Hi, so here is another chapter and I am sorry for the delay but this was an absolute nightmare to get out. The next chapter will show this chapter from Lily's point of view, the chapter after that will deal with the ramifications and then we have a time jump to Christmas and then the real plot begins.

Mary is essential to the real plot as well. I know there isn't much about her (or maybe there is and I just haven't seen it yet) but for this story I am making her father a sworn enemy to the Death Eaters and more than a few Pureblood Families.

Disclaimer-Nothing is mine.

Please Read and Review.

And finally on a personal note for me on news that has no doubt been seen all around the world and as a Brit means enough for me to comment on. Queen Elizabeth II who sadly passed away at the time of writing this was perhaps one my idols since before I could understand what the word meant. This chapter and indeed all chapters of my work with this update are written in memory of her and her phenomenal legacy as a Queen, a wife, a mother, a grandmother and a great-grandmother and perhaps most importantly at all, a woman in a man's world who rose to the top was universally respected and never stopped smiling even when I imagine all she wanted to do was cry. As she so wonderfully said, grief is the price we pay for love. And perhaps it is the best price that we can pay for that, the most ultimate gift.

The Beginning Of The End

Chapter 5-Hide In Plain Sight

Halloween is just around the corner and the first Hogsmeade weekend is there as well. Away from the castle sparks fly both romantically and magically. Slightly Shorter Chapter-Part 1 of a Two Part Arc.

"Hogsmeade weekend the day of Halloween" Lily said to Marlene as they sat down to breakfast that morning.

"Good" Marlene said not looking up from her Runes homework and wincing every five or six seconds at the shoddy translating. "I could do with a break, can I as does this mean defence?"

"No" Lily said taking a look. "It means partnership"

"Shit" Marlene muttered waving her wand as the offending sentences disappeared. "I should know that by now. Professor Vector's been on at me for leaning it for weeks."

Lily said nothing. She never took Runes preferring instead to focus her attention on Arithmancy. She liked the problems that Arithmancy gave her. She liked sitting and figuring them out late into the night. No matter how hard they were they were a hell of a lot easier than some of the other problems dominating the news.

The Prophet had not reported on it but it was clear that Voldemort (she refused to call him He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named or You-Know-Who on principle alone) was moving his followers out into the open. It was also clear that said followers were pushing hard amongst the Slytherin's for recruitment. While there had not been an all out knock out drag out fight like there had been six weeks ago it was clear that soon there would be. Low level incidents had been happening and though she and James had done their bit in helping the teachers try to contain the damage, the truth was that they were struggling.

"Maybe a day of the grounds will help" Mary said softly sitting down next to them. Mary always did everything softly these days. Maybe that was part of the problem.

"Maybe" Lily said. It was all she could say. In truth she was looking forwards to it. She loved Hogsmeade, she loved the sprawling layout of the village and she loved the little houses that interlocked between the shops. She loved the community there, the fact that everyone seemed to know everyone and that five times a year they didn't mind that the students of Hogwarts from thirteen all the way up to seventeen descended on them.

"Are you alright Mary?"

Mary turned to Lily her blue eyes wide and Lily was aware that Marlene was watching her too. Mary since her attack the previous year when Nott and Avery had jumped her had been a different person. It had been the end of a lot of things last year. The end of Mary's fun loving personality as they knew it, the end of her friendship with Severus (or at the very least the final nail in the coffin never to be re-opened).

"I'm fine Lily" Mary said quietly. "I just…it's hard when home writes"

Marlene and Lily shared a look. Mary's home life after the attack had not been good but Lily didn't know much more than that. The truth of the matter was that Mary had not gotten into it all that much and Lily had been loath to press her when so much had been happening in the later part of the summer term.

"Has something happened?" Lily asked gently. "Is it your father?"

Mary's father was struggling with his work. Working in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement did that. He was currently working on pushing legislation through to protect Muggles from the Death Eaters or something like that (Lily was almost ashamed to say she had not bothered to keep up with the news—NEWTs Transfiguration was not called the stuff of living nightmares for nothing) but the more she looked at Mary the more she thought the girl looked older and paler and sadder than she had ever done before.

There was nothing to say. News from home was always met with a bit of a strained smile these days. There was no other option for it but to carry on. Lily had only written home once and if Petunia got the letter then there was not much point. The absence between her mother and her had grown significantly since their father had died. Even Petunia had been understanding when Lily had pointed out that if magic could raise the dead would anyone really be able to die.

But she also acknowledged that she was in a much better situation that others. She knew there had been a Hufflepuff fourth year who had been brought out yesterday morning to be told that his parents had been found dead.

"So Hogsmeade" Marlene said in a valiant effort to try and change the topic of conversation. "Where do we want to go first? Three Broomsticks?"

"We always finish at the Three Broomsticks" Mary said smiling though it didn't quite light her eyes up again. "Besides we all know that Lily won't be happy until she's got enough sugar quills so that she can set up shop for the rest of the year"

Lily laughed taking the easy hit, it was true anyway.

"Alright then" she said pleased to see that some of the light had re-entered Mary's eyes. "Let's grab our scarves and remember…it's Halloween tonight…"

"Considering the entire castle stinks of pumpkin I would think we'd be hard pressed to forget it" came a voice to her left and she turned to see Remus Lupin back from another monthly 'visit' to his sick mother sitting down.

"Sorry Remus" she said smiling. With Lupin it was always so easy to like him. Certainly more so when he was not with his friends. Thought…James was growing on her a bit more with each passing Head's meeting.

Actually he was doing more than growing on her. Recently he had been cropping up in her thoughts. There was just something about the way that he handled himself these days…it was hard to believe that he had once upon a time been the James Potter that she had hated for being an arrogant prick.

"No worries" Lupin said looking tired. Lily wanted to tell him that she knew, that he could share the burden with people other than his friends if he wanted but she couldn't. To be honest looking at him know she rather thought the shock would kill him. Right now he was the very definition of a dead man walking.

"Since when did you not like pumpkin?" Mary said looking up from spooning scrambled eggs on her place. Lily shot her a look that she was sure that Mary didn't see. The truth of it was that Remus's sense of smell probably went haywire at the full moon (if all the books that she had read and all the lessons that she'd had on werewolves were true) then it was probably that. But there was no need to for Mary to make it obvious that they knew something was up. Knowing Remus he'd probably run for the hills.

"Since today" Remus said eyeing the book in Marlene's hands with intense dislike.

"Damn, I forgot that we had those translations due in on Monday"

"Yes" Marlene said looking at the sentence she was supposed to be transcribing by heart—kinda hard when you had the book in your lap trying desperately not to be seen by Professor Vector who was spooning honey on her porridge and damn well seeing all.

"How bad?"

"Bad" Lily and Marlene said together.

Remus pressed his lips together and sighed. Lily couldn't blame him. She was buried under so much homework that she could now feel irritation when she heard the fifth years in the common room moan about how much they had. All things considering she would take OWLs over NEWTs any day.

"I think I'm going to cancel my subscription to the Prophet" Peter announced to the group at large. They were in Honeydukes and James who was aware at how thin these visits were on the ground with him and his friends (in fact as McGonagall pointed out only just this morning it was a minor miracle that they had all gotten to go together this time) and therefore he was eyeing up his chocolate rations carefully.

"Why?" Sirius said pulling down the jar of strawberry jelly slugs.

"Bollocks" was all Peter said.

James couldn't disagree with that.

It had been a nice day out at the shop. First Zonko's where they had restoked and then Honeydukes, they'd probably go to the Hog's Head when this was over. The Barman was as grumpy as sin but he was decent and it was less crowded than the Three Broomsticks. Also James was fairly certain that barman at the Hog's Head knew things because he always seemed to chuck Remus an extra warm Butterbeer after a particular bad full moon.

It was just as he was paying up his purchases (he was easy when it came to sweets—give him a jar of clotted cream fudge and he was good until he felt sick) when he saw a flash of red against the wind blowing backwards. James who knew that red hair in more ways than he knew his own, watched as Lily Evens alone exited the Post Office and then his concern deepened when he saw who had followed her.

Snape.

What the hell had he been doing?

The second he thought that he could have kicked himself. He knew what Snape had been doing—begging for her forgiveness which is what he had been doing all last year to no avail. But Snape instead of stalking off after her stalked off in the other direction and that made James pause.

Since when did Snape not follow Lily?

Paying for his fudge and telling Peter to tell Sirius that he would see them in the Hog's Head (Sirius being too engrossed in weather or not he could convince his mother cockroach cluster were a new brand of peanuts designed for only the purest of blood—to Remus's utter exasperation) he ducked outside after her.

It didn't take long to find Lily. It was like everything in his body was attuned to finding Lily. He loved Lily.

That was the problem.

She was leaning against the wall of an ally breathing in and breathing out and when she saw him she looked away but not before something inside of him twisted painfully at the sadness, etched onto her expression.

"What happened?"

"Nothing"

"Seriously Ev—Lily if he hurt you then I will go after him and this time I really will take his pants off for all the world to see"

Lily said nothing to that but James was too concerned to care that the throwing up of one of the worst days of their lives might derail all the good that had filtered through their relationship.

"Nothing" she said again. "Nothing that's the point. He just…he just…he's with Avery and Mulciber now. I don't know why it bothered me so much but looking at him today and I just…I remember when it all used to be so simple, before the world outside the castle got in the way"

James didn't know what to say to that. There was a truth to it. Students went around tightly in groups, everyone seemed to keep an eye on everyone and he saw that security had tightened up amidst shopkeepers—that was different from last time too. While everyone seemed calm and seemed like they were enjoying the day it was clear what was missing—the carefreeness (if that was even a word—when Lily looked at him like she was now James was usually asleep after all), the unbridled enjoyment…all of it…

"I never thought that…I just…I knew he was speaking to them but to run off after them last night…I never thought that he would do that" she finished lamely. It had thrown her James could tell, she was holding herself upright and still her green eyes were blinking back tears. He was aware of how close they were and also how very little comfort he could give her. Personally he had thought Snape destined for the Death Eaters since before they had turned fifteen and the Death Eaters had just been a twinkle in the night sky and not the full blown nightmare they were now.

"I'm sorry Lily" he said softly taking her hand. "I am so sorry he's upset you"

She looked at him and she shook her head. They were closer now, James thought that he could count all the freckles that dotted her face and see the eyelashes clinging to the mascara that she coated them with.

"I just…I just want things to be normal" Lily said softly looking at him with those big wide green eyes.

"So do I" James said thought it was difficult to say such things when every word felt like he was wading in treacle. Everything seemed slow.

No…everything seemed to be going in slow motion because one moment he was looking at her and the next…

The next his lips had come down on hers and for a brief second that and the scent of her perfume was all that he could smell and feel and touch and taste and then Lily was pressing back and they were kissing.

Holy Mother Morgana and all the Wizards above he was kissing Lily Evans.

Had James died and gone to heaven and just not realised it?

But as soon as he had thought that, as soon as he could even begin to press deeper into the kiss or Merlin forbid try to analyse what this meant like some teenager discovering puberty for the first time she had jerked back surprise colouring her face before the prettiest blush that he had ever seen coloured it instead and then she was pushing past him back onto the street to find her friends leaving James shivering as if he had run a fever and aching for her in the only way that unrequited love could make you.

But was it unrequited? She had kissed him. James might be ignorant of many things but he was not ignorant of that. He had defiantly been in his right mind and his right body and his right presence.

He turned around but by the time he had reached the end of the ally she had gone.

He thought his lips were tingling still.

He had just kissed Lily Evans.

And yeah, James was sure he wouldn't notice a hoard of Death Eaters coming down the village at this point murder in their minds.

Because Lily Evans and he had just kissed.

So what did all of the rest matter?

Nothing. That was it. Absolutely nothing.

Because James honestly felt like he was floating on air.

Lily Evans and he had just kissed.

Nothing could distract him from this momentous moment.

Nothing.

Not even Lord Voldemort.

And there you go, see you next time.

Next Chapter-Lily's point of view of this chapter, Lily goes to Hogsmeade meets up with Snape and ends up kissing James. She has no idea how this has happened or how this is her life.