Chapter 17 – Lily's Law/ The Unknown

The Marauders, Lily and Carly were sitting on the pier at the back of James' house a week before they had to return to school. Carly wasn't talking much. She was happy just watching Lily talk animatedly. Carly was thinking about how big a godsend the letter from the Marauders had been. Lily was back to her old self. She was laughing, talking, getting angry at James and having an overall good time. Carly sighed contentedly. She had five great friends, she was going into her sixth year at Hogwarts and she would be sixteen in a month. Carly listened as Lily and James argued good-naturedly about feminism. Carly chuckled to herself and then spotted two owls flying towards the group.

"Hey guys look," she said as she pointed to the owls. The group looked up as the owls swooped down and dropped off twelve envelopes. Lily picked up her two letters and looked at them. One was from Hogwarts and the other was from the Ministry of Magic.

"Why would the Ministry of Magic be sending us letters?" asked Sirius voicing the question Lily was also silently asking.

"Our O.W.L. results," said Peter. They all looked at each other then ripped open the envelopes.

"Yes! Fifteen alright!" Remus yelled as he punched a fist in the air.

"Fourteen! Yippee!" Lily squealed then she got up and began dancing and jumping around.

"Yes eight," Peter said ecstatically.

"Thirteen. Excellent!" James and Sirius shouted simultaneously in a very 'Bill and Ted's excellent adventure' way.

"Yay I got twelve!" Carly jumped up and her and Lily began doing their victory dance.

When everyone had calmed down and were sitting on the pier again James said, "Hey Lady Lily, how the hell did you manage to get fourteen O.W.L.s? the only one of us who beat you was Remus and he studied for a month before O.W.L.s and as far as I know you didn't study at all."

"It looks like Lily's Law has worked wonders again eh Li?" Carly commented.

Remus raised his eyebrows. "Lily's Law?" he asked. "You have your own law?"

"Yep. My law goes something along the lines of if you never study you get excellent marks. It always works for me."

"You know what James?" said Sirius. "I reckon Lily has some excellent logic there, I mean Lily beat us and she didn't study so maybe we should follow her lead. Let's stop studying. Maybe we'll get kicked out of school for excessive not studying."

"Hey that sounds like a fun experience," replied James. "Expulsion. An interesting concept."

Lily stood up. "I know that me and my law are the best. Thank you, thank you."

"Let's all bow down to the great Lady Lily," said Remus. Lily laughed as Carly and the Marauders bowed down to her. They joined in with Lily's laughter when they looked up and saw her blowing kisses imaginary to an imaginary crowd.

- - - - -

Peter walked into the library and found Lily sitting by herself staring of into space. "Hey Lily." Lily jumped at the sudden noise. "Sorry," Peter apologized sheepishly.

"It's alright I don't mind."

"What were you thinking about Lily?"

"Thinking about?"

"You were staring off into space so I assumed you were thinking."

"Oh. Right. I was just thinking about love."

Peter raised his eyebrows. "Love?"

"I was trying to figure out why people fall in love." Peter shifted in his seat. He was feeling a little uncomfortable as Lily was staring off into space again. Lily didn't notice Peter moving around and continued talking. "I never want to fall in love. Love is like taking a big leap into the unknown. Sure I like excitement and adventures but the unknown? Just stepping into that big black chasm that is the unknown? I couldn't take that risk, I'm not that brave."

"You're a Gryffindor Lily. The Sorting Hat wouldn't have put you in Gryffindor if you weren't brave."

"Oh I'm brave all right. I admit that. I coped with my parents' death and I lived with Petunia for two weeks. Both of those need a good deal of bravery. But I'm not brave enough for the unknown. And that's exactly what love is. That black hole called the unknown. And the unknown is a place I never want to go."

- - - - -

A/N: There you go. Are you happy now? I finally tied the story title into it. I'm feeling so proud of myself right now.

Poll – Final Results:

James – 12

Remus - 15