Lily hadn't been lying when she told James she hated heights. She'd always felt dizzy watching quidditch matches, and she avoided flying whenever possible. In fact, she'd always secretly envied James for his ease on a broom.

As they left the Ferguson castle behind them, one of Lily's hands gripped the broom tightly, and the other held James to her even more tightly; she couldn't quite shake the horrifying image of James defying the odds and beating dragon pox, only to plummet to his death due to her negligence. In contrast to her own tension, James was limp, his head rested back against Lily's shoulder.

To Lily's relief, no one followed them as they flew away. She followed Sirius without question, even though he couldn't know the landscape of Scotland any better than she did. Finally, over a stretch of forest, he landed among the trees. She followed, letting out a small squeak as she dropped after him.

She landed hard, and James jerked awake.

"Alright, Evans? You look a bit pale," Sirius said, for once actually seeming genuinely interested in her well-being.

"Fine," she said, her voice a bit higher than usual.

She helped James off of the broom, settling him at the base of a tree.

"How are you feeling?" she asked anxiously.

"Great," he murmured.

Soon, he was asleep again, leaving Lily to sit at his side, while Sirius leaned against a tree. Even in the dark, she thought James looked pale and unhealthy, and his breaths were still loud in the quiet night. Again, Lily reminded herself that there was nothing more she could do for him. Still, part of her worried that the abrupt departure from the castle might have made his illness worse.

Lily tried not to focus on Sirius, but she could feel his eyes on her. Finally, she lost patience.

"What?" she snapped.

He didn't answer at first, but then he said, "did you really fight Severus Prince?"

Lily lifted her chin. "I did."

"Why did you stay, Lily? I'm trying to figure it out. What possible reason could you have for staying with James, when you could have saved your own neck?"

"I think you can guess."

Sirius opened his mouth, but before he could respond, a small owl crashed into him.

"What…" he muttered.

A figure dropped from the sky on a broom. Lily and Sirius both had their wands out and pointed at the cloaked person as soon as they landed, but the person just held up their hands.

"Stop. It's me."

Lily lowered her wand as the figure lowered her cloak, revealing familiar unruly curls.

"Cait!"

Lily threw her arms around her friend, and Cait hugged her tightly back.

"I can't believe you left without me," Cait said, dismounting from her broom.

"Well, it's not as though we had time to ask if you wanted to come along," Sirius said.

"How did you find us?" Lily asked, suddenly worried.

"I sent an owl to you and followed the owl," Cait said with a shrug. She turned to the owl. "You can go home now. Shoo."

"That's actually rather clever," Sirius said.

"It happens, occasionally."

Lily bit her lip. "I'm glad you're here, but don't they need a healer at the castle?"

"They're well-supplied with potions, and Anne knows how to do the rest. She helped you enough."

Cait swept over to James, crouching down to feel his forehead. "I think his fever's breaking. I think he's going to be just fine."

She took her cloak off and spread it over James, tucking it around him with surprising gentleness.

"You're not just saying that?" Lily asked, feeling the first bit of hope she'd felt in some days.

Cait gave her a look. "You think I'd lie about something like that?"

Before Lily knew it, she and Sirius were hugging, and Lily was laughing slightly hysterically.

"I think your worry about James has been addling your brains," Cait said, shaking her head.

Lily woke to a warm dawn, to the sounds of birds chirping and James's steady breathing. Something was strange, and when Lily realized what it was, it filled her with relief. James's breaths no longer sounded painful; they sounded almost normal. She opened her eyes to see that the green had disappeared entirely from his skin, and although he was still pale, there was at least some faint colour in his cheeks. His eyes were open, his gaze upon her face. He was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen.

"Hey," she whispered.

A slow smile spread across his face. "Hey."

"How are you feeling?"

"Better. You know, Lily, you're beautiful even when you're blurry, but I don't suppose you got my glasses?"

She grinned back. "I did."

"I knew I married the perfect woman."

She huffed out a small laugh as she rummaged in her pocket. "Here."

He put on his glasses and smiled at her. "Much better."

She kissed him.

"Don't ever do that again," she murmured.

"Do what?"

"Almost die."

"I'll do my best."

She paused. "James?"

"Yes?"

She propped herself up on her elbow. "Did you really hear… well…"

"Yes."

She groaned. "All of it?"

"Yes."

"And you don't hate me?"

James frowned. "Why would I hate you?"

Lily lowered her voice, until her words were barely audible. "Well, I… I wasn't strong enough to kill him, and-"

"Lily," he turned serious, and she winced, expecting some sort of reprimand. "Do you know one of the reasons I first fell in love with you?"

This was not the turn she was expecting this conversation to take. "No…?"

"I fell in love with you because of your heart. You're the kindest, most loving person I know. You do things like let bad people live, and sacrifice your safety to help people who are sick. You shouldn't be ashamed of that. Not everyone is brave enough to be as kind as you are."

"You fell in love with me because of that?" Lily asked, amazed.

"Well, that and your looks. You're really hot."

Lily laughed quietly. "Thanks?"

"No, really, you are."

She curled up against him, placing her head against his shoulder. "You're okay, too."

"You two are sickening," Cait said sleepily.

Sirius groaned and muttered something into his hands, too muffled to make out.

"What?" Cait said.

"Stop bloody talking and let me sleep!"

Cait muttered something about him being a baby, but then they all lapsed into silence. Really, Lily thought, Sirius had the right idea; they all deserved a lazy morning after yesterday.

It was hard to believe that she'd fought Severus Prince and won. The thought brought her a glimmer of satisfaction, soon replaced by worry. When she'd shoved him under the bed, she'd had only the thought of getting him out of the way, keeping him hidden long enough to get a head start as they fled. But now, she couldn't help but worry that she had hidden him a little too well. In attempting to save his life, had she killed him anyway? Had she condemned him to a slow death of starvation and thirst, alone under a bed? Or what if Duncan was the one to find him, after Severus Prince's followers had left? Would he execute him? Had she actually done the more cowardly thing, in leaving someone else to kill Severus Prince?

She shivered, and James's hold around her tightened. She reminded herself that it was too late; she'd done what she'd done. Her conscience may not be clear, but at least she'd saved James.

There was something terrible about keeping secrets. She was almost grateful that James had heard the whole exchange with Severus Prince. Lily knew she was capable of keeping secrets, but that didn't mean she wanted to, and right now she was keeping a large secret from Sirius and Cait. Although Sirius seemed to have warmed to her slightly, she knew his opinion of her would change if he knew she had let Severus Prince live again.

Lily's mounting concerns about them being followed finally got them up, although with a lot of grumbling in Sirius's case.

"Are you feeling well enough to travel?" Lily asked James anxiously.

"I'm fine," he assured her. "Just a bit tired."

Cait sighed. "We should have travelled further last night. We can hardly fly across the country in the light of day."

"Please don't tell me we have to walk," Sirius groaned.

In the end, Cait apparated with them one by one to a village south of the Ferguson castle. The direction was deliberate, as it moved them away from Hogwarts and Severus Prince. It was a village that looked very similar to to the one where Lily and Bertha had been captured, at least from afar; all the buildings were made of the same dull stone, and a small church with a distinctive spire towered over the other buildings from the village centre.

Cait looked out over the village with an odd expression. "It's been years since I've been here."

"Where are we?" Lily asked.

"Nowhere of particular importance," Cait said, adding almost casually, "I grew up here."

"So you must know some witches and wizards here already," James said. "That's excellent."

"There aren't many," Cait said quickly. "There were only two other magical families here when I grew up. I'm sorry… it was the first place I thought of."

As they walked on the road towards the village, leaving their brooms behind in the woods, Cait quickly told them about the families.

"One is an all-magical family, with parents and a few kids. The other was a muggleborn girl I went to school with. She was a year or so ahead of me at Hogwarts. She had to drop out early because of… well, you know. I heard she moved back here after they passed the new laws and snapped her wand."

"That's great," James said cheerfully. "She'll definitely want to help our cause, then."

Lily shot him a look. "James, it's not 'great.' The poor witch had her wand snapped."

"You're right," he hurried to say.

"You should know that her parents don't know she's a witch. They're very religious," Cait said. "When we talk to her, we'll have to get her alone."

Lily couldn't imagine growing up as a muggleborn in this time, when being a witch could have severe consequences. Growing up a muggleborn in the 1900s wasn't always easy, but Lily had never had to hide who she was from her family, something she was now realizing was a luxury. Admittedly, Petunia had not taken Lily being a witch well, but her parents had always accepted her, and now Lily could only think of how much she missed them.

As they entered the town, Cait went uncharacteristically silent, and Lily was nervous enough about talking to the wizarding families that she was similarly quiet. The first door they knocked on was near the edge of the town, and it was immediately opened by a wizard with such deep circles under his eyes that they resembled faint bruises.

"Cait," he said, his face lighting up. "What a pleasant surprise. I didn't think you were ever coming back."

A child launched herself at Cait, wrapping her arms around Cait's middle.

"You've gotten so tall," Cait told the girl, after hugging her as well. "You must be going to school soon."

"In September!"

"Mr. Roy, these are some friends of mine: Lily Potter, James Potter, and Sirius Black." She glanced past Mr. Roy. "Where's Mrs. Roy? We were wondering if we might be able to have a word with the two of you."

There was a long silence.

"Oh, yes… I suppose you couldn't know," Mr. Roy said. "She passed last year. Difficult childbirth."

Cait looked gutted. "I'm so sorry."

"We've been managing alright, all things considered, " Mr. Roy said, a bit awkwardly. "Um… won't you come in?"

Lily trailed after Cait into the home, listening to Mr. Roy ask Cait about her position at the Ferguson castle. Quickly, Lily found herself distracted by their home. She had been in several magical households over the years, but each one seemed unique. In this one, the curtains were all drawn, presumably to keep the muggles from seeing the magic inside. Dishes were washing themselves in the sink; a cradle was rocking gently with a sleeping child inside; a painting of the night sky had stars that seemed to actually emit light.

"What brings you back here?" Mr. Roy asked Cait.

Lily forced her gaze away from the twinkling stars and back to Cait, who now looked a bit uncomfortable.

"I'm afraid it's not just a friendly visit…"

"I thought not," he said, not unkindly.

James spoke up. "We think the laws against muggleborns are wrong. We want to do something about it, and-"

But Mr. Roy had already held up his hands. "No. No, I'm not interested. You have my sympathy, but that's all I can give."

James frowned. "But if you're sympathetic to the cause, you must know that the laws are wrong."

"Absolutely," Mr. Roy said. "I feel terrible for those poor muggleborns, but I have my family to think of."

"Don't you want your family to see you do what's right?" James argued.

"I want my family to see me live. I don't want my children to be orphans. If you ever have children, Mr. Potter, you'll understand that protecting them is more important than any fight."

Lily could tell that Mr. Roy's patience was starting to wear thin, but she couldn't resist speaking up.

"Discriminating against muggleborns means condemning a lot of muggleborn children," Lily said. "By choosing not to fight, you're hurting them."

"Enough," Mr. Roy said flatly. "Cait, dear, it was lovely to see you. But I won't listen to this any longer."

He stood. James looked as though he might stay and argue; Sirius beat him to it.

"Selfish," Sirius muttered. "Really bloody selfish."

"Out," Mr. Roy snapped.

Considering he was brandishing his wand rather threateningly, Lily thought it was best to listen. She pulled James out the door, and Sirius and Cait followed. A baby's wail followed them out the door, which Mr. Roy slammed hard behind them.

James let out a frustrated sigh. "Well, that was a bloody waste of time."

"He was only the first person we've spoken to," Lily said, although she couldn't keep the frustration out of her own voice. "We can't expect everyone to want to fight."

"Well, why not?" James retorted. "If it's the right thing, everyone should want to fight against it."

Cait looked at them both with raised eyebrows.

"What?" James asked.

"Good lord. You were all in Gryffindor, weren't you?"

"Proud of it, too," Sirius said, crossing his arms.

Cait muttered something unkind under her breath. "Let's find Mary. Perhaps you can try not to alienate all of my former neighbours?"

With a last, slightly wistful look at the Roys' home, Cait walked away. If she noticed the curtain twitch, and the small face look out at her, she didn't react.

Mary lived further into town, close to the church. They were able to catch her out on the street, and Mary looked like a person cornered.

"Cait," she said. "I'm surprised to see you here. Surely you aren't here to see me?"

"We are," she said. She hesitated. "I'm sorry about what happened to you. We'd like to fix things."

Mary's gaze darted around. Their corner of the street was deserted, and Mary relaxed slightly.

"I don't need you to," she said quietly. "I'm living with my family, and I'm happy with that. Just leave me alone; I'm following the law."

She turned to leave, but James blocked her way. "Wait. We want to change the laws. Will you help us?"

"Get out of my way," she said coldly.

Cait grabbed James and pulled him to the side. "Thank you for your time, Mary. It was good to see you."

Although her way was clear now, Mary didn't move. She looked around at their faces, her own expression darkening. Lily could imagine what she was seeing: the clear resentment on James's face, the disdain on Sirius's, the polite neutrality on Cait's. As for what she saw on Lily's face, Lily wasn't sure. She only knew she felt like she might cry.

"You're judging me!" Mary hissed.

"A little," Sirius said with a shrug.

"You have no right. You don't know what I've gone through," she said fiercely. "Don't you get it? I'm tired. Even if I had a wand, I wouldn't put myself through that, or put a target on my parents' backs. I'm done."

She stormed off, leaving the four of them behind, and leaving Lily with the realization that getting people on their side was going to be much harder than she thought.