Author's Note: I'm still alive! I know, I was surprised too.

I honestly cannot thank my reviewers enough. Life was ridiculously busy the past few months, but every time I would sit down to write, I would start by reading my reviews for some encouragement and motivation. Every individual review quite truthfully means the world to me.

Hope you enjoy!

OooooOooooOooooO

In the wake of Valentine's, Lily found herself feeling more at peace. Even once the love potion wore off, she looked at herself with kinder eyes and spent less of her time preoccupied with her body image – even if it was only marginally less. She certainly felt as though her confidence had been greatly bolstered and was much more at ease during group conversations with the Marauders and with Candice. Lily was, of course, still deeply saddened by the couple and their seemingly unending happiness. However, since opening up to the other boys over one too many rounds of firewhisky, Lily quickly realized that she had three excellent allies.

The morning after Valentine's, for instance, Lily stumbled into the Great Hall for breakfast feeling groggy and more than a little embarrassed about her antics the previous night. She spied the Marauders and slowly made her way over, only to then see Candice, practically perched in James' lap. Lily sat down, speechless, as she watched Candice whisper something in his ear and kiss his neck. Peter gave her a simple wave; in response, Lily looked to the couple and raised her eyebrows. "Oi, you two!" Remus cried, throwing a toast crust at James for extra good measure. "Valentine's was yesterday – go get a room!"

"Sorry," Candice chuckled good-naturedly as she inched away from her boyfriend. "Getting a bit carried away, I guess." Lily stared at Remus, trying all her might to express her gratitude.

Once Lily felt as though she had the support and understanding of her other three friends, she started spending more time outside of her room. Slowly, she started reclaiming her favourite locations, including the common room, the library, and, increasingly, the boys' dormitory. She almost felt as though she had her old life back, even though she was still mourning the loss of her favourite Marauder. Of course, despite not feeling forcedto stay in her room, Lily was continuing her newfound love of potion-making. In fact, following her success with the love potion challenge, Lily had approached Professor Slughorn with an interesting proposition for an extra-credit project: she was currently attempting to create a new potion. When she shared this news with her friends, it hadn't exactly gone over well.

"So, I finally gave Slughorn the whole proposal and he's agreed to supervise it," she concluded happily after a thorough retelling of the tale.

There was a brief moment of silence as the boys realized she was expecting a response. "Supervise what?" Peter asked with a muffled voice as he chewed on a sugar quill.

"The..." Lily started as she looked from confused face to confused face. "The potion I literally just told you about."

"What potion?" came James' voice.

"Darling," chided Candice, who was nestled in his arms. "She just finished telling us. She's going to try and brew a new potion."

"Yes, thank you!" Lily exclaimed, her pride stinging at having to thank Candice for anything. "I mean, 'try' sounds a bit condescending, but that's the general idea, yeah..."

"What do you mean, 'new potion'?" Sirius questioned as he flipped through a magazine.

"I mean a new potion," she replied obstinately.

"You know, you don't need to tell us every time you make a potion. We're not exactly sitting on the edge of our seats."

"Ugh," Lily groaned. "Can anyone tell me why we're friends?" she asked rhetorically.

"To be honest, Lils," James started. Lily's heart stung slightly at James calling her 'Lils' rather than 'Pidg," but she blinked it away. "It seems as though you're still undecided about whether you prefer us or potions. Let us know if we win."

"It doesn't seem likely," she told them bitterly. No one said anything for several seconds. "Isn't anyone going to ask me about my potion?" she whined once she couldn't take it anymore.

"I thought we already covered this," Sirius told her.

"Oh Merlin," Remus exclaimed, looking up from his book. "Just ask her about the potion."

"Okay Lily," Sirius started condescendingly. "Please tell us about your latest potion."

"It's not my latest potion," she complained. "Well, actually, I guess technically it is my latest potion—" she was interrupted by many groans. "Okay, okay, I get the picture," she backpedaled. "It's a new potion, like, a new potion."

"Meaning?" Peter clarified.

"Like never been made before."

"By... students?" he asked, still not getting the picture.

"By anyone!" she cried, hoping she would finally get the attention she deserved.

Remus put down his book. "So what is this? Some kind of potion from legend?"

"No," Lily groaned. "If you all listened to me the first time around, we could save a considerable amount of time, you know?"

"But then we wouldn't get to see you all cute and bothered," James observed. Lily was sure she turned beet red and decided to cover it by taking off her jumper.

"Evans, please tell us about your potion," Sirius told her dryly as he continued to stare at his magazine

"It's a new potion," she repeated. "New like new. Like never been made before. Or even conceived of before. By anyone. Until now."

"You're making a new potion?" Remus questioned.

"Like I've said fifty times," she complained.

"Do you think that's a wise idea?" he critiqued.

"Yes," she said stubbornly. "I mean, I'd describe it as inspired, but I'd accept wise."

"After your last experience with homemade potions?"

"A raging success, as I'll remind everyone."

"I think she's lost it again," Peter said to Sirius.

"Oh yeah?" Sirius questioned. "How would you rate this one Wormtail? Two love potions?"

Peter pretended to think it over. "At least three love potions," he concluded. "Maybe four."

Lily scowled. "Assuming a 'love potion' is a marker of brilliance and talent, I couldn't agree more."

In point of fact, Lily was quite proud of her new invention. It was an ingenious blend of multiple elements of potions she had made over the semester that – if brewed according to plan – would produce a concoction that would render the drinker invisible only to those who mean to do them harm. She didn't have an intended use for the drink as of yet, but was able to recognize a significant scholastic gap when she had finished studying appearance-altering potions. Regrettably, all other attempts to discuss this potion with the Marauders yielded similar results. However, thanks to her newfound confidence she was able to take pride in her accomplishments even if her friends were less than impressed.

Unfortunately, Lily was still haunted – at least to a certain degree – by one of the events of Valentine's, which was that Candice still had a burning desire to play matchmaker. It seemed as though hardly a day could go by in which Lily wasn't subjected to what Candice must have viewed as clandestine winks, gestures, and setups. She was constantly rearranging people in the room so that Lily and Sirius could sit next to each other and trying to find excuses to leave the pair of them alone. The problem was exacerbated by Sirius, who seemed hell-bent on playing his part in whatever way he could muster. Whenever they were in Candice's line of sight, Lily was suddenly teased, tickled, and given strangely demeaning compliments. Among other attributes, he voiced appreciation for Lily's "barely-present" breasts, "absurdly vibrant" hair colour, "adorable" lack of friends, how "oddly talkative" she became when drunk, and her "strange proclivity" for brewing potions.

"Will you please stop encouraging her," Lily instructed him quietly one night. Thanks to Candice, the two of them were sharing a loveseat by the fire in the common room and Sirius had just poked her in the side (where she was very ticklish) to make her squeal.

"It's not my fault you're madly in love with me, Evans," he whispered in her ear as flirtatiously as possible.

"It is your fault that Candice believes that," she rebutted.

"Nah, love," he disagreed. "That one's all on you. This could all go away in just a few seconds if you decided to tell Candice that the real reason you hang out with all of us is that you're head over heels for her boyfriend."

Lily frowned and fought the urge to deny his statements. "That might not go over so well," she said instead.

"No, I suppose not," he agreed.

"Plus I do like the rest of you, you know," she offered reasonably. It was quite the understatement, since she greatly preferred spending time with them to seeing just about anyone else.

Sirius gasped and batted his eyelashes. "Don't make be blush," he said in a girly voice.

"Please don't," she agreed. "Wouldn't want Candice to see that."

All of this came to a head one day after Ancient Runes. Just as she was leaving, she spied James, casually leaning against the wall outside her classroom. She was temporarily taken aback but tried to recover quickly. "Fancy seeing you here," she said once their eyes met.

"Lily," he greeted curtly with a nod. There it was again – Lily.

"Were you waiting for me?" she asked in spite of herself.

"Yep," he answered simply. "I had a gap in my schedule."

She nodded as though that were meaningful answer. "Where's your better half?" she asked, realizing that this was the first time all semester she'd been alone with James. "Or, for that matter, your better... four fifths..." she commented, disappointed that her math took longer than expected.

James chuckled and ruffled his hair. "Two fifths of them are at Divinations. I think the other two fifths are at the library."

"Gotcha," she said, for lack of better words. "I didn't know you knew my schedule," she observed after a moment.

"Oh I definitely don't," he told her with another chuckle. Privately, Lily revelled in the sound. Even though she still had no idea what he was doing here, she could almost pretend that they were having a nice moment and that there was no such person as Candice. Lily gave him a look to relay her confusion. "I ran into Marlene a few minutes ago," he supplied. "Where are you headed now?" he asked.

"Nowhere," she said with a shrug. "I guess the common room."

"Sounds good," he agreed and started walking. Lily followed suit, conscious of how many extra steps she had to take to keep up.

"So, uh," Lily squeaked somewhat awkwardly. She cleared her throat and tried to sound more mature. "To what do I owe the pleasure?" She might have overshot on the maturity factor.

"Well," James started. "Mostly, I just wanted to ask..." The suspense was killing her. "What is going on with you and Sirius?"

Lily groaned, stopped walking, and covered her face. She supposed this conversation was inevitable, but she cursed herself for being so foolish as to create this situation in the first place. She also cursed herself for not sensing immediately that this was what James was up to. "I don't know what you're talking about," she said sarcastically from behind her hands when it became clear James wasn't going to come to her conversational rescue.

"Oh, I bet," he said with a laugh. Lily slowly inched her hands down her face until just her eyes were peaking out. He looked thoroughly amused. "Do you fancy him?" he asked more directly.

"No," Lily replied instantly. She dropped her hands and tried to implore James to believe her with her eyes.

"I knew it!" he exclaimed happily. "I told Candice there was no way." Lily stared at him wondering where this conversation would possibly go. "So why are you guys acting so weird?"

"So, uh..." How to explain? "So, Candice thinks that I have a huge crush on Sirius."

"I know," James replied, stating the obvious.

"Well, part of the reason she thinks that..." Lily really didn't want to say this next bit. "Is because, on Valentine's, she kind of asked me if I did, and I kind of... said yes."

James laughed. "You told her you fancied him?"

"Yes?" Lily questioned, more than answered. "Well, kind of?"

"But you don't?" he clarified.

"No," she reiterated emphatically.

"So you said the opposite of what you feel."

"Um, in a way, I guess."

"Like a lie."

"I suppose that's the definition of a lie..."

"So why did you say that?"

"Well, technically speaking, I don't think I really said that I did, so much as... allow her to infer that... but I guess that's just semantics at this point, so..." Lily trailed off and gave a rather fake-sounding cough.

"So... why?" James asked again. His eyes were clearly dancing from behind his glasses and he had no intention of letting her off the hook.

"I don't know!" Lily yelped. Of course, Lily did know why, but she wasn't about to share that part. "She was in my room, and it was Valentine's, and I don't really know her that well, you know..."

"Yes, of course, every time I meet someone new, I too transform into a pathological liar."

"Okay, I see your point! She was just so convinced and she seemed so excited by the idea. And then I kind of said something ambivalent which she interpreted to mean that I really did like him and then she started giving me all this advice and pretty soon it was too late to backtrack and correct her, alright?" Lily paused for air. She was positively impressed with herself. Everything she had just said was true and, if she did say so herself, entirely believable. She almost wanted an award.

James sighed. "Oh Pidg, only you would get yourself into this situation," he told her affectionately. Despite the extremely awkward circumstances, her heart flip-flopped at hearing what she viewed as a term of endearment.

"Yes, well... just please don't tell Candice," she requested. If Candice knew that she didn't fancy Sirius – and that she had lied about it – it would only be a matter of time before she concluded the truth.

That gave James pause. "Don't tell Candice?" he repeated. Lily nodded vigorously. "I'm not allowed to tell my girlfriend that you're not in love with my best friend?"

"Urm... yeah." She shifted awkwardly.

"You realize how mad you sound right now, right?"

"Yes, yes, when you put it like that it sounds positively insane. But still." She wouldn't be able to justify this request to James – she just had to ask politely and hope for the best.

James adjust his glasses. "Alright, alright, you win. I'll stay out of it."

Lily sighed with tremendous relief and refrained from acting on her first instinct, which was to envelop him in a massive hug. "Thank you," she said forcefully instead.

"But how long are you going to keep this up?" he questioned, not unreasonably.

Lily shrugged. "I mean, if we have to get married and start a family, I guess that's just what we have to do."

James guffawed. "Oh Evans... I guess I'll see you at the altar."

"Whoa, who says you're at the altar?" she asked provocatively.

James raised his eyebrows. "Presumably I'm the best man."

Lily paused. That sure produced an unusual image. "Oh, right, Sirius is at the altar too," she said as though she just remembered.

He chuckled. "You're sure you don't like him?"

"Yes!" Lily exclaimed for the third time.

"So who do you fancy?"

She froze for a second and tried to swallow her rapidly-beating heart. "No one," she lied.

"No? I'm not going to find out that you're secretly carrying the torch for Remus? Or Peter?" Lily stared at him as she felt a surge of adrenaline, desperately wondering if he was going to add 'or me.' She narrowed her eyes, almost daring him to ask.

He didn't bite.

Lily folded her arms. "No," she said simply. "And what is this anyway, an inquisition?"

"Maybe," James answered with a shrug. He started moving toward the common room again and she followed suit. She wasn't sure what to say and there were several minutes of uncomfortable silence. "So you don't like any boys?" James asked again.

"Nope," Lily replied. She regretted not sounding more stern given how unspeakably annoying he was being, but her burning fear of being caught in a lie caused her to deliver it in falsely cheery manner.

"What about birds?"

"What?" Lily yelped, not believing her ears.

"I was just wondering," he told her innocently.

"Why?" she asked accusingly. "Why would you wonder that?"

James shrugged. "I haven't heard you talk about a bloke in two years."

"I—" Lily started. "Just," she tried again. Then she gave up and sighed. "Well, that might be true. Perhaps three seventeen-year-old boys are a less than ideal audience for bearing my soul." Lily had no idea how she was supposed to feel about this bombshell, although it certainly seemed less than ideal that the boy she was in love with would question whether she even liked boys at all.

"Perhaps we're the perfect audience," he argued.

She sighed. "Sure, in a way. But don't expect me to start."

The pair of them finished their walk to the common room in silence – James somewhat uncomfortable and Lily somewhat bitter. When they arrived, there was an awkward moment where they both hovered, unsure how to end the social interaction. James broke the silence, reporting that he was going to meet Candice in the library, adding "I guess you can join us, if you want."

"Er, no thank you," Lily declined. She hoped her comment was at once pointed and polite.

When Lily got into bed later that night, she couldn't help but ruminate on their conversation together. Aside from the obvious – none of which could be fully unpacked in just one night – Lily found herself nearly fixated on a single sentence. James had rhetorically asked her: I'm not allowed to tell my girlfriend that you're not in love with my best friend? These words echoed in her head like a broken record and Lily wasn't sure what to make of them. The sentence meandered through a variety of people who were cast as roles in James' life: Candice was his girlfriend, Sirius was his best friend, and Lily was simply 'you.' As she drifted off to sleep, these words, more than anything, left her feeling lost.

OooooOooooOooooO

Lily lay in her bed, awake, staring up at the roof of her four-poster. During her second year, she had discovered a spell that let her carve patterns in wood from a distance. Since then, the top of her bed had become something of a chalkboard. Fancy cursive writing displayed the words 'Any time is sleep time,' as it had for the previous year, though it had an asterisk and a footnote that read 'unless it's exam time,' which she had added last spring. However, Lily, completely accustomed to these words, was staring at a corner of the roof that was conspicuously blank. Just three months ago, Lily had sat in a very similar position the day before she was due to leave for Christmas holidays. Absent-mindedly – and against her better judgement – she had doodled 'L+J' with a big heart around it. She had even written 'Lily Potter,' underneath it. Of course, minutes after writing all this, she felt horribly embarrassed and erased it immediately for fear that one of the other girls in her dorm would see. But now, Lily stared at the emptiness and wondered if she hadn't dreamt the original doodle altogether. Mere months ago, the thought that she and James might actually get together had seemed soreal and inevitable, it was almost palpable. But the thought of Lily and James had been erased just as easily as her drawing.

Lily was feeling unusually pensive this Saturday because there was an event she was dreading: the long-awaited Quidditch game between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw. For the past few weeks, it seemed as though few people in her house, and certainly not one of the Marauders, could talk about much else. For Lily, it epitomized the passage of time. Not only was it now March, with the end of year drawing close, but Lily couldn't help but think back to how happy she had been at the first Quidditch game of the year. She had kept the sign Sirius had made her reading 'Potter's #1 Fan,' which was now carefully tucked away in her chest. Idly, Lily wondered if she should burn it, just as she had erased her carving. However, somewhat masochistically, she also seemed to enjoy keeping it as a reminder of how foolish and happy she'd been last semester.

With a sigh, Lily forced herself out of bed to get ready for the day. It was at least some solace that she wouldn't have to pretend she wasn't bothered by James and Candice today – nor would she have to endure being teased by the boys for her obvious façade. Feeling less than enthused, Lily threw on a pair of jeans and a baggy black t-shirt (it was one of her personal favourites, though Petunia had a few choice words to say about it). Looking at her reflection in the mirror, she didn't feel self-conscious at all, but rather, had a fleeting wish that her hair wasn't Gryffindor-red.

Somehow, Lily was able to make it through breakfast despite her resounding lack of house pride. "Are you excited for the match today, Lily?" Candice had asked with a big smile. She didn't seem to understand Lily's deadpan answer of 'ecstatic.' When she made it to the match, however, Lily actually started enjoying herself – Candice had gone to sit with her Ravenclaw friends and Lily had some private time with the other three Marauders. Knowing how upset Lily might be, none of them actually seemed to pay much attention to the match (save for Sirius, who would periodically jump to his feet yelling, before calming back down). Instead, they were all clearly focused on brightening her spirits.

"I'm sure it won't last," Sirius commented, referring to James and Candice.

Lily's eyes followed James as he caught the quaffle and pivoted to throw it to another Gryffindor chaser. "That's what you said three months ago," she pointed out.

"It was true then and it's true now," he maintained. "Just taking a little longer than expected."

Lily gave a sarcastic laugh. "What's taking longer, exactly? For James to randomly sabotage an otherwise charming and supportive relationship?"

"Shh Lily," Remus chided. "Stop fighting us."

"It's accurate," she said stubbornly. "Even I can barely find a reason to dislike her."

"She's kind of a gossip," Peter supplied helpfully.

"That's true," Lily agreed tilting her head back and forth as she weighed its merit. "Probably not a good enough reason to break up with someone."

Sirius leapt to his feet to protest a Gryffindor penalty, then promptly sat back down as though the conversation hadn't been interrupted. "You know, Evans," he said candidly. "Prongs comes from a wealthy old wizarding family, yes. But that doesn't mean he really likes all that."

"Oh, of course," she agreed sardonically. "He really seems to hate all his privilege."

Remus gave her a brief snort. "He loves his privilege. And he can talk the talk for a while, but eventually he's going to move on and want more substance out of a relationship. That's all we're saying."

"Baloney," she countered. "You're just giving me false hope."

Lily didn't get to hear how they were going to protest, because their conversation was interrupted by the arrival of none other than Candice herself. "Hello boys," she greeted as she came to hover by their area of the stands. "Hello Lily," she added, ever the pristine conversationalist. A few of the boys nodded in greeting. "I've been expelled by my own house," she shared by way of explanation. "I couldn't help but cheer for James and they all think it's bad luck," she chuckled. Lily appraised her appearance, idly wondering if there was an outfit that wouldn't make Candice look unspeakably beautiful. Her current getup, sadly enough, was James' old Quidditch jersey. Unlike Lily, who was also wearing a shirt that was much too big, Candice's oversized jersey seemed to emphasize her petite figure. When the look was completed with perfect makeup and hair that looked like she'd just come from a salon, Lily wanted nothing more than to order her out of the Gryffindor section at once.

"Well, Candice, don't just stand there," she told her sweetly instead. "It looks as though you're here to stay. You better come sit." She shot Sirius a covert glance, extremely proud of her ability to hint at their earlier conversation and create some dramatic irony. Then she realized how that glance probably looked to Candice-the-matchmaker and decided to simply close her eyes for the rest of the game instead.

Fortunately for Lily, who couldn't take any more of Candice's impeccable manners, melodic voice, and interesting anecdotes, the end of the game came quite quickly when Angus (who she had later confirmed was on the Gryffindor team, but not as a beater) caught the snitch. Lily's entire section took to their feet and screamed victoriously and Lily was happy to stand up and give a small cheer of her own – if for no other reason than it meant that she could return to the sanctuary of her bedroom.

Of course, that was only until James appeared before her eyes and Lily nearly fainted. He was hovering on his broom right next to the stand, just as he had a few months prior when it was just the two of them. This time, of course, he was far sweatier. Against her better judgement, she felt an instant pang of attraction in her core.

"Darling!" Candice cried as she leaned over the edge of the stand to embrace her boyfriend. Lily was inclined to cringe in disgust, but the more maternal part of her won out.

"Be careful!" Lily squealed out of genuine concern for Candice's wellbeing. She moved closer and held out her hands as though she were ready to catch Candice in a moment's notice (which, given Lily's general lack of coordination, would be a near impossibility).

James laughed in her direction and beamed, evidently still feeling triumphant from winning the match. "Do you think I would let her fall?" he asked rhetorically. Lily was completely taken aback by this question, nearly identical to the one James had posed to her when the situation was reversed. Embarrassed, she flushed and looked away. When she glanced back, she saw that Candice was now perched on James' broom, looking completely at ease.

Just as Lily was beginning to feel sick to her stomach, Peter stepped in front of her.

"What are you doing, Wormtail?" Sirius asked.

"I'm blocking her line of sight. Isn't that what you were signalling for me to do?"

"You're not that large, mate," Remus pointed out. "I'm still she can still see them."

"Guys, it's fine," Lily told them, though her voice wobbled, giving her away.

"Nonsense!" Sirius cried. "There's a horror show happening before your very eyes. We'll protect you," he told her as he crept up behind her and covered her eyes.

"You know, it's still happening whether or not I watch."

"We're helping you live in denial," Remus told her. "Now, the match is over. It's time to leave."

"That's going to be somewhat difficult if I can't see where I'm going."

"Fear not!" Sirius bellowed. "We'll lead the way."

And so they proceeded as a clumsy clump of teenagers, weaving their way in and out of other students' seats and winding down staircases. Sirius would periodically call out for other students to 'make way' because there was a 'devastated Gryffindor coming through.' Remus claimed he would steer the bunch out of trouble, but they seemed to be falling down even more as a result. Meanwhile, Peter was tasked with shouting if he thought there was an impending collision. All said and done, it took the group roughly five times as long as it normally would for them to return to the castle. By the time they arrived in the Gryffindor common room, the after-party was fully underway. No sooner had they stepped past the portrait than they were treated to a view of Candice and James snogging. Without a second thought, Lily was steered back out of the common room and up to the astronomy tower for a more private celebration.

OooooOooooOooooO

"Behold!" Lily exclaimed, holding up a vile for all to see. Three female voices oohed and aahed appropriately, with additional scattered applause.

"Thank you!" Lily replied. "Finally the response I wanted."

Mary chuckled. "Did you show this to the boys already?"

"I tried..." Lily told them, trailing off.

"No luck?" guessed Alice.

"The group seemed to be more interested in talking about the Sweets' summer home," she confirmed.

"Well," commented Marlene. "That's unfortunate. But that's why you have us!"

"Yes, tell us about the potion!" Alice instructed.

"Well, it's not that complicated, really," she began.

"Lily Evans!" Mary interrupted. "Stop underselling yourself this instant," she ordered.

Lily chuckled, not at all accustomed to this level of support for her hobby. "It's a brand-new potion!" she exclaimed instead. "Never before seen on this Earth!" She received a few more whistles and cheers. "Slughorn has approved it, so, if my theory was sound and my brewing correct, anyone who drinks this will be rendered invisible to those who would wish them harm." She beamed at her dorm mates.

"Who's first up?" Marlene asked excitedly.

"I... uh..." Lily mumbled. It was one thing to make a new potion, but another thing altogether to be the first one to take that potion. "I guess it has to be me, eh?" she asked weakly. "Unless any of you fancy being a guinea pig?"

The girls looked confused by her turn of phrase but seemed to understand the general idea. Lily looked at her potion once more. She supposed if she was willing to experimentally take her own love potion, there would be no reason not to do the same now. "I guess there's no time like the present," she said hesitantly as she tried to find the Gryffindor courage buried deep inside her. With a big breath, she started with a small sip and then downed the vile. Lily couldn't help but cough when she finished – the potion was unspeakably bitter.

"You live!" Marlene exclaimed.

"You're so brave," Alice commented with admiration.

"Well done, Lily! Now the worst-case scenario is just that it won't work," Mary teased.

"You guys," Lily said emotionally, bringing her hand to her heart. "None of you mean me any harm! I'm so touched."

"That's true," Alice observed thoughtfully. "You've developed a new friendship test."

"I wonder how sensitive it is," voiced Mary. "What counts as harm?"

"Fair point," Alice agreed. "And do we have to wish you harm in general? Or do we have to have something specific in mind?"

Lily frowned. "I have no idea. You guys are sure making me feel inadequate..."

"Only one way to find out," declared Marlene. She stood up started rifling through the objects on the stand next to Lily's bed and didn't answer any of her friends' questions or objections. "Aha!" she announced as she took the vase off the table and discarded the dried flowers it was holding.

"What are you doing?" Lily asked suspiciously.

"Lily," Marlene said sternly. "I'm going to break your vase and thus cause you harm."

"No you're not," Lily said reasonably. "Besides, it's actually Tuney's. My mum made her lend it to me." ('Each of my flowers should be able to have flowers beside them!' she had declared at home, silencing Tuney's objection).

"Even better," Marlene commented with a sinister smile. "I'm going to break this vase and, since it's actually your sister's, get you in an unspeakable amount of trouble."

"No you're not," Lily repeated, narrowing her eyes. She couldn't even begin to imagine how furious Petunia would be if she weren't able to repair it.

"Yes I am." She didn't seem convinced.

"Clearly you're not," Alice commented. "If you can still see her."

"Or the potion doesn't work," Mary reasoned.

Lily gasped. "What a betrayal!" she cried at Mary's suggestion.

"That's it!" Marlene called. "I'm really going to do it!" No one said anything and Marlene raised her hand as though she were about to smash the vase. Then, all of a sudden, she screamed and dropped the vase, which shattered on impact, scattering porcelain all over the room.

Marlene looked as though she'd just seen a ghost (or, perhaps more accurately, she looked as though she were a muggle who had just seen a ghost for the first time). "Was she invisible?" asked Alice urgently. Marlene nodded slowly and the room broke out into celebratory cheers.

"My potion actually works!" Lily shouted happily as Mary hugged her, knocking her back into her bed. It was the happiest instance of broken china Lily could ever recall.

OooooOooooOooooO

"Lily," James said pointedly as she sat down near the Marauders for breakfast.

"James," she replied in turn. She felt strangely confronted. Given her ever-expanding web of lies, a confrontation would hardly even be surprising at this point.

"How would you like to join us for a prank this evening?" he carried on.

"Oh," she sighed and started pouring herself coffee. "Sure," she agreed.

"See?" James exclaimed turning to Candice who was perched next to him. "Now that's the kind of answer I expected from you." Lily's heart fell as she realized she had just been used as a pawn in a couple's spat.

"That's not fair," Candice said with a frown. "Give her the same spiel you gave me," she insisted.

"Lily didn't waffle back and forth, so she doesn't need it," Sirius replied with a smile. "She's blindly loyal to us." Lily reached for some cream quietly. She wasn't sure she was in the mood for this today.

"No, no, we'll be fair," James commented. He leaned in closer as though it were a very clandestine conversation, causing Lily to look up. She hadn't been this close to James in some time, she realized as she studied the hazel eyes hiding behind his glasses. "Lily, would you like to join us for a top-secret marauding affair tonight?"

"Sure," she repeated.

"Stop agreeing prematurely," he chided. "Pretend you're on the fence."

"Oh, uh, maybe," she responded faintly instead. "I couldn't say – I'm really on the fence about this one." Peter and Remus gave her the laughs she was fishing for.

"Well," James continued, playing along. "We can't give you any additional details. You have to decide right now whether you're all in or all out."

"Sure, all in," she said with a nod, reaching for some toast.

"No," groaned several voices.

"I mean I'm... still on the fence?" she finished weakly.

"If you're wondering whether we'll break any school rules," James continued, clearly reiterating the conversation he'd just had with Candice, "the answer is yes – we'll break countless rules."

Lily shrugged. "Okay," she told him.

"You're hopeless," James told her. "Here's the gist," he decided to summarize instead. "You can't tell anyone in Ravenclaw but will have to spend the whole night out of your common room and out of the castle altogether."

"Am I sleeping or are we pulling an all-nighter?" she questioned.

"You can sleep," Remus told her.

"Just outside," Lily observed.

"Correct," he confirmed.

"Like camping," Lily suggested.

"In a way," he responded ambiguously.

Lily couldn't help but laugh. "Well, it'll be hard for me not to spill the beans to the Ravenclaws, but I'm in."

Candice gasped. "Surely you're joking," she exclaimed.

"No, I'm in," Lily assured her. "I'm far too curious."

"But you're okay with breaking curfew and sleeping outside the castle? In March?" ("It's basically April," Peter reasoned).

Lily laughed. "Why not? Sounds like a laugh." To her surprise, this response was met by unanimous cheering from the other boys at the table. Remus started patting her on the back, causing her to cough up some of her breakfast.

"I told you!" Sirius exclaimed. "I can't believe you ever doubted her," he emphasized, pointing at James and Peter.

"I knew there was a reason we were friends," Remus teased.

"I didn't know this breakfast was an ambush-friendship-test," Lily commented, narrowing her eyes at the boys around her. Then she turned to Candice. "I assume you weren't game?"

"Of course not," she replied with an air of superiority. Lily could have sworn she saw Candice sit up even straighter than normal. "And I'm still not," she insisted, standing up and grabbing her bag. "Enjoy freezing to death," she told James bitterly. Lily actually thought she was mad for a split second, but then Candice bent down and pecked him on the cheek.

"Alright gang," Sirius said, clapping his hands together excitedly. "We ditched the square," he teased, with a wink in Lily's direction. "Now we're down to just the cool kids – let's get to planning!"

OoooOoooOoooOoooOoooO

Lily was only given a brief overview of the prank that was destined to unveil and, consequently, left breakfast confused and intrigued. She knew whatever they were doing was going to impact all the houses and that they would be making the castle somewhat uncomfortable (or 'inhospitable,' as Sirius had colourfully described). She had a vague sense they were trying intentionally to keep her in the dark. Nevertheless, Lily couldn't help but contain a swell of excitement as she went about her day, knowing that she had the whole evening set aside to spend with the Marauders – and without their significant others.

Lily went about her day with an unmistakable buzz and had to try very hard to focus during morning Charms. Then came Transfiguration which, in addition to being one of Lily's least favourite subjects, found her with an unexpected visitor. "What are you doing here," Lily hissed frantically at Sirius as he casually reclined in the chair next to her.

"We need to iron out a few kinks in our plan," he whispered back casually.

"Mister Black," came Professor McGonagall's eerily calm voice from the front of the classroom. She was still facing the blackboard as her piece of chalk scribed alongside her. "Last time I checked, you had already passed fourth-year Transfiguration." She turned to face the class and folded her arms sternly in front of her chest.

"I know, professor. I was surprised too." Lily felt herself flush and tried to sink down into her chair.

"So why is it you are gracing us with your presence this morning?" she asked sharply. Lily's eyes darted from corner to corner. Then, much to her dismay, Sirius threw an arm around her and pulled her close.

"I needed a quick chat with Miss Evans. Official Quidditch business." Lily wasn't sure if she was more horrified by the absurdity of his excuse or the fact that he was involving her in it.

"And you thought it would escape my notice that neither one of you is on the Quidditch team?" Excellent point, Lily granted as she continued to silently curse Sirius.

"Well, not yet," Sirius replied effortlessly. "We're trying to recruit Lily to join for the next game." Lily slouched even further in her chair, hoping that her immense desire to be anywhere else right now would simply manifest itself.

"Oh?" inquired the professor. "So I suppose she's some sort of Quidditch prodigy?"

"Naturally. We think she's England's next top beater." This remark caught Lily completely off-guard and she couldn't help but snort in surprise and amusement. A few of her fellow students joined with sniggers of their own. She caught herself quickly but was able to visibly see her professor's judgement.

"Mister Black, please see yourself out of my classroom," she instructed sharply. "And perhaps on your way back to potions class you can take ten points from Gryffindor. Each." Lily's heart sunk at the feeling of disappointing one of her professors. She tried desperately to swat the thought away.

"Have it your way then," Sirius commented nonchalantly. He took his time standing up and made a show of blowing McGonagall a kiss. "Happy learning," he told them all as he sauntered out of the classroom.

Lily's efforts to keep her head down and focus on her studies were further sidetracked in the afternoon while in History of Magic. "So about tonight," Sirius started casually as he slipped into the chair beside her.

Lily covered her face and sighed. "Why do you have it out for me?" she whined quietly.

"Why is the seat beside you always empty?" Sirius shot back at her. "It's depressing, really."

"My stupid friends are stupid sixth-years," she replied childishly.

"Oh, so it's my fault?"

"Kind of."

"Then you should really be thanking me. I'm here making up for it as we speak." He smirked proudly. Lily groaned – louder than she had intended – in response.

"Whichever student is talking in the back," came Professor Binns' voice. Lily yelped as she realized she was being called out by a professor for the second time in one day. "Perhaps you'd like to teach the lesson instead. Can you explain why so many muggle witch hunts in the 15th century focused on crop destruction?"

"Uh," Lily said inelegantly as she looked at Sirius. He propped his feet up on the desk and reclined in his chair, hands folded neatly behind his head. He was clearly uninterested in helping. She sighed to herself. "I suppose unmarried women were used as scapegoats when towns or communities were facing devastating conditions."

For possibly the first time in her four years at Hogwarts, Lily saw a ghost look truly taken aback. "That's incorrect," he chided, "and there's no room for speculation in this class. We deal with historical facts." Lily couldn't help but feel embarrassed, though she stubbornly reassured herself that she was, in fact, correct. "Now, back on topic. We were discussing Bathilda Kettleburn, the most widely-acclaimed herbologist in early modern history..."

"I agree, back on topic," Sirius whispered.

"Will you ever let up?" she whispered back.

"Once we've ironed out the details."

"Fine," she acquiesced. "Make it quick."

"Moony was telling me you have a potion that makes you invisible."

"I told everyone that," she objected. "And it only makes you invisible to those who mean you harm."

"That's even better. We need some."

Lily frowned. "Well that's a shame. If only you'd included me in your plans earlier." She looked back to Professor Binns as though she were deeply interested in witch hunts.

"Cut class and go make some," he instructed.

"I'm not a fan of cutting class," she whispered, while still looking at the front of the classroom.

"I can create a distraction. Any other objections?" He looked quite triumphant.

"Yeah," she said slowly. "It takes a week to brew."

Sirius' grin faltered. "And you don't have any already brewed?" he clarified.

"I do have some," she told him as though she were mentally calculating. "How much would we need?"

"You know there are five of us," he said impatiently.

"Oh five of us. Yeah, I have enough for five people."

Sirius frowned in her direction. "Are you having fun?"

She nodded. "Here's the thing, though. I'm not going to give you any of my potion unless you actually explain the prank."

"Fine," Sirius cried loudly.

"Stop!" Lily hissed. "I don't want to get called out again."

"I think you're safe on that front," Sirius observed. "Your professor is currently asleep." Lily looked to the front where, indeed, Professor Binns was, indeed, dozing upright at the blackboard. Her fellow students appeared to be using this as time to finish their Potions homework.

"Fine," she echoed.

"Shall we?" Sirius questioned, pointing to the hallway. Quietly, the pair of them stood up and left the classroom.

"Where to?" Lily asked once they had made their escape.

"Wherever your potion is," he replied easily.

"I told you, I'm not sharing unless—"

"Yes, yes," he interrupted. "The potion will help for our setup. I figured it would be more fun to show rather than tell."

Lily eyed him suspiciously. "Alright," she agreed slowly.

And so the two of them found themselves in the empty common room by the fire holding two cups of Lily's potion. "Bottom's up," Sirius said cheerfully, as held his drink up in her direction.

"You're willing to drink it?" she questioned, surprised.

"Why not?"

"You know it's a new potion, right? New like unknown?"

Sirius shrugged. "I trust you." He made to drink the potion again.

"Don't you want to know if there are any side effects?" she probed.

"Are there?"

"Perhaps," she answered mysteriously (or so she assumed).

"Evans," he said with a knowing look. "You can't honestly expect me to believe that the girl who drank her own love potion wouldn't have tried this new drink she keeps going on about."

"Keeps going on about?" she repeated indignantly.

Sirius sighed and rolled his eyes. "Yes, yes. Must I hold your hand through everything?" Lily folded her arms and narrowed her eyes in response. "You're excellent at potions – as ridiculous a hobby as that is – and I'm sure this new potion works as advertised and doesn't have any side effects."

Lily moved her head this way and that as though she were weighing his claims. She transiently wished it really did have some side effect she could surprise him with. After a moment she held her drink up in response and the pair downed their glasses.

"Merlin Evans, what went into this?" Sirius asked as his face contorted in response to the taste.

Lily chuckled. "Perhaps I should have warned you – it's a tad bitter." She was trying very hard to look as though she were not bothered by the flavour at all.

"A tad?"

"I mean, I can see why it would bother you. Since you don't drink coffee and all."

"I do too drink coffee."

"If it's more sugar than coffee—" she began.

"Enough with the slander!" Sirius interrupted. "How long will this last?"

Lily frowned. "I have no idea," she admitted.

Sirius was dumbfounded. "How do you not know? It's your potion, isn't it?"

"Well, sure, but the effects aren't that dramatic... I don't routinely surround myself with people who mean me harm..." she mumbled.

He sighed. "Well we better get going, then."

"Where are we off to?"

"Slytherin common room."

OooooOooooOooooOooooO

Lily's heart was racing as she stood with Sirius in a corner the Hogwarts Dungeons. "Okay, you're up," he whispered, hearing a group of Slytherins coming.

"What?" she yelped.

"Just go walk down the hallway," he instructed. "We should be able to tell if they see you or not."

"And what if they do?"

"Merlin, Evans, it's just a hallway. What do you think is going to happen?"

"I've had quite a bit happen in hallways," she observed reasonably.

"Well, I'm right here. I solemnly swear that I won't let you die," he told her smoothly.

Lily nodded. Then, hesitantly, she turned the corner and started walking as though she had a specific reason for being there. As a pack of students clad in green and silver clothing moved toward her, she tried to keep her chin up and look confident. They continued their path and Lily continued hers, like a game of chicken. Rather quickly, she realized they really weren't going to move out of the way and took an awkward skip to the side of hallway. Mildly embarrassed at how that encounter must have looked to Sirius, she waited a beat, and then returned. "Well that was odd," she said by way of greeting.

"What are you talking about?" he asked, beaming. "They clearly didn't see you!"

"I mean, maybe," she argued. "They don't normally pay me that much mind. Frankly, I wouldn't have been surprised either way."

"They would normally walk into you?" Sirius objected. "Actually, disregard that. We don't have the time." He pushed Lily back into the hallway and more or less escorted her to the entrance to the Slytherin common room.

Lily felt wet and sweaty all over – or, rather, everywhere except her throat, which felt more like sandpaper. "What do we do now?" she whispered.

"They can't see us, calm down" he whispered back. "We just wait." Lily wanted to object that they didn't really know enough to assume the entire house wouldn't be able to see them, but decided to hold her tongue.

Just a few minutes later, none other than Bellatrix Lestrange appeared and confidently walked right up to the pair of them. "Pudicitiam," she said in a bored tone of voice. The sight was made much more amusing – and terrifying, for Lily – by Sirius, who was frantically waving his arms all over the place. As Bellatrix moved toward the common room, Sirius and Lily deftly tailed her before the passageway had a chance to disappear.

As Lily stepped inside and took in her new surroundings, she had just one thought: out of the frying pan and into the fire. However, her gawking was interrupted by Sirius hastily pulling her along. Having been brought up to speed on the journey down to the dungeons, Lily knew what the plan was – and was all too keen to finish as soon as possible and leave before the potion wore off or a Slytherin who didn't mean her harm emerged. The pair made quick work of the necessary spells, all of which were designed to ensure the common room became as uncomfortable as possible. For the first half of the night, the temperature would drop exponentially through cooling charms (thanks to Sirius) and the windows, which Lily cursed to stay open. The fire and wall sconces, meanwhile, were bewitched to burn uncontrollably later in the evening and make the dorms smolderingly hot. In the wee hours of the morning, they had found a spell to make the dorms rain. If everything went according to plan and students panicked as expected, all of these changes would look like their own overly reactive charmwork – and in case anyone was a sound enough sleeper to not notice these inconveniences, the suits of armour had been cursed to shriek about how hot, cold, and wet they were.

As soon as they were finished, the pair of them ran – as quietly as possible – out of the dorms and emerged in the Great Hall, giddy and panting.

"Evans, that potion is genius," Sirius exclaimed. "I'm disappointed we didn't think of it – what with all its pranking implications."

Lily positively glowed in his direction. "I can't believe that nobody saw us," she exclaimed. "The entire Slytherin house meant us harm?"

"I think it might be a loophole," he suggested as they sat at the empty Gryffindor table to catch their breath. Lily looked at him inquisitively. "Well, since we were trespassing, if any of them were able to see us, they would mean us harm. And thus we remained invisible."

"I never imagined it would be this helpful," she remarked. "Actually, I never thought it would have any practical utility whatsoever."

"Surely you're joking."

"Not at all. I thought it was completely useless."

"You must realize how invaluable this would be for the Order."

"The Order?" Lily questioned.

Sirius paused for a moment. "Don't worry about it, Evans," he said warmly. "We'll leave that for another day." Lily didn't know what to make of that and stared at him blankly. "We have more pranking to do," he reminded her.

"Mmm," she voiced in agreement. "What's left?"

"The other houses," Sirius replied. "Candice agreed to look the other way while James takes care of Ravenclaw, so we just have to do Gryffindor."

"We're pranking our own house?"

"Of course," he commented. "It would look far too suspicious if we spared Gryffindor."

"And what about Hufflepuff?"

"What about them?"

Lily shot him a look to show that she was unamused. "How are we taking care of their common room? I know where it is, but not how to get in."

"We're leaving Hufflepuff alone."

"Why?" she asked, perplexed.

"It's kind of like a double prank," he explained. "It will look like they're not important enough to torment. Plus if anyone did want to point fingers, the house that slept comfortably would be the most logical choice."

"That's kind of cruel," Lily voiced in disappointment.

"Cruel to not prank them? My, how you've changed, Lily." She sighed and rolled her eyes. "Plus," Sirius added after a moment. Lily looked up. "We don't know how to get in either," he confided with a laugh. Then he stood up and gestured for Lily to join him as they made their way up to the Gryffindor common room.

"So Lily," he started casually after a few moments of silence. "How's your semester going?"

Lily gave a sharp, sarcastic laugh. "Fantastic," she answered. "Just as I had imagined it."

"How did you imagine it?" he pried with twinkling eyes.

"Well," she said heavily, neglecting to share her most private thoughts. "At a minimum, I thought I would be more or less guaranteed to have fun with the four of you like last semester."

"Aren't you?"

"If by that you mean the three of you, then yes, I suppose."

"And Prongs?"

Lily sighed. "I haven't really seen him since... well, since last year." She was discounting the one instance where he accosted her on account of Candice's gossiping.

Sirius opened his mouth like he was about to protest. Then he visibly thought better of it. "You know, he's a bit of a prat, really. Why do you like him, again?"

"I..." Lily stammered, trying to buy time. "What do you mean?" she asked instead, having failed to produce a good reason.

"Well," he said casually. "I don't mean to make him sound like he has no redeeming features. He's an extremely loyal friend. I'm just wondering what you see in him, is all."

Lily slowed the pace of her walking as his words sunk in. Sirius noticed and turned to look at her, at which point she picked it back up.

"Hey, Evans," he told her, placing a hand on her shoulder. "I think that came out wrong."

"I know," she said softly.

OoooOoooOoooOoooO

After a lazy afternoon of self-sabotaging the Gryffindor common room and a lighthearted dinner, Lily met up with the other Marauders at a specific hallway of their choosing, dressed in her warmest clothing. Much to her surprise, after several minutes of conversation, the boys revealed a secret passageway hidden behind a rather unassuming statue of a witch for whom she never would have spared a second thought. She was surprised further still when the end of the passageway turned out to be the Honeydukes cellar.

"Of course you had a way to get to Hogsmeade all this time!" she exclaimed. "I'd always wondered where all the candy and firewhisky came from!"

"Pads, I think we broke her," James remarked. This was the third or fourth time Lily had made such an exclamation.

"Okay, okay, I'll stop reeling," she acquiesced. "So what's next?"

"What do you mean?" Remus questioned.

"With the prank," she answered impatiently. "What are we doing next?"

"Nothing," Peter answered.

"Nothing?" she clarified, confused.

"Aren't you exhausted enough?" Sirius asked with a laugh. "We worked all afternoon. It's time for a break."

"But I don't understand..."

"You're right," Sirius joked to James. "I think we did break her. She's a prank addict now."

"Oh stop!" Lily protested. "I don't understand why we have to spend the whole night outside if all the pranking is done."

"Merlin Evans, it's like you weren't even with me this afternoon. You want to sleep in the Gryffindor common room with all that going on?"

"Oh," she said simply. "So what are we doing all night?"

"Having fun," James answered. He put a hand on her back in order steer her into the Three Broomsticks. For a split second, Lily's entire body felt as though it were on fire, but then he dropped his hand and the feeling passed.

Lily had sat in the Three Broomsticks on countless Hogsmeade visits in the past, but doing so tonight felt entirely different. Not only was it nighttime and completely against the rules, but for once, the establishment wasn't totally overrun by uniform-clad teenagers. Lily had never truly paused to imagine what the pub looked like the other 95% of the time and she now felt quite foolish for this oversight. Coming in tonight, Lily felt almost like any other patron – it was quite possibly the most adult she had felt in her life to date.

All in all, they had a perfectly pleasant evening. The boys, trying to 'keep things classy,' ordered several pints of mulled mead, though Lily (who still found the flavour of alcohol fairly repulsive) elected to nurse a butterbeer. They chatted about the genius of their prank and Sirius even sang the praises of Lily's new potion. For a very welcome change, without Candice, no part of the conversation centred around wizarding families, summer homes, their parents' occupation, or any other such topic. Lily even caught herself forgetting about the whole 'Candice' situation for most of the night.

Once they had finished drinking to their hearts' content, they staggered out of the Three Broomsticks and started wandering the chilly streets of Hogsmeade. Two hands grabbed Lily by the shoulders and she felt Sirius almost knock her over as he leaned in to whisper in her ear. "You notice how he didn't talk about Candice the whole night?" he asked, much louder than intended. Fortunately, Lily was able to see that James was quite a way's off.

"Shh," she said dismissively. "That doesn't mean anything."

Sirius gasped, offended. "If he's so in love with her, he shouldn't be able to shut about her. Just like he wouldn't shut up about you." Lily didn't know what to say to that.

"Ignore him! He's drunk." Lily turned her head in time to see Remus almost walk into a lamppost.

"You don't look much better," she observed, absentmindedly hoping that James and Peter were less inebriated.

After a time, the group stopped walking. They appeared to be precisely in the middle of nowhere. "So, uh, were we going to actually go anywhere, or..." Lily trailed off. She didn't have an ending to the sentence in mind because she reckoned someone would have interrupted her. After a pause, she offered: "... are we just sentenced to a purgatory of walking around Hogsmeade?" She was reasonably proud of what her brain had produced, but as she looked around from one teenaged boy to the next, she suspected that they were too intoxicated to appreciate her wit.

"Lily, there's a place we're going tonight," James told her slowly.

"But it's an official Marauder secret," Sirius finished.

"And after much deliberation," Peter chipped in.

"We decided we simply couldn't take the risk," James continued.

"Some of us decided we couldn't take the risk," Remus interjected.

"Of divulging it to you," James finished.

"Okay..." Lily said, perplexed. "So where does this leave me? You're all going wherever this is and I have to huff it back to the castle?"

"Well, you can go to the place," James said emphatically.

"But you can't know where or what it is," Sirius hinted enigmatically.

Lily exhaled sharply and watched her breath fan out in front of her. "It's very cold out here. Is there a conclusion in sight?"

"Yes!" James exclaimed. "Glad you asked." He reached into his pocket and produced his Gryffindor tie.

Lily chuckled. "Does dressing more formally solve the problem?"

"It does! Your eyes are underdressed."

Lily slowly clued in to his hidden message. "You're going to blindfold me?" she clarified. James nodded and stepped in toward her. He swept her hair out of her face so it was all falling behind her back and then placed his tie over her eyes. He struggled for a moment, clearly attempting to secure it with an actual tie knot. Lily could smell the mulled mead on his breath.

"Getting déjà vu, Lily?" Remus asked, pulling her out of the moment.

"Hmm?" she murmured, confused.

"The Quidditch match," he reminded her with a laugh.

"What happened at the Quidditch match?" James' voice asked from behind her.

"It involved a blindfold," Sirius teased.

"And Lily," Peter added.

"You don't need to make is sound so salacious," Lily groaned.

"I think Lily came away very bruised," Remus chimed in.

"You know, that's a good point," she interrupted, hoping to change the conversation's trajectory. "I was not insignificantly injured last time and you lot were all sober. I'm not hoping for a repeat."

"I'm sure Prongs won't object to carrying you," she heard Sirius' voice shout from over her left shoulder.

"No thanks," she hastily objected. A large argument ensued and, in the end (and despite Lily's many protestations), one of the boys decided it was best to simply levitate her. And so, they proceeded as quite the awkward bunch: four intoxicated teenaged boys and a blindfolded girl floating behind them. Lily silently prayed that no one in Hogsmeade was still up to see them – the optics were simply horrible.

After some time, and after bumping into more objects and walls than Lily could count, she was finally lowered onto a soft surface. "Can I take this off now?" she asked, gesturing in front of her eyes.

She flinched as she felt someone touch the back of her head. "Such a shame," she heard Sirius' – slightly slurred – voice say. "It matches your hair so well." Lily's eyes snapped open curiously once the tie was removed.

"Uhh," she murmured as she looked at the peculiar scene before her. It looked as though she were in a very old, and very deserted home. It was quite dark, though Lily was able to see very well after being blindfolded. There were scattered bits of furniture, most of which appeared broken or barely intact. The walls were peeling to such a degree that Lily wasn't even able to discern whether they were originally covered with wallpaper or paint. The few windows she saw were boarded up. For her own part, Lily had been deposited on a couch that appeared to have been shredded by a large animal. Lily stood up delicately and fought the urge to shiver and run away. "So is this a joke, or...?" she trailed off.

"Is what a joke?" Peter asked simply.

"This," she replied, gesturing to the room. "You know, bringing me to a set from a recent horror film."

Most of the boys looked confused. "Sadly, no," Remus replied blandly.

"So, where am I?"

"We're not allowed to tell you," Sirius answered loudly.

"This is legitimately terrifying," Lily replied as delicately as she could muster. "I feel like I'm about to be ritually sacrificed or something. And I don't really fancy turning into the next Moaning Myrtle..."

"We all told you," Remus complained directly to James.

"Oh shh," James replied. "We just need to clean the place up a bit," he slurred. He waved his wand about the room trying to improve it. He successfully eradicated most of the dust and lit some candles. His charms to fix the furniture and re-upholster the couch had mixed results; moreover, some of the boards on the window actually caught fire and Lily had to put them out. She quickly attributed this to the alcohol and had half a mind to confiscate his wand.

"It's safe, Lily, don't worry," Peter assured her.

"Let's play a game!" Sirius shouted suddenly and ushered them all to come join him on the floor. Lily had to fight her better instincts as she sat down on the cold and stained floor before her. The one silver lining was that she was wearing several layers on account of the cold and was able to stretch her coat out to make the experience more palatable.

A lengthy conversation ensued surrounding what game they would all play, since they were away from their chess boards and cards. Sirius was convinced that they should all play 'spin the bottle,' but was horrified when Lily explained the rules to him. Following this, he instructed Lily to pick a muggle game for the group of them.

"Er," Lily responded. "You know, I don't really sit around playing games with muggles, because I'm, you know, here most of the year..." Most of the ones she could think of involved cards or specific boards anyhow.

"You must know at least one," James objected.

Lily sighed. What was the last game she could remember playing with Tuney? "I guess 'truth or dare'?" This was reaching all the way back before she knew of magic.

"Wonderful!" Sirius cried. "We're playing Truth or Dare. Teach us how to play."

Lily chuckled. "It's stupidly simple. We all take turns and, when it's your turn, you choose whether you want a 'truth' or a 'dare.' After you choose, the group either comes up with a question you have to answer or a dare for you to go... complete." A part of Lily was regretting suggesting this particular game. When she had played with Tuney, she was always the headstrong, confident one who would pick 'dare' repeatedly. But she doubted very much that she would want to perform any of the dares the Marauders would dream up.

"Love it," Sirius endorsed. "So who goes first?"

"The youngest," Lily replied reluctantly.

"So what'll it be?" he asked.

"Let's start it off with truth." She felt a little uneasy wondering what she might be asked.

"So now we... ask you anything we feel like?" Lily nodded.

"What was the first school rule you ever broke?" James suggested. Lily breathed a sigh of relief.

"No!" Sirius cried. "That's too easy. It's supposed to be something she doesn't want to answer." Lily inhaled sharply, reclaiming the relief she just exhaled. "Okay Evans, which one of us is the best-looking?" It was poorly-lit, but Lily would have bet all her money that he winked when he asked it.

"I am," she answered stubbornly as soon as the thought occurred to her. There was booing all around.

The first few rounds, everyone followed Lily's lead and opted for 'truth.' At first, Lily was quite timid, but, as the only sober one, she began to revel in her power to ask hard-hitting questions. She was able to make all of the boys tell her about their most embarrassing crush – including the date Remus went on with a muggle who lived near him (which was forever hinted at, but never explained). More still, she was able to get the boys to divulge the location of two additional secret passageways in the castle and hear their unadulterated opinions of her female friends. Lily did have to discuss her first period, as well as her extremely awkward relationship with Elroy, and dodge a few other pointed questions from Sirius (including 'what's your honest opinion of Candice?'). Fortunately, she suspected the boys would forget much of what she said anyhow on account of all the alcohol.

"Okay, I've got one!" Lily exclaimed happily when it was James' turn. "It's kind of for all of you, but James can field it. Where were you all, really," she emphasized, giving them each meaningful stares, "last Saturday when you blew me off and then came back at the crack of dawn." They had each taken turns giving her answers that were progressively more ridiculous until she had given up in exasperation.

Lily thought it was a good question, but none of the boys reacted. "We were here," James answered simply. She pouted in response. "You know that creates more questions than it answers," she complained. "I don't think it's really in the spirit of the game."

"Speaking of the spirit of the game," he replied smoothly. "Isn't there supposed to be a dare component? Why are we all being lame and just picking the question part?"

"It was such a long walk to get here," Peter complained. "You expect me to sign up for more activities?"

"Yes," James voiced. "We're Marauders. We're supposed to be Marauding."

"Alright Prongs," Sirius jumped in. "I'll save the day. Someone give me a dare!" Everyone in their small circle seemed to look to everyone else.

Lily sighed. "Well I have nothing to contribute here," she said, reclining back. "Unless," she continued, sitting back up, "I dare you to tell me what you were doing last Saturday," she said, wiggling her eyebrows. Tuney had pulled that particular trick on her a few times growing up. Nevertheless, Lily was overruled by many outraged cries.

"Well, if no one has any other ideas," James said slowly. "I do remember Padfoot passing on a certain dare on Saturday that I'd still very much like to see."

Sirius sighed. "You do realize, if you make me do that, then everyone else is getting the same dare on their turn."

"I am positively dying of curiosity," Lily whined. "What on earth were you all doing last weekend?"

"Shhh," James silenced, reaching over a smacking a hand in front of her lips. "More important conversations are afoot." Lily's heart fluttered and she tried to silence it. You're not his girlfriend, she reminded herself sternly. As if on cue, James dropped his hand.

Remus sighed. "Are we really doing this? Is this what the night has come to?" No one replied, so he turned to Peter. "Surely you want to object."

"Me?" he objected. "I was the only one who was game on Saturday."

"Oh true," Remus agreed. "I always forget you're a great swimmer."

"Swimming?" Lily clarified. She hadn't had the faintest idea what they were talking about, but swimming had been about the furthest thing from her mind.

"Sounds like we've all been dared, then," James continued, bearing her no mind. With many sighs, everyone started standing up.

"Where are we all going?" Lily asked, completely confused. She wasn't entirely sure if the night could get any weirder.

"Oh, hell," James said, staring at Lily.

"What?" she asked nervously.

"We have to do something about her," he commented. Something about the way he was addressing her and staring at her made Lily squirm internally.

"Why are you talking about me as though I'm not here?"

"We're leaving," James told her. "But you can't know where we are." Out came the Gryffindor tie again.

"Oh you can't be serious," she whined. "Not again."

"We'll be gentle this time," he told her, slurring his words ever-so-slightly.

"I'm already scratched up from all the objects I hit on the way here," Lily complained as she lost her sight once again.

"Fine, we won't levitate you" James acquiesced. Then he picked her up and threw her over his shoulder, not unlike a sack of potatoes. Lily couldn't help but squeal, particularly as she had no warning it was coming. Fortunately, she was wearing pants and a winter coat, so she knew she wasn't flashing anyone.

"Put me down," she wined lamely. She was positively swooning at this display of strength; yet she was simultaneously worried he would judge her for being too heavy. Discouragingly, she doubted it was even possible to weigh less than Candice.

Despite James' arms being wrapped very high up on her legs (something she would think about for months to come), Lily did still bump into several rough surfaces on her way out of the strange house. She had the peculiar sensation that they were leaving some sort of network of caves and the feeling that she was starring in a horror movie returned.

And then, before her thoughts could spiral in too many directions, she was placed down on a hard surface, the tie was removed, and she realized she was back on Hogwarts grounds. She dusted herself off so she could hide momentarily from the look that Sirius was throwing her over James' shoulder. "Is anyone going to tell me what we're doing up here?" she asked indignantly.

"We're going skinny-dipping!" Sirius exclaimed. "Did I get that right?" he asked Lily.

"What are you even asking me?"

"Skinny dipping," he repeated. "That's what it's called, right?"

"I have no idea," she responded flatly. "Since I don't know what it is you're talking about." She had a sneaking suspicion they were about to announce they were going to strip and hop in the Black Lake.

"We're going to swim in the lake," Remus supplied.

"This lake?" Lily clarified.

"No, some other lake," Sirius said drunkenly. "Maybe we'll go hop on our brooms and swim to the coast."

"That would be an ocean," Lily couldn't help but correct. "But anyways. Have none of you noticed that it's positively freezing?" She was actually hopping up and down slightly as she spoke with them because of the cold.

"That's why it's a dare," James argued. "Honestly, wasn't this your game in the first place?" he teased.

"Aren't you worried about the Giant Squid?" she asked, willfully ignoring the teasing. This earned her uproarious laughter all around.

"Fine, I give up," Lily resigned.

"So you'll join us then?" James asked.

"Not a chance!"

"You sure Evans?" Sirius asked, slinging a hand over her shoulder and attempting to walk her toward the lake. "It could be fun. All of us stripping down, splashing about in the dark..."

"I sense your mind is approaching the gutter," she objected, removing his hand. Even if it wasn't freezing cold and she wasn't more than a little bit afraid of the Giant Squid, Lily would have absolutely no interest in removing her clothing in front of four older teenaged boys, one of whom she fancied considerably.

"You know we'll have to give you a hell of a 'truth' then," Remus told her.

"Go for it," she responded. "I'll even go now."

"Okay," Sirius said loudly, putting up hands as though he were silencing an invisible audience. "What did you honestly think of Prongs when you first met him?"

Lily sighed, trying to think of some delicate phrasing. "I thought he was probably pranking me."

"What?" James cried, clearly taken aback. Lily shrugged. "How could you think that?"

"Well," she started. "A... popular," fit, she corrected internally, "older boy approached me – an awkward, lonely, eleven-year-old. You did have a reputation for being arrogant. I reckoned you figured that I would swoon over you." You figured correctly, she added as she watched the boys absorb this. There was a beat of silence. "Plus you were quite conceited when you talked to me. You teased me and ate my breakfast and clearly enjoyed making me embarrassed."

"I—" James started, then stopped. As Lily watched him struggle, she realized that she had perhaps been far more scathing than intended. She had assumed he was teasing her for his own amusement, but then again, she had also enjoyed it.

"But now we're good friends and my life is much better," she said quickly, looking back to Sirius. "Now go enjoy your ice bath," she said, flicking her hands in the direction of the lake.

After a few seconds, their upbeat mood had returned, and the group quickly approached the lake. Lily sat down next to a large tree and cast a few charms to make a blue warming fire, while the rest of the group did just the opposite and disrobed. She tried to make a little extra busywork for herself so she wouldn't get caught staring.

"Alright Prongs," Sirius said, shivering. "This was your dare. How is it going down?"

"Let's make it a race!" he declared. He shot is wand up at the sky and produced four large, orange sparks that floated down to different parts of the surface of the lake; all looked to be approximately a hundred metres from their current position. Then they all handed their wands to Lily, who was appointed the official wand custodian.

"See you boys soon," Lily said with a little singsong voice and a wave. She idly watched as they made their way over to the dock and, after assigning the embers, into the lake. Peter, true to his word, appeared to be a very good swimmer and entered the lake with a proficient dive; comparatively, James jumped in far less elegantly and Lily couldn't help but chuckle. Remus and Sirius, who clearly never wanted to join in the first place, slowly slipped in from a seated position, complaining loudly the whole time. Lily snuggled into her coat and warmed her hands by the fire, very content with her life decisions.

With the boys gone, Lily took a big sigh and looked up at the sky. She replayed the last several minutes in her head, wondering why she had given such a harsh and candid response to Sirius' question. No doubt, she had been annoyed by Sirius' repeated teasing, but, in part, she also meant what she said. For a time, Lily had been so enamoured with James that she had been ecstatic to spend any degree of time with him, even if he was teasing her or making her blush. Now that he was with someone else, and now that they were all turning seventeen and entering their last year of school, Lily couldn't help but feel as though she had been trapped. She was so infatuated with James, there had never really been ever decision to make about whether or not she wanted to see him. But it was looking increasingly like he was going to graduate, marry Candice (or someone just like her), and never see or think of young, awkward Lily ever again. As the thought occurred to her, she felt a few tears escape the corner of her eyes and turn very cold on her face. She quickly patted her cheeks dry and took a deep breath in and out. It's no time to cry, she told herself. They could be back any minute.

On that note, Lily looked out at the lake. Although it was dark, it was a crystal-clear night and there was ample moonlight reflecting off the still water – not to mention ambient light from the castle. She was able to faintly make out the boys' slowly-retreating figures. Looking ahead to the sparks, Lily realized that she may have misjudged how far away they were. She could see Peter the best from her current angle and he appeared to be roughly two-thirds of the way there. Turning and squinting, she could faintly see two other figures (or really just heads bobbing up and down) she was reasonably confident belonged to Remus and Sirius. She craned her neck curiously to see how James was faring, but she couldn't get a good look.

With a stretch, Lily stood up, put her hands in her pockets, and shivered her way over to the other side of the tree. She looked again in the direction she was pretty sure James had headed, but couldn't see anyone. Her first thought was that something had happened to him, but she quickly batted it away as silliness. Unable to completely shake her concern, she walked all the way over to the dock to get a better look. Lily forced her eyes to meticulously trace every patch of water between where the boys had jumped in the unaccounted-for ember, but she couldn't see so much as a splash. She felt a surge of nervous energy but took a deep breath, trying to calm herself down.

"Okay, think," she muttered to herself as she started to pace. "There must be some rational explanation as to why you count see him." After a moment, she had an epiphany. He's using a bubble-head charm. Lily actually quite felt thick and chided herself for becoming alarmed so quickly. Some of her tension melted away and she went to go lean against the tree with her fire. Just as she was taking her hands out of her pockets to warm them up, she felt something firm in her pocket. "You absolute idiot," she practically shouted as she went back to the lake. "You have all of their wands."

If she watched all of the boys jump in the lake, she hadn't seen any of them return, she could see the other three, and she had all of their wands, then someone had to be missing, right? She started to pace back and forth, wondering what could have happened and what she should do. On the more reasonable side, she supposed it was possible he could have veered severely off-course. In fact, this was Jamesshe was talking about – he could have intentionally tried to swim toward one of the other boys' sparks... but then she'd see him, wouldn't she? And was she willing to take that chance?

With an audible groan, Lily decided she had to do something. Her first instinct was to start shouting for James, but not only did that seem unlikely to work, they were currently breaking school rules, and she had no desire to attract attention. Her mind also jumped to the universal distress signal. This held the same problems, but then again, the boys hadn't thought twice about attracting attention with their sparks. "Just do it," Lily whispered. Covering her eyes, she pointed her wand at the sky and produced red sparks.

The sparks lingered for a second or two, then dissipated. Lily took a few deep breaths, as though she were waiting for something to happen. Unfortunately, the night returned to its previous stillness, thoroughly undisturbed. Of course, even if all four of the boys had noticed, the only thing they could do is turn around and swim back... meaning she was more or less on her own. What to do now?

"Shit, shit, shit," Lily muttered as she started pacing again. She frantically raked her eyes over the path where James ought to have been, but still came up empty-handed. Out of options, Lily began to feel compelled to get in the lake herself. But what is that really going to accomplish? she asked herself, not unreasonably. On the other hand, if one of her friends was really in trouble, how could she not at least try to help? On the third hand, these were older and very capable boys – they were probably not in trouble and would simply resurface any minute, only to find Lily naked, wet, and embarrassed. But on the fourth hand, she groaned, how could she possibly use being naked, wet, and embarrassed as a justification for inaction?

Lily gave a huge huff, stopped pacing, and plunked herself down on the ground, staring intently at the water. It was as still as ever. Lily began to realize that she could reason herself into and out of going all night long. "This has to stop," she told herself calmly. She decided to give the whole situation another ten seconds. 10, 9, 8, she started counting as she kept her eyes peeled for any sign of life. 7, 6, 5, she continued. She consciously slowed her pace. 4... 3... 2... She still saw nothing between herself and James' ember. 1... she trailed off. 0... she added for extra good measure. Lily sighed slowly; she had really been hoping the universe would stop her from having to do this. Ten seconds is a pretty short amount of time, she started to reason. Maybe it really should have been twenty... She even geared up to start counting again, but then she tossed it away. "You set a limit," she told herself. "Are you a Gryffindor or not?"

Reluctantly, Lily took off each of her boots. She removed her own wand from her coat pocket, then slipped off the coat and folded it neatly with her boots, praying nothing would happen to the boys' wands in her absence. She was already shivering, and she had barely gotten started. She removed her hat, scarf, and jumper, delicately placing them on top her coat. Even with this extra time, she still didn't see any sign of James. Lily dithered back and forth, but eventually decided she would remove her jeans (who on earth would want to emerge from that lake in soaking wet jeans?), but keep her loose t-shirt. She tied her hair back out of her face with a shaky breath. Then, she did what all of the boys should have done, and cast the bubble-head charm.

Lily was officially out of stalling tactics. She sat herself on the edge of the dock, sticking both legs in the nearly ice-cold water. Her first instinct was to run back to the Gryffindor common room, but willfully ignored it. "You can do this," she reminded herself – and she was right. Lily had taken swimming classes at her local community centre before she ever got into Hogwarts. She wasn't very strong or fast, but her strokes were beautiful. Even her wand – willow, with a unicorn hair – had a unique ability to perform underwater. If anyone could do this, it was her. With a big breath, she lowered herself into the water.

The lake was so cold, her whole body was initially in pain, but it quickly became numb instead. Now the real challenge was upon her. James (or whichever of the boys was missing) could be practically anywhere in the lake. But, Lily reasoned, the one place she could confidently rule out was the entirety of the lake's surface. So, she began swimming down. The bubble-head charm – which was one of Lily's favourites – allowed her to comfortably keep her eyes open, but distorted her vision as though she were looking through a fisheye lens. Additionally, after the first few feet, there was no light at all. Combined with the cold and the deafening silence, Lily was experiencing an eerie sort of sensory deprivation. "Lumos," Lily whispered, remembering she was a witch.

Life, in Lily's short experience, had a tremendous capacity for irony. As her eyes slowly took in her surroundings, she was shocked by what she saw. After all, given the amount of time Lily spent pacing, groaning, and staring at the horizon, who would have guessed that James was simply metres below her?

OoooOoooOoooOoooO

Despite the peculiar sight before her, it was immediately obvious to Lily what had happened. In fact, Lily cursed herself for not having figured it out earlier. She had watched all of the boys enter the water. Peter demonstrated a sophisticated dive, while Remus and Sirius had slowly submerged themselves, just as Lily had. But James had jumped straight in, feet-first, like a pencil. And Lily had been so preoccupied with her interpersonal troubles that she hadn't even noticed that James never came back up for air.

Lily swam over to James, anxious to help. He was obviously unconscious and, truthfully, looked absolutely terrible. His face was a deathly shade of pale blue, but Lily forced herself to look elsewhere. The real problem was that he was trapped in a wooden structure that Lily identified as an old dock. It looked as though it had decayed and sunk many years ago, following which someone had clearly just constructed a new dock overhead. When James jumped, he plummeted through the old structure, but was then stuck and unable to free himself. Lily could actually see a faint amount of blood emanating from his leg and floating amidst the water, but she tried to ignore it. She also ignored the sinking feeling that this would inevitably attract mermaids, the Giant Squid, or some other creature she didn't even know about.

Trying to keep her wits about her, she reached down to assess how stuck James was. She attempted to lift a plank of wood, but realized immediately this was untenable. Instead, she aimed her wand a foot or so away from James, keeping it as steady as possible. "Nox," Lily whispered again, losing her lifeline. Then, hoping for a miracle, she said – more confidently than she felt – "Bombarda."

When she got her light back, she discovered joyously that her spell had done the trick. She only needed to push a few pieces of wood out of the way and was able to watch as James' lifeless body started floating away. She held her wand precariously between her index and middle finger and swam in his direction. She came up behind him and shoved a hand under each of his armpits. Fluttering her feet back and forth with all her mind, she propelled the pair of them up to the surface.

Grabbing hold of the dock, she smacked her wand down. She held onto James' arm with her right hand and awkwardly raised herself out of the water with her remaining limbs. She sat for a split second, panting, wondering how on earth she was going to get James out of the water.

"Lily!" she heard someone exclaim at that moment. She turned around to see Peter, half-clothed and dripping wet.

"Oh, thank Merlin," she sighed, flooding with relief. "Help me get him out of the water," she instructed, without explanation. Peter came and grabbed hold of James' other arm, but even with both of them pulling, they couldn't generate enough force to get his whole body out of the water.

"Your wand," Lily grunted, utterly exhausted. "It's in my coat pocket," she said, pointing him in the right direction. She kept one hand firmly on James as she groped around blindly for her own wand. Once she felt it, she grasped her fingers around it tightly and undid her bubble head. Peter was back at her side a second later and levitated James out of the water. He positively squeaked when he saw the bad shape James was in and accidentally dropped his body somewhat quickly.

Lily had to admit even she froze momentarily as she took in the sight. James' whole body – which was nearly naked – was blue and limp. Lily only had the stomach to look for a split second, but his leg was visibly broken with bone protruding out of the wound. She was almost sick to her stomach, but managed to contain herself. Faintly recalling the first-aid component of her swimming lessons, she grabbed his hand and tried to feel for his pulse. He felt deathly cold and her first instinct was to cover him with her coat. That's the least of his problems, she reminded herself sternly. She thought she felt a faint pulse, but it was obvious that he wasn't breathing.

Lily turned to Peter, who looked seconds from fainting. "Do you know any spells?" she asked, her voice warbling. He shook his head. "Okay," she said to herself, demanding she stay level-headed. "I guess we're doing this the muggle way." She wasn't even remotely sure if it was the right thing to be doing, but it was all she could think of – and so she found herself straddling the boy she fancied and starting chest compressions. Fortunately, this did mean she could avoid looking at his gnarled leg. After a few compressions, she remembered she was supposed to be counting. She arbitrarily counted to ten, then she pinched his nose, tilted his head back, put her lips to his, and forced air into his frigid mouth. It was extremely morose and she derived no pleasure from it whatsoever.

"I saw the sparks – what happened?" Lily heard a voice ask sharply. She thought it was Remus, but it could have been anyone for all she cared. She kept doing her compressions.

"I think Lily found him," Peter answered weakly when it became apparent Lily had other things on her mind. She heard Remus curse uncharacteristically above her.

"Lily, his leg," Remus told her urgently, once he saw it.

"Breathing's more important," she responded in a detached manner. Fortunately, after two more compressions, James started to cough. Lily quickly turned his head to the side and watched him spit out a huge mouthful of lake water. She rolled off him and watched his chest. "Thank the lord," she muttered as she watched it rise and fall. She put her head in her hands, quickly trying to think of her next priority. She didn't even want to think about how long he had been down there without any oxygen. "Remus," she said quietly. "Do you know a spell for prolonged oxygen deprivation?"

"No," he said plainly. "What do we do?"

"I don't know," she said somewhat sharply. "I don't know," she repeated. She shook her head back and forth and gave a long exhale. With a shrug, she grabbed her wand and cast the bubble-head charm again, figuring it would at least mean he was inhaling a large quantity of oxygen. She tried to put in a bit of extra tension so there would be pressure forcing it into his airway. "Who knows," she said dejectedly. Then she sighed and turned to his leg, which was horribly disfigured and oozing. The main bone in his leg was pointing up at the sky, while the lower half of his calf was veering off in a different direction, barely attached. "We have to bring him to the hospital wing," she told the other two.

"No," she heard forcefully. She looked over her shoulder to see that Sirius had joined them.

"What are you talking about?" She asked, furiously. She was battered and exhausted – and terrified.

"We're not going to the hospital wing," Sirius told her firmly. "He wouldn't want that."

"Oh?" she asked scathingly. "He wouldn't want to live, would he?"

"He's breathing," Sirius observed, pointing to his head. "He's alive. He wouldn't want us to take him."

"He's right," Remus agreed after a moment.

"You lot have lost your mind," Lily hissed.

"You're great at charms, Lily," Peter said softly, coming to sit next to her. "You must be able to fix this."

"He's right, Evans," Sirius said, much more softly. "I know you know how to mend bones."

"I," Lily started. Her composure was quickly breaking. "In theory," she agreed. "But that's for small fractures," she told them, starting to cry. "Not for ones like this where you can see the bone."

"How different can it be?" he asked her.

"Very," she told him, continuing to cry. "I know it's a different spell. I just don't know what that spell is or how to cast it."

No one said anything for a moment. Then Remus asked: "So what can we do?"

"We can take him to the hospital wing," Lily repeated slowly.

"No," they all heard. It was James. Lily's head turned so fast she almost gave herself whiplash. To her delight, James' colour was significantly improved. His eyes were open and, though he looked horrible, he did indeed look alive.

"James, you can't be serious," Lily whispered. "You can't see your leg, but it's a disaster."

"No hospital," he told her. It was barely audible, but he had said it.

"Lily," Remus addressed her. "You're the only one here who knows how to mend any kind of break. Just do your best."

"Oh, this is fucking great," she muttered under her breath. "Just my luck." She stared at James' leg, not even sure to start. "Okay, fuck it," she said more loudly. "I can't fix a break with the bone out of your leg," she told James. "Did you know that, by the way?" she asked flippantly. "Most people have bones inside their body, but that's not your current situation." No one reacted to her sarcasm. "So, if you want me to use the only spell I know, I need to put the bone back." Again, no one said anything. "The muggle way," she elaborated. "It will be extremely painful. You will scream." To her surprise, James simply nodded.

"Not here," Sirius cut in. "Let's move him."

Remus agreed. "Where are our wands?" he asked.

"My coat," Lily answered blandly. She still couldn't believe they weren't going to let her take him to the hospital wing. Wands collected, Remus and Sirius jointly levitated James, whose leg dangled limply and dripped blood all the way. Lily stood up and followed, though she couldn't even feel her feet. "Where on earth are we going?"

"Oh," Sirius groaned. "Fuck it, I don't care anymore. You'll see." And so, they proceeded as an odd party across the grounds. Lily was completely astounded when she realized that their destination was the Whomping Willow – and even further astounded as she watched the boys effortlessly disarm the tree and slip inside.

"Is this where we were earlier?" Lily asked as she followed the group through the tunnel.

"Yes," Peter confirmed.

"And why wasn't I allowed to know that?" she asked. It was hardly an important detail, but she was also partly in shock and grasping out for anything that might keep her sane.

"Take it up with Prongs," Sirius said flatly. And that was that.

When they were back inside the old building, Sirius and Remus went to lay James down on the couch. Lily stopped them. "The floor would be better," she explained. "I hate you all," she said simply, just to get it on the record. Then she sat next to the offending leg.

"Sirius," she said, looking up. "He's already drunk, which is... helpful, I suppose. But why don't you cast one of those cheering charms you're always on about?" Lily did not envy the amount of pain he was about to be in. That done, Lily started ordering everyone about: Sirius was to try and keep James calm, Peter was to stabilize his upper body, and Remus and Lily were going to set the leg. Remus faced away from James' face and held onto his knee, keeping the leg bent. Lily assumed her position and grabbed just above the ankle. She truthfully had very little sense of what she was doing – though she did have the benefit of having seen doctors set her father's arm before. "Once you start pulling, don't stop," she told him. "We need the traction to be constant." He nodded. "On my count," she instructed. Then she counted to three.

Even with the alcohol and the cheering charm, James was obviously in agony. He immediately started moaning and thrashing about. "Peter," Lily called out, frustrated. "Bind him for all I care!" She kept pulling, and James kept resisting. "Sirius, come hold his other leg, please."

Thought it might not have been obvious, Lily was expending a considerable amount of effort. "Let's try to pull a bit harder, Remus," she practically grunted. She leaned back with her entire body weight.

"It's not working, Lily," he told her. Even he was short of breath.

"Give it another minute," she complained, exasperated. If this didn't work, she was officially out of options. But then, just like that, she felt his muscles start to fatigue and relax. In turn, she was treated to the satisfying – albeit disgusting – sight of his bone slipping back into place. Instinctively, she and Remus began to ease up, only to discover that the bone started to pop out again. "No, no, no," she cried, and the two resumed their efforts. "I need something to tie the leg down with," she told the room. She was treated to silence. "Like a piece of wood and some rope would be great," she said pointedly at Sirius.

"We don't have anything in here," he told her quietly.

"Then go make something. You're a wizard." The bone had just returned to its proper place and Lily was sincerely doubting her body's ability to keep pulling this hard. Sirius returned with exactly what she asked for. "Take my place," she told him and waited for his hands to grab just below hers. "You have to pull fairly hard," she told him, then slowly let go of the leg herself. Lily's arms were burning and she was barely able to close and open her fists. Nevertheless, she grabbed hold of the supplies and began tying down his leg as firmly as she possibly could.

"I'm not sure if this is going to hold it or not," Lily said with a frown. "Would anyone else like to try?" Somewhat comically, Peter went and took Sirius's place, while Sirius made another rope and tied him somewhat more firmly.

"I think that'll work," he said when he was finished. Tentatively, everyone let go of the leg. When it stayed put, the four of them actually paused and cheered.

"Please tell me you're finished," James groaned.

"I'm sorry, James," Lily told him, grabbing for his hand. "You're through the worst of it," she assured him, hoping it was true.

Lily grabbed her wand, taking a few big breaths. Given how exhausted her hands were, she would be lucky if she could perform even the simplest of spells. But she had no choice. If anyone really wants an A+ charms demonstration, they can find me some other day, she thought bitterly. "Brackium Emendo," she said forcefully. She heard the unmistakable sound of bone repairing itself.

"Are we finished?" Sirius asked hopefully. Lily shook her head.

"This is still a disaster," she said frankly. "Just less of a disaster." There was still a huge open wound with a horrific pool of blood underneath. At least that goes with the décor, she thought sardonically. "I don't suppose anyone knows spells that are good for wounds?" Everyone shook their head. "Of course not," Lily sighed.

"Maybe you have a potion, Lily?" Peter suggested.

"Of course I do. In my dorm." She failed to see how this was of any help to her.

"What's it called, Lily?" Remus asked.

"Essence of Dittany," she replied. She was even too fatigued for further sarcasm.

"And where is it?"

"My bedside table."

"And what's it look like? Tell me as much as you can."

Lily sighed, then decided simply to answer. "It's in a small purple vile, maybe about four inches tall. It's labelled 'Essence of Dittany' in my handwriting. The ink is black. The label is white. It has a grey stopper in it and it's almost completely full."

"Accio Dittany," Remus shouted with a flick of his wand, making his intentions clear.

"Oh of course," Lily commented. She had no idea why she didn't use that spell more – or at all. Probably all those muggle summers, she answered silently. That's really not important right now, she then chided. After a few tense moments, the bottle of Dittany flew up the tunnel and catapulted into Remus' hand. He handed it immediately to Lily.

With just a few drops, Lily watched the wound close up and turn a dark pink colour, almost as though none of this had ever happened. She used a few extra drops for good measure, but there were diminishing returns. As she put the stopper back on the vile, she started to cry in relief. "James, I think you're done," she told him with a small sob. But when she turned to look, she saw that he had fallen asleep. "I guess that's probably for the best," she said, wiping her eyes.

Utterly exhausted, Lily went to go sit on the couch that had repulsed her earlier in the evening. "Well aren't we a sad bunch," she commented. Each person of the group looked more dismal than the last – including herself. She had almost completely forgotten throughout this ordeal that she was wearing nothing but a soaking wet t-shirt and some underwear, and she was now covered nearly head-to-toe in dirt and blood. If someone saw these five teenagers in this abandoned house right now, she was quite certain they would be haunted for life.

"Lily," Sirius said as he took a seat next to her. "I think you saved his life."

Lily gave a strange sort of laugh that didn't sound like her at all. "Only because you refused to let Madame Pomfrey save his live," she pointed out.

Sirius objected at once. "The leg was trivial," he told her. "You'd already saved his life by the time I even showed up. And you did it all on your own."

"Mmmm," Lily said by way of response. On some level, she knew he was right; but on a more important level, she didn't have anywhere near enough mental bandwidth to begin unpacking that thought. Completely spent, she curled up against Sirius and lay her head down to rest. Her last thought, before drifting off to sleep was, thank goodness Candice isn't here to see this.

OoooOoooOoooOoooO

Author's Note: Well there you go! I usually don't leave a note at the end of the chapter, but I just wanted to say... I was this close to letting the chapter end on a cliffhanger (when Lily sees James underwater, which felt like a natural time for a pause). But then it occurred to me that I might inadvertently take another four months to update again, and that felt silly and/or cruel. So... I hope you enjoyed the closure? Catch you again soon!