A/N: It's the end of the Hogwarts era! This chapter will be the end of part one. Part two will cover roughly through Voldemort's attack on Lily and James, and will include significant time jumps. I will do my best to label dates or make it clear where we are timing wise at the beginning of chapters, so pay attention to those. I may go back and update part one with dates, but that will probably happen slowly as I go through and edit those chapters. There will also be a part three which will cover through the actual books, canon through the end of GoF. I hope you're enjoying so far! Part two has a LOT of action and twists to come, and I think you'll like where I plan on taking everything.


June 7th, 1978

"–can't believe how easy that exam was," James was saying as the group of 7th year Gryffindors made our way down to the lake at the end of our Defense Against the Dark Arts NEWT exam. We were all together, as Defense was the one class we all shared, and it was our last exam of the testing period. Sirius flopped down beneath a willow tree, pulling me down besides him. Everyone sat around us, taking over the large shady area cast by the tree.

"James, don't be cocky!" Lily warned, already having grabbed a book from her rucksack. She was flipping furiously through the pages, looking to see if she had answered a question about hinkypunks correctly. "You never know what you could have forgotten or gotten wrong."

"Lils, sweetheart, relax," James said, grabbing the book from her hands. Her protests fell on deaf ears, as he put the book out of her reach, and shot her a look to let her know that if she attempted to move from her spot between his legs, she wouldn't like the outcome. "Even if I messed up every question, there's nothing I can do about it now. So just relax and enjoy our last week as Hogwarts students with us."

Lily deflated at his words, knowing that he was right, leaning further back in to his embrace. He kissed the top of her head sweetly, before turning his attention to Peter and Remus, who had pulled out a set of gobstones.

"Seriously guys, this is our last week before we all start our jobs and move away from each other," I said sadly, my eyes wandering to each of my friends in turn. James and Sirius had gotten their acceptance letters to the Auror training program, and they would be joining Frank and Alice in training the last week of June. Lily was starting her healer apprenticeship with my dad the first week of July – she had asked for a slight delay in her starting date so that she would be able to attend her sister's wedding. Marlene had been given an offer from Gringotts arithmancy department, and would be working in close proximity with several curse-breakers, so the specifics of her job were pretty secretive. Mary was going to be working directly with the curse-breakers, given that she was proficient in both Ancient Runes and Arithmancy, and she started on her tour of Egypt two days after the Hogwarts Express dropped us off in London. Peter had taken a job in his parent's apothecary, and Remus had gotten a job at Flourish and Blotts, both starting immediately upon graduation.

"When do you leave with the team?" James asked. He was playing with one of Lily's red ringlets, while she had her eyes closed, leaning onto his chest. In his other hand, he had released a snitch that he was allowing to fly just about a foot away before catching it again.

"I start practices with the reserve team on July 1st, and then we take off with the whole team for their matches at the beginning August. I'll be gone for most of August and September, but I'll be back a couple days a week when we have breaks from practices," I explained, smiling broadly at the thought of being able to fly basically every day for the entire Summer.

"As much as I'm going to miss my girl, Puddlemere needs her more," Sirius said gravely, pressing a kiss to my temple. "Plus, we're going to be so swamped with training that I'll barely have any time at home anyway."

"Have you guys set a wedding date yet?" Alice asked from her spot next to Frank. Her and Frank's wedding was set for a week from today, so that they would have a week for their honeymoon before starting Auror training.

"We were thinking of this Christmas, actually," I said shyly, looking at Sirius to make sure it was okay to divulge our plans. Once I had gotten my offer letters, and Sirius had been accepted to the training program, we had discussed the wedding at length. I pressed pretty hard for a Christmas wedding, given that he had proposed to me on Christmas Eve. I decided to keep that to myself, thinking it was too mushy to reveal, but continued, "I have December and January off before intermittent practices pick up in February, and Sirius should have graduated from the training program by then. You'll all block it off for us?"

Lily had clapped her hands together immediately upon hearing we were planning it for just six months from now. "Oh, Addie, that will be so brilliant! I was wondering if you guys wouldn't push it off since you'll both be so busy, so I'm so happy you're not." Lily turned to James to see why he wasn't more verbally excited, but his attention was captured by the snitch, which had flown slightly too far away. He was trying to reach it without having to move Lily from her resting spot, which he finally managed to do by stretching his shoulder all the way backwards.

"James," Lily snapped, her face reddening immediately. "Your two best friends just told us that they're getting married in six months, and you're too busy with that stupid snitch to even pay attention?"

"You're right, Lily," James said suddenly, handing the snitch over to his angry girlfriend. "Why don't you hold on to it for me?"

Lily held on to the snitch, confusion shrouding her dainty features. "Why don't you just put it away?"

"Well, you see…this snitch is special. Take a look at it," James said smoothly, chuckling at how red her face had already gotten.

"James! I don't give one blarney fuck about this snitch right now!" Lily shrieked, looking like she wanted to throw the snitch into the Black Lake, just to spite him. She let it fall from her hands to the grass, and James quickly scooped it back up. I glanced at Sirius, completely confused by what was happening, but Sirius looked back at me with a wink and put his finger up to his lips to shush me. He clearly was privy to whatever plan James was working right now.

"Lils…just look at the snitch, please," James chuckled, pressing the snitch back in to her hands. She looked down, brows drawn in confusion.

"James, I don't understand, it's just a sni….what is that?" She brought the snitch up to eye level. I saw the light reflecting off what looked to be words, engraved into the snitch. She brought a hand up to her mouth, her eyes glittering with unshed tears, as she asked, "Really?"

James took the snitch out of her hands, got down on one knee, and tapped the snitch, saying, "Apertum." The top half of the snitch opened like a box, revealing a beautiful opal ring, sitting in maroon velvet. The opal was huge, and diamonds surrounded it like flower petals, all set in a thin yellow gold band. "Lily Evans – I told Sirius on our first day of first year, before we even stepped foot in Hogwarts, that I was going to marry you after watching you stand up to a third year. I have been in love with your fiery personality, sparkling green eyes, and humbling kindness for seven years."

"James!" Lily gasped, her hand still covering her mouth. I noticed that her hand was shaking from nerves. I looked around at everyone; the girls were all crying quietly, and the boys were beaming, looks of extreme pride on their faces. Sirius tightened his grip on me, pulling me closer to his chest. I could tell without looking at him that he was crying, because his shoulders with shaking with the effort to hold the tears in.

"Lily Evans…will you make me the happiest wizard alive, and become my wife? Will you marry me?" James asked, his voice steady, the only indication that he was nervous was the slight shaking of his hands, to match his fiancé to be. That would be James, though; hands steady as a surgeon's while facing death eaters in deadly situations, but shaking at the thought of possible rejection from the love of his life.

Lily didn't answer for a minute. Her entire body was shaking now, but it looked as though she couldn't speak. James held steadfast, giving her the time to process that this was really happening…again. James had proposed to Lily several times in the past, but each time was met with an immediate, "go to hell, Potter!" and usually a meal overturned on his head.

"Yes," Lily whispered, finally. She looked shocked herself by her answer, but she repeated herself louder, "Yes! James Fleamont Potter, I will marry you!" She launched herself into James's arms, her slender arms wrapping around his wide shoulders. She was laughing, but crying as James stood up, her in his arms, and twirled her around. The whole group of us started cheering, which got the attention of the group of Hufflepuffs who were sitting down at the lake. Mandy Doore, Henrietta Smith. Anne Abbott, and Louise Tilly wandered over to where we were celebrating; they all held their flip-flops in their hands as they had been dipping their feet in the cool lake.

"Hi, guys! What's going on?" Anne asked in a friendly voice.

"Isn't it obvious?" Mandy sneered, her voice dipped in sarcasm. "Another perfect couple getting their happily ever after, while us plebeians have to pick at scraps. The Gryffindors girls must be brewing love potions in bulk."

"Mandy," Louise reprimanded, hitting her lightly on the arm. "She doesn't mean that…" She turned to address us, biting her lip in embarrassment.

"Yes she does," I said, rolling my eyes. "She can't handle that three of the Gryffindor couples are engaged, while she can't get a guy to stick around even for breakfast."

"You know, you really surprised me," Mandy sneered again, stepping closer to me. I untangled myself from Sirius and stood up too. "I never thought you'd be able to keep the ruse up for this long. Sirius…blink twice if she's holding you hostage."

"You see Mandy…to get a guy to respect you, you have to have a personality…morals…interests. You can't expect to fuck a guy in to sticking around," I snapped back, getting right up in her face.

"At least I'm not naïve enough to not see when a boy is only using me for sex…sound familiar? Does the name Jason Whitmore ring a bell?" She retorted, her ugly face screwed up in rage. Her low blow physically stung me, and I took a step back but found myself bumping in to something hard. Sirius had stood up behind me, ready to intervene if things got messy. Lily and James had sobered up from what should have been their moment to celebrate, and had anchored themselves on either side of me. The rest of the Gryffindors sat beneath the tree still, but were paying close attention to make sure nothing got out of hand.

"Mandy! Stop it," Louise interjected, her hand still on Mandy's arm, trying to pull her away from the situation.

"I know that you're jealous of Sirius and I. I get that…look at him! He's a total catch, and you hate losing. But do not ever bring up Jason Whitmore to me again, if you want to maintain all ten of your extremities," I ended in a deadly whisper, my wand pointed straight at her.

"Mandy…if I were you, I'd back off now," James warned, hearing the tone of my voice and knowing that I was serious.

"Please, she's just some slag who regrets sleeping with Jase, and decided to ruin his life rather than ruin her reputation. Not that it matters, since you jumped right in to bed with Sirius weeks later…" Mandy rolled her eyes, pulling her arm free of Louise's incessant pulling. Even Henrietta, Mandy's best friend, looked uncomfortable now.

I was about to speak again when Sirius stepped in front of me, his own wand raised. "Louise, Anne…I highly recommend that you get this bitch out of here before I do something that I definitely will not regret."

Anne and Louise, seemingly having the same idea, had already grabbed her by the shoulders and were pulling her backwards. "How could you seriously choose her over me?" Mandy cried, her shoulders finally slumping in defeat. Sirius getting involved seemed to cement the rejection for her; although us getting engaged, and Sirius never speaking to her, should have been a big indicator that he wasn't interested.

"Because, Dore, unlike you, Addie took the time to get to know me for the person I am; not just for what lies underneath my clothes," He turned to smile at me over his shoulder. He turned back to look at her, saying with a note of finality, "I love her, and nothing you do will ever change that. Find someone who makes you happy, and stop trying to relive the past. You'll be better off, I promise."

Her face fell with his words, and she stopped struggling completely; she allowed her friends to walk her away. Sirius turned around and pulled me in to a hug. My heart was beating really fast from the confrontation; I turned to look at my friends who were all looking at me like they weren't sure how I was going to react.

"Guys…forget about all of that. She's old news. Lily, let me see that beauty!" I said finally, determined to not take a single second more away from Lily's special moment. Her face lit up immediately and she rushed over to show me. I felt Sirius rub my back once consolingly, before going over to congratulate James on finally getting his dream girl.


July 1st, 1978

Before I knew it, I was home in our flat, having graduated from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Sirius and I had a week together before he started Auror training, and I managed to convince him to spend most of that time wedding planning…and not in bed like his suggestion had been. I knew that once he started training and I started practicing, we'd have next to no time together to even breathe, let alone plan a wedding. His general attitude was "whatever you want, kitten," but he did have some clear preferences on the bar and the music. He had me hire a local band that he knew who would do muggle covers for him; as for the bar, his two demands where it be open, and that we stock only the finest firewhiskey. In his words, "Only people who hate their families have a cash bar; and while I do hate my family, they won't be at our wedding so no reason to punish our friends."

By the time he started training, I felt confident that I could handle the rest of the wedding planning. We had booked a venue – a beautiful orchard near Potter Manor that we would enchant into a heated bubble. I'd hired a caterer – the Red Newt, in honor of my mom; her sous chef had stepped up and was the head chef now, and I knew that having me put my trust in him meant a ton. We had a tentative guest list drawn up; all that was left was sending invitations and buying a wedding dress.

As expected, Sirius's training kept him away from the loft for anywhere between 12 and 18 hours at a time. He always came home exhausted from the physical and mental torment Mad Eye Moody was putting him through, flopping straight on the couch and not moving until I begged him to come to bed. Lily came over for wine one night during their first week, and she complained that James, who was Sirius's partner, had nearly missed her sister's wedding because Moody had made him pass a ridiculous obstacle course in under one minute to be able to leave. It had taken him two hours, but he finally had made it in time for the ceremony; Lily had had to do some quick transfiguring of his Auror robes in to a muggle suit, but they had endured the horrific event together.

The morning of my first training session I woke up bright and early, too nervous to sleep in. I didn't need to be at the pitch until 9AM, but I woke up when I heard Sirius moving around, getting ready for his shift at the Ministry. I couldn't fall back asleep, so I rolled my legs out of bed and slipped my feet in to my fuzzy slippers. I opened the door to our bedroom and peaked my head out.

Sirius was in the kitchen, in front of the stove. He was cooking something and singing under his breath; the delicious aroma of whatever he was cooking filled the entire apartment. I snuck up behind him and snaked my arms around his waist, nuzzling my face into the back of his soft t-shirt.

"Mmmm…good morning, kitten," He purred, continued to flip the eggs that he was cooking in one skillet, while watching the sausages sizzling in another. "You're up early. I didn't mean to wake you."

"I couldn't sleep. I'm nervous for today I guess," I admitted, reaching around him to steal a sausage from the skillet. Sirius smacked my hand playfully.

"Not yet! There's no reason to be nervous, you're going to be wonderful," He said, turning around in my arms. I looked up at him, realizing for the first time just how tall he really was; I had to crane my entire neck to look in to his eyes. He leaned down and kissed me, his hands running the length of my spine.

"Mmmm," He moaned in to my mouth, dipping me backwards slightly. He abruptly cut off the kiss and turned back to his food. He waved his wand, extinguishing the flame and levitating the food on to plates. "While I wish we could continue this, I need to go or Moody will have my arse. I was planning on leaving this here under a stasis charm for you when you wake up, but since you're up, I'll just leave it here."

"You have to go already?" I asked, glancing at the clock on our kitchen wall. It was only 6:30 in the morning, but Sirius was already pulling on his robes and shoes.

"I'm sorry, kitten. I promise, I'll be home early tonight and we can talk about your day over dinner," He apologized, letting me sit on his lap so I could kiss him again.

"Leaky Cauldron? 6PM?" I asked, kissing him again slowly.

"Yes, kitten, promise. I love you!" He said, pushing me off his lap gently. I went over to the plates of food as Sirius left through the front door, blowing me a kiss as he went.


My first day of training went better than I could have ever imagined. The entire reserve team was so kind and accepting that I immediately felt at home. We spent the first two hours in a strategy meeting, the next two on physical fitness on land – running, weight lifting, and agility – before spending two more hours drilling on our brooms. We then broke for lunch for an hour, before a scrimmage, then stretching, and then we were sent home. It was intense – much more intense than anything I was used to. My entire body felt sore, but like I had accomplished something. By the time 6PM rolled around, I was rushing in to the Leaky Cauldron. It was crowded tonight, and I managed to snag two seats at the bar. I ordered myself a butterbeer while I waited for Sirius to arrive.

I sipped on my drink and people watched while I was waiting. Thirty minutes passed, and I was starting to worry. Then an hour passed, and I was starting to get angry. At 7:30PM, I paid my tab with Tom, gathered my cloak and walked out of the pub. The ten-minute walk home, I fumed; he couldn't even have sent me an owl, or floo'd to let me know he couldn't make it?

I got home and changed in to an old t-shirt of Sirius's, my legs bare. I cuddled up on the couch under a fuzzy blanket, summoned a glass of wine and opened a book. Somewhere between my third and fourth glass of wine, I fell asleep on the couch, my rage having faded back to worry.

"Kitten? Kitten, wake up." I woke up to Sirius shaking my arm. He had turned on the lights in the living room, so I shielded my eyes from the sudden light. I sat up, the blanket falling from under my chin.

"Sirius?" I asked groggily, shaking my head to clear my muddled thoughts. "Where were you? Are you okay?"

"Baby, I'm so sorry about dinner, but something pretty incredible happened," Sirius started, sitting down near my stomach on the couch.

"Well it better be pretty incredible because now that I know you're fine, I can fall right back in to being angry," I snapped, sitting up further. Sirius put his hands on my knees, trying to stop me from moving further away from him.

"I swear, I tried to send you an owl, but Moody wouldn't let me. Remember when James and I overheard Dumbledore and McGonagall talking about a secret order?" Sirius asked. I nodded my head, and Sirius continued, "Well, just as James and I were getting ready to leave, Moody handed us a piece of parchment. It had an address written on it, and before we knew it we were portkeyed to some sort of safe house. They told us all about the order, they call it the Order of the Phoenix. And they want us to join! Well, James, Remus, Peter, Lily and I. Marlene was there too, they said they wanted to have someone on the inside at Gringotts. I brought your name up, but Dumbledore said you wouldn't be too much use, as your going to be travelling all the time for Quidditch."

"And, you're going to join?" I asked cautiously, my hand reaching out to cover his large hand, which was still resting on my knee. All of my anger at him for missing dinner vanished, being replaced by the unrelenting fear that had been simmering since Sirius had first told me he wanted to be an Auror. I had known that he wanted to do this, but honestly in the last couple of months the thought had been pushed to the back of my mind, as other things like graduation, out first jobs, our wedding, and our friend's engagement taking precedence.

"Of course I do! I need to fight! I need to help stop this war," He said emphatically, his grip tightening on my knee.

"Okay. I support you. But we're going to need rules," I pleaded, knowing that nothing I said would ever be able to change his mind. But he needed to know that there were things I needed to be able to live with this fear. "You need to check in with me before and after every meeting. If they're going to send you away on a mission, you come home and say goodbye. And if I'm travelling, you tell me I need to come home; I will – no questions asked. No exceptions."

"Kitten, you can't compromise your career for me!" Sirius objected, bringing his hand up to cradle my face.

"Nothing in this world is more important to me than you and your safety, do you understand Sirius Black?" I laid my hand over his hand on my cheek. "If you ever went away for a mission and something happened, and I didn't come home to say goodbye? I would never forgive myself."

"Fine. But you have to promise me something too, okay?" He asked, smoky eyes meeting my brown eyes in a heated glare. I cocked my head to the side, further in to his palm, in question. "You have to promise me that you will stay as far away from this war as possible."

I opened my mouth in objection, but Sirius rubbed his thumb along my lip. "No. Those are my terms. I will not lose you – I wouldn't be able to live in a world that you didn't exist in," Sirius put his forehead against mine, still looking deep into my eyes.

"Promise me, kitten."

"I promise, Sirius."

**END OF PART ONE**