Previously: Lily and James share detention, James is ecstatic that he and Lily manage to carry on a conversation. When Lily reveals that her father works with moths, James realizes that Mr. Evans would theoretically be able to get them the chrysalis of a Death's-head Hawk Moth, which is the last ingredient for the Animagus potion.


Chapter 55: One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

"You're sure? You are absolutely – one-hundred percent – completely – totally – sure?"

"How many times do I have to repeat myself, Sirius? Yes! Yes, I'm sure."

"I'm just double-checking – you're positive?"

"For Merlin's sake – yes!"

The Hogwarts Express sped through the countryside, creeping closer and closer to Platform 9¾, where hundreds of parents and little siblings no doubt waited to take the students home for break. All four of the Marauders were among those students. However, James could not focus on that – he was too worried by what he would have to do.

Ever since the detention with Lily, James had been caught between two warring desires. On one hand, he had finally managed to make progress with Lily – she no longer looked at him with disgust, and twice, when he managed to catch her eye in the corridors, she had actually smiled at him. James wanted so badly to capitalize on that before she remembered all of the reasons why she disliked him, but on the other hand, Remus needed him – and James could not just forget his friend.

When James had realized that Lily's dad would have access to the Death's-head Hawk Moth through his research, he knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that Richard Evans – that was what Remus said her dad's name was – was their best hope at getting the last ingredient for the potion to seal the Animagus transformation. The chrysalis was not in any storage room for potion's ingredients – they had tried everything, even Slughorn's personal storage – and there was no way that they could break into the Ministry's stores, which were kept under lock and key. Not only did Mr. Evans have access to the moth, but as a Muggle, he would have no reason to report them to the Ministry.

The only issue was that he could see no way to ask Mr. Evans without either drawing attention to himself – which would put James, Sirius, and Peter at risk of getting caught – or offending Lily, who he had been so close to getting on better terms with her.

"Wait – why would she be angry with you?" asked Peter when James pointed out that very problem to his friends at large. Peter took a giant bite of a Cauldron Cake as he looked up at James expectantly, waiting for an answer.

"Because, Pete – how would you feel if somebody who you've hated for four years managed to get on speaking terms with you, but then all of sudden, they turn around and ask your dad for something? And it's not like I can say, 'Hey, Evans – I need your dad to get me this one potion ingredient because my friends and I are trying to become illegal Animagi' or anything. We can't risk her knowing what we're doing," said James with a sigh.

"I could ask her dad," suggested Sirius. "I mean – don't get me wrong – I'm all for you finding another girl who actually likes you, but if you're worried about this destroying whatever progress you've made with her, I could do it – I don't give two shits what Evans thinks of me."

"Thanks, mate – that means a lot, but you can't. It has to me – I was the one she told about her dad being an entomologist, and she's already suspicious enough. If she sees you talking to her dad, she'll know something's up," said James, and he sighed into his hands.

"Can't you just … I don't know – send her dad a letter or something?" suggested Remus as the train started to slow down, indicating that it was approaching the station.

"And how would you phrase a letter like that, Moony? 'Hey, Mr. Evans. You don't know me, but your daughter hates me. Side note: Can you send us three chrysalises of the Death's-head Hawk Moth? No reason why we're asking. Oh, and please don't mention this to anybody, including your daughter. Thanks! Sincerely, James.' – no, I have to ask him when I see him on the platform. This is our only shot at getting that chrysalis."

The train finally pulled to a stop. Outside their compartment, students were chattering away happily about their Christmas plans, but James could only feel the growing sense of dread at what he had to do – whatever progress he thought he had made with Lily would soon become irrelevant. If she hated James before, that feeling would only increase ten-fold after what he was about to do.

James stepped off the train, searching for the familiar head of dark red hair. He found it some twenty yards away: Lily had just finished pulling away from a hug she had given somebody who could only be her mother before turning around to hug the man standing next to her mother – Mr. Evans …

"Right," breathed James. He handed Sirius his bag as he said, "Sirius, keep my parents distracted for ten minutes, will you?"

Sirius nodded and said grimly, "Good luck, James."

"Thanks, mate," said James, turning back to face Lily, who was still happily chatting with her parents, and taking a deep breath.

Here goes nothing.

"Evans – hey, Evans!" called James, running after Lily before she and her family could leave.

Lily spun around, a look of utter bewilderment on her face as she realized that it was James who had called her name. James saw her green eyes narrow as he approached, and the sense of dread that he had felt earlier only grew – oh, she was going to hate him for doing this.

"What are you doing here? Can't it wait? I haven't seen my family in months," she said briskly, crossing her arms.

Beside her, her parents showed only blank surprise. Up close, Mrs. Evans looked exactly like her daughter save for the blond hair and large, pale brown eyes. Mr. Evans was tall, and his hair was several shades darker than Lily's – enough that it could almost pass for a light brown – and as James got closer, he realized that Lily and her father shared the same bright green, almond-shaped eyes. The only difference was that Mr. Evans's eyes showed confusion while Lily's did not bother to hide her irritation with him.

"Friend of yours, Lily?" asked Mr. Evans politely. He reached forward and clasped James's forearm in greeting as he introduced himself, "Richard Evans, young man – and who are you, may I ask?"

"Oh, my name is James – James Potter," responded James, trying his best not to wince – he had not expected that Mr. Evans would have such a firm grip.

"Ah …" was the only reply, and the confusion was quickly replaced with a knowing glint in his eye, not unlike the one Lily sometimes got – by now, Lily herself was openly glaring at him.

"I repeat: what are you doing here, Potter?" she asked.

James nearly flinched at the biting note in her voice, but he quickly tried to cover it with his usual bravado as he turned to her father and vigorously shook his hand again.

"Why – I had to meet your dad, Evans! Sir, I'm such of fan of yours –"

"Stop it, Potter! What do you think you're doing?"

"– I find lepidopterology so interesting." – James had spent the entire train ride practicing the pronunciation with Remus, and nearly sighed in relief when he got it right – "I actually was hoping to talk to you."

"Potter!" snapped Lily, looking horrified. "Now is not the –"

"It's alright, Lilykins," said Mr. Evans, quietly patting Lily on the shoulder and stopping her mid-sentence.

The man turned away from his daughter, and James felt his stomach drop even lower as Mr. Evans assessed him. His eyes – Why did they have to be so similar to Lily's? – were unreadable. They contained none of the anger that Lily's did, but nobody could mistake that glint as friendly curiosity either. James stood before him, unable to move or speak. He could never remember being this nervous around another Muggle, but there was something about Mr. Evans that was almost McGonagall-ish – and James had never dumped a bucket of ice-cold water on McGonagall's daughter as a revenge prank.

Oh, Merlin.

James had not thought this part through.

"Walk with me, James," said Mr. Evans finally, clasping his hand firmly on James's shoulder and pulling him closer.

"Daddy, I don't think –" started Lily, but Mr. Evans held up his hand.

"I think I can handle a fourteen-year-old boy, Lilykins. You and your mother take your stuff to the car – I'll be along shortly."

Lily looked between James and her father, who was smiling a smile that made James uneasy, but she must have decided that her father was right because she and her mother grabbed Lily's things and took off towards the exit that led to the Muggle world. A part of James wished that she would stay – he had not ever planned on talking to Lily's father alone.

It was only when Lily and her mother had vanished from sight that Mr. Evans broke the silence between them.

"Tell me, young man – do you take all Muggles for idiots or am I the only one to receive that honor?" said Mr. Evans in a low voice as he released James's shoulders and slowed to a stop.

"N-no, sir – I was just –" started a dumb-struck James, but Mr. Evans once again interrupted him.

"You think I can't spot a sweet-talking suck-up from a mile away?" he demanded.

Clearly, Lily had not just inherited her eyes and hair from her father – she had also inherited his bluntness and sharp tongue.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Evans – I think we got off on –"

"Lily's told me all about you, James Potter. You ask her out every chance you get, you prank her friend, you show off every time on you're on the Quidditch pitch, you hexed a really nice boy – Terry, I believe his name was – so that he would have a pumpkin for a head …"

James gulped – he really, really should have thought this part through more.

"And you also stuck up for her when other students called her a dirty word," – Here, James looked at Mr. Evans in surprise – "What were their names again? Mulcher? Mulcan? Mul … Mul …"

"Mulciber," growled James, clenching his fists in anger, "Mulciber and Avery."

"That's it," said Mr. Evans softly, and he clapped James on the shoulder so that he could look the boy square in the eye. "So you see – I've heard both good and bad things about you, James, which means that as far as you're concerned, I could swing either way. Now – I'm going to give you one chance, and one chance only, so you better be straight with me, boy – tell me what you want from Lily and why it's important enough for you to interrupt my reunion with my daughter, whom I haven't seen in months."

James sighed – really, did his eyes have to be so similar to Lily's?

"It's not … it's not Lily I want something from – it's you," James finally admitted.

"Well, now … this is interesting," said Mr. Evans, releasing his shoulder and leaning back against the brick wall as he added, "So … James Potter – what exactly do you need from me? And why couldn't you tell my daughter about it?"

"It's for my friend – he's one of my best mates, see, and I'd do anything for him. You see, he gets sick every now and again, and my friends and I – we have a way to help make his illness better, but to do that, there's something else we need. You see, there's a … a potion ingredient that we've been looking for – it's the chrysalis of a Death's-head Hawk Moth. When we were in detention together, Lily mentioned that you work with moths for a living, and I was hoping that you could help us out with that."

Mr. Evans regarded him warily.

"I don't think you're giving me the complete truth, James," said Mr. Evans after a long pause, and James felt his heart drop to somewhere around his navel. "No, there's something else you're not telling me. If it was as simple as that, then your … whatever your version of doctors is – they would have done what you want to do long ago. Last chance, boy – tell me why you want the chrysalis of a Death's-head Hawk Moth, and tell me why my Lilykins can't know – at least, I assume she can't, since you're asking me, a Muggle who hasn't the slightest clue how your world works, rather than having my daughter ask me."

James tried to keep his panic from showing, and he quickly glanced around to ensure that nobody else was within earshot.

"Look, Mr. Evans – I can't tell you why I need it because –" Here, James triple-checked that nobody was close enough to overhear before dropping his voice to a whisper and continuing with, "– because if the Ministry of Magic found out, you'd be in big trouble."

"Lucky for you – I don't answer to your government. I'm a Muggle, remember? They have no power over me. Now – the truth, boy, or I walk out of here and you never see me again."

James closed his eyes and took three deep breaths to steady his nerves.

"Okay, the truth. My friend's illness – there's a … a stigma about people like him. I'm not going to tell you exactly what it is because one – it's not my place to share his secret, and two – if it got out, he would be forced out of school. It's all horrible stereotypes that don't contain a single nugget of truth at all – but all the same, he has it, and it makes his life miserable. We want to try to help him in any way we can – does that make sense?"

Mr. Evans listened intently, and when he did not say anything, James took that as a sign that he should continue.

"But you see, what we're trying to do … it's nothing that he would do – it's something that will enable us to help him. And we can't tell anybody else because … well, it's really, really dangerous, what we're trying to do. If it goes wrong, then the damage is permanent. And because it's so dangerous, it's – I'm sorry, sir, this is going to sound horrible, but it's true – it's just flat-out illegal to try what we're trying to do unless there's strict Ministry supervision. But the Ministry would never agree to let three fourteen-year-olds try it without really, really good reason – but you see why we can't tell them. So our only chance to help our friend is to do this unsupervised without any of the required paperwork – and if we're going to attempt this, then we need the chrysalis of a Death's-head Hawk Moth – three, to be precise, and we're trying not to leave a trail anybody could follow if they caught wind of what we were attempting. There would be one for each of us – and I think I don't need to explain why we can't tell Lily about any of this."

Mr. Evans's expression did not change during James's entire speech, and by the end, James was out of breath and searching for any hint of emotion that might betray Mr. Evans's inner thoughts. He found none.

"I can get you what you need."

"I know it sounds bad but – wait – what?"

Mr. Evans gave him a wry smile, and again, James was struck by how much he looked like his daughter in that moment.

"It's not easy to impress a girl's father the first time you meet him – sure, you can make them like you, perhaps. You can be nice and polite and considerate and all that other bullshit that everybody knows is faked –" James tried to hide his surprise that Mr. Evans would swear in front of him so blatantly "– but to impress her father … that takes something else entirely."

James was not sure what to say to that, but thankfully, Mr. Evans did not wait for a response because he continued as if nothing had been amiss.

"You know what – I like you, James Potter. It takes guts to admit to the father of the girl you love – yes, I know you have genuine feelings for my daughter, James – I'm a Muggle, not blind – anyways, it takes guts to admit that you're planning on breaking the law. You're in Gryffindor, right? That's the ballsy house?"

"Um – y-yes?"

"Right, well – I think you're a good man, James. For what Lily's told me, you clearly still have some growing up to do – but I can tell that your heart's in the right place. So … I will send you what you need via owl – don't worry about if I'll be able to send it to you – they have ways for Muggles to keep in touch with their kids when they're at Hogwarts. Anyways, it'll take me a little while to get everything I need, but once I have it, I'll send it your way with some instructions. There's only one thing I need in return."

"What?" asked James.

This time, it was Mr. Evans who glanced around to make sure that nobody else was listening in before turning back to James and dropping his voice to a whisper.

"You see, Lily's not always the most … forthcoming when it comes to your world. She doesn't want me or her mother to worry much – but I can tell that there's trouble brewing in the Wizarding world. I haven't told Rose because Lily's mother has enough on her plate. But I want you to tell me, James – straight and true – is my Lily in danger?"

For the first time since James had met him, Mr. Evans was not looking at him with suspicion … his bright green eyes were wide and earnest – he simply looked like a man who wanted to keep his daughter safe. Staring at him, James knew that he would not be able to lie even if he wanted to.

"Yes," was the simple reply.

Mr. Evans closed his eyes and drew in a deep, shuddering breath before he said, "Then I need you promise me something, James."

"Anything."

"Promise me … promise me that when that trouble comes for my Lilykins, you'll do everything in your power to keep her safe."

In that moment, James knew that something had clicked between him and Lily's father, and even though he was quick with his answer, it was by no means any less heartfelt:

"I promise."

"Good, good … oh, and one more thing – if you ever break my daughter's heart, no amount of magic in the world will be able to save you from me."

James could not help but grin at that.

"I know."


Note: I've moved the events from Slughorn's Christmas party to later because it just didn't make sense for Mulciber to be using those kinds of curses in fourth year. Rest assured that I haven't gotten rid of it – I simply moved it.

Sorry, but that was a pretty difficult chapter for me to write. Poor James … he was so close. I hope I did a good enough job explaining why Lily would be surprised and angry by James's actions. And before any of you start going on about how Lily's father is being kind of mean, let me remind you that James hasn't exactly been a perfect angel towards Lily.

For those of you wondering why I changed Lily's parents' professions – this is why. After I read the process for becoming an Animagus as described by JK Rowling, this idea just fell into my head, and I had to keep it. Plus, I figured that meeting each other at the train station is a bit more realistic that James finding some excuse to go over to Lily's house, and I wanted James and Lily's dad to have at least one conversation like that.