It was a good day to reveal a sit-down secret. After a morning of cramming Euphemia and Fleamont Potter's shrill, last minute Christmas greetings into their howler-like mailers, the lads were exhausted. And a morning of crying in public over sisterly drama always took the spark out of Lily. When lunch was over, the students were perfectly content to disappear into the Potters' library.

At the centre of the room was a massive circular table etched with a map of the world. Resting on top of it, as if in readiness, was the large, leather-bound book James had been reading by the drawing room fire the night before.

The tone of the library was solemn, but the lads draped themselves haphazardly over the ornately carved wooden chairs all the same.

Again, it was Remus who began. "Alright, Lily. What do you know about magical map-making?"

"I can make a fine star-chart," she said. "Never tried to map anything terrestrial though. Is this really your next great secret? A map?"

"Yes, actually," Sirius said. He reached into his jacket, produced a folded parchment, and tossed it onto the tabletop. "Here it is."

James pulled the parchment to where he sat next to Lily. She took it from him, turning it in her fingers. "It looks blank. What's the spell to make the ink visible?"

James groaned and dropped his head into his hands. "You must understand that we were all of fifteen years old when we made it."

Remus gave her a cringing smile. "It's a bit fanciful and braggartly, I'm afraid."

"Oh, it's not that bad," Peter said. "Tap it with your wand and say, 'I solemnly swear I am up to no good.'"

Lily laughed. "By the stars, that is so…"

"Just give it here," Peter said, repeating the incantation. As he did the title page came into view. James snatched it back.

"The Marauders' Map," Lily read. "What marauders are those?"

"That's what we used to call ourselves," Sirius sighed. "Not a word, Evans. Just open it up. Get to the genius part."

James hovered over Lily's shoulder, supervising as she opened the map on the table. "Recognize it?" he said.

"Hogwarts," she said. "It's unmistakable. And it's got everything, right down to the portraits. Only, what are all these funny little hatches and tubes?"

James stood back, beyond being embarrassed by his fifteen year old self, now proud of him. "Passageways, tunnels, most of them unknown to everyone but Filch and us. We pored over every bit of the castle in ridiculously fine detail never before brought together in a single document."

Remus dropped a hand on Peter's shoulder. "And it was thanks in large part to having a rat's eye view of the place."

Sirius seemed to bristle. "But the mapping of it was only the beginning. Note the movements."

Lily had already noticed the map's staircases moving like they did in real life. It was Christmas holidays and the school was sparsely populated but there were still a few people there, each of them represented by a dot, most of which were also moving. "It's Filch," she gasped, watching a mark labeled with his name roaming a corridor, complete with a smaller tick for his cat. "All the teachers are there."

"It's a completely different picture when classes are in," Sirius said. "The map is loaded with markers then. Every student, every familiar, every ghost accounted for and traceable at any moment."

Lily stepped back. "That's astounding. How did you do it?"

"There was quite a bit of luck involved," James confessed, opening the atlas alongside their map. "This atlas has the same kind of moving maps in it. See? It's badly outdated and hardly working anymore, but in its time this atlas was a wonder. Seemed like a shame to leave good magic like this mouldering in a book in my father's library."

"And so, our ever enterprising Potter studied the book and came to notice that at the back of the atlas was a blank flyleaf, a sheet of parchment just as magical as the rest but without a map pre-drawn onto it," Remus said. "All he had to do was cut it out and bring it to school to make our map. It works on the old book's nicked magic, a rat's eye view, and our ever ready wits."

Lily was nodding, staring at the map. "Oh look, there's Dumbledore's mark. Where is he going? Oh - oh dear, he's heading for the loo."

Sirius snickered. "Yeah, it's thorough magic alright."

James was watching Lily as her look of wonder became one of worry. He pounced, trying to turn it back. "We can't really spy on anyone with it," he said. "Everyone just looks like a black dot. No features or curves. Nothing too telling."

"Maybe it's not for spying, but you can certainly stalk people with it," she said, her voice rising but cold. "You have done, haven't you? This explains why every time I'm alone with a boy, Potter here will just happen to stumble into us."

James was sputtering. "What it explains is how every time Avery and Mulciber try to corner you for some Death Eater harassment, I turn up to run them off. I wish I could trust Snape to keep them in line, but - "

"Fifth year," Lily interrupted. "Did you say you finished making this in fifth year? The year of the Triwizard Tournament?"

The rest of the lads had fallen silent as soon as Lily said the word 'stalk.' When they realized James had no choice but to step into the trap of admitting they'd had the map during the tournament, the room grew quieter than ever.

"You had it at the tournament," Lily went on, "including the Yule Ball."

James's shoulders were rising, as if to swallow his head. Lily was rounding on him, her forefinger poking at his chest. "The Yule Ball when my first kiss was rudely interrupted - "

James exploded. "That fur-wearing, stick-wielding Zako bloke had no right to mash his mustached mouth on you."

Lily was aflame in return. "His name is Zdravko and you, James Potter, have no right to have an opinion on whose mouth comes anywhere near me." She dropped her finger and folded her arms, tossing her head. "Especially not back then."

He barked a pained laugh. "So you admit it's different now, do you?"

She ignored the remark, keeping to her own line of attack. "And the way you interrupted us, Potter. Did he tell you how he did it, lads? I'm sure he did. Bragging about it."

All of them were shrinking into their collars now, remembering. Sirius had been the one who noticed Lily's dot overlapping one of the Durmstrang boy's out in the courtyard during the ball. The rest of them put miserable James up to sabotaging it. But it was no good mentioning that.

"He didn't intrude on my one and only first kiss with some falsely polite 'oh pardon me, Zdravko, I didn't realize there was anyone in this shady, romantic courtyard alcove.' Oh, no. Not James Potter. He came crashing through a hedge, French kissing that Beauxbatons tart in the strapless ballgown - "

"Suzette is a very nice person," James managed to choke in his defense. "And how frustrated do you think a man can get before he snaps and snogs someone else, Evans? You're my crush, not my vow of chastity. And stars know I'm neither of those things to you - "

"Enough!" Remus called over both of them. "Stop this right now before someone gets well and truly hurt. What a shame. You both came back from your morning in town glowing with the good feelings between you, and now listen to yourselves."

"Seven years of this," Sirius said, getting to his feet before either James or Lily could argue any further. "Seven years of watching this bizarre dance between the pair of you. We are all exhausted with it."

James and Lily each had their eyes cast down at the table, neither of them noticing that Sirius and Remus had drawn their wands.

"Well, I'm sorry, mate," Sirius said. "But you'll thank us in the end."

"Wha - "

There was a flash of wordless stupefy spells. Sirius caught Lily as she slumped toward the table, while James toppled onto Peter, both of them splayed on the floor.

"Carefully now," Remus whispered as they inched out of the library. Sirius had Lily bent in half and slung over his shoulder. Remus held James under his arms while Peter carried his feet. "It wouldn't do for Effie to catch us tossing Jimsy stupefied into his own cellar."

They made it through the hall, past the kitchen, and into the narrow stone steps leading to the cellar beneath the oldest part of the manor. The iron grate over the entrance creaked and clanged as Sirius eased it open. James muttered and tossed between the hands that held him.

Remus gestured with his chin toward the wall where they set the pair of them sitting up, Lily's head leaning on James's shoulder. Once they were safely on the other side of the locked grate, Sirius and Remus reversed the stupefaction and waited while James and Lily woke up.

"What are you playing at, Sirius?" James called, still a little groggy, helping Lily get to her feet.

"You two need to sort yourselves out once and for all," he said. "Everyone is leaving for home tomorrow morning so now is the time. Stay down here until you're friends again, or - whatever else you can peacefully negotiate."

"Talk about your feelings," Remus said. "Don't be proud."

"Tell the truth," Peter added.

And with that, they went up the stairs, leaving James and Lily alone. As soon as the lads were out of sight, the cellar went completely dark. Lily gasped and James grabbed for her hand.

"Don't panic," he said. "I think they've left me my wand."

It was true, and in an instant it was glowing between them.

Lily laughed. "They've left me mine too. Those daft gits. What's stopping us from marching over to the door and letting ourselves out?"

James laughed too. "Tough love indeed. Shall we humour them a little? I mean, I am sorry about the map. I was a stupid kid and I wasn't thinking - "

Lily groaned. "Forget it, Potter. And stop. I refuse to have a forced talk about feelings while they wait somewhere with their fingers crossed. I hate that."

"Me too," he said, kicking at the stone floor with the toe of his shoe. "But you know, looking at this long, empty space down here, I think it might be a good place for us to do that Patronus practice you promised me."

"Oh," she chirped. "Yeah, alright."

James began with a brief review of Patronuses. It was nothing Lily didn't already know but it did serve to reorient her. "Good feelings are the main thing," he finished up. "Good feelings are stronger than bad ones, mad as that seems at times. Good feelings, confidence, flick of the wand, proper pronunciation of the incantation."

"Right. And if it works, we'll see misty animals," Lily restated.

James squirmed a little. "Probably. The corporeal animal form is advanced. Don't be discouraged if you don't get it at first. In all this time, Peter has never actually produced an animal. I think Remus could do one, but he's afraid it might turn out to be a werewolf so he holds back. Can hardly blame him. I imagine it would be hard to channel your best feelings when brought eye-to-eye with your own personal curse."

Lily hummed. "Sirius then. Is his Patronus a dog, like Padfoot?"

James nodded in the dim light of his wand. "Yes. Dogs are strongly connected to his name and identity. It makes sense."

She narrowed her eyes. "Why a stag for you then? What does it have to do with your identity?"

James let out his breath. "I don't know. Ever since I first saw it, I've been looking for something to connect me to deer, stags, anything with four legs, really. But it never comes to me. It's like a missing piece in a mystery about myself."

She reached up to smooth his eyebrow again. "You don't think it's just the velvety-ness of your eyebrows and antlers?" she teased.

James smirked, but not without an edge of nerves. "Who knows? It's the best lead I've had so far," he joked in return.

"Well, can I see your Patronus? Maybe I'll notice something about it you haven't. I mean," she said, waving an arm into the darkness, "if you think you can actually produce the good feelings you need for a Patronus down here, held captive in a dark pit by your best mates."

His smirk was now a smile. "Sure I can. You're here."

And without waiting for her to reply, James called the incantation and flung a bright white jet from the end of his wand. It swirled once about the cellar, lighting the cold, earthy walls, before resolving into the familiar form of a stag, like Prongs only shining and ephemeral.

Even though she'd been expecting it, the sight of the stag was no less overwhelming for Lily. She took James's arm, steadying herself.

At her touch, James jolted into action again. "Alright, now you," he said while Lily was still dazzled, watching the luminous creature he'd conjured trotting away, dissipating back into darkness.

James had shifted to stand behind her, his arm running the length of hers, his hand closed around her wrist. Once again, his face was next to hers as he stooped to bring his head level with hers. "Say the incantation before the light of the first one fades away."

James Potter's voice was in Lily's ear, his breath on her neck, the warmth of his chest and arm along her back and shoulder. He was kind, brilliant, beautiful, beloved by his friends, and still had a lot to learn about women. All of this was bursting through Lily Evans's heart, and perhaps no one had ever been in a better state than her to cast a perfect, corporeal Patronus on their first attempt.

Lily's wand jumped as she called the incantation. White light filled the cellar, and as it whirled and flashed, a shape came into view. It was smaller than the first Patronus, without antlers, less shaggy at the shoulders. It was the doe to James's stag.

Her grip went slack around her wand and it clattered to the floor. The doe went on anyway, chasing after the fading trail the stag had left a moment before.

Lily turned to find James's face in the dark, still poised over her shoulder, not watching the doe anymore, but fixed on her.

"James," she said, almost a whisper. "Is this special?"

"Yes." He breathed the word against her lips.

She tipped her chin ever so slightly and felt the light touch of his mouth on hers. Her breath drew in sharply and he followed in its slipstream, bringing them together. He opened only slightly at first, warm and faintly wet. When she parted her lips in return he couldn't hold back his voice, low in his throat, without words. It was a vulnerable sound, no arrogance in it. It was his true voice and he couldn't be embarrassed by it. This was Lily, the missing piece in the mystery of himself, what he'd been matching, mirroring all this time without knowing it.

She turned in his arms, bringing them face to face as James's hands slid around around her waist and back. She had pulled his glasses off his face and they were closer than ever, one of her hands lost in the hair at the back of his head.

He had a sense that his hands were shaking, pressed hard against her back, pushing his chest into hers, lifting her onto her toes. He raised one hand, gliding underneath her hair, to the warm nape of her neck, his fingers curling into her hairline. He changed the tilt of his head as he tipped her neck, coming into her more hungrily, too much for a first kiss yet so natural between them. Natural, but not like something ordinary. Natural like a hurricane.

He felt the same shaking of his own hands in her as he held her. Or was something else shaking through her, something vibrating, humming through both of them as they came together this way. Was it all just him, or did she feel it too?

There was a quiet crack as she tipped away. His sigh at the loss of contact between their mouths was vocal and tortured, but she held him as tightly as ever, her eyes closed, her forehead still pressed to his lips. Her voice was low, speaking between them as if it belonged to someone else.

"There isn't much time," her voice said.

"No, not much time," his voice agreed.

"Don't leave us."

"Never."

"James."

"Lily."

Her low voice was breaking, as if she was shouting into a high wind. "And," she began, "And…"

James could almost feel a wind too. He ducked his face into the crown of her head, shielding her head with his arms. All he wanted was to hear the rest of what she would say. This was what she'd worked her entire life for. This was prophecy. In his arms, through the connection of their kiss, Lily Evans had been transfigured into a seer. He had been her partner in it, with each answer he'd given her.

What were they telling each other? James, Lily, and...Who?

The wind was fading, if it had ever truly been there. The vibration was subsiding until their own heaving breaths were the only things left shaking them. James stooped to kiss her cheeks, her breath hot on his face.

"Was that a…a prophecy?" she said.

"Yes, I think so," he answered.

"How will we know for sure?" She leaned back, looking up at him, letting him ease his glasses out of her clenched hand as he considered her question.

With his glasses on, he smoothed her hair and kissed her again, meaning for it to be quick, like a thank you for holding his glasses. But it took nothing for him to get caught up in the taste and scent of her, lost in a deep kiss until she broke away again to say, "What's that?"

She summoned something glowing on the ground near their feet. It was a glass orb about the size of a snitch, a luminous grey smoke shifting inside of it. "It's a prophecy orb," she said. "Like they store at the Ministry."

James left one arm clasped around her waist but freed one hand to touch the cool glass of the orb with his fingertip as she held it in her palm. "What did any of that mean? I know how it felt but - you're the diviner. What are we supposed to do now?"

She pocketed the orb. "I won't pretend to understand all of it. But I think at least one thing is clear. We're supposed to be together, and stay together."

At that, James was happy enough to laugh softly against her neck as he held her close. He wanted to say mad things, ridiculous things about love and soulmates and forever. He wasn't quite eighteen, he had kissed this girl for the first time just minutes ago, and still it was all brimming inside him. He hardly trusted himself to speak.

He hadn't noticed how dark the cellar had got until Lily pulled him by the hand toward the light coming through the bars of the iron door. "Come on," she said. "We can at least go find the lads and tell them we've - how did they put it - sorted ourselves out."

He laughed again. "Have we? What exactly do we tell them?"

He saw her silhouette shrug in the light of the door as she walked toward it, glancing over her shoulder at him as she towed him by the hand. "To start, we can just say that from now on you are mine."

James leapt at her, hugging her from behind, almost like a tackle, speechless but humming his approval into her ear. He was already desperate to kiss her again, nuzzling at her throat as they went.

She lifted her wand to charm the lock on the door, but it creaked open on its hinges, letting them through by itself. They weren't alone. James dragged his face away from Lily's skin, straightening his posture, but taking hold of her hand again as they stepped into the light of the stairwell.

Waiting at the top wasn't Sirius or Remus or even Peter. It was Euphemia Potter herself.

"Mum - "

"Come along, Jimsy, and bring your sweetheart," she said. "We have an awful lot to talk about."