Day Four

Lily took a deep breath.

"Well, let's go," she said, and tugged on James's hand, pulling him into the Great Hall.

Upon entrance, there was little notice of the couple holding hands, until one sixth year Hufflepuff proceeded to point and shout at the top of her tiny lungs, "Look! Lily Evans and James Potter, holding hands!"

All eyes in the Great Hall turned to them as dead silence overtook the Hall. Lily and James halted in their tracks, Lily turning redder with every passing moment, James's grin growing wider with every passing moment.

A wolf call filled the Hall, originating from what Lily presumed was the Gryffindor table. The Hall filled with the roar of laughter, people turning back to their conversations and mountain-loads of food. Lily shook her head and followed James over to the Gryffindor table.

Sirius and Peter were both rummaging in their pockets, shooting Remus looks of disgruntlement.

"Hey, Wormtail," said James, sliding onto the bench, Lily following behind him gracefully. "I haven't seen you in a couple of days, where've you been?"

Peter dropped a few silver coins into Remus's open palm. "Avery pushed me into the vanishing cabinet again," he said with a sigh.

"You really have to stand up for yourself, Worm," said Sirius, bonging a galleon at Remus, who caught it deftly, smiling smugly as he dropped the coins in his pocket.

"I do," said Peter in a whiny voice, "but I can't help it if he's twice my size!"

Sirius shook his head, grabbing a crumpet and dunking it into a tub of marmalade.

"That's disgusting, Padfoot," said Remus with distaste, shoveling half the platter of eggs onto his plate.

"I wouldn't be talking," came Sirius's thick reply, his voice heavily muffled by his mouthful of crumpet.

Remus sat up a bit higher. "You know I need to stock up," he said, patting his stomach.

"So, what were you betting on this time?" asked James lightly, pulling an empty plate towards himself.

They all grinned at him with identically mischievous smirks.

"You," they replied at the same time.

James closed his eyes and dropped his head. "Again?" he asked exasperatedly.

"And I won," said Remus merrily, shaking his jingling pocket.

"You were betting about James?" asked Lily curiously, dropping the muffin she had been raising to her lips. "What about him?"

"When he would get over you," said Peter unconcernedly, brushing back some of his wispy blonde hair before reaching for the toast.

"What did you say?" Lily said quietly, her eyes narrowing at Peter.

"'Would' being the key word there," added Sirius, glancing up and down the Gryffindor table distractedly. "Now where'd Tabitha get off to?"

"And I won," Remus reminded them again, giving his pocket a quick pat before returning to his quickly disappearing mound of eggs.

"Well," said Lily, somewhat flustered by their odd choice of things to bet on, "how long did you bet?"

Remus swallowed his mouthful of food down with difficulty. "Never."

"Oh," she mumbled, blushing and scooting herself over a fraction of an inch closer to James. "Well… that's good."

"It is, isn't it?" said James, slipping his arm around her waist slowly. She smiled blissfully as she felt the familiar spark running up and down her spine.

"Padfoot guessed the end of fifth year," added Peter unnecessarily, stuffing his last bit of toast into his mouth.

"And you guessed the beginning of fourth year," Sirius reminded him, dropping back down to the bench disappointedly after trying and failing to locate Tabitha.

"Well," said James, turning to Lily, "you about ready to go?"

She nodded, and they left the Gryffindor table together, hand in hand. They had made it only a few yards when from behind them, someone whistled loudly.

"Padfoot," said James, turning on the spot, "we get the point! You can stop now."

"What?" yelped Sirius. "It wasn't me, it was Moony!"

"Yeah, and Moony was the one who borrowed my Silver Arrow and snapped it in half," said James sarcastically, turning his back and joining Lily out the doors of the Great Hall.

Remus grinned widely and turned to Sirius. "And this is why I can get away with anything."

Lily and James slowly wound their way up to the Gryffindor common room, where the Fat Lady greeted them warmly ("I'll be watching you two.") and let them enter. Standing in front of the girls' dormitory, they shared a kiss.

Pulling back, Lily muttered, "I'll be right back. Bathroom break," and planted a peck on his cheek before dashing up the dormitory stairs.

Upon walking into her dormitory, though, she found Strix perching impatiently on the top of her four-poster rather than a blissfully empty room.

"Come here, Strix, come here," she cooed, Strix landing out her outstretched arm and extending her leg.

Frowning slightly, Lily pulled a pale blue envelope from the bird's leg. She pulled a green sheet of parchment from the envelope.

Dear Lily Evans,

I'm sorry I ever doubted you. Your intentions are quite clear now. You're more than I ever could have expected, or I ever could have wanted. I thank you for that.

Lily, this shall be my last letter. Here I say my printed goodbye.

N'oublier pas mon amour.

Sincerely yours,

Votre Cerf

Author's Notes: Yo-yo.

All done! Short, wasn't it? Well, it was a short story. Anyway, I have a simple question for you: Who do you think Stag is?

Answer in your review! ;)

--alisa