different would her life be?
Shaking her shameful fancies firmly out of her head, Petunia stood up resolutely and went back to her comfortingly, relentlessly normal life, deliberately turning her back on the things her sister could have and she could not.
Lily appeared with a pop in the foyer of the most amazing house she'd ever seen in her life. The Potters' house was huge, if the marble foyer was anything to go by, with candle sconces and free floating candles everywhere. Family portraits lined the sweeping staircase, all of them smiling a greeting to their descendant and his companion. Leading Lily nonchalantly through the splendor, James opened the doors to the library, the wall sconces and fireplace lighting themselves immediately when they stepped into the room. "Be right back," James called over his shoulder. His footsteps echoed through the hall and then his voice drifted back to the library as well; he was holding a conversation with someone who had a very high, squeaky voice.
Lily, still too cold and unnerved to be curious, sank onto a sofa by the fireplace. But even though the room was warm and she was a close to the flames as she could be without getting in them, Lily couldn't seem to get warm.
James reentered the room minutes later carrying a tray. Seeing the contents of the tray, Lily raised a questioning brow at James. Hot chocolate and chocolate bars hardly seemed well balanced.
"Chocolate helps after you've been round dementors," James explained, handing Lily an enormous chocolate bar. Still skeptical, Lily nonetheless took a bite and was surprised to feel warmth beginning to spread through her chilled body.
There was silence for a while as Lily and James consumed two chocolate bars apiece, plus their hot chocolate.
"Where are Sirius and your parents?" Lily finally asked, refusing James' offer of a third chocolate bar.
"Dunno," James replied round a mouthful of his fourth. "Sirius must still be helping Remus with Peter, and my parents are at the Ministry, most likely."
"Now?" Lily was surprised.
James shrugged. "Voldemort and his Death Eaters are inconsiderate that way," he replied cynically.
"Oh," Lily was momentarily at a loss. "Who were you talking to, then?"
"Wendell, our house elf," James explained. "He told me about the chocolate."
Feeling much better now, Lily glanced round her at the hundreds of books and knick-knacks that filled the library. Noticing her interest, James pulled Lily to her feet to show her the rest of the house.
Hand in hand, James took Lily to the kitchens, where Wendell greeted them enthusiastically, pointed out the Quidditch pitch in the gardens, though it was a bit too dark to see it properly, and then showed her yet more family portraits in the hall upstairs, Lily marveling at the resemblance between the Potter men. It was immediately clear that James' family was both very old and very well off; priceless family heirlooms littered the house.
Managing to forget somewhat, Lily and James began to have fun, exploring rooms and cupboards and corners. James began, as he always did in Lily's presence, to go to ridiculous lengths to make her laugh and Lily enjoyed shooting him down when his head inflated beyond what she considered reasonable proportions.
"What's down here?" Lily asked as they came to another corridor.
"My room and Sirius' room, a couple of guest rooms," James opened the first door on their right. "This is my room," he said by way of explanation before throwing open the door with a dramatic flourish.
If Lily had ever stopped to imagine what James' bedroom must look like, she would have imagined the room in front of her exactly. The room reflected James' personality perfectly. A Gryffindor banner hung over the bed, and the walls were cluttered with Quidditch posters and paraphernalia. A heap of clothes sat in one corner, and the bookshelf was jammed with Hogwarts texts, Quidditch guides, and comic books, as well as a number of Transfiguration books that Lily imagined must have come in handy when the Marauders were learning to become Animagi.
Moving over to study the books more closely, a flash of red caught the corner of Lily's eye. Turning, Lily saw that the red that had caught her eye was in fact her own hair. Or her hair in a wizard photograph, anyway. Next to the bed sat a picture of herself and James, the couple in the picture laughing and waving at them, James' arms round Lily.
"Where did this come from?" Lily asked, picking the picture up and smiling back at it.
"Morwenna took it of us in Hogsmeade one time and I asked her for it," James said simply, flushing a bit to have been caught with the photo.
"I'd really like a copy of it," Lily's smile was blinding, or it was to James, at any rate. "We look so happy."
Relieved that Lily didn't intend to tease him about the picture, James sat on the bed and pulled Lily down to sit on his lap, wrapping his arms round her like the James and Lily in the picture. "We do look happy," James agreed. "That's why I like that picture so much; no matter what else is going on, I can look at that picture and be happy."
Touched, Lily leaned in to kiss James, not stopping even when they fell back onto the bed together. Awareness invaded the corner of Lily's mind; things could go very far very quickly in this situation. Still, Lily didn't move away from James or stop kissing him, a million thought running through her mind, thoughts about how beautiful James was and how wonderful it felt to be close to him warring with more practical concerns, like the consequences of having sex, what his parents would say if they found them together, and what her parents would say when she didn't come home tonight.
But when James brushed a lock of her hair away from her face, his touch butterfly light on her skin and so gentle and so perfect, Lily knew she was lost. She loved James completely and without doubt; he was far more important to her than any of the consequences or inconveniences or embarrassments. And suddenly Lily realized that she had made a decision, a decision she had always expected to be a frightening one, but it wasn't really; nothing that felt this completely and utterly right could really be scary. Lily felt like a huge weight had been lifted from her; she knew with absolute, unquestionable conviction that she was ready to spend tonight with James
James kissed Lily back with everything he had, so in love with her he couldn't think of anything else and just as desperate as Lily was to be as close as possible. When Lily sat up, James gulped in a steadying breath of air, fighting for control over his body and emotions.
"We don't have to," he said quietly before Lily could say anything.
"I know we don't have to," Lily replied. She looked up at him, her eyes unclouded and certain. "I want to," she said simply, a shy smile creeping across her face.
James expelled a breath he hadn't been aware of holding. "I want to, too," he answered Lily exuberantly, an animated grin spreading across his face, the flip flops in his stomach more like somersaults. "In fact, I don't think I've ever wanted anything more in my entire life."
Lily and James both laughed, giddy with emotions and anticipation, relieved to break the tension.
"Me neither," Lily finally said, a million emotions swirling round in her ribcage, the certainty that she was ready a solid, comforting weight in her gut.
Without waiting for further invitation, Lily began to unbutton James' shirt, both of them grinning widely at each other. Then Lily lifted her arms and James pulled her top over her head, sending it to join his shirt on the floor. Slowly, Lily and James finished undressing each other before moving together again, the outside world, complete with its impending disasters, dangers, and responsibilities temporarily forgotten.
Author's Note:
Finally, I managed to get a new chapter done! I really apologize for the wait; thank you everyone for being so patient with me. As always, thank you to everyone for reading and reviewing, and a very special thanks to witchheart, Albareth Dragon, Palindrome Mistress, and Cecilia Orechio for their reviews. I'm working on the next chapter, but I'm not sure when it'll be up. Hope you enjoy!
The next few weeks following Snape's near-execution and Lily and James' revelation of their deepest secrets passed uneventfully for the Gryffindors, the next weeks filled with nothing more dramatic than homework, NEWT practice tests, and, of course, the occasional Marauder prank, which saved life from becoming unspeakably dull.
The Easter holidays were fast approaching, which was causing mixed feelings among the Gryffindor seventh years. Lily for one was somewhat less than enthusiastic; Mrs. Evans had written to Lily to inform her that Petunia would be staying with them for a few days after Easter while Vernon was away on a business trip; Petunia's hatred of Lily was eclipsed only by her fear of staying alone, it seemed.
The Marauders, on the other hand, could barely contain their excitement at the prospect of the coming holidays. In their second year, James, Sirius, Peter, and Remus had made a pact to take their Apparition tests together, and, finally, they were all seventeen and eligible for the test. Remus and Peter were both enthusiastic at the prospect of being able to Apparate from one place to another without having to bother with Floo powder, Portkeys, or other less convenient forms of transportation. Sirius was positively gleeful considering all of the fresh trouble the Marauders could get themselves into once they could Apparate and was in fact already planning it, and James, when he wasn't helping Sirius plan various forms of mayhem, was blissfully contemplating the surprised, admiring look on Lily's face when he Apparated to her house after passing his test with flying colors.
Having agreed not to tell anyone that they were taking their Apparition tests, the Marauders prepared for it in secret for a few hours every night, spending most of their time helping Peter, who struggled with it as he seemed to with almost everything.
Unbeknownst to the Marauders, Alice, Dorcas, and Kathleen were all preparing for the Apparition test as well. Kathleen had made the appointments for them after Morwenna had taken it during the last Hogsmeade weekend. Much less arrogant than the Marauders, who naturally assumed that there was no doubt that they would all pass, the girls all agreed not to tell anyone in case, as Alice reasonably pointed out, they failed it. Then they wouldn't have to explain to anyone why they didn't have their Apparition licenses. Lily had decided to wait to take hers because it would cause too many complications with Petunia in residence.
In spite of all of the time James was spending preparing for his Apparition test in secret, things were going extremely well between Lily and James. Sharing secrets inevitably brings people closer together, and Lily and James were no exception to this. They spent even more time together than they had before, which was amazing with their busy schedules, and each received a good amount of ribbing from their respective friends about their sickening state of happiness, which really was a bit rich coming from Frank, Alice, Remus, and Kathleen.
Refusing to be parted from Lily for an entire week, James had invited her to tea with his parents on Tuesday and had promised to take Lily, who was eager to escape Petunia as much as possible, to Diagon Alley at least once later in the week. Sirius complained loudly and often that Lily was stealing his best mate and the one prank-playing companion who was his equal, this last statement causing much indignation on Peter and Remus' parts, but neither Lily nor James paid Sirius any attention.
Sirius was still saying it on the Hogwarts Express a week later when James refused to smoke the Slytherin first years out of their compartment with Sirius in favor of staying with Lily in the Head compartment. Muttering under his breath about short leashes and lack of balls, Sirius nonetheless subsided into a corner of the Head compartment to play chess with Dorcas. James roundly ignored his best friend; he was too wrapped up in Lily to care overmuch, and Sirius was mostly joking anyway.
At King's Cross Station, a still grumbling Sirius waited impatiently while James and Lily said goodbye to each other, a process that took at least fifteen minutes, most of it spent in a liplock, or so Sirius was convinced. Finally Lily set off to find her parents and James turned to Sirius so they could make their way through the crush to Mr. and Mrs. Potter.
"Took you long enough," Sirius grumbled good-naturedly, flicking his wand over his trunk to make it light enough to carry without maiming himself.
"This from the former reigning snogging champion of Hogwarts," James snorted, just the slightest bit tired of Sirius' running commentary on his love life.
"At least I never made YOU watch," Sirius replied.
"Nobody made you watch; 's'not my fault if Peter's rubbing off on you," James retorted.
"Beg to differ with THAT; if I want to spend any time at all round you outside of getting ready for the Apparition test or Quidditch practice I'm forced to watch you and Lily because all the pair of you do is make cow eyes at each other and SNOG LEFT, RIGHT, AND CENTER!" Sirius snapped back.
"Hi, Mum and Dad," James said sheepishly, his ears red. He and Sirius had reached Mr. and Mrs. Potter in time for them to hear that last statement, though even if he and Sirius had been standing on the other end of the platform during a thunderstorm Mr. and Mrs. Potter doubtless still would have heard. Sirius had not troubled himself with such details as using his indoor voice.
To James' everlasting relief, neither of his parents commented on Sirius' observation, they both looked a bit startled but thankfully had the tact to greet James and Sirius normally and lead them out of the station to the waiting Ministry car.
Happily unaware of her boyfriend's embarrassment, Lily was making her way through the station to the information desk where she'd met her parents at every holiday since she was eleven. Concentrating as she was on not getting walloped by passerby's' baggage, Lily didn't notice the voice calling her name until someone touched her arm. Startled, Lily spun to look into Dorcas' smiling face.
"Dorcas! You startled me," Lily exclaimed, smiling nonetheless.
"Sorry," Dorcas replied. "I tried to catch you before you left the platform, but you were – er – busy." Seeing Lily blush, Dorcas grinned but tactfully moved onto her point. "I – and Alice and Kathleen too – wanted to see if you wouldn't change your mind about the Apparition test on Monday. I know your sisters a complete nutter, but can't you manage something?"
Lily hesitated; she DID want to take the test with her friends, but Petunia's nerves, not to mention their relationship, probably wouldn't withstand seeing Lily perform such an overtly magical act.
"Go on then, Lily," Dorcas wheedled, seeing Lily's hesitation. "It'll be easier to take the test with your friends; strength in numbers and all that. Kathleen made you an appointment."
"All right," Lily acquiesced, smiling. She really did want to Apparate, and maybe she could refrain from doing it in front of Petunia.
"Great!" Dorcas grinned broadly. "See you Monday then."
"See you," Lily echoed as Dorcas moved away in the crowd.
Easter Sunday was torturous for Lily. She and her parents went to Petunia and Vernon's house in Surrey for the holiday, an arrangement no one was particularly pleased about. Needless to say, neither Vernon nor Petunia was happy to see Lily and both were unreasonably terrified that Lily would do something that might be construed as abnormal by their neighbors. Glancing up and down the row of identical houses on Privet Drive that seemed to house neighbors as dull and run of the mill as Petunia and Vernon aspired to be, Lily rolled her eyes in exasperation but decided against a retort. One really had to pick one's battles with the Dursleys.
Finally, after hours of admiring Petunia's dull, prim house, listening to the Dursleys brag about everything under the sun, and an interminable dinner featuring a ham that very much resembled Vernon, the Evanses plus Petunia climbed into the car and made their way back to London. Finally Lily could start enjoying her holiday.
The Marauders arrived at the Ministry of Magic in excessively high spirits on Monday to take their Apparition tests. Two hours later, Sirius, Remus, James, and Peter filed back into the waiting area, all of them grinning ear to ear and brandishing Apparition licenses. They had all passed, even Peter, who had lost his head a bit during the practical part of the exam and had come rather close to splinching himself. Peter took his mates' teasing jovially, too happy and relieved to have passed to care overmuch about the jokes at his expense.
Preoccupied with Apparating to Lily's house and bringing her to celebrate with them, James thought he was hallucinating when he saw Lily sitting beside Alice and Dorcas in the waiting area.
"Lily?" James asked dumbfoundedly. Lily glanced up and broke into a dazzling smile when she saw who had spoken to her.
"James! What are you doing here?" Lily stood up to give her boyfriend a delighted hug which James returned slightly less enthusiastically; he was a bit disappointed to have lost the opportunity to surprise Lily and traumatize Petunia all in one go.
"We just took our Apparition tests," James explained.
"Us too," Alice put in. "We're just waiting for Kathleen to finish up," she added with a smile at Remus. Kathleen Apparated in with a pop just then, rendering questions as to whether or not she'd passed unnecessary, and greeted Remus with delight. As Frank and Morwenna were already waiting to celebrate or commiserate with the girls in the Leaky Cauldron, the Marauders, who had been planning to make their way to a pub eventually anyway, agreed to join them.
The Gryffindors' celebration went on for hours through the afternoon and into the evening with loads of toasting, laughing, and unnecessary Apparating taking place. Everyone got at least a bit tipsy, if not downright pissed, and it was very nearly dark by the time they emerged.
Peter, who had quite foolishly tried to go drink for drink with Sirius, was now weaving and wobbling all over the sidewalk, giggling constantly over a joke nobody else really understood.
"He's completely sloshed," Remus noted with disapproval, watching as James hastily grabbed the tail of Peter's jacket to prevent him from performing a swan dive into the pavement.
"And I s'pose you're perfectly sober after – what was it – SIX buttered rums?" Sirius drawled, probably the most presentable of the lot of them despite the amount of drinks he himself had put away.
Remus flushed a bit darker but chose not to dignify Sirius' observation with a comment, wrapping his arm a bit more firmly round Kathleen and looking straight ahead in lieu of an answer. Kathleen, however, had found Sirius' remark quite amusing and was practically doubled over with laughter despite Remus' quelling stare.
"I guess someone will have to take him home," Sirius remarked to James, having decided to go in search of friendlier company till Remus had recovered from his snit.
"Home?!" Peter squeaked, looking horrified. "Can't do that. M'mum'll kill me, see if she don't!"
"Oh right," James said thoughtfully, wincing. "Forgot about Mrs. Pettigrew." Everyone present who was acquainted with Peter's mum cringed at the thought of what she would do if she were to catch her son in his present state.
Noticing his friends' reactions, Peter now seemed close to tears at the thought. "Wha' should I do?" he almost sobbed.
"You can stay the night at my house," Remus offered a bit reluctantly. The look of relief on Peter's face was profound.
"Don't wet yourself, Wormtail," Sirius interjected gruffly before Peter could embarrass himself further. "Remus and I'll take you to his place till you've sobered up." Remus shot Sirius a grateful look; he hadn't been looking forward to escorting a drunk and giddy Peter by himself.
That settled, the other arrangements were quickly taken care of. The four Quidditch team members, James, Sirius, Frank, and Dorcas, seemed, rather suspiciously, to be the best at holding their drink, so the others who were not as able were assigned to them. Calling good-byes over their shoulders, the Gryffindors dispersed into the night.
James and Lily, who could at worse be called tipsy, took a rather wobbly Morwenna to the house she shared with her grandmother near Diagon Alley before making their way to the Evans house. Lily, remembering the "Don't Ingurgitate and Apparate" posters in the Apparition office, was wary of trying to Apparate home while under the influence, but James scoffed at the idea and, not relishing the thought of trying to buy Floo powder, or, worse, using Muggle transportation, at this time of day, did his best to convince Lily to try it.
Lily and James continued to argue the point as they started up Diagon Alley, both firmly convinced they were in the right. The usually bustling street was essentially deserted now; though Diagon Alley was one of the safer places in the wizarding world, no one wanted to tempt fate, or, more accurately, the Death Eaters by presenting an easy target.
There seemed to be a sharp drop in temperature as Lily and James approached the turning to Knockturn Alley, and Lily shuddered, remembering her close call there with Severus Snape. But Lily kept shaking for some reason she couldn't understand, and suddenly she could see her breath in the mild spring night. Lily's mind no longer seemed to be under her control. Despite her efforts to shake them off, Lily suddenly was unable to stop herself from remembering every bad thing that had ever happened to her: Petunia recoiling from her and calling her a freak when Lily had gotten her Hogwarts letter, other children whispering about her in primary school when she'd accidentally done odd things, Slytherins calling her a Mudblood, Bellatrix's attack in the Potions corridor, the Marchbanks' ball, and Voldemort advancing on her and James................
Nearly dumb with terror, Lily glanced round at James, who looked almost as bad as she felt. Wordlessly James reached out and took Lily's hand, and Lily returned the grip convulsively. Before she could prevent her teeth from knocking together long enough to ask what was happening, Lily realized that they were not alone.
Three hooded figures were gliding toward Lily and James from Knockturn Alley, their breath rattling ominously in the silence. Lily couldn't make out their faces, and as they came closer, Lily realized that this was because they didn't seem to have faces, only hands, gray, scaly, scabbed, clammy hands. Lily's head screamed at her feet to move away, but nothing happened, the figures were coming still closer. They were in touching distance now, Lily thought, and as if in answer, one of the figures stretched its clawlike, glistening hand out toward Lily..............
James watched in horror for a precious instant as the hand moved forward before he could collect himself enough to move back, jerking Lily along with him just before the fingertips could make contact with Lily's skin. Shivering with cold, terrible memories crowding his head, James managed to pull himself and Lily away from the dementors, moving as quickly as he could in his clumsy state.
The cold lessened and the memories eased as James and Lily got further away from the dementors. Able to move more quickly now, they broke into a run, still hand in hand.
Pausing to catch their breath, James wondered frantically for a moment what the easiest and quickest way back to Lily's house was before he remembered belatedly that they could Apparate now. Lily could hardly object now, James thought. Besides, any lingering effects that alcohol may have had had worn off in their encounter with the dementors.
"Lily?" James asked hesitantly. She looked terribly pale and continued to shiver violently. "Do you think you can concentrate enough to Apparate to your house?" Peter's near-splinching remained fresh in James' mind.
"Y-yes," Lily got out through her chattering teeth. Not wasting any more time in case they were being followed, Lily and James quickly pulled out their wands, and, bracing themselves, Disapparated from Diagon Alley.
Petunia Evans Dursley was alone in her parents' house; Mr. and Mrs. Evans had gone out to dinner on the coast and had phoned a bit ago to say that a rainstorm had caused mudslides on the roads and that they would be spending the night at an inn. Not wanting to engage in needless conversation with her sister, Petunia had left a note for Lily about their parents' whereabouts propped on the table in the foyer. Lily could read it when she came home.
If she ever came home, anyway. Mr. and Mrs. Evans had been rather surprised when Petunia had reported that Lily hadn't come home yet. Petunia was a bit suspicious herself. Lily had gone somewhere with that awful boy; no doubt he was responsible for Lily throwing away her last shreds of respectability.
Petunia shuddered a bit; she truly did hate being alone at night. How irksome that she'd come to stay with her parents to avoid it and here she was alone anyway. Irritated at her family's lack of consideration for her sensibilities, Petunia decided to take a hot bath to ease her vexation.
She was just fetching a towel from the linen closet in the upstairs hallway when she heard a loud popping noise in the foyer downstairs. Nervous, Petunia moved as quietly as she could to the banister to find the source of the noise. To her shock, Petunia saw her sister's awful boyfriend standing in the foyer. Before she could react properly to this, there was another loud pop and Lily appeared in the foyer next to him.
Furious and terrified at these overt displays of unnatural activity, Petunia opened her mouth firmly to scream, but the sound caught in her throat when she had a proper look at Lily.
Petunia's younger sister was white as a sheet and shaking with cold, her obscenely red hair wild round her shoulders. The awful boy looked nearly as bad as Lily did, studying Lily with a worried expression.
Curious now and concerned in spite of herself, Petunia stepped back a bit into the shadows to watch and listen undetected.
"Are you all right, Lily?" James asked intently, trying to rub some warmth into Lily's arms.
"Yeah," Lily managed to say from between blue lips. "Wh – what were those things?"
"Dementors," James replied, running a hand through his disheveled hair. "They guard Azkaban, the wizard prison. Don't know what they were doing in Knockturn Alley, though."
"Remind me never to go to prison then," Lily made an attempt at humor. Petunia felt a chill run up and down her spine, not liking to think about the kind of creature that could cause her fearless sister to shake like a leaf.
"Is anyone here?" James asked, looking about him but not spotting Petunia at the banister. Noticing the paper on the table, Lily quickly read through Petunia's note.
"My parents will be gone overnight," Lily told James, "and I don't know where Petunia is." She shrugged, still hugging herself for warmth.
"I don't want to leave you alone right now," James said, frowning. "Why don't you come home with me?"
"Well.........For a bit, anyway," Lily consented, not any more eager to be left alone than James was to leave her. With that, Lily and James raised their wands again and disappeared, leaving more loud pops in their wake.
Petunia sank down on the top step, shaken by the scene she had just witnessed. For the first time, Petunia found herself wondering about the world to which her sister belonged, about the things Lily could do and the dangers she faced. What would Lily tell her about being a witch if Petunia asked her about it and if she, Petunia, were a witch, how different would her life be?
Shaking her shameful fancies firmly out of her head, Petunia stood up resolutely and went back to her comfortingly, relentlessly normal life, deliberately turning her back on the things her sister could have and she could not.
Lily appeared with a pop in the foyer of the most amazing house she'd ever seen in her life. The Potters' house was huge, if the marble foyer was anything to go by, with candle sconces and free floating candles everywhere. Family portraits lined the sweeping staircase, all of them smiling a greeting to their descendant and his companion. Leading Lily nonchalantly through the splendor, James opened the doors to the library, the wall sconces and fireplace lighting themselves immediately when they stepped into the room. "Be right back," James called over his shoulder. His footsteps echoed through the hall and then his voice drifted back to the library as well; he was holding a conversation with someone who had a very high, squeaky voice.
Lily, still too cold and unnerved to be curious, sank onto a sofa by the fireplace. But even though the room was warm and she was a close to the flames as she could be without getting in them, Lily couldn't seem to get warm.
James reentered the room minutes later carrying a tray. Seeing the contents of the tray, Lily raised a questioning brow at James. Hot chocolate and chocolate bars hardly seemed well balanced.
"Chocolate helps after you've been round dementors," James explained, handing Lily an enormous chocolate bar. Still skeptical, Lily nonetheless took a bite and was surprised to feel warmth beginning to spread through her chilled body.
There was silence for a while as Lily and James consumed two chocolate bars apiece, plus their hot chocolate.
"Where are Sirius and your parents?" Lily finally asked, refusing James' offer of a third chocolate bar.
"Dunno," James replied round a mouthful of his fourth. "Sirius must still be helping Remus with Peter, and my parents are at the Ministry, most likely."
"Now?" Lily was surprised.
James shrugged. "Voldemort and his Death Eaters are inconsiderate that way," he replied cynically.
"Oh," Lily was momentarily at a loss. "Who were you talking to, then?"
"Wendell, our house elf," James explained. "He told me about the chocolate."
Feeling much better now, Lily glanced round her at the hundreds of books and knick-knacks that filled the library. Noticing her interest, James pulled Lily to her feet to show her the rest of the house.
Hand in hand, James took Lily to the kitchens, where Wendell greeted them enthusiastically, pointed out the Quidditch pitch in the gardens, though it was a bit too dark to see it properly, and then showed her yet more family portraits in the hall upstairs, Lily marveling at the resemblance between the Potter men. It was immediately clear that James' family was both very old and very well off; priceless family heirlooms littered the house.
Managing to forget somewhat, Lily and James began to have fun, exploring rooms and cupboards and corners. James began, as he always did in Lily's presence, to go to ridiculous lengths to make her laugh and Lily enjoyed shooting him down when his head inflated beyond what she considered reasonable proportions.
"What's down here?" Lily asked as they came to another corridor.
"My room and Sirius' room, a couple of guest rooms," James opened the first door on their right. "This is my room," he said by way of explanation before throwing open the door with a dramatic flourish.
If Lily had ever stopped to imagine what James' bedroom must look like, she would have imagined the room in front of her exactly. The room reflected James' personality perfectly. A Gryffindor banner hung over the bed, and the walls were cluttered with Quidditch posters and paraphernalia. A heap of clothes sat in one corner, and the bookshelf was jammed with Hogwarts texts, Quidditch guides, and comic books, as well as a number of Transfiguration books that Lily imagined must have come in handy when the Marauders were learning to become Animagi.
Moving over to study the books more closely, a flash of red caught the corner of Lily's eye. Turning, Lily saw that the red that had caught her eye was in fact her own hair. Or her hair in a wizard photograph, anyway. Next to the bed sat a picture of herself and James, the couple in the picture laughing and waving at them, James' arms round Lily.
"Where did this come from?" Lily asked, picking the picture up and smiling back at it.
"Morwenna took it of us in Hogsmeade one time and I asked her for it," James said simply, flushing a bit to have been caught with the photo.
"I'd really like a copy of it," Lily's smile was blinding, or it was to James, at any rate. "We look so happy."
Relieved that Lily didn't intend to tease him about the picture, James sat on the bed and pulled Lily down to sit on his lap, wrapping his arms round her like the James and Lily in the picture. "We do look happy," James agreed. "That's why I like that picture so much; no matter what else is going on, I can look at that picture and be happy."
Touched, Lily leaned in to kiss James, not stopping even when they fell back onto the bed together. Awareness invaded the corner of Lily's mind; things could go very far very quickly in this situation. Still, Lily didn't move away from James or stop kissing him, a million thought running through her mind, thoughts about how beautiful James was and how wonderful it felt to be close to him warring with more practical concerns, like the consequences of having sex, what his parents would say if they found them together, and what her parents would say when she didn't come home tonight.
But when James brushed a lock of her hair away from her face, his touch butterfly light on her skin and so gentle and so perfect, Lily knew she was lost. She loved James completely and without doubt; he was far more important to her than any of the consequences or inconveniences or embarrassments. And suddenly Lily realized that she had made a decision, a decision she had always expected to be a frightening one, but it wasn't really; nothing that felt this completely and utterly right could really be scary. Lily felt like a huge weight had been lifted from her; she knew with absolute, unquestionable conviction that she was ready to spend tonight with James
James kissed Lily back with everything he had, so in love with her he couldn't think of anything else and just as desperate as Lily was to be as close as possible. When Lily sat up, James gulped in a steadying breath of air, fighting for control over his body and emotions.
"We don't have to," he said quietly before Lily could say anything.
"I know we don't have to," Lily replied. She looked up at him, her eyes unclouded and certain. "I want to," she said simply, a shy smile creeping across her face.
James expelled a breath he hadn't been aware of holding. "I want to, too," he answered Lily exuberantly, an animated grin spreading across his face, the flip flops in his stomach more like somersaults. "In fact, I don't think I've ever wanted anything more in my entire life."
Lily and James both laughed, giddy with emotions and anticipation, relieved to break the tension.
"Me neither," Lily finally said, a million emotions swirling round in her ribcage, the certainty that she was ready a solid, comforting weight in her gut.
Without waiting for further invitation, Lily began to unbutton James' shirt, both of them grinning widely at each other. Then Lily lifted her arms and James pulled her top over her head, sending it to join his shirt on the floor. Slowly, Lily and James finished undressing each other before moving together again, the outside world, complete with its impending disasters, dangers, and responsibilities temporarily forgotten.
Author's Note:
Finally, I managed to get a new chapter done! I really apologize for the wait; thank you everyone for being so patient with me. As always, thank you to everyone for reading and reviewing, and a very special thanks to witchheart, Albareth Dragon, Palindrome Mistress, and Cecilia Orechio for their reviews. I'm working on the next chapter, but I'm not sure when it'll be up. Hope you enjoy!