"You brought back Lily Evans!" Slughorn exclaimed, his manner less triumphant than his tone conveyed. His eyes were wide and his hands shook slightly; he was clearly ill at ease. "Merlin's Beard, this is astounding!"

"Get back!" James hissed.

Miranda gasped, drawing a hand to her mouth. "What if he sees us, too?"

"He can't." Remus said softly, shaking his head, eyes gleaming with realization. Then, louder, "He won't."

Harry's eyes darted once in their direction. "I—er, no, I didn't." Harry protested to Slughorn, an icy fear gripping him. "I—I don't see anything! Do you?"

"No, nothing." Hermione and Ron chorused immediately. "Nothing at all."

"Come now, Harry, don't be shy. My eyes are not deceiving me." Slughorn walked slowly around Lily, staring at her with a mixture of shock, incredulousness, pleasure, amazement, and puzzlement, with maybe a tinge of trepidation. "She's right here."

"See, now would be the time to get back and not be discovered." James prompted.

"Bugger that! He hasn't seen us yet, we could easily cas—" Sirius was cut off abruptly by James' hand across his mouth, and James roughly pulled him towards the door, despite Sirius' protestations.

"Ow!" James cried out, shoving Sirius away from him and to the floor. "You bit me!"

"Professor Slughorn won't see us." Remus affirmed, stopping the potential for a fight before it could cement in either James or Sirius' brain. "It's statistically unlikely, though it would be best not to draw such attention to ourselves just in case."

Sirius quieted, properly censured, while James grumbled and rubbed his aching hand.

Lily tried to stand as still as possible, eyes staring straight ahead, hearing James and the others withdraw slightly and quiet down, fearing that they too would be found out. It was most likely possible to explain away one odd occurrence, one person from the past, if you got really, really lucky, but several? Highly unlikely. Unfathomable. They would all be caught, all be found out, and she could not let that happen.

"She's not real!" Ron blurted. "She's an, erm," He gestured wildly, hoping to come up with some plausible explanation. "Er, a gh—"

"She's an illusion!" Hermione supplied quickly, silencing Ron with a look.

"Yes, yes, it must be an illusion. It's not as if she traveled through time or came back from the d—the beyond, or some other farfetched and impossible tale." Slughorn chuckled merrily at the thought of such an absurdity. "So an illusion, it must be, though a powerfully good one. A very sophisticated charm to be sure. Brilliantly executed. Where did you learn it, Harry?"

Harry looked to Hermione for help, not at all sure what would be best to say in this situation. If they could get Slughorn to believe Lily was indeed some kind of illusion, it could all end up all right. Possibly. Hopefully.

"From a book!" Hermione responded, her voice raising shrilly as it always did when she was under pressure and having to lie through her teeth. "We r-read it—in a book. I don't remember which—Harry wanted to try it because he, er, he—"

"Ah, you missed your mother, did you, Harry?" Slughorn's whole demeanor changed, softened. He looked at Harry, eyes filled with a profound sadness.

Harry managed a small, jerky nod.

"Understandable, understandable. It is, after all, nearly the anniversary of—of their—of that dread—of it."

Harry nodded again. He had not even realized it. Yes, it was nearly Halloween, but even now, knowing the truth, years after the fact, he still never put it together with the anniversary of his parents' deaths. His shoulders slumped. Hermione squeezed his hand.

Slughorn made a motion that seemed as if he wanted to pat Harry on the shoulder, offer some sort of consolation, but he halted awkwardly and could not go through with it. Instead, he turned back to Lily. "The likeness is…well, it's perfect. It's unnervingly uncanny. Now, my dear, you are endowed with the power to speak, as I heard you myself only moments ago, have you Lily's memories then? Or only what Harry recollects?"

Lily remained frozen, afraid to say a word and startled at the address.

"Harry, affirm for her that is alright to speak freely, please."

"Go ahead." Harry croaked.

"That settles it. On you go then."

Lily slowly turned her face to meet Slughorn's own. "My own memories, Professor Slughorn." She answered, voice wavering slightly. She had to play along. "What other memories would I have beyond my own?"

"Well that narrows it down, considerably. Still has memories intact and sense of self. Must have been a charm requiring and utilizing her essence…" Slughorn mused. "I may not teach Charms as a primary course, but I am quite familiar with the subject matter… Everyone experiments in their youth after all…" He glanced once more at Harry. "Had some of her prized possessions, I gather? Photographs? Undoubtedly. Books? Surely. Maybe a hairbrush or clothing or jewelry? Something close to her, something which was around or on her often enough to possibly capture a bit of who she was? A bit of her 'essence' so to speak?"

Harry nodded, unsure of what else he should do, and wary of saying anything which could get them all in a great deal of trouble. He was also not quite certain whether Slughorn was actually asking him, or merely inquiring aloud to himself.

"Yes, yes, that would suffice…though after all of these years? It's unlikely, though certainly not impossible or unheard of. A powerful charm though, very powerful. Unlikely to be performed so well by an underage wizard, though this lot has done many things unheard of for underage wizards before… Do you know how to reverse it, Harry?"

"Sir?" Harry asked, caught off guard by the sudden address.

"Do you know how to reverse it? Or is it time-sensitive? Will it dissipate by itself? Though with an incantation this strong that is improbable."

"Er, I don't know, sir. I don't remember which—"

"It was a whim, sir." Hermione supplied. "We should have thought it out more but—" She held out her hands in a gesture of supplication. "We're sorry."

"No need, no need, we can get it all fixed up, I am sure. In the same position, any of us would probably have attempted the same. Though this is quite a remarkable, laudable job Harry."

Slughorn began to walk around Lily again, pausing to take her hand or touch her shoulder to confirm that she was actually corporeal. Lily remained staring straight ahead, though she almost broke her stance when she heard Sirius begin chuckling at Slughorn's inspection, and made a mental promise to hit him later.

"Hmm…an illusion grounded in the essence of the person reflected, corporeal, and able to walk, talk, and access the original person's memories…it's extraordinary, possibly even unheard of, though there might be a reference to some similar situation a long time back, if I recall correctly."

"Really?" Hermione piped up, fascinated. "Someone actually did that?"

"Someone else actually did that." Slughorn corrected with a proud smile in Harry's direction. "This is truly spectacular! An illusion, you say, and yet, she breathes! She breathes like a normal witch, and apparently can cast spells of her own volition." Off of Lily's surprised look, he added, "Yes, my dear, I could see you utter a spell, despite its being nonverbal—it's a trick you pick up once you've been around as long as I have. That spell was for what exactly? Calling off a Ward, it seemed at a glance."

"Among other things, Professor." Lily replied, smirking slightly.

"Ah, there's that sauciness I remember so well! I haven't had a student to give that much cheek since. It's a shame, really."

"I'm sure. They can't all be like me I suppose. I feel a bit bad for you in that respect, Professor." Lily felt relaxed, finally. It was like old times again.

Slughorn laughed heartily. "Ah, it is a true pity indeed. Makes life much less exciting. Though Miss Granger here seems able to give you a run for your money in the grades department."

"Ah, but not in sass?"

"No other would be comparable."

"As long as I retain that record, it's acceptable."

Slughorn laughed again, though this time he abruptly cut off into a sigh. "I do wish you could have been around longer—it was not fair that you had to be so young, when there are plenty like me who are past their prime and much more expendable." He gazed upon her with a profound sadness in his dark, gooseberry eyes.

"Life's just not fair, I guess." Lily managed to muster a smile. "But you're not so 'expendable' for ah but then who would mold impressionable young minds to the vital skill of potion making?"

"It might be ridiculous to stand here conversing with an illusion, some might call it 'senility' I suppose, but as you do have Lily's memories, why didn't you take the Felix Felices? I gave you a bottle to keep at all times in case—well in case of anything in those dark times. You might have—" His voice trailed off.

"What?" Lily felt like she had just been struck by lightening. Her head was spinning with this revelation. What if when they went back to their time they took Felix Felicis on the day it was supposed to happen? "No you di—"

Slughorn must have noticed something change in her expression or the alteration in the tone of her voice, for he gasped, and backed away slightly. "It never occurred to me—what if—but that's impossible—but she—it never occurred to me!" Slughorn whirled around to face Harry. "Why is she so young?"

"What?" Harry asked, alarmed.

"There is an error in age, there must be. For why would you conjureanillusion of herteenage self? Why is your illusion so young?"

"Er, she—it came out that way. I don't know why. She came here that way."

"Where would you get that age approximation? You didn't know her then, obviously, your memories are limited to her adulthood. Why would you want that age? One would assume you would conjure a parental illusion, an older, maternal figure, one more familiar, from which advice could be gleaned! Tell me then, why is she so young?"

"I don't know!" Harry turned to Hermione and Ron and hissed: "Help!"

"Maybe we got the parameters confused." Hermione suggested meekly. "Put in 16 instead of 36, or some other such alteration in the incantation."

"It just happened."

Slughorn shook his head, an almost manic gleam in his eyes, and began to pace. "Utterly impossible at worst, improbable at best, especially when taking into account the past history of you three." Slughorn's gaze swept in Lily, a new appreciation in his features. "It is highly unlikely, and yet the only other alternative is even more unlikely! Unless—well, unless the other alternative, however unlikely, is the truth here!"

"Anyone else not getting all of this?" Ron whispered.

"All of us." Harry whispered back.

Slughorn walked right up to Lily, whipped out his wand, and said clearly and confidently, "Are you the real Lily Evans, and not some conjured facsimile?"

Lily could say nothing. She wanted to look away but found she could not. There was a tightening in her chest; fear gripped her so tightly she could hardly breathe. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Harry stiffen, watching her, waiting to see how she would answer.

Slughorn came closer, wand still drawn. Yet this time his voice was more gentle,and there was a curiosity in his dark eyes. "Are you?"

Lily bit her lip, before responding reluctantly, so softly it was barely audible: "Yes."

A/N:Yes, I am finally back at school and have balanced out my schedule so that I can write again. Thanks for bearing with me:) I hope you enjoyed this installment, and please tell me what you think. The plot thickens...