A/N: Like I've said in Train Ride, I am back from holiday. Here is another gift from abroad… although, I really don't like this chappie as much as the others. Anyway, please enjoy, and review if you'd like!

Disclaimer: Most assuredly not mine.

The Seven Signs of Love

Everything Is Illuminated

I have very good eyesight. I'm not going to lie. People have always told me that I could attribute that to the unusual dark green of my eyes…something about how they pick up more light. Whatever the cause, I'd been a little worried about my eyes as of late. It was one thing to have good eyesight, but quite another to be able to see the details on a telescope in the pitch black of night.

My astronomy class was standing atop the astronomy tower. The moon was new, so it was absolutely black out there. We all had our telescopes pointed toward Neptune, which just happened to be in retrograde. At least, some of our telescopes were pointed in the direction of Neptune. Quite a few students were having trouble finding the planet, on account that they could not see properly in the dark.

They must not have had green eyes.

I could hear James a few students down from me whisper frantically to Sirius Black. He'd been prodding at his telescope for the past ten minutes, trying to find the right dial.

"I can't see a bloody thing!" He hissed.

"Errm…" Sirius replied, bending down over the parapets in an attempt to get a better look at his telescope.

"What kind of maniac professor won't let us use Lumos? What kind of mad professor forces us to part with our wands for a whole class? 'Leave those light sticks with me, students.' Who does that? 'Light will ruin the effect of the stars,' he says. Bloody loony if you ask me," James complained.

Several students hissed "Shush!" at him and turned back to their telescopes.

"Oh, why don't you just piss off?" James cried, looking over at the students. They shook their heads and tried to go back to their work, but James kept staring down the lie until he finally caught my eye. "He's mad; wouldn't you say so, Lily?"

I shook my head at him and smirked. "I've no problem at all with the assignment, James."

James frowned and tugged at his hair. "'Course you don't, love," he replied snidely. "I think you might be in denial."

I grinned at him as I held up my star chart, already fully filled out. I resisted the urge to stick my tongue out at him, as that would have been completely childlike and uncalled for. James's mouth fell open as he stared at me in astonishment.

"Impossible!" He cried.

James was wrong. It was not impossible. My fully filled out star chart was all in thanks to my wonderful eyesight, which seemed to be rapidly improving by the minute. In fact, looking at James, I was able to count how many freckles dotted his nose, even from four students away.

James continued to scowl at me, saying, "What are you looking at me so long for, Evans? Like what you see, eh?"

I glared at him and replied, "It's hardly my fault that the area of stars we're to be studying is right above your head."

He had twelve freckles from what I could see.

James let out a huff of breath and turned back to prod at his telescope some more. Next to me, someone nudged me with their elbow. I turned to stare at Emmeline as she tugged my star chart out of my hand.

"Just a peek, Lily," she whispered.

"Emmeline!" I whispered back screechly as I snatched my chart away from Emmeline, "I'm not going to let you copy off of my star chart!"

"But, Lily," Emmeline said loudly, grabbing at my chart once more, "I can't see a thing in this wretched black! Potter was right, our professor must be loony!"

"You hear that, Lily? Emmeline agrees with me!" James shouted from down the line as Emmeline and I fought over the completed star chart.

Someone cleared their throat loudly from behind Emmeline. We both stopped our squabbling and looked up into the aged face of the Astronomy professor in shock. He was glaring down at us menacingly, obviously having heard what both Emmeline and James had said. Emmeline and I let go of the star chart simultaneously as we started making excused to the professor.

Suddenly a light breeze blew around us and the distinct shape of a piece of parchment was seen floating ghost-like over the parapet and into the dark of the night.

"No!" I shouted, flinging out my arm in a poor attempt to catch my chart. Down the way, I saw James reach out and try to grab it as well.

"Bad luck, Lily," James called down the line.

I turned quickly back to the old professor. "I—I have to…my star chart, Professor!"

The professor nodded and gestured toward the trap door which led down and out of the Astronomy tower. "Go on, then."

I don't think I've ever run so fast through an institution of learning as I did trying to get down to the Hogwarts grounds.

Oh, sure, I tooted my horn loudly when it came to that star chart—'I've no problem at all with the assignment.' But let's face it—that star chart was difficult! The only reason why I finished it in the first place was because of my eyesight, which, running through the corridors of Hogwarts, desperately trying to get outside and find that chart, was starting to fail me.

My shoulder slammed painfully into a corner as I rushed through darkened passages. Grabbing at my arm, I burst out of the castle and onto the grounds, running toward the base of the astronomy tower.

I might have been imagining things, but everything looked a lot darker down on the ground then it did on the top of the astronomy tower. Where was that light I had used to count James' freckles with, or see the stars over his head with, or fill my chart out with?

Gone, it was all gone.

I groped around in the grass and heather at the bottom of the castle wall for several minutes, praying that my hand would brush some parchment, until I realized that there was no way for me to find anything in the black of night.

Sitting back on my knees, I let out a sigh and closed my eyes with exasperation, only to open them seconds later as a blast of light turned the insides of my eyelids orange.

"Evans?" James's said, as he shined a light in my eyes. "Did you find your chart then?"

I stood up to push the lit wand he held up away from my face. "No, I did not, thanks. And would you mind getting this bloody light out of my eyes?"

James shrugged and turned away, saying, "Sorry, just thought you might want some light down here. Could have helped you in looking for your paper, you know. But, if it's too bright, I'll just be going back up to the astronomy tower…"

"Potter," I growled at James as he started to head toward the entrance of the school, "get back here."

"Yes, Lily," said James, turning back to me with his hand covering the tip of his wand, stopping the light from washing over the grass around me.

It was funny, but even with light from the wand blocked out, I could suddenly see again. It was as if I didn't need James's stupid, overly-bright wand anymore. Had the stars suddenly got brighter? Had someone lit a candle in a window, perfectly situated to shine light down upon the area of my search? What was going on that I could finally see with the skill I had up on the astronomy tower?

"Oh, look, your chart!" Exclaimed James, dashing over to a spot a few yards away, and picking up a piece of parchment, "Found it, Lily!"

James walked back over to me and held out my star chart, his hand falling away from the end of his wand, illuminating the ground around our feet.

I frowned as I stared at James, who pushed the paper into my hands as he approached me.

"I think you're supposed to thank me now, Evans," said James, putting out the light from his wand.

"Er," I said, still frowning at him.

"What? Do I have something on my face? Well?" James brushed at his face with his hand until I grabbed it and forced it back down to his side.

"Let's just go back to class, shall we?" I said quietly. I turned my back on James and headed toward the castle.

"You know," James called while following me, "we don't have to go back to class. The great thing about losing a paper over the parapets of the highest tower in the school is that the professor will assume it's going to take you a while to locate said paper. I think we could get away with a trip to the kitchens, even. They still have some leftover food from the quidditch celebration two day ago down there."

I shook my head and refused to look back at James. "Let's just go back…to class…right now…with no stops…and definitely no kitchens."

James caught up to me and said, "Are you okay, Lily? You're acting a bit odd."

I flicked my eyes to James quickly and replied, "Oh yes, just…lovely." And then I was off, running up the passages in a mad dash for the top of the astronomy tower, leaving James standing in the entrance of the castle with a puzzled expression on his face.

I take it back—that was the fastest I've ever run through an institution of learning.

I had been lying to James. I certainly was not all right. Clutching my star chart to my chest as I bolted up the stairs of the astronomy tower, away from James, I tried very, very hard not to wonder why my eyesight was so improved when he was around…just why my eyes, for lack of a better expression, lit up.

To no avail, of course, as I remembered that when James had handed me my star chart back, I had noticed a thirteenth freckle on his left cheekbone.