N.E.W.T.s testing reared up to smack Lily and James full in the faces soon after their meeting with Dumbledore. Every student proceeded on a subject-by-subject basis to the Great Hall, where they were greeted by a desk with two quills (the extra, explained Professor McGonagall, was provided in the case of a breakage or a burnout), two inkwells, and full roll of blank parchment to answer the essay questions. Since each subject covered by a N.E.W.T. had its own full day of testing, James and the Marauders took their first test in Ancient Runes before Lily started her exams. She read her Transfiguration notes and waited for them to enter the common room that afternoon. The Portrait Hole opened.
"How was it?" she asked expectantly.
Sirius sat in an armchair and faced the wall. Remus went straight to his room. James threw himself next to Lily on the couch and buried his face in her shoulder.
"Don't let me think, Lily. Never again."
Lily just laughed and stroked his neck and his hair, looking worriedly over her notes all the while.
She found out what James had meant the next day at the Transfiguration exam. Although the Great Hall was considerably less full than it had been for O.W.L.s (due to the rigor of N.E.W.T. coursework, only the strong survived), it still seemed unbearably warm and stuffy. Professor Flitwick, Professor Sprout and Professor Slughorn manned the perimeter of the desk with their wands, ready to administer quick healing or calming spells. Marlene had to be given a pepper-up potion after she fainted dead away during the second hour. Sirius had to be given two detentions after he pretended to faint and knocked over Travers' inkwell during his fall. The written portion took three full hours of their lives. It addressed everything from the characteristics of a proper Cross-Species Switch based on body mass ratios and bloods levels to the last wizard to successfully Transfigure a dragon without losing a limb (and that was Merlin).
The practical test was administered by a bleary-eyed man who told everyone to call him Professor Tofty and then mixed up all their respective names with people who may or may not have existed at all. Lily herself nearly suffered apoplexy when she discovered that Professor Tofty had put her down under the name of Musidora Barkwith. Even after Tofty rectified the mistake, Lily was still shaking at the idea of the entire test being botched anyway. She consequently almost changed her jack knife into a jackdaw instead of a jackrabbit and needed to perform a hasty supplemental spell.
Professor Tofty was more annoyed than amused when Sirius and James managed to conjure up a herd of Hippogriffs for part of their cooperative exams, but then again, he had made the mistake of pairing them in the first place. On the brighter side, the Hippogriffs molted into harmless butterflies minutes later.
"Marvelous, but twisted," proclaimed Professor Tofty. "You lads better give me your names again. The Great Merlin knows that no one in this hall should be confused with you."
After the students performed a few more spells, the students started up to the castle only just in time for dinner.
"Potter, I nearly died back there in the middle of the practical," sniggered Caradoc Dearborn.
"Pardon?" asked James in the tone of utmost innocence, causing Caradoc to snort.
"As if no one knows who Transfigured Wilkes' cow into a spotted sow. How did you manage it dead under Tofty's nose?"
James just shrugged and smiled. Lily sighed, but didn't say a word. By now, James knew her feelings on his respect for the position of Head Boy.
"Anything Wilkes makes is enough like a pig anyway," said Sirius easily. "He can't conjure anything more than a lump. He's been lead on all these years by conjuring things that resemble his reflection."
"I just used this spell I got from a book back home," James said to Caradoc. "And I hid it under another Charm so Wilkes wouldn't notice it right off. It wasn't too hard, specially considering Tofty's sneezing fit."
"Not for nothing," began Remus. "You do know that you interfered with another student's N.E.W.T. exam, don't you, Prongs? If anyone finds out, I doubt even Dumbledore—"
"—would believe that you had done it," smirked Sirius. "It's reasonable enough to be like something Wilkes would do himself. That tosser only got into N.E.W.T. Transfiguration by copying everything Rosier did in fifth year. It's a well-established fact that Wilkes is about a nose hair away from being a full-blown Squib. "
"I'm with Remus, but there's nothing to be done now," Lily replied delicately, kissing James on the cheek. It was sometimes best if she just ignored Sirius' steady stream of bile for the Slytherins. She knew that he hadn't yet forgiven his brother's crowd for the dungeons. "Though it would be better, James, for you to not sabotage another Slytherin's N.E.W.T. exam in the future."
"He sabotaged it himself by showing up and writing his name down," answered James carelessly. He grinned some more when Caradoc shook his head and laughed.
The amazing thing is that James managed to do it, thought Lily. Not for the first time since she actually paid attention to the complexity of his mischief, Lily wondered just how talented James was.
No amount of wondering stopped Lily from hitting her pillow hard at the very second her patrols brought her back to the dorms. Transfiguration was a very grueling test for her, and it was only the first N.E.W.T. that Lily had to take. Although Lily had no difficulty with either the Charms or the Potions finals, the stress of the test-taking wore her down by her the next and final week of examinations. By her final N.E.W.T. exam—Herbology—it looked as if Lily might need a few solid weeks of sleep in order to recuperate. Herbology took far longer than the other exams because the class needed to wait for the plants' ripening to prune their valerian roots. She found James waiting for her outside the greenhouse just as dusk set in.
He pushed his hand through his hair as recklessly as ever, and Lily was struck again by how handsome she thought he was.
"How'd it go?"
Lily sighed and stared up at him tiredly.
"Miriam Strout's Mandrake went bonkers and smashed her pot of lovage leaves into her knotgrass cutting. She went into hysterics and Madam Pomfrey needed to give her three times the usual dose of potion to calm her down."
"Oh." James ran his hand through his hair again. "Listen, Lily, I brought you some supper—"
"Supper?" asked Lily, perking up immediately. "Lead on."
"—and then maybe we could just, you know, hang around. Do something together."
"Is Sirius making Peter's wand invisible again and hiding it in the Common Room?" Lily asked shrewdly. Sirius had been doing that often lately, ever since Peter had mentioned that his mum knew Mrs. Rosier from the local witches' club.
"Well, yes," conceded James. "He is doing that, but that's not why I want to be with you. Here, just eat. I wrapped it up from dinner. You'd need to run to get there in time for the last course."
James produced a small package from somewhere. The wrapped packet contained a cold chicken sandwich and a generous helping of pickles. He looked around for a place to sit but Lily waved her nonchalantly.
"I've sat watching bloody herbs ripen for the past few hours, James. I don't even want to sit anymore. We can walk and eat."
After a few minutes of quiet munching, Lily noticed that James was steering them towards the Quidditch pitch.
"What are we doing, James?"
"My broom's out there," he answered distantly. "I was practicing before."
"The Quidditch season is over," answered Lily over some juicy pickles. James looked at her with mournful eyes. He was taking the loss of his favorite pastime very badly.
"Still, Lily. Hogwarts has a great pitch. Just because the Cup is ours and it's seventh year doesn't mean I'm giving up my broom and let the pitch go to waste."
Lily snorted. James talked like he was the only one who used the thing.
"I'm sure it will get on without you. As long as you leave the grass a nice note telling it to grow—and sign it, you know, so it's certain the order is from you, James Potter—I think everything'll manage."
James ignored Lily's flippant attitude towards Quidditch. It was her one imperfection in his opinion, and he wasn't sure he wanted to tell her that he wanted to play Quidditch professionally one day.
"Say," he said, as they approached his lone broomstick floating in the middle of the grassy pitch, "why do I never see you flying, Lily?"
Lily finished the sandwich with gusto.
"Because, James," she said primly, all the while licking her pickle-stained fingers, "I am not a flyer. Flying sounded brilliant, actually, back in first year, until I got up in the air and nearly crashed into the castle."
"Ah," smiled James. "I think I remember that."
"The castle moved into my way," Lily answered indignantly. "Besides, I won't be a fan of broomsticks until they have some restraints and parachutes at the back."
"You're a witch and you have your wand. I'd hope you could manage flying on a broomstick."
"I'm also a coward at high speeds, and I think I would cry if I had to fly one."
James easily slung one leg over his broom, sitting nearer to the front than usual. He looked back at Lily over his shoulder. She knew what he was thinking from the bright look in his eyes. Her skin was getting uncomfortable.
"Lily—"
"James, no."
"C'mon, let me take you for a ride. I brought you dinner."
"I don't care."
"You're being right stubborn, Lily. You've got about a week left at Hogwarts. When will you and I ever have this chance again?"
"Actually, the only chance is safely lodged in hell, James."
James sighed, long-suffering, and raised his eyebrow at his girlfriend. Lily's feet were firmly planted on the ground and her fists were tight at her sides.
"Lily, I even watched you eat pickles. You're disgusting when you eat pickles."
"I am not."
"Yes, you are. Now please get on this bloody broomstick."
"Why should I?"
"So I can show you the sky."
Lily glared and James stared back obstinately. Both were silhouetted against the softly setting rays of light, and both were just as stubborn as the other.
When the very tip top of the white sun disappeared beneath the hills, Lily grudgingly took a step forward. And then another. And another. Lily paused an arm's length away from the broom.
"You know that I've never given you the speech about breaking my heart, James. The one that I ought to have given you when we first kissed and all that. Now I'm more afraid for some other things, so if you break my legs, arms, skull, wrists, neck—"
"Lily, Lily," interrupted James with what could only be a patient smirk. "You've seen me ride this broom for six years. How many times have I fallen?"
"At least twice, but since I wasn't watching your every move for a while I can't be sure."
"That means that I fall every three years. We won't stay up in the sky that long."
"Har har," said Lily, settling behind James with a look of grim death. She gingerly lowered herself onto the broom and noisily unwrapped a sherbet lemon. Pushing back her red hair, Lily crunched the candy mercilessly.
"What do I do?"
"Well," began James delightedly, now the charming gentleman as he had gotten his way, "you may sit behind me like you are, and hold onto me while I fly over the field. Try not to pinch, love."
Lily threw her arms around James' waist and held him in a steel-like vise. A few seconds passed. Lily was just beginning to think that James was using this entire flying shtick as some excuse to segue into a snog when James spoke in a tensed voice.
"Right then, so 'pinch' might not've been the best word. Let's use 'suffocate.' Or even 'murder.' Try not to murder me, Lily, by squeezing me to bits in your bare hands like that."
"Promise me that you won't fly high, James Potter."
"I promise I won't fly too high."
"That's not what I—"
With a laugh, James kicked off the ground. Lily didn't know it but the broom rose slower than usual due to the extra heft. To her it felt like a lightning-quick shot into the air, and she bit into her candy hard so as not to scream while James tested out some barrel maneuvers.
"James, keep this broom upright!"
"What?" he asked, rolling over to the side. "Is this a problem for—"
"JAMES!" Lily yelled shrilly, pinching at him as hard as she could. He righted the broom and she knew, perfectly knew, that the arrogant dunghead was smiling.
"What? You know that you have a chance that few others—no others, actually—have ever had, Lily. I, the best flyer in this whole school, have taken you on a ride through the skies. The Slytherin captain would kill for this chance to see my maneuvers, though I wouldn't allow the close quarters you have."
"You know what? I'll kill for this, James."
There was no answer, only a radiating smugness. Lily groaned and buried her face in the back of his robes as James began to dip and swerve. According to Lily's thought process, it was quite possible that they were no longer over the pitch.
"This is ridiculously pointless," she said painfully. "What are we doing up here again? I'm going to vomit my pickles."
By the moving of his back muscles, Lily had a feeling that James had turned around to look at her briefly. Since all she could see (or wanted to see, after that first glimpse of unforgiving ground) was his black robes, however, Lily was surprised when James gave up his usual joking game and answered her seriously.
"Because I am fulfilling one of my term requirements before I leave Hogwarts."
"And what might that be?" asked Lily, almost not wanting the answer.
"To take you, Lily Evans, flying over the school in the moonlight. I'd always thought that you'd never get up here yourself."
Mild surprise turned into a strangely quick burst of curiosity, which in turn roused Lily's neck muscles. Lily's head shot up to look right at James. He was looking straight back at her, too. In one instant, Lily saw the fields, the hills, the mountains, the Forbidden Forest, the castle, and James' face spread out before her like a table setting dipped in the white chocolate of the young moon.
"Oh…" she breathed, knowing for the first time why anyone would want to be rushing through the spicy cold air on a broom.
"Yeah," said James dreamily, but he was not watching the landscape. He had seen it all before, of course, as many times as he could count; tonight there was something (someone) better to look at. "How do you like flying, Lily?"
"I like it fine," she whispered softly. Her fabulous eyes were still fixed on the scenery around and below them, as James knew, but it didn't bother him. Lily would get to him well enough when they touched down. She didn't have this panorama at her fingertips whenever she wanted, and James was generous with his beloved broom with a view.
But Lily was smiling now, her usual, faint, funny little smile that started on one side of her face and ended on the other. It caught James' attention. That smile was all that mattered to him.
"What's so funny?" asked James, taking time to readjust the aerial course that he had flown innumerable times before. He observed Lily as she grinned to show her teeth while she scanned the horizon wide-eyed.
"It's like you ordered this up for me…you always do things like this for me…"
James felt a little thrill flick up inside and it added fuel to his smile. Naturally, he realized that only a bottom-level Slytherin would be thick enough not to appreciate that he went all-out in planning these things, but it was good that Lily knew it too. Dates like this didn't happen often. James always made sure these were things Lily would remember. And associate with him. Forever.
"Well, yes, but not this time. Too expensive to order it."
Lily blinked and looked at him skeptically, her typical type of sauce entering her expression. James loved it. Lily would try to be sharp with him while he was still in charge of the broom and she afraid of heights.
"Honestly then, James, you could try being less of a—"
James pulled into a dive, whisking the broom through pitch and skirting the golden hoops on the edge. Lily screamed in protest and pushed her face into his robes again, balling great fistfuls of them in her hands. The wind streaked through her hair and in her ears and then there was a great thud just before she thought she would die. James had managed, insufferably, to land them both on the field, just where they had taken off from.
Lily rolled off the broom and flopped onto the fresh grass.
"Never again."
James picked up his broom casually with one hand and stood over Lily, his messy hair only a slightly weird part of his long, strange shadow.
"You didn't like it?"
Lily huffed and got to her feet, trying to shake out her thick hair. It was horribly windblown.
"Leave it," said James hoarsely, taking her hand away and holding it in his. Lily met his shining, wild eyes with her own. It still gave her chills when he went to kiss her, and he did that often enough anyway.
James touched his hand to Lily's cheek and he slowly pushed back into her hair. She tilted her head back and, smiling, James put his face down to hers. Softly, his warm lips kneaded hers once, twice, and again. The quiet, golden heat was enough for Lily as her hand slid over his heart. She wanted to sit right back on the grass again before she realized that they probably ought to be inside by now. Lily sighed, and carefully stored these softly stolen moments in her memory. She stepped back.
After a half-a-second's delay, James looked up and blinked his clear eyes. He always seemed shocked when Lily stopped kissing him, even if they both knew they had to leave.
"We should go back," said Lily in a husky voice. James shook his head at her words.
"Sorry, but I'm out here until late. It's the Marauders' last full moon ride, you know. I've got to lock up my broom and get over to the Shrieking Shack."
Lily tilted her head and smiled the purest grin James had ever seen.
"You're all so lucky…to have each other. But wouldn't the last night at Hogwarts be a better time?"
"No," said James with some sadness. "Moony can't choose when to transform."
"Oh, of course," answered Lily, but she made no move to go and neither did James. They looked at each others—standing only four hands' lengths apart—before Lily asked him:
"James, why isn't being an Animagus a more major part of your life? You three just treat being Animagi like hobbies, or a game night. If I was one, I think I'd be it all the time. I'd go around and fly or swim or run all over Hogwarts."
James laughed. Lily smiled. When James laughed, he laughed with his entire head and all of his hair bounced different ways and his lips opened into a smile.
"I've no doubt that you'd be a fearsome…er, whatever you'd be. And I know what you mean because for a while, all we did was tear-arse about the castle and wherever. But the truth is, Lily, that a stag is an obnoxiously obvious animal. You don't see the same stag four times and think it's just a coincidence.
"Now, a dog is easier. In some lights it looks like a bear, or a wolf, or itself, or any number of other things. And a rat is mostly unseen. A stag, though…the antlers always get in the way of any good disguise. Even if no one does see us, we can still never be sure. So we got smarter over the years and now we only run at night. Like now. Tonight with Moony."
Lily got the feeling that James was delicately trying to send her away. She knew James was only doing it so she didn't meet up with a werewolf in the night and she understood, but there was something Lily needed to say before departing.
"All right, I'm off—" James smiled thankfully "—but I'll say just one thing before I leave," said Lily. "I think I've figured out why you don't need to be an Animagus all the time. It's because you're so much the stag already, James. You're…you're just brave and honest, and no one could mistake you for anything but yourself. You blaze right in. You'd never be tricky—you can't be tricky—and you have to fight with your antlers because you just don't have the teeth in you to sneak around with. That's why I like you so much, James. Stags don't do anything but stand up for what they are."
James messed up his hair and remained silent for an overly long while. Lily wondered what on earth she was doing. They were only seventeen.
A howl interrupted their thoughts. Suddenly, James was all business. He assessed the direction of the howl and turned back to Lily.
"You should get going."
Lily nodded. Somehow, over the small period of time, her throat and eyes had welled up with emotion. She knew the same painful tenderness was inside James because it peeked out of his face, but to bridge that…to lay it out clearly in the white moon for what it was could not be done. Lily consoled herself with leaving him one last kiss pressed against his lips.
"And James?" she murmured, gazing up through her lashes.
"Yes, Lily?" he replied.
"Never again turn over in the air while I'm on your broom."
James' whole face split into a wide, rakish grin. They parted ways. As Lily neared the castle, she turned back to see the shadows of a galloping hooves and a tangle of antlers disappearing into the forest. Lily smiled. The antlers were just like his hair.
At Gryffindor Tower, Emmeline stopped her.
"Lily, Dumbledore gave me this. It's a bit of parchment for you."
Lily unfurled the note and read it curiously.
Lily,
You'll need to pardon me for this impromptu message, but I have been troubled by guilt for the past several days. When you were in my office the night of the attacks, I am afraid that something (or rather, two somethings) must have fallen from your pocket. I discovered and digested two hard candies from my floor, and I apologize for taking them. They must be a Muggle candy of some kind. I realize that it is now the final stretch of your exams but I must (MUST) ask you for the name of those delicious lemon things. And perhaps, if you have an extra one or two, then I ask if I might be treated to another.
Sincerely,
Albus Dumbledore
Lily laughed.
"What's so funny?" asked Emmeline with a smirk, curling against the stone wall. Lily handed her the paper and Emmeline's thin eyebrows arched perfectly.
"So your obsession with those Muggle sweets has even gotten to Dumbledore. You should let the Ministry patent those to fight You-Know-Who."
Lily just shook her head. Emmeline was known as an on-again, off-again dieter who had always resented Lily's ability to fill her insatiable appetite for sweets. Then Lily noticed that Emmeline, the social butterfly, was standing alone in front of the Fat Lady.
"Where's Dorcas, Emmy?"
"Writing to Fabian again," yawned Emmeline. "And Marlene's busy deciding which old socks to bin here and which to save and darn up at home."
"And Caradoc?" asked Lily. She was careful not to miss Emmeline's small, secret, wistful smile at the mention of her beloved fiancé.
"He's packing. He thinks he won't have time to do it just before the term's out."
Lily unconsciously cast a look to the great window at the end of the hall, which showed a magnificent landscape that hid the Marauders so well. She felt more than a little lonely.
'D'you want to patrol with me? James won't be here tonight."
Emmeline seemed surprised but she didn't say a word. Then a friendly smile touched her red lips.
"Sure, Lily. I'd love to patrol with you."
The penultimate chapter is finally up. If there is anything still puzzling you, this is the time to review and tell me! Hint hint hint, that is. Thank you to everyone who has come this far.