"It's your last breakfast with us, Evans!"
"Last time I ever get a plate of sausages this good…"
"Hey, Potter, I know I always ask but…could you bung me some of those eggs? You'll never get this chance again—Thanks a load, mate."
"Black, get away from me. No, I really do mean it. Sod off."
"I love you too."
"Who's got a bloody quill I can use?"
"D'you think they'd let us take one of these goblets away? For, you know, memory's sake?"
"Lily, here. It's my address, in case I forget on the train. Owl me."
In the manner of the usual chaos, the students of Hogwarts were enjoying their final breakfast of the year together. For the seventh years, it was more meaningful than just a meal. It was their last meal as Hogwarts students or as kids at all. The train would be waiting for them right after their meal. People were tearing up already. The second half of breakfast was given over totally to bawling and generally emotional fits.
"Oh, oh goodbye Hagrid!" sniffled Marlene, hugging her arms as far around the hefty groundskeeper as she could. She was the only Gryffindor girl who cried, however. Both Emmeline and Dorcas were bearing up well; and Lily was too enmeshed in farewells to give herself to sobbing. There was something joyous about watching Lily and everyone who was sad to see her go. She carried herself like a queen, making sure to be kind to everyone who came up to her.
"Now Marlene," Hagrid said kindly, "S'not like we won't see each other again, yeh know. Things bein' the way they are." Hagrid winked with a meaningful look at Dumbledore, who was chatting with Davy Gudgeon and the Bloody Baron near the High Table. Marlene's blue eyes widened into saucers.
"You mean you're with the Order of—"
"Shhh," quieted Hagrid hastily. "'Course. Dumbledore's man, I am. He needs anythin' done he knows he can come right ter me ter do it. An' you didn't need no persuadin' to join up neither, as I heard."
Marlene nodded shyly. She glanced back at Lily, but her friend was deep in conversation with Agatha Timms.
"…go into farming maybe," the Slytherin finished. "Me Uncle reckons I can get a cheap deal on some land in Brighton for a shop area. I'll be seeing you, Lily. You'd be welcome by whenever you like."
"I'll consider it," said Lily with a gracious smile. "Bye, Agatha."
The darker girl smiled.
"You've always been all right, Evans. I hope you stay that way." Agatha gave a pointed squint at James, who returned it unflinchingly. Agatha was proud of being a Slytherin and James was proud of being a Gryffindor, so it was hopeless to think that they'd ever find common ground. They supported different Quidditch clubs too, which was probably their biggest obstacle to overcome.
Lily laughed and wove her fingers between his. James relaxed and smiled. He and the Marauders had said all of their goodbyes, giving them only to the people who really mattered. Namely, the Quidditch team, in James' case. Everyone else he'd see soon enough and he had made no trips to the table trimmed in green and silver.
"Trust me," said Lily, "I'll hold the thought, Agatha, in spite of James."
Agatha grinned and went back to her table. James had just opened his mouth to say something to Lily when she turned around to a tap on the shoulder.
"Erm…Lily?" said Arkie Philpott tentatively.
"Hello, Arkie. Had a nice first year?" she asked with the same radiant smile she gave everyone. James laughed quietly. The first year was blushing. From his other side, Sirius looked entertained also. He winked to James and whispered something to Remus and Peter.
"Well I, er, just wanted to say thanks for… you know, this year and all. You were really and great and all, even though I'm a first year."
"Second year now," reminded Lily. Arkie just grinned embarrassedly, apparently quite aware of his stuttering and unable to control it.
"Right, well, er, I just wanted to give you something because you're leaving and all."
"Arkie, you don't have to…" Lily trailed off while the boy held out his wand in front of him. Slowly, tenderly, one white lily bloomed flower first from the tip of the oak wand. He plucked the flower out after a good amount of stem and pushed it on her.
"Here."
Stiffly, he turned and beat a sharp retreat to the other first year boys, who were watching him agog. Lily twirled the flower in her hands and looked at James. He enjoyed the sensation. Inside, he was proud. Proud of how many people loved Lily, although just a few more years on Arkie would have meant a heated conflict. James wasn't so very jealous when it came to first years.
"Go on," said James, inclining his head lazily towards the gabbling part of the table. "Make his day."
Lily graced him with another smile.
"You know I love you more, James."
A wave of excitement washed over his body. Calm, collected. Cool, James reminded himself, only smiling and nodding.
"I know. That's why I'm letting you do it."
"You don't let me do anything," said Lily indignantly. James laughed.
"You only think that."
Giving James her usual unconvinced look that meant that she wasn't really mad, Lily stood and made her way to the end of the table. The first years clammed up.
"Arkie," she said, tapping him right back on the shoulder. He turned slowly and stood up, peering nervously between Lily and James.
"Yeah, Lily?"
Lily put her arms around him and kissed him on the cheek.
"Thanks for the flower."
Arkie stammered as she released him. Lily heard Sirius and James laughing behind her and she only hoped that Arkie wouldn't take it the wrong way.
"Wha…well…I…er…"
Suddenly, the teachers announced that the carriages were waiting. Arkie blustered off with a half-wave at Lily. She smiled broadly and walked back to James and the Marauders. He stood up with an arm around her.
"Feel better now?"
"It was a little enough thank-you for such a nice flower."
"Prongs could make you fifty of those flowers, Lily," said Sirius with a raised eyebrow. She would obviously need to explain the little gift. Lily liked Sirius very much, but she wasn't only sure that he "got it" when it came to certain things.
"Yes, but James is talented enough that one lily doesn't mean as much. He needs bigger and better gifts to get my attention. I'd need a bushel a day."
James raised his own eyebrows and said nothing, indulgently kissing Lily's temple. Through no fault of his own, Arkie Philpott reminded Lily of that night of confusion and anger in the dungeons. And the night that followed that. Lily shrugged a bit closer to James.
Something very odd occurred to her just then, and she was curious to find out something about future midnight wanderers of Hogwarts.
"James, I suppose you and Sirius, Remus, and Peter wrote the definitive work on wandering through Hogwarts?"
The four exchanged pleased expressions, Pettigrew's most bubbly.
"Definitive map, more like," answered James.
"Right up there with Hogwarts, A History," quipped Remus dryly. Sirius and James rolled their eyes.
"That bloody book, Moony," began Sirius. "If we had stuck to that, all we would have learned was the number of stones in the Great Hall and nothing about useful stuff—"
"Supremely interesting, Sirius, I'm sure," breezed Lily. "But whatever did you four do with that map?"
This time, the smugness was unmistakable. Sirius and James mostly oozed it into the air.
"We left it," said Remus, hurriedly trying to cut off what would be a grand speech from Messrs Padfoot and Prongs.
"Left it?" echoed Lily incredulously. "Where? In a broom cupboard?"
"Nowhere so pleasant," remarked Sirius. "It's in Filch's desk drawer."
"What? He confiscated it?"
Sirius and James snorted derisively and even kindly Remus and Peter looked dubious. After all, they had mostly becomes heroes in the school from their extremely low opinion of the cranky caretaker It was common knowledge that someone had tied up Mrs. Norris by her paws on the last full moon, and although Lily had tactfully not mentioned it, James hadn't either. A sure sign of guilt.
"It was a tricky question, to be sure," explained James grandly. "What to do with our marvelous invention? The written copy of our Hogwarts achievements? Our child? The fifth Marauder? We took a vote, actually, on whether to take it home or not."
"But then we realized that it would only get dusty on someone's fireplace," continued Sirius, "and what the hell good is that? So, we decided to leave it here."
"To ensure the expansion of Filch's rheumatism into the other leg while he chases after whoever takes up our mantles," said Remus with a hint of a grin.
"It wouldn't have been good enough to just lose it, though, or leave it lying around where anyone could have it," said Peter protectively.
"Or else someone like bleeding Rosier's kid could get their filthy hands on it," said Sirius viciously. "We decided that the only task comparable to actually creating that map was snatching it from the jaws of Hell itself."
"Or, in plainer words, going into Filch's office to get it," finished James with a broad grin.
"But…but that's almost impossible," sputtered Lily. "Who would even think to do that? You're all absolutely barking."
"We know how impossible it is because we've done things like that before," said James patiently. "When you're in Filch's office often enough, you tend to get bored quick and then you take a shifty around. He's got some wicked things in there, Lily. Only those worthy to use the Map by virtue of constantly being in trouble will get to it. That's fair. And Filch can look at it all he wants and scratch at his warts and wonder when he was clever enough to get that blank bit of parchment that we always carried."
Lily was confounded. Why would they care so much? It was a nice use of Charms. It was madness. It was genius. It was an ordinary plan for the Marauders.
"Seventh years out!" called Professor McGonagall impatiently, cutting into Lily's reverie. "You may say your farewells on the train! Keep moving!"
The seventh years hurried to the doors of the Great Hall. Although they received preferential seating on the Hogwarts Express because they were allowed on first, there were still numerous goodbyes to be said to the teachers. Professor Slughorn's mustache was dampened and his face overly ruddy as he clasped Lily's hands farewell. Professor Flitwick was all smiles with a too-large tissue clutched to his face. Lily knew the strict woman would never admit to it, but Professor McGonagall's eyes were just a little too wet for someone who had professed—not far in the past—to have never had taught such a miserable batch of magicians.
"Bye, Professor!" waved James slyly. Professor McGonagall's nose quivered unbecomingly as she took a shaky intake of air to compose herself. Sirius was grinning in a particularly cheeky way. For all the trouble they had caused, all the detentions they had served, and all the cauldrons they had split open, Sirius and James were the best and most charming Transfiguration students in the year.
"Potter, Black," she said, managing a stern voice. "I…I'll just say good luck to you. Off with you now. And I don't want to hear anything from the Ministry about you two being arrested in the future, and if you are for Merlin's sake don't let on that I was your teacher—"
James let go of Lily and he and Sirius enveloped Professor McGonagall in a huge bear hug, rocking her back and forth. Lily was amazed to see Professor McGonagall sobbing into their shoulders. They were both about half-a-head taller than she was.
Remus came up next to Lily and muttered in her ear, "Never thought you'd see that, would you?"
"I never had any doubt," feigned Lily. She and Remus laughed while Sirius and James freed themselves from their favorite teacher's embrace.
"Now, now, Professor," Sirius was saying loudly, fighting to keep the laughter in his face from pouring out of his mouth, "I'm sure I'll see you again. You can visit us in Azkaban after Prongs and I transform Gringotts into a giant porcelain pig."
"Oh, get on!" snapped McGonagall. "The both of you!" She straightened up her sleek hair and exhaled a shuddering, stabilizing breath. "And neither one with the decency to offer me a handkerchief!"
"Here, Professor McGonagall," said Remus with considerable patience. He offered her one and she dabbed her eyes lightly.
"Thank you, Mr. Lupin, for constantly covering Potter and Black's mistakes. I will miss you all, but just a bit, mind you. Just a bit. Where's Pettigrew? I'll need to see him off as well…"
Professor McGonagall hurried away, still wiping her face dry. James and Sirius were grinning villainously at their success. Lily offered a faux harrumph.
"Who'd have imagined that you'd crack McGonagall like a toffee egg?" commented Remus.
"She's always loved us," said Sirius off-handedly. "Since first year, when we both got one hundred percent on her first test. We didn't even have the mirrors then, and we sat on the opposite sides of the room. Then she paired us together and it's history from there."
"Speaking of history, I notice that Professor Binns isn't here to send us off proper," observed James wryly. Lily laughed.
"Didn't you give up History of Magic, James, in third year? After you spent the entire second half of the final exam making detailed burn marks in the desk with your wand?"
"I was carving out my deepest affections for you," answered James with a composed face. Lily squinted at him. She could never be sure that he was joking at times like these. There was sharp poke to the back of her ribs. She ignored it.
"More like destroying property, James—"
There was another poke.
"Lily, Dumbledore wants to talk to you before we leave," said Marlene hurriedly. "Do you see him standing by the door? He's looking this way."
Lily colored.
"Ooh, sorry, Marley, I thought it was James poking me. He's always trying to distract me so I hope you can forgive—"
"Ah, right then," said James with a nod at Marlene. "I'll meet you in the carriage—"
"No, no," interrupted Marlene. "He'd like to speak you too, James."
James and Sirius exchanged a look and a shrug. Remus didn't seem to have any clue either; and certainly Lily did not. Perhaps Dumbledore was going to take back their Head badges and stomp on them?
Lily giggled. That was a funny picture. She couldn't help it, despite aggravating looks from James that strongly suggested that she had lost her mind. Lily stopped up her hiccupping giggle (undoubtedly a prelude of hysterics to what would be a good cry later that day) only when they reached the headmaster. The sun shone in behind Dumbledore, and it looked as if he had brought the streaming light into the hall himself.
"Another year passes wherein I get to review my previous judgments," said Dumbledore, appearing wholly amused. "I have the indecency to congratulate myself, actually. It's a pleasant change from previous choices."
Lily squirmed uncomfortably, but James just shrugged. James took compliments much better than Lily did. Dumbledore said nothing else for a moment or so, spending the time to consider the two students before him. Time stretched for one, two, three and four beats. Dumbledore's lips parted, and then shut once more. He didn't seem to like what was going to come out of them. Abruptly, he gazed back out at the grounds through the open doors.
"I was a student here, once. Many years ago. Many years. And I am no different than I was that first day I entered Hogwarts and again on the last day I left. I spent more… time in this school than anyone else I have ever met, even if you and your friends have discovered more about it. I could never cut the tether that binds me to Hogwarts. I can only sit in my tower and watch…" said Dumbledore. "Watch the world from my favorite place in it."
Dumbledore sighed; he looked quite weary. Professor McGonagall snapped out an order to the few straggling seventh years left. It seemed like Sirius was blowing her off and putting up a good fight.
"Still a child, here, at Hogwarts," continued Dumbledore. "It does that to you." He smiled. Lily was touched. His eyes and smile dipped in sadness, but he was sad for them, for Lily and James. Curiously enough, Lily felt it. It melted her heart.
"Good luck," he whispered, stretching out his hand. Not as the headmaster or an idol in the wizarding world, or as a living legend, but as a man.
James was flabbergasted. That white hand with so many lines and cuts and scars and imperceptible spots hung in the air, waiting for an equal. It would always wait, thought James, though there was only one thing he could do. He reached out his own hand, smoother, slightly tanner, but scarred nonetheless with the trials of battling with a werewolf; and they shook.
Dumbledore smiled clearly and grasped Lily's hand as well, but it was anti-climactic. Her eyes glistened. Dumbledore turned to go back to the mulling crush of students in the hall.
"Professor?" said Lily quietly.
Dumbledore turned around with diffidence. Lily pulled a small drawstring bag from her robes and tapped it with her wand so that it became plump and heavy. It smelled strongly of lemon citrus.
"Here you go."
Surprised, Dumbledore took the bag.
"We'll be seeing each other soon," said Dumbledore with dancing twinkle in his eye. Lily and James nodded. They both turned and hurried off to the carriage Peter was saving for them. Sirius darted out alongside them, under railing remarks from McGonagall. Lily left before Dumbledore opened the bag, but everyone knew what was in it. Before the last student picked up his luggage to leave, Dumbledore had sucked the juice of his first fresh sherbet lemon.
Lily patted her depleted plastic package mournfully on the train ride. She had transferred the majority of the candies into Dumbledore's gift bag…it had been her plan to, after all … but still, it was hard to relinquish her favorite flavor. She was selfish. I am selfish, Lily thought shamelessly That was why she tugged James off for one last patrol after an hour or so on the Hogwarts Express.
Sirius had snickered and Remus had demonstrated his imperceptible eye roll. Emmeline, oddly, enough, had restrained herself from saying anything, but by the waggling of her eyebrows she knew as well. The compartment was packed with all of the seventh year Gryffindors, even though the girls volunteered to take their own compartment. Lily had taken James off for what was not a Head duty, but required use of the Head Compartment.
"But Lily, we're not even Head Boy and Girl anymore," teased James as she led him into the empty compartment that neither had used on the autumnal ride to Hogwarts. "This isn't ours now."
"They haven't nominated new ones yet, have they?" asked Lily, pushing James down snugly into the seat. He laughed when Lily climbed onto the seat beside him.
"You're forever trying to seduce me, Lily," said James softly, letting his fingers travel from the side of her face to the plump of her lips down the edge of her jaw. She inhaled sharply as the feather touches from his fingers drew her face closer.
"You were saying the opposite at the beginning of this year," she breathed.
"We were different people at the beginning," said James neutrally, his words a hot puff of air over her face.
"Beginning of what?" asked Lily, as certain that she knew the answer as she was certain of James' hands sliding into her hair and down her back.
"The beginning of us," he answered, and then his lips grazed hers before they began what could be called an all out attack. Lily felt that she owed it to herself to have one, last, good (great) snog on Hogwarts property. It should probably being short, though, so that they weren't deserting their friends for too long.
Nevertheless, Lily was sitting half on top of James nearly ten minutes later—well within her boundaries as the lucky girlfriend—with her fingers tangled into his hair and gripping his arm hard. James' face was buried where her neck and her shoulder met, and Lily sighed happily. It was a sweet, fruity sound that drew James up to the surface with one of his characteristically intense expressions. A spot on her neck throbbed lightly.
"James, it's summertime. I don't want to have to wear a turtleneck for the next week."
"No one will notice."
"I'm seeing my mother barely a few hours."
"Me too, but what do I care?" asked James slyly, breathing softly over the side of her face. He loved the smell of her hair and neck. He returned to his business near her shoulderline.
Defeated, Lily slumped into him and into the seat, allowing his hands to move her where he would. Her eyes fluttered softly as she enjoyed the tender pleasure against her skin, doing nothing more than letting James do all the work. She heard the faint, faint noise of the students in the compartment after theirs; and she heard the footsteps in the passage.
It was too early for the food cart but it sounded like the maker of the noise was paused outside each compartment. Curiously, Lily glanced over to the door. It was open only a length barely the breadth of her palm. But she still saw outside. The crack showed black from the floor up, until her eyes traveled up over the white face and thin nose to meet Evan Rosier's eyes.
He was standing there, just outside, staring with a keen malice that should have hit Lily like an arrow. James hadn't noticed. He was smoothing his hands over her shoulders and across her hair.
Even though she and Rosier had locked glances, Lily noticed how the portion of his hand she could see trembled in a tight fist each time James moved his hands on her. The thoughts that crossed Lily's mind as Rosier stood there, just watching, culminated in an anger that boiled down through her entire body. She hated him, in that instant, for being so weak and twisted and afraid. James had asked her out everyday. Rosier never had. Rosier had never once in words or in deed managed to convey any of his feelings for her besides the obvious resentment and lust. He wasn't strong enough, or honest enough, or true enough to himself or anyone else.
With the sharp stab of Rosier's penetrating failures and his mean jealousy and his pitiably feeble spirit, Lily's desire to bolt up and hex him coiled into a tight disdain. Something about her furious eyes made him think twice, and his own darted uncertainly. The fresh resurgence of weakness deepened the disgust she felt at this gross boy hiding just beyond her. He was not a man. He was totally unlike anyone she had ever loved. Lily really, really wanted nothing more at that moment that to make Evan Rosier cry.
"James," whispered Lily into the warm skin of his forehead.
"Yeah?" he murmured throatily, kissing her hand as it moved up to his face. His eyes were relaxed and kind, alight with the greatness of his contentment. In times like these, James was truly happy.
Lily only inclined her head, and James' gaze slid to the door. His jaw stiffened considerably and his eyes flared and narrowed. The change was almost instantaneous. He was prepared to draw blood.
"Wait," she said firmly, forcing James to stay down by not moving her body. Lily adjusted herself so that she faced the cracked door, and her face was impassive.
"Open the door." Her tone was low and solidly commanding. Irresistible. Like a man in a dream, Rosier slid open the door fully and stepped closer. His hand was clutching his wand in a quavering grasp. James could not stop the animalistic noise of challenge that was wrenched from him. Lily pressed further into his chest.
"Come inside."
Rosier stepped forth, turning to close the door behind him. Lily stopped him with another interruption.
"We have nothing to hide, here," she said.
For a few moments, Lily regarded him with a putrid interest, like a schoolchild might peer through prison bars at a murderer. It was a look that would imply that the object was lower than dirt, if only it was important enough to be assigned a position on this earth.
James sensed that something was different about Lily. That was the one and only reason that he let her handle this. This steely change in Lily was the singular thing that precluded him from killing, absolutely murdering, Rosier. James hoped that she would get over being afraid
"What were you doing, Rosier?" Lily asked. That calm voice knocked against him like loose clapboard caught in a storm. Rosier gritted his teeth unconvincingly.
"Watching the free show, Evans."
"There's nothing to see," snarled James mordantly, throwing a clear look of death across the room. Lily settled herself more comfortably onto and around James.
"Why?"
The word was a smash in the face. Rosier only glowered, appearing quite uncomfortable from behind his façade.
"Why what?"
"Why did you do it?"
This time even James—through his reddish haze—noted the puny exterior that was quickly dissolving from Rosier's person. Rosier himself offered no answer, only a glare of brighter rage.
"Was it because you were jealous?" Lily asked in a conversational tone, the voice of a psychiatrist. She allowed the air to massage her question for the briefest moment. "Jealous that you aren't cared for, Rosier? That no one really loves you?"
"Cared for?" spat Rosier in a screech. This was an idea he could latch onto and throw in her face. "Is that what you called 'loved,' Evans? You think a silly little kiss is love? Not that I put it past you to have done any number of filthy things for Potter."
Lily quietly stroked James' arm and told him to hush while Rosier savoring his misshapen perversions. She was interested in what other toxin Rosier might call upon for the occasion. Evidently believing he was winning something, Rosier gnashed his lips and prepared for another go. Strangely enough, Lily was finally seeing things from the collected perspective of Dumbledore. Maybe the sherbet lemons had something to do with it, but it was easy to remain calm, like the blue-eyed headmaster. The truth of the situation steadied Lily.
"I could turn your hair as green as your eyes, Evans, with some of the things I've imagined you two have gotten up to," leered Rosier. "Even if you're so stupid that you couldn't possibly know anything about really loving anybody. You both pretend to be better than the rest of us, but you're just the same as anyone. You're less, even, because you're not even honest with the things that crawl inside of you—"
That was enough, thought Lily indolently. James was getting antsy, which was code for 'enraged.' Lily cut in silkily on Rosier's pity parade.
"'Honest?' You don't understand that word, just like you don't understand love. Or love as it pertains to sex. Or life. I imagine there are many things you don't understand, to be quite truthful. One of them is that it is not proper etiquette to stare at people. Another is that lying will get you nowhere.
"Now if you don't mind," Lily continued, shifting slightly to emphasize how she and James were still wrapped around each other and how the collar fastening of her robe was undone and how she didn't care, "we'd like you to leave. This instant."
Rosier gritted his teeth and looked from the Cheshire cat smile on the one Gryffindor to the ultimate fury on the other. Emotions clawed savagely up to Rosier's heart and he stormed out before he could learn a lesson.
James got up abruptly and slammed the door after him with a violence. Lily was draped on the chair, feeling somewhat drained. James sat down beside her and pulled her into his lap with her back flush against him. Lily heaved a sigh.
"Lily…" he began uncertainly.
"James, I'm perfectly well."
"I know."
There was another pause.
"Where did that come from, Lily?" he asked tentatively. She angled her face towards his and he took her cheek in his hand. Even in their old arguments, Lily had never before transcended to the level of coldness she had for Rosier.
"I hated him for a minute, James," she replied tartly. "Absolutely hated him. Every shitting thing about him. But when I managed not to hate him because I was afraid, but because he was just…him…I don't know. Something hit. I'm finished with him for good."
She was grumpy. James was wise enough not to challenge her. Lily sat quietly for a bit longer.
"I haven't said goodbye to Greta Catchlove," she offered finally.
"Then let's go do that."
"James, we don't need—"
"Yes."
Gently, he unlatched Lily and stood up. Grudgingly, she did too. He was still tall to her, and slowly the Dumbledore moment receded into memory. She was his Lily again.
James reached out and yanked a lock of her hair lightly. It was so much like their train ride in September that Lily couldn't help but smile.
"I brought a brush with me for my mussed hair."
"You need it," said James smugly, sounding awfully proud. She tried bluntly to turn his attention away from her disordered hair, disordered by him.
"I don't think Greta would want to see you, James."
"Wha—oh. That bit with her and Sirius. Yeah."
"Well, she might want to say something," said Lily off-handedly, opening the door and starting down the hall, "but I don't want her to see you."
"Why's that, Lily?"
"Because she's too pretty."
James laughed quietly and closed the special compartment up. He didn't say anything about the encounter with Rosier when he reached his friends again, and Lily made no mention of it either when she entered a half hour later.
"Mafalda Hopkirk was there with Greta," she said, explaining her absence.
"Mhmm…" replied Sirius vaguely, taking a sip from a bottle of butterbeer that Lily did not think was butterbeer.
"Sirius, what are you doing?"
"Preparing to see my parents for what is hopefully the last time," he said with considerable grouchiness, taking another swig. Lily looked around the compartment. Squeezed into the tight quarters were the Marauders, Marlene, Dorcas, Emmeline and now Lily. Emmeline stood up, however, to visit with Caradoc and Benjy.
"It's getting too close for comfort in here," she said sweetly, stepping over Sirius' out-thrust legs to get to the door.
"I'll bet you're going off to get close for comfort with Dearborn, Emmeline," he said in another sanguine voice. She offered only a smirk and flashed her engagement ring before she closed the door. Lily took her seat.
"Exploding Snap?" proposed Peter hopefully. There was an undiscerning grunt from Sirius. James shook his head.
"I'll play," offered Marlene gamely. Lily nodded.
"Me too."
A few games later, Lily had clearly won and Marlene was calmly dousing the front of Peter's robes, which had lit on fire somehow. Remus checked the landscape outside and saw the beginning of buildings race past.
"We should change out of our robes," he suggested.
"For the last time," said Marlene sadly.
"Birds go first," said Sirius. Lily threw him a pitying look. The second bottle of suspicious drink was no excuse for his antics.
"How about you four boys leave so we can get changed?" suggested Lily.
"Er, I don't think so," answered Sirius smoothly. "I'm not getting thrown out of here by you girls."
Twelve minutes later, Lily slid open the door.
"We're done," she said pleasantly. James and Remus laughed from the hallway. Sirius grumbled and threw himself into his seat again.
"Took you long enough to change, Lily. It's not like you don't practice everyday"
"Black," said Dorcas, "did you all change in the hall?"
"Yes," answered James. "We were tired of waiting. All we do it take off our robes, after all. We don't compare knickers."
Lily rolled her eyes but Dorcas chuckled all the same. A short time later, the train slid to a halt. Marlene was crying again.
"Buck up, Marley," said Emmeline, who had come to grab her luggage. "I'm happy to leave some of the wankers in this school behind."
"Like your old boyfriends, Emmy?" asked Lily. Emmeline smiled at her knowingly.
"That's right. Caradoc, take my bags for me."
"Take them yourself," the Ravenclaw replied easily, picking up only one of her five large suitcases. "You bring enough clothes for all the girls in our year."
Huffing, Emmeline charmed the suitcases all to float out behind her, which knocked a second year Hufflepuff clean out of the way.
The platform was crowded with people. Lily never thought that she would become one of the seventh years who hugged and kissed everyone for the last time, but there she was. Slowly, the crowd dissipated and went their separate ways. Benjy and Caradoc walked off with Emmeline after shaking hands with the Marauders. Marlene went through the barrier to her mother and father. James was at Lily's side in a moment.
"I'll walk you through to your parents, Lily, before I go."
"Wait…where are yours, James?"
"They're on this side, remember?" he said patiently. "Let's just—" Quite suddenly, Sirius burst up from nowhere in particular and grabbed James' arm.
"Prongs!" he cried exuberantly. "You've got to see this! C'mon, follow me—"
"What are you on about, Padfoot?"
Sirius dragged Lily and James to a more sparsely populated area of the platform. There, standing beside an enormous red motorbike, were a man and a woman wearing rich traveling robes that covered them from chin to wrist. The man, who wore glasses, had a full head of pure, white hair that didn't stay down in the back. The skinny woman was just as tall as her husband was, with iron grey hair shorn straight around her chin. Her skin was deeply tanned and she peered at Lily with James' hazel eyes and sharp cheekbones.
"'Lo Mum," said James finally, moving to break his mother's gaze at Lily. "'Lo Dad."
"James!"
Mrs. Potter hurried forwards and hugged her son tightly. Her thick wedding band hung on her thin fingers and pinched at his cotton tee. She pulled back and smiled at Lily from over her son's shoulder. James was only slightly taller than she.
"And who is this, James?"
Mrs. Potter had a slight accent that flitted in and out of her question. She was a handsome woman and Lily blushed shyly. James' mother had the uncanny appearance of a dignified drill sergeant, even though she was smiling approvingly.
"This is Lily Evans, Mum," introduced James, moving so that the two women could face each other. "Lily, this is my mother."
"Pleased to meet you," said Lily politely, trying not to think that she had been kissing this lady's son earlier that day. She only hoped that she came off as well-mannered and sincere. Mrs. Potter took Lily's hand in both of hers and clasped them firmly and quickly. Her hands were cool and browned from the sun, the skin pulled tightly over the bones.
"You as well, my dear. We've heard—" Mrs. Potter sent a singularly conniving look at James, something that he had inherited, "—much of you. We're quite pleased to see you here. We weren't certain what to expect at Platform Nine and Three Quarters. I'm sure that you must be getting along to your own family soon?"
"Yes," replied Lily, hoping this little matter of the first impression wasn't going badly. Mrs. Potter nodded briskly.
"Then we'll get this over with. Dear, produce the package."
The tidy-looking Mr. Potter reached into his robes and withdrew a long, thin package from his robes. He quirked his lips just a bit as he handed it to his wife, who pressed it onto Lily. He seemed like a very reserved gentleman, although his pallid eyes magnified by his thick glasses showed nothing but warmth for his family.
"This is yours," announced Mrs. Potter to Lily. James immediately groaned and covered his red face in his hands. He must have known what was happening and Mrs. Potter must have expected his reaction, by the way she gathered herself for an attack.
"Mr. Potter and I bought graduation gifts for all of you. It's a shame that Remus and Peter had to leave so quickly, but we'll see them soon enough. Lily dear, we know it might seem awkward for you but please don't feel responsible—"
"Oh, Mum, I told you that you didn't have to do it," groaned James. "You always bring ridiculous presents to things." The loud revving of the shiny motorbike interrupted them. Sirius was grinning like a total madman, sitting atop it like a king on his throne.
"This is my gift, Prongs," he yelled happily, making the magically-enhanced engine purr louder and louder. Lily's mouth fell open. That must have been expensive.
James made a noise of exasperation. He turned on his parents quickly, as they indulgently watched Sirius enjoy himself. They were both smiling.
"You know he'll kill the lot of us now," said James exasperatedly. "Why did you need to give us anything at all? You do enough already—"
"Don't be dreadful, James," said his mother distractedly, her eyes following Sirius as he went over the wheels and the headlight. "We like to see you boys enjoying yourselves. I'll have you know that we also exercised considerable restraint on your present. Your father thought it was not quite the thing but we agreed on it in the end—"
"What did you do, Mum?" asked James, resigned to his fate.
"Your down payment, dear."
"My what?"
"The payment for the flat you and Sirius are going to live in. We paid it for you."
Lily must have been staring at the Potters as if they were quite mad. How could anyone have so much money to toss around for unnecessary presents? Lily also asked how many people would be generous enough to buy them.
James was about to say something, but then he shut his lips again. Sirius stopped tinkering and picked up his head to watch. Finally, James could only shrug in gratitude. His mother and father beamed expectantly.
"So? Are you going to thank this old lady or not?"
"Mum, I…I can't even say…"
"Just hug your mother, James."
Wordlessly, he did so, breaking into a grin after a short time. Mr. Potter clapped him on the back lightly.
"Perhaps Lily might want to open her gift, too?" he said in his quiet tone. Lily knew that there was a definite blush rising up her cheeks. She had too, and it would be something that she would never be able to repay the Potters. Just like the gift of their son. Now that she thought of it, James always went for extravagant presents as well. The Potter family was unconsciously and alarmingly generous.
Lily removed the soft taupe tissue paper. There was a black box, held with a finely carved golden clasp. She flicked it open and gingerly lifted the lid to reveal the most marvelous piece of jewelry she had ever seen. A necklace lay on a bed of red velvet. It was crafted in white gold and quite thick with pale jewels, centering on a perfect pendant of a lily in full bloom. Mother-of-pearl. Heavy. Impossibly pretty.
"This…this is terribly costly," she blustered softly. Her mother's manners pounded at her through her daze. "I would never be able to accept such a generous gift." Lily was being mechanical and brave at the same time. She knew that she would never own something dazzling enough to wear with this. Her hands were already lifting it up to admire it.
"The goblins did it," said Mrs. Potter proudly. That seemed to be a mark of distinction. "We had it made up only this month, didn't we? They had been working on it for a few weeks and we were afraid it wouldn't be complete in time, but there you are. It would look lovely on you, Lily. We insist that you take it."
"It's just that—"
"Hello, Mother," said someone who clearly had lost the happy thread of the mood. It took Lily a moment to realize that this came from Sirius. He was sitting up straight and sharp-eyed, and he swung one leg over the side of his bike.
Only a few meters away, standing in a clear unit but not close to each other, were Sirius' parents and brother. Regulus had the smug look of someone who has tattled on the playground rival.
"Walburga," greeted Mrs. Potter, clipped and cold while she looked at Mrs. Black. Mr. Potter said nothing. Mr. Black said nothing. Mrs. Black simply stared at Sirius with barely-controlled menace.
Mrs. Black was bat-like. Her dark hair was lacquered into a thick bun, revealing a heavy jaw and high cheekbones. She was not ugly; and yet her sunken black eyes betrayed bitterness and distaste. Lily thought that Mrs. Black might have had a waifish, trim figure not too long ago, before she developed the bony quality that was welcoming and energetic in Mrs. Potter and frightening in Mrs. Black.
Mr. Black was taller than his intense wife. He was stolid and frowning between his thick black sideburns with wings of grey. There was something creepy and crawling in that rugged, cultivated face that turned Lily's stomach. Certainly, Mrs. Black might have felt the same way about her from the sharp looks she was sending. James' hand crept onto Lily's elbow.
"Well, then…" Mrs. Black sneered. Shocked, Lily noticed that Sirius made the very same type of face when he showed disdain. He stepped off his bike to draw his mother's attention again.
"I'm not going home with you," he said evenly, trying to put on a good show of squelching his frozen stare. Mrs. Black seethed and clutched onto her husband's arm.
"Orion, make the boy come," she said. Mr. Black opened his mouth but Sirius was warming up to match his mother.
"You can't," he stated sardonically. He and Mrs. Black might have been trying to stab each other with their similarly-shaped eyes. "You have no right to order me to do anything."
She hissed, actually hissed; and Lily stepped back. Mrs. Black's eyes darted to her and to James and to her estranged son.
"Sirius, we're your…" She cast a look about. "…family." It was a lie and she knew it as she polished up her next attack.
"I don't think so, Mother," Sirius replied icily. "Family wouldn't try to destroy you if you didn't agree with their bloody madness." He thrust a withering glare on Regulus, who had inherited his father's oily stoicism. Regulus faltered.
"Mother, Sirius is lying. He's always—"
"Of course he is," soothed Mrs. Black before she heard the rest of her Regulus' explanation. Her younger son didn't have to explain things. He was right anyway. "That's why we need to bring him back home. To rectify certain mistakes that have persisted too long."
"That's enough, Walburga," thundered Mrs. Potter, stepping protectively in front of Sirius and James. Even though Mr. Potter moved not at all, Lily sensed his extreme concentration centered on the Blacks. He threw off strength like James did, and he seemed perfectly ready to defend his own.
"You need to leave this family alone," said Mrs. Potter.
"You need to give me my son!" Mrs. Black cried shrilly.
"He makes his own choices!" cried Mrs. Potter. "You never let him do that! He's chosen not to have you in his life anymore!"
Somewhere along the line, wands had come out. Everyone but Lily held their instruments in their hands, both on the offensive and defensive. Regulus and Sirius and James were shouting at each other and Mrs. Potter was bickering furiously with Mr. Black. The blackened yew handle quivered in the veined hands of Sirius' mother, who shrieked like a banshee that her husband ought to have cursed the disgrace right out of their eldest son.
In midst of all the shouting and the melee, Lily caught sight of the aged Mr. Potter looking particularly dangerous. Quietly, he glided past his wife (shouting) and his son (screaming as well) and past Sirius and Regulus too, and ended up quite in front of Mrs. Black. She took a lungful of air and stopped, her thin lips cracked wide at the man in front of her.
"Walburga, Orion," Mr. Potter said softly, "we are most assuredly going home now. Good day to you."
"This isn't finished!" barked Mrs. Black. "Far from it! You and your Muggle-loving wife have taken my firstborn son and I intend to bring it to the attention of—"
"You must do what you'd like, of course," bit Mr. Potter courteously, "but we must leave now. My wife and I have an appointment shortly."
"Do you expect us to show our faces in London if we—"
"WE ARE LEAVING!" snapped Mr. Potter. "Sirius will be coming with us as well. I am quite certain that we have had this conversation before, but if you would like to discuss the situation again you may owl me at my home. Good day."
Stiffly, Mr. Potter turned and took his wife's elbow. He nodded to James and Sirius. The two Potters and Sirius were red in the face.
Mrs. Black was livid and her eyes were wild. Lily remembered Bellatrix Lestrange, Sirius' cousin, and how her eyes could go like that sometimes. Unlike Bella, however, Mrs. Black seemed willing to concede to Mr. Potter's suggestion. Bella had never conceded anything, and Lily shuddered to think that Sirius was really related to these people. The Blacks Disapparated a moment later. Lily noticed how Regulus clung so tightly to his mother's arm, and how he seemed to have acquired a black eye since they had come to retrieve Sirius.
"Wait," said James. His own parents were preparing to Disapparate, Mrs. Potter cursing the Blacks in a quiet voice. "I've got to walk Lily to her parents."
Lily peeked out, clutching her magnificent gift in her hands.
"Where are they, then?" asked Mrs. Potter, looking around Platform Nine and Three Quarters. "Why aren't they—oh my! You're Muggleborn, aren't you, Lily?"
Lily blushed. She had never been ashamed of it, but she wanted the Potters to like her so much. Lily knew that it was foolish to care because if they didn't like Muggles then bollocks to them, but what if…?
Lily should have known better. She was behaving like a little girl. Mrs. Potter came forward and put her brown hands on either side of Lily's face, kissing her cheeks.
"We'll stay here then, Lily. We wouldn't want to alarm them. James, be back in fifteen minutes sharp. It was wonderful to meet you, dear."
"You too," smiled Lily, and she meant it sincerely. Mrs. Potter smiled and drew back to her husband, reverting to muttering darkly about Sirius' family. James tapped Lily's arm and nodded towards the barrier.
Lily pushed her trolley in front of her. James was beside her as they stepped into Muggle England. Suddenly, Sirius was on Lily's other side. His face plainly dared her to say anything about their encounter with the Blacks.
"Bye, Sirius," she said gently, kissing him on the cheek. To have that…woman for your mother. Lily felt sorry for him.
Sirius sighed briefly.
"Terrible, weren't they?"
"No, it wasn't so bad," lied Lily.
"It was positively awful, Padfoot, just like we expected," bawled James. Sirius gave up a smile and hugged Lily. Over her shoulder, he said,
"At least Lily had some tact, Prongs."
"Brilliant, Padfoot. Now let go of my girlfriend."
Sirius grinned and didn't. Lily heard James tapping his foot impatiently and she pulled away, laughing.
"All you have to worry about now is your N.E.W.T.s turnouts," remarked Lily. Sirius grinned again but then his gaze caught something over her head.
"That's something a bit worse than your N.E.W.T.s exams, Prongs," muttered Sirius, directing James to the crowd of Muggles at the station's wait area.
James looked straight ahead. There, standing next to a clean plum-colored saloon with the windows down, were two people who could only be the parents of Lily Evans. They were waving to her, for one. The mother sported bright red hair.
Lily took his hand. She smiled up at James and he summoned up some of his usual charm. She looked if he had no idea what he was in for. He knew that he didn't. Hands entwined, they stepped off into the future.
TA DA!
I know this chapter was a little weird. I know it was not the best. But it is the last one you'll see on this story, and I finished it in record time. It's twenty-three pages in Times New Roman 12 pt. in MicrosoftWord. I hoped you enjoyed the story.
Yes, the tones of this chapter were different than the general Lightning at Hogwarts tone. It is a preview to what is probably a darker, more character-centered tale to follow when I post my companion story. Not because I've become an angst writer, but because everyone's lives become tougher after the safe house of school. Lily and James' especially, I think.
The setup is also sketchier than that of previous updates to reflect the increased sketchiness of their situations.
I also don't plan to post anything else until late summertime because I will be on a three week vacation in Spain. That's why I hurried up this one. And rest assured that, from time to time, Lightning at Hogwarts will be undergoing renovations.
Then this is goodbye, I guess. I hope to see you all on my next story.
THANKS FOR ALL YOUR REVIEWS AND OPINIONS EVER!
Candy Cane Jones