Chapter 19: NEWTS

Lily seemed to have sweat at least two buckets full, and James was cool and calm as ever. NEWTS were in an hour, and Lily couldn't bring herself to eat.

Her stomach growled hungrily, though, as she stared at her porridge. Sirius was wolfing down his food and James calmly eating some toast. With one hand, because the other was holding Lily's to help her clam down. It wasn't helping much.

A thought struck Lily.

"James." She said softly.

"Yeah, Lily?" James said.

"James, after these tests… We're leaving Hogwarts."

"Um, yeah, I suppose…" The thought had just occurred to James and it hit him hard.

"James? What are we gonna do?"

"I don't really know…"

"Oh my god, James, I don't have any where to go… I can't live with Mum or Petunia…"

"Well… We can always cross that bridge when we come to it."

Lily nodded, and she felt so old, much too old for a 17-year-old girl…

They first went to Arithmancy, Lily, James, and Remus all together. Then, DADA, all of them. Potions, next, then Divination for Anya, and Muggle Studies for the rest of them.

That was all the written exams for the day. The practical exams were tomorrow, for those classes, then the cycle repeated with other classes.

Lily was breathing hard. She was in a dueling portion of the exam for the DADA, and she had been hit with several curses (all blocked) sent tons of curses, jinxes, and counter-jinxes at a target for accuracy, dummy for measuring power, and at a volunteer to see effectiveness. It was all very exhausting, but Lily was holding her own.

James was having problems, though. He was an excellent student, but he accidentally missed the second target and the jinx got sent flying back to him. He barely had enough time to pull up shield charm, and he was sure it took off a few points. He was also breathing fast, because his 'volunteer' happened to be Snape, and Snape had a certain reflex that made him send back a curse when the examiner was looking away.

That night was the Astronomy practical exam, because it was clear enough to see the sky.

The next day, Care of Magical Creatures for half of them (not Lily, Remus, Sirius, or James) practical and written (they were both short), History of Magic for Lily, Herbology for all of them, and Transfiguration at the end of the day. All the written exams were completed, and now all that was left was Herbology and Transfiguration practicals.

Lily was considerably calmer, now that most of the exams were done. She was sure of her abilities in the other exams, and she couldn't wait for them to be over.

After the exams, they had career counseling (for the third or fourth time) for the last time and then a whole week to blow. Lily was looking forward to swimming in the lake and hanging out with her friends.

But there was the question of MORE school. She had healer training- yeah, she was definitely going to be a Healer.

That meant at least a year of school, then internship for another year, then she had to take final exams for her total training experience, then she could be a healer. Wonderful.

James was going to be an auror- Lily was nervous about him going into a battle, but the funny thing was, he had less training than a Healer. Lily supposed it was both because Healers had to save people lives and Aurors just battled people- well, that's not much of a difference, but also they needed a lot more Aurors since Voldemort was on the rise. God, she hoped James would be okay.

Six Months Later-

Lily walked into her London flat. She had lived here since she had gotten out of school, and she lived with James. Except, like she had thought, she wasn't free of school yet. She had been accepted into Healer Training almost the week she had gotten out of school. Lily was studying Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays for the past six months. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, she worked at Madame Malkins. Malkins had been the only shop with a spot open for a 17 year old, since most of the spots had been taken already.

Lily did pull her weight, even though James was plenty rich enough to pay for the rent many times over each month. She bought groceries, paid half the rent, and felt very good about it, even though she was often broke after all that.

Tonight, she couldn't relax and watch TV (they lived in a muggle flat, and James had wanted to have a TV) because she had a dinner with James.

Alanna and Anya were insisting he was going to propose, but Lily doubted it. James still wasn't the commitment type, even though he insists he wanted to be with her forever.

Maybe…

Lily showered and dressed, and since James said he would meet her at their favorite magical restaurant, she wore a beautiful satin cream colored off-the-shoulder dress that went to her calves. Lily loved it, and had worn it several times on dates.

Lily Apparated to the restaurant, and entered. The maitre d' seated her at the table James had reserved. Lily sat and waited for him. She was early, so she hadn't expected him to be there yet.

Lily sat for another twenty minutes, then another half hour, then finally James was late for a total of an hour and a half. Lily stood and stormed out of the restaurant, Apparated barely stepping out of the door.

Lily magically changed her clothes, and threw herself onto her bed. She couldn't bring herself to cry. It was the third date in a row James had stood her up. Actually, the last two he was only extremely late. He had actually stood her up…

Lily locked her door (Lily didn't share a room with James, if your… er… of that mind) and took down her hair, and wiped off her makeup. James always had an excuse, once an emergency Auror mission, he didn't have to tell her, and then Sirius tried to drown himself in alcohol trying to deal with his failed first attempt at Auror school. Sirius is now a successful Auror rookie, only second to James.

Lily had been so proud of James, so happy for him. She understood. This was too far. He hadn't said anything, he stood her up, he had even told his supervisors not to give him ANY missions tonight. This cannot be happening.

A door slammed. Lily pulled her robe on, and sat next to the door. The footsteps were heavy and every second step was wooden and clunking. Lily could recognize those footsteps any where. Moody!

Lily unlocked her door quickly, because Moody was known for blasting open locked doors. She looked at the old man standing in her kitchen, and smiled shakily.

"Lily, there's been an incident…" Something must be seriously wrong, thought Lily. Moody never uses her first name.

"What happened? James wasn't at our da- ohmygod." Her words, her very thoughts started slurring with panic. Moody took a step toward her, and grasped her shoulder with one gnarled hand.

"James was attacked in this home, ambushed. He had stopped here before meeting you, as James told Sirius. James was injured gravely, but managed to fend off the Death Eaters until someone noticed the scuffle."

"Sowhere'sJames?" Lily's words slurred, blended together as if she was drunk. The shock was slowly seeping away, and Lily tried to grasp the situation.

"He's at St. Mungos-"

Lily shook her head quickly as he said this, and Apparated to St. Mungos before Moody could finish his sentence.

Lily must have been quite a sight to the receptionist, Lily's clothes just a tank top, sweatpants, and robe, all mussed up from the sloppy Apparition.

"James Potter?" Lily said a little fiercely. The receptionist said shakily, "Uh- 4th f-floor, 3rd d-door on th-the left…"

Lily ran to the stairs, and ran all the way to James's room. She entered the room, despite several protests form the doctors.

"Oh my god, James…" Lily sobbed for the first time, seeing James bruised and bloody, his head bandaged heavily.

James was sleeping, and Lily feared the worst.

This continued for nearly three days, Lily calling in sick to both Healer training (easy, since the instructor often came around to talk to Lily in James's room) and the Madame Malkins. Sirius and all of her and James's other friends stopped by, also.

On the third day in the afternoon, James twitched, and moved his head. Lily didn't notice until he opened his eyes, and said, "Mum-"

He groaned slightly, and muttered "Mum" again. Lily gasped and gave James a squeeze.

James groaned, and Lily let go. "Oh, Lily…"

"Oh James, I thought I'd lost you..." (Very sappy, sorry…)

"I'm sorry Lily… I stood you up…"

Lily laughed loud and hard. James stared at her quizzically, and Lily said, "I don't care…"

"Hey, check the pocket of my coat… Sorry I couldn't give you it on our date…"

Lily reached into his coat, wondering what he was talking about. She pulled out a beautiful lily-shaped box. Lily slowly opened it, and saw a silver band entwined with leaves with a gorgeous crystal and diamond lily lying on white velvet.

"Oh god, James…" Lily gasped.

James smiled, saying slowly, "Well, since your so smart you've probably figured out what this is… But, just in case… Will you marry me?"

"Oh my god, James, of course I will!" Lily gave him a huge hug, making James groan in pain. Lily drew back and kissed his forehead.

"I never could have guessed this is the way you would propose…" Lily whispered. And neither had James, but he got the answer he had wanted, and this was about as perfect as it could be…

THE VERY SAPPY END

Sorry it took me so long to update, and I'm happy I actually did… this story ahd slipped my mind, I'm SO sorry!

I won't answer reviews, but I will say-

THANK YOU!

Without your reviews and support, I would never have had the courage to go on. Thank you once again, and try my other story, which I have just updated. I luvers you all! You were great!