Disclaimer: This is my last disclaimer, so if you don't know what I do own (not much) and what I don't own (a lot) by now, then I'm not sure that you're even reading this, because you obviously haven't read the others.

With Voldemort gone, the barrier disappeared, and James was finally able to rush to Lily's side. He pulled her into his arms, and she willingly leaned into his embrace, burying her face in his chest and continuing to cry. James' heart broke as he listened to Lily's sobs and felt her tears permeate his shirt.

Lily's sobs finally began to lessen, but she maintained her tight grip on James, and when she spoke, her voice was shaky. "I should have done something…Maybe I could have stopped him."

"Lily," James said firmly, loosening her grip on him and making sure that she was looking him directly in the eyes before continuing, "Don't think like that. There's nothing you could have done. Make no mistake about it. Voldemort is very powerful and very evil, and you don't want to anger him. Had you done any more than you did, you likely would have gotten yourself captured with your father. What we need to do right now is to see Dumbledore."

"Dumbledore…?"

He's the headmaster at Hogwarts. He'll know what to do. He's the only person that Voldemort is afraid of."

Lily wiped the tears from her cheeks as best as she could and nodded, allowing James to lead her to the Leaky Cauldron. When they entered, he wasted no time in finding Tom and asking to use the fireplace to floo to Hogwarts, which he readily agreed to. They flooed directly to Dumbledore's office, hoping that the urgency of the situation would compel him to overlook the rudeness.

Dumbledore looked up to see them stumble through his fireplace, but when James glanced at his face, he noticed that it registered amusement but no surprise. Just like nearly every time he saw Dumbledore, he had to marvel at how composed the man was and how much it took to startle him.

"Good evening James, what a pleasant surprise. Is there something I can do for you and…?" He trailed off, indicating that he did not know the name of James' companion.

"This is Lily," James offered, "Lily Evans." He put a little bit of emphasis on her last name, hoping that Dumbledore would pick up on it.

"Evans…any relation to..."

"Yes. Sir, her father was captured by Voldemort this evening. It's a long story, one of which even I don't know parts, but that's not important right now. We need to get her father back."

"As much as I'd like to agree with you James, I'm afraid that my instincts are telling me that this story is, in fact, very important – crucial even – and I must insist that you tell me."

"I'll tell you," Lily said quietly, speaking for the first time since they'd left the spot where Voldemort had disappeared with her father.

"Very well," replied Dumbledore. "Have a seat, please. Lemon drop?"

James had the urge to laugh, so he quickly grabbed on and popped it in his mouth, concentrating on the tart flavour rather than the absurdity of the situation and Dumbledore's odd quirks. Lily looked at the candies skeptically at first, but seeing that James was not breaking out in hives or anything like that, she cautiously reached out to take one but changed her mind at the last minute. It was going to be hard enough to tell the story without something to hinder her ability to speak. Dumbledore merely shrugged and put them away.

"Now, please tell me what happened."

She began by telling him briefly about her father's sudden dislike for magic and her insistence that it existed, continuing with the tale of her trip to the train station and to Diagon Alley with Sylvia. She then told him about Lucius and Avery showing up in her room and taking her to see Lord Voldemort, as well as about the deal she made with him. She stopped the story here to defend herself.

"I swear that I had no idea who he was and what he was capable of. If I had, I never would have gone to see him, let alone agree to anything. You have to believe…" she faltered under Dumbledore's understanding gaze, realizing that she didn't have to worry about him blaming her.

"We often do things that we later regret when unarmed with all the facts of the situation. It is hard to prevent these things since most of us are not blessed with the gift of foresight. Please continue."

She skipped most of the details about her time spent with James, and she rushed through, though in detail, Voldemort's appearance in Diagon Alley and her father's capture. When she had finally finished, she let out a deep breath and listened to the silence for a few moments.

"I am unsure as to the location of your father, Lily, but I am confident that I can find out. I want you two to stay here, and I will see if, with the help of a few trusted allies, I can retrieve your father from Voldemort's clutches."

"I want to go with you," argued James. "I can't just sit around and do nothing."

"I must insist that you stay here with Lily this time, Mr. Potter. Please understand that it is for the best."

Lily and James watched as Dumbledore exited the office. The two continued sitting in their chairs silently for a few moments, unable to find anything worth saying, but then James looked up at her and saw that her eyes once more shone with tears. He got up and gently pulled her up out of her chair and led her over to the couch. He lay down and made room for her to do the same, wrapping his arms around her again and rubbing her back while she cried. After a while, he heard her steady breathing, indicating that she was asleep. Suddenly realizing how very tired he was, he couldn't help drifting off as well.

Lily and James were awoken by Dumbledore's voice an indeterminable amount of time later. The two got up from their place on the couch and again took up their previous seats in front of his desk.

"We've managed to retrieve your father from Voldemort, Miss Evans. He is safe at home, and I will allow you to go home in a few moments by portkey. First, though, I wanted to talk to the both of you."

He paused for a moment, finally addressing James, "Have you given any thought to a career, Mr. Potter? I know that your father is very disappointed that you haven't started anything."

"What I really want is to be an auror, but he won't allow it. And I refuse to go into politics. My father doesn't seem to grasp the concept that what's right for him isn't necessarily right for me. Besides, it's too late to start auror training. It's already started."

"You would make a fine auror, Mr. Potter. So good, in fact, that Alastor Moody has agreed to permit you to start training next week. It will take a lot of work to catch up with the other students, but I don't imagine that you would mind the extra work all that much. You can be very dedicated when you want to be, and I can tell that a career as an auror would mean a lot to you."

James sat there shocked for a few moments, unable to respond. He couldn't believe the opportunity that was being presented to him. A meek "Thank you, sir," was all he managed to say.

Dumbledore chuckled a little, then turned to Lily. "As for you, I imagine that you are a very gifted witch."

"How can I be? I haven't even had a single lesson at Hogwarts."

"Your ability to perform the summoning charm on your first try speaks volumes. Not many witches and wizards can do that, even with three years of Hogwarts education. I wonder if you wouldn't like to take private lessons with myself and a few of the other Hogwarts professors. I imagine that we could have you up to fifth-year level by the end of the year, at which time you could write the OWL's. You could join the sixth years in classes the following year. You could graduate Hogwarts in 3 years, and then we could see about getting you started in a career."

It was now Lily's turn to be dumbfounded. She couldn't believe that she had this amazing opportunity. She, unlike James, however, was able to keep her composure, and after only a minute, was able to say, "I would like that very much."

"Excellent. Now, I imagine that you would like to go home to see your father?"

Lily nodded.

"Very well," he continued, placing a candy in Lily's hand. She immediately recognized it as a lemon drop. "I have turned that into a portkey. The activation word is 'yummy'. Once you are safely home, say 'lemony' and the portkey will once again be a normal, harmless candy, which you can then enjoy. Just don't say 'yummy' again while it's in your mouth. I'm not sure what would happen, but I don't think now is the time for experiments, hmm?"

Lily found this all rather amusing, but she managed to hold the candy and say the activation word without laughing, a feat of which she was rather proud. She felt a tug in her navel and then she was back in the comfort of her own home, and there was her father right in front of her. She ran to him and threw her arms around him, holding on for dear life, and this time her tears were not of sadness or fear, but of joy.

One year later

Lily sat in her room, thinking about all that had happened since a little over a year ago when she had met James at Diagon Alley. The thought of James brought a smile to her face. Both of them were busy with school, him with his second year of auror training and her with "sixth year" at Hogwarts, but they still saw each other as often as possible, and they had even been talking about marriage. She was staying in a dorm with the other sixth year Griffindors (the house she had been sorted into), and she liked them very much.

It was now halfway through Christmas vacation. She had spent the first half of her vacation at home, during which she had spent time with her father and Sylvia. She hadn't seen much of Petunia, who had recently married her awful boyfriend Vernon. She had mixed feelings about that. She missed her sister, but whenever she saw her now, Petunia would call her a freak. Lily hadn't realized how her newfound magic would change her relationship with her sister, but it had, and Lily wasn't willing to give up the magical world. She hoped that someday Petunia's fears and prejudices would diminish, but she was not confident that it would ever happen. Lily sighed, deciding not to concentrate on her sister. She was finally going to see James tomorrow.She would be spending New Years and the rest of her vacation withhim and his parents…and, of course, Sirius.

She looked up as her father knocked on her open door and motioned for him to come in. He came and sat on the bed beside her, gazing at her in a way that only a father can. "I'm going to miss you."

"I'll miss you too, Daddy."

"You're supposed to be my little girl, but you're all grown up now, and you're going to leave me. You'll go and live in the magical world, and you'll get married, and you'll forget about me."

"Never. I'll come back and visit so much that you'll get sick of me. I'll always be your little girl."

"Your mother would be so proud of you. I'm so proud of you. Lily, I'm sorry about my mistakes. I wish that I had never kept the truth from you, but –"

"It doesn't matter anymore, Daddy," she interrupted, leaning over to give him a hug.

After a few moments her father pulled back.

"Oh! I just remembered why I came up here in the first place. This came in the mail for you today."

Lily looked at the package that he handed her, knowing immediately by the return address what it was. She smiled, placing it on top of her packed bags. She wanted James to open this.

"Aren't you going to open it?" her father asked.

"Not yet," she replied with a smile.

"Suit yourself," he said, getting up off the bed and heading for the door. "Dinner will be ready in about 10 minutes."

"Okay, thanks."

When Lily arrived at James' house the next day, she knocked on the door, musing that she had never before come here this way. She had always used floo. It took a while for James to answer the door, and shehad a hard time holdingin her amusementwhen he did because his hair was all messy and he was still wearing his pajamas.

"Laugh and suffer the consequences," he said, which just made her erupt in giggles, so he grabbed her and pulled her into a passionate kiss which lasted several minutes. "Hmm, your consequences aren't so bad," she commented when he pulled away. "Now can I come in? I'm freezing."

He silently moved aside to let her in and shut the door behind her.

He pulled her under the doorway to the kitchen, catching her off guard by kissing her again, this time more softly. She pulled away after a minute, looking up. "Mistletoe," she commented, "how convenient."

"Like it? I put it up last night."

"But James, Christmas was three days ago."

"Yes, but you weren't here three days ago. And I must say that I'm not at all curious as to whether or not the rumours about Sirius' kissing abilities are true."

"Touché."

"Speaking of Sirius," he said with a mischievous look in his eyes, "do you want to help me wake him up?"

She laughed at his excitement. "Sure," she replied, "sound's like fun. But first, I want you to open this." She opened her smallest bag, pulling out the package that she had received in the mail yesterday and handing it to him."

"What is it?" he asked.

"Just open it."

He did as requested, ripping open the envelope and pulling out a book and a letter. "Dear Miss Evans," he read aloud. "Hey, wait a minute! This is addressed to you, not me. Why would I want your mail?"

"Just read it, please?" she asked, looking at him with puppy dog eyes. "I can't bear to do it."

He was slightly confused, but he nodded anyway and turned back to the letter. "Dear Miss Evans. We are happy to inform you that we have decided to publish your book. You'll find a copy enclosed. Congratulations, and good luck in all future endeavors."

He looked up at the conclusion of the letter to find Lily smiling widely. "Congratulations," he said to her, embracing her. "This is great news."

"I coulnd't have done it without you."

He moved the letter out of the way, now seeing the book for the first time. It was fairly thin, and the illustration on the front revealed that it was obviously a children's book. He ran his fingers across the title, reading it out loud as he did so.

"The Little Mermaid…"

The End

Author's note: Thank you for reading my story, and especially to everyone who reviewed. It's over, and I hope you've enjoyed it. Since this is the last chapter, please review it to let me know how you liked the story as a whole. I've added review responses for the ones I've received up until now, and I'll write review responses to any more in a week or two. I'm sorry that it took me so long to get this up. My only excuse is school work, of which I have a ton. I don't care what anyone tells you. University equals reading. It's as simple as that. Okay, so maybe not that simple, but still…

I'm sorry that I didn't include the rescue scene. I cannot write action/adventure, and that translates to an inability to write rescue scenes. I hope that no one is too upset that they couldn't read it. I think that my excuse (even though I already told you the real reason) will be that I wanted to leave it up to your imagination. Actually, use your imagination but stick to these happenings- Dumbledore goes to wherever Voldemort is (because Snape tells him where to go if you didn't get that). He "offers Voldemort a lemon drop, and then proceeds to beat the crap out of him. In a Dumbledore-y way, of course. Preferably involving sugar quills." (The stuff in quotes is courtesy of Queen of Duct Tape. Thank you!) Hopefully that will satisfy your thirst for a rescue mission.

I really don't want to shut up, because this is the last author's note I'll ever write, but I know when people start trickling out of the room that I've talked too long. Okay, so that is more for if I was giving a seminar or something, but you get the point. Ciao! It's been a blast.