Chapter XVIII

Anything for You

((Lily's POV))

I could tell James was stressing over Quidditch and N.E.W.T.s. I was also stressing, but I had much more time to study than he did, and was getting in an extra hour and a half to two hours a day.

"Stop worrying about it," I told him. "They look for great Defense skills for the position of an Auror—no problem. You do the best hexes out of everyone I know!" At this he smiled and kissed my temple. "And Transfiguration? You could have passed a N.E.W.T. level test when you were in third year. Potions, well…not extremely difficult. Slughorn's a decent teacher."

"And I'm almost as good at Charms as you," he added.

"That's right," I said.

He squeezed my hand briefly. "At least it'll all be worth it. Being an Auror pays well."

"Aurors?" came a hiss from behind us. I glanced over my shoulder and saw Snape standing there, his right hand clenched tightly on his left forearm.

"Yeah, and what's your future occupation, Snivellus?" James snapped. "Death Eater? Well, well, seems like we'll be opposites forever."

"The Dark Lord doesn't pay his servants," Snape said, spit flying from his mouth. "They are honored just to be near him."

"So you're admitting you're a Death Eater?" the other black-haired boy said, raising his brows.

Snape's eyes glittered. "I don't know where in my last sentence I said those words."

"If we didn't interpret certain sentences," James said coolly, "then we'd all be a great load of gits, wouldn't we?"

Snape drew his wand.

"Don't," I said warningly. "I could take points. And this time, if you curse me or anyone else in this corridor, you'll be caught. We're just outside McGonagall's office."

He redirected his wand to me. "And what if I put a Silencing Charm on the hallway?"

"I'll dock a hundred fifty points," I said, "and I'm not even kidding."

"Cru—"

"PETRIFICUS TOTALUS!" James shouted over him, waving his wand so forcefully that not only did Snape turn into a board, but he also was thrown against the wall.

"Don't," he said, "try and use an Unforgivable Curse on my girlfriend again, you useless pile of dirty old house-elf pillowcases."

McGonagall's door flew open at once to see me, standing against the wall with my face covered, Snape, lying on the floor without a wand, which had slid behind a tapestry, and James, with his wand drawn and pointed at the other boy.

"Potter!" she spat. "What in the world do you think you're doing?"

"I was hexing Severus here," he replied in a growl. "He was using an Unforgivable Curse on Lily."

"Nonsense, Potter," she said, rushing forward to look over the fallen Slytherin. "No student has the power to do that sort of thing. He's knocked out as well as Bound…"

"Well, he was doing it," James said, "so I hexed him."

McGonagall shook her head. "He's not armed. Fifty points from Gryffindor, Potter. And detention on Friday night from ten to eleven thirty in my office. Yes, Potter, I stay up that late. We can't have you missing patrolling."

My head shot up. "But his wand—"

"No excuses. There is no reason to hex a fellow student in the hallways while he is unarmed. And to lie about it!" She shook her head and muttered a spell to lift the Slytherin boy in the air, walking away briskly towards the Hospital Wing.

"That's unfair," I commented.

"Whatever," James said, putting an arm around my waist. "You're okay?"

I nodded and kissed him lightly. "I'm fine. Thank you."

We started walking down the moving staircases towards the courtyard to study, when suddenly James's head shot up.

"Friday night."

"What about it?" I cocked my head and hoisted my back up on my shoulder.

He looked angry. "Full moon."

"Oh, no."

James looked at me. "I can't miss it. I've never missed one since second year."

"You haven't?" I raised my eyebrows. "You must really put a lot into your friendships."

"I guess Remus will understand," he said quickly. "I mean, we're great friends, right? He might bug me about getting detention, but surely I can't be there all the time. I mean, once Sirius missed it last year because he was doing Merlin-knows-what with Carla Fletcher. But maybe I could get out of it. I'll say, 'Hey, McGonagall, I've got serious diarrhea—'"

I put two fingers on his mouth. "I'll do it for you."

"What?"

"I'll do it," I repeated. "Slughorn said we'd all be testing Polyjuice Potion on Friday. I'll just slip a couple of vials in my robes while he isn't dancing around me. And then I'll go to detention for you."

He blinked at me. "I can't believe you would do that."

I smiled. "Well, you know. You did save me from that curse."

He smiled back and paused. "No."

"What?"

"I can't let you do this for me," James said. "Polyjuice Potion is forbidden outside of the classroom. And you're the Head Girl, Lily." He took my shoulders. "You didn't approve of me breaking the law in the first place. You can't encourage it."

I put both of my hands on his, on my shoulders. "James, I love you. I'll do anything for you. And you'd do anything for me. You'd hate it if I denied you a chance to help me. Please, just let me do this."

James remained silent, watching me. I loved it and hated it when he did that. It was like he was looking into my eyes and to my mind. But it also made me want to let my legs give out.

"All right," he said at last. "You'd better take it once before you go in there, and once during the detention. Say you need to go to the bathroom, or that you need some painkiller potion from Madam Pomfrey. I'll give you a bit of hair on Friday."

Later that week, on Friday, after our patrolling was through, I started for McGonagall's office. I had already drunk one vial of the potion, which I had received skillfully during Potions that day. I had a bit of James's hair in another container.

It was so much higher up when I was James. I felt different, too. I was stupid, the way I had taken the potion. I had forgotten to take my bra off, so it snapped as my chest muscles grew. I had also forgotten to take off my bracelet, so as my wrist bones grew, it became so tight that James had to charm it off.

And there was that bit where I tried kissing James goodbye. He vetoed that plan.

The whole night went well. McGonagall had me sort some of her lesson plans that Peeves had unorganized. I left after about forty-five minutes to take the other vial of Polyjuice Potion, saying that I had to use the bathroom.

When I finally returned to the Heads common room, I was already back to my normal self. James's clothes were hanging loosely on my body and my hair was a bit unkempt. He didn't return that night, though I heard a few werewolf howls as I fell asleep, knowing that James was out there somewhere…

A/N: Oh. My. Gosh. I have never had so many reviews! I love you guys! All of you! group hug

Also, this chapter was to explain how their relationship grew. You know, at first Lily didn't like it that he was breaking the law. And now she understands that what's important to him is important to her, because they love each other.

For Emmelz: What I ate last? A BLT!

In fact, I'm so happy that I'm going to respond to all y'all! This is a one-time offer, guys!

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