Sirius and I ran up the stairs to the Gryffindor common room where he led me up to his dormitory, shouted, "Wormtail, code orange!" and proceeded to rummage through a trunk that had a distinct "J.F.P." emblazoned on the side. Meanwhile, I busied myself with trying not to panic and trying not to imagine James injured or dead under some godforsaken tree in the Forbidden Forest.

Luckily, Peter Pettigrew's head shot through his curtains, and he blushed considerably at the sight of me there, distracting me enough to form complete sentences.

"Morning, Peter," I said in lieu of an apology for waking him up.

"Feels more like death," he quipped.

DEATH?!

I bit back the dread that threatened to escape my person and fill the entire dormitory in panicked yelling, choosing instead to grimace horribly at him.

But Peter didn't seem to notice my precarious emotional state. He looked back at Sirius, muttered something about "rude awakenings," and retreated back through his hangings.

Sirius emerged from James's trunk with a triumphant shout, a blank sheet of parchment in hand. With a glance at Peter's shut up four-poster said, "Oi, Pete! I said code orange!"

"You're going to wake Sruthi," murmured Peter from within his bed.

"Sruthi's not here," snapped Sirius. "But you know what is? A CODE ORANGE!"

I frowned. "Why was Sruthi here?"

"She sleeps here now," answered Sirius without further elaboration.

"I don't remember all the codes," mumbled Peter. "What's a code orange again?"

Sirius, rather irritated, bit out, "Prongs is missing. Would you come out, please?"

Peter's head stuck through his hangings again, although he appeared much less panicked than either Sirius or I felt. "D'you check the map?"

"Prongs has the map," Sirius answered.

"Sruthi sleeps here now?" I asked. "Why?"

"Trouble with her dorm mates, apparently," Sirius said distractedly.

My frown deepened. "What sort of trouble?"

"They found out about Freyja. Weren't too keen on it. So, Sruthi sleeps here now," he explained. He tapped the parchment with his wand.

I looked around the room in confusion. "But there are only five beds?"

"Lily, we're having a code orange!" Sirius barked, his neck going pink, as he threw his arms out dramatically.

Peter laughed through his curtains. "Sirius never sleeps in his own bed. Likes a cuddle."

Sirius didn't say anything, but the slight pink creeping into his cheeks was enough of an answer, and I didn't press the matter. Who would have thought that Sirius Black had the modesty to appear embarrassed at sharing a bed?

Instead, I thought of Sruthi, and the way she'd climbed into my bed without asking if it was okay. I honestly hadn't given it a second thought, just thought she'd been that tired. Sruthi was my chum, and if she felt comfortable enough to sleep in my bed, why would I stop her? But if she'd climbed into it because she couldn't go to her own dormitory, then there was something wrong.

"Well that explains why she took over my bed this morning."

"Ah, that's good! Might be nice to wake up with girls instead of a bunch of farting boys." Peter said.

"Speak for yourself," muttered Sirius.

Peter slowly climbed through his hangings, grinning hugely, and cracked his neck. "If Prongs has the map, then what's that?" he asked, pointing at the parchment in Sirius's hands.

"It's the map locator we created last year." He looked down fondly at the parchment he held almost reverently in his hands.

Peter nodded, smiling nostalgically as he trotted over to Sirius. "Right. When Filch nicked it."

"Miserable man."

"Utterly."

They were a spectacle, the pair of them. I placed my hands on my hips and cocked an eyebrow. "Right, so anyone going to tell me how that's supposed to help us find James?" I asked, trying to take control of the situation and push down all thoughts of James getting trampled by centaurs or kidnapped by hags.

Sirius and Peter looked at me, then to each other, as though silently working out whether or not I was trustworthy. Then, with a unanimous nod, they turned back to me and Peter said, "Marauders' honor."

"You've got to be joking," I deadpanned.

I mean, seriously?

James could be halfway to Romania, unconscious in the boot of a vampire's wagon by now and they wanted to play Marauder's HONOR?!

Sirius smirked. "But seeing as you're an honorary Marauder, dating Prongs and everything, and this happens to be an emergency—"

"A code orange, you know," Peter chimed in.

"Exactly, Monsieur," Sirius said, tipping an imaginary hat at Peter.

Peter repeated the mime and said, "Monsieur." Then he tipped his hat at me, and said, "Mademoiselle."

Sirius copied the ridiculous hat-tipping at me and also said, "Mademoiselle."

They both stared at me expectantly.

I rolled my eyes and curtsied. "Messieurs," I mumbled. As I came back up to see their matching grins, I sighed. "You're all ridiculous."

"Welcome to the club," winked Peter.

"Glad to have you with us," Sirius said. "Anyway, this map locator will tell us where the map is, which will give us a better lead on where James might be."

"Makes perfect sense now," I said sarcastically.

"I know," answered Sirius, and I couldn't tell if he was being just as sarcastic or simply couldn't read my own sarcasm. In either case, he threw some robes at Peter, who hastily climbed into them, and tapped the parchment with his wand. "The map's been nicked, please be succinct."

The parchment glowed at Sirius's words and a single word appeared on its surface. "Willow."

"Ah, good," said Peter. He pulled on a pair of trainers and made for the door.

"That means something to you, doesn't it?" I asked Sirius. "There are about a dozen willow trees on this side of the grounds alone. How do you know which one it is?"

"Oh, believe me, Evans. We know." He and Peter pulled me to the common room, through the portrait hole, down the staircases, and to the entrance hall.

It wasn't until they got to the entrance doors that it occurred to me how serious this situation might be. "Shouldn't we let McGonagall know?"

"What for?" asked Peter. "Once we get the map, we'll be able to see where he is on the grounds."

I paused. "Exactly what sort of map is this?"

"The Marauders Map," answered Peter casually.

"Oh, the Marauders Map," I repeated. "Obviously. Don't know how I didn't figure that one out."

Sirius glanced at me curiously. "He hasn't told you about it yet, has he?"

I shook my head.

"Well, shit." He scratched his head. "Prongs might be upset we've spoiled it for you, but on the other hand, he might be dead, so."

Peter blinked. "Might-be-dead trumps getting jinxed."

"Even so," Sirius answered, ruminating on the subject, and eyeing me with a mock-thoughtful expression.

I rolled my eyes. "Let's just find this map before you decide whether or not you can cope with breaking your Marauder code of honor or whatever."

He smiled a brilliant smile, as though having expected I'd let him off the hook. "Cheers, Evans," he said, and opened the large wooden doors, holding them aloft for Peter and I to follow through.

A heavy fog cloaked the grounds. We could barely see a few feet ahead of ourselves. I cast an extra strength "Lumos!" and nothing.

"Ah, well isn't this convenient," I muttered.

Everything was covered in white. I looked all around and could barely make out the tops of the nearby trees through the all-encompassing clouds of fog. I half expected a dragon to come lumbering out of it.

Peter rolled his eyes at me. "We'll be fine once we get the map, Evans. Honestly, don't go getting your knickers in a twist over a bit of fog."

I gaped, offended.

My knickers?! In a twist?!

Luckily, I didn't have to jinx him, because Sirius whacked him over the head with the parchment and scolded him. "Oi! Evans is a nice person, Pettigrew. She doesn't deserve that sort of language."

Peter held his hands up. "Sorry! Sorry." He looked at me and arranged his pointy features into a picture of sincerity. "Honestly, sorry. It's no excuse, but I'm still knackered."

I looked him over, his weary face, his puffy, sleep-deprived eyes more watery than usual, slumping along the dewy grounds in crumpled up robes. I bumped his shoulder. "Well, no reason to get your nappies in a twist over it," I said and smiled.

Peter and Sirius laughed, and I could have sworn I'd heard Peter whisper, "She's alright."

Sirius led us along a path that cut across the grounds at a downward slope towards an area with which I was unfamiliar, having very good reason to avoid it. "Erm, Sirius," I started, uncertainly. "I'm fairly certain we should probably go another way."

"No, this is the right way," he answered. "Trust me."

Peter chuckled. "Have you ever given her any reason to trust you?"

"Shut up, Pete," said Sirius, and he firmly directed a very rude gesture in Peter's direction.

Peter just snorted.

"Alright, but I'm pretty positive we're about to be—"

THWUNK.

A huge branch whipped through the thick, foggy air at us, looking dismembered and absolutely hostile.

We all jumped backwards.

"Killed by a tree branch?" Sirius answered cheerfully. "Is that what you were about to say, Evans?"

THUD.

Beside me, Peter's robes crumpled to the ground, and in place of Peter, a rat scurried out of a sleeve and straight towards the Whomping Willow.

"What—?" I began, but Sirius interrupted me.

"Wow, look at Wormtail go!" he exclaimed. "I think he's trying to impress you."

THWACK!

The very tips of a branch had swiped at Sirius's arm, and he leaped backwards, dropping the parchment from his hands. He swore under his breath as we watched it drift and disappear into the fog.

"Bugger almighty," he murmured, stepping onto Peter's robes. He picked them up with a heavy sigh. "Now we'll need to build a map locator-locator."

"You gave up quickly," I said. I stepped forwards a few paces, trying to find the parchment Sirius had dropped. "It's probably right over—"

"Lily! Watch out!"

THUUUU—!

A large branch came thrashing in the air towards us and froze mere inches from my face.

My heart stopped. "Holy hippogriffs," I breathed, staring at the bare branch with newfound fear and respect.

I'd nearly gotten taken out by a genocidal tree of all things!

"Good ole Wormtail," Sirius said fondly, tucking Peter's robes under one arm. "We've got about a minute to get to the base of the tree before it starts up again. Hurry!"

He grabbed my wrist and we bounded through the white nothingness before us, while I tried to get my heart back in working order.

A crow cawed over our heads from some nearby tree, though it was impossible to tell exactly where it was hidden. The fog seemed to clear the closer we got to the tree's trunk; its flapping branches must have dispersed it enough. A small, squeaking sound caught Sirius's attention and he laid Peter's robes on the ground.

Sirius laid his hand flat before the rat, who climbed into his palm and squeaked. "Evans, meet Wormtail," he said, lifting his palm to my eye-level.

I swear to Merlin and his magical beard that that rat stood up on its back legs and tipped its imaginary hat at me. I laughed. "Pleasure to meet you," I said.

It squeaked back at me and Sirius chuckled. "Alright, alright." He deposited the rat into the neck of the mess of robes on the ground and when the rat squeaked again, Sirius groaned. "Evans, Monsieur Wormtail would be most obliged if we'd turn around while he—transforms."

As we turned our backs on the pile of robes and its one-rat infestation, Sirius rolled his grey eyes at me, and I giggled.

"Well, I'm all pretty now; you can turn back around."

Peter's robes were on backward and the way he held his arms out made him look like a scarecrow.

"Idiot," Sirius said, flipping Peter's hood up over his face, while Peter and I laughed. "Do I have to remind you two we're on a code orange here or what?"

Peter struggled to pull the hood off his head, his thin blonde hair going up with the static. "Sorry, mate. Just trying to lighten the mood."

"I have inappropriate reactions to stress," I added, feeling guilty.

James was missing, possibly stuck down a ravine somewhere and getting circled by a herd of rogue acromantulas, and I was having a laugh over Peter's stupid scarecrow antics?

Sirius nodded. "Eh, if Prongs is dead, he'd probably want us to laugh, anyway."

Peter punched him in the arm. "Oi, don't say that! No one wants Prongs dead."

Sirius met my eyes and said, "Inappropriate reactions, meet inappropriate personality," pointing to himself.

Peter huffed and put his robes on the right way. "Let's go."

Before I could ask where we were meant to go, Peter crouched down at the base of the willow and crawled into a den beneath the roots.

"I'm not going in there," I said, as Peter disappeared into Merlin knows where.

"Evans, this is where the map is—the map that will help us save James—"

"I know," I said, steeling myself as I crouched down. "I just wanted you to know that under any other circumstances, I think I'd take my chances with the Whomping Willow."

Sirius cast a "Lumos!" with his wand and led the way, crawling through the entrance to a tunnel that opened up deep enough to walk in. We reached Peter, who was waving his own beam of light at the tunnel ahead, and he placed a finger over his lips.

"Padfoot, there's something up ahead."

Sirius stepped forwards, his nose in the air, as though smelling for something. "It isn't Prongs," he said.

Peter and I strayed just a step behind him as we neared a dark figure on the floor of the tunnel.

"No, but it's a student!" I said as Sirius's wand light swept over the telltale Hogwarts robes and the steady rise and fall of a sleeping body.

The student stirred, blinking at the sudden wand light in her face. I recognized her at once, but I was terribly confused at her presence in this tunnel.

"Dorcas?" I whispered.

Dorcas groaned.

"Oh my Godric, Dorcas!" I ran to her side as she struggled to get up, Sirius and Peter just behind me.

"Are you alright?" Sirius asked.

"Black," she croaked out. "Potter said you'd come." She grimaced, holding her side in pain.

Peter's eyebrows went up. "He gave you the map?"

She dug into her robes with some difficulty and fished out a bit of parchment. She dropped it, her hand going to her side as she hissed through clenched teeth.

As Sirius bent down to pick up the map, I asked Dorcas what was wrong.

Dorcas sat back down gingerly. "Got a mite cursed." She produced her wand and tapped at her side. She relaxed slightly, but still held a hand to her side.

"We need to get you to the hospital wing," I said. "Now."

Dorcas shook her head, her brown hair catching on her robes. "I can get there on my own. You need to find Potter."

"Dorcas, you can barely sit up," I argued.

"What's happened to James?" asked Sirius.

Peter looked over the map, concern finally shining in his eyes. "Padfoot, he isn't here."

Sirius's jaw clenched. "I know."

"He's still in Hogsmeade," Dorcas answered. "He got me out of there as quick as he could, but they caught him just outside the shack. He didn't want them to follow us through the tunnel."

Just as Sirius asked, "Who is 'they'?" Peter said, "Meadowes, what in the bleedin' hell were you doing in Hogsmeade? It isn't a Hogsmeade weekend."

Dorcas flinched again, biting her lip in obvious pain and distress.

I grasped her arm. "Dorcas, what kind of curse is this?"

She grimaced. "It's one of Snape's. Sectumsempra."

"Circe help us," I breathed.

It was one of Sev's crueller Dark Arts inventions, a curse that would continue to slash its victims as though with a sword no matter how many times the wounds were healed. He'd always said that it might work in theory. I never thought he'd actually use it.

"I think I know the countercurse," I said. "But I need to apply it directly to your wound."

Dorcas nodded, and started to lift her robes, which I could now see were soaked with fresh blood.

Sirius and Peter turned around, huddled around the map.

A thin gash cut diagonally from below her ribcage to just before her navel. Normally this curse produced more than one slash, but it seemed she was only partially hit by the curse. The slashes should have also been much deeper—fatal—though it appeared that Dorcas had applied a stasis charm on the original curse so that it wouldn't cut so deeply. Smart Ravenclaw.

"Sanumsempra," I murmured, the tip of my wand glowing with iridescence as I moved it along her injury. The wound healed almost instantly.

"How did you know that?" said Dorcas, looking at me with a mixture of awe and curiosity.

That was almost a thank you.

I shrugged. "Lucky guess."

It wasn't the entire truth, but it was true enough to satisfy Dorcas for the moment. I just knew how Severus's mind worked. He'd always been a sucker for polarities. It had never occurred to me how violently he could apply that particular predilection, however.

"Thank you, Lily. I—I …" she faltered. She frowned. "I was so wrong about him—about everything."

"Yes, yes, we all have regrets," said Sirius. "Meadowes, I need you to tell me everything you know so that we can get James back safely."

"Right," she said. "Then I suppose you should know—there was a rally last night in the forest. Snape asked me to come, only he never said it was a rally, and he never said it was in the forest. He only told me that some of our team's family members were getting together after curfew, and that if I came along, it would be a good way for our team to bond, which would help our chemistry on the pitch. I couldn't argue with that logic, even if we were breaking the rules, so I went. The team and I and some others met Snape at the Entrance Hall an hour after curfew, and since he was technically on prefect rounds, he just let us outside."

Suddenly, his behavior last night clicked into place. That explained why he'd been checking his stupid wristwatch all night and why he'd tried to get us to split up during rounds. He was trying to get to this rally.

Dorcas continued. "When we got to the forest, I said I didn't feel comfortable going in and tried to turn around, and Snape said it'd be okay if I went back, but then Bellatrix convinced me to stay."

She went on to describe her increasing feelings of uneasiness as they crept through the forest, and the scene they came upon in the middle of a clearing. About two dozen or so students had showed up, apart from Dorcas's company. And at the front of the group—

"Death Eaters," said Dorcas. "At least half a dozen of them in masks. One of them had a cane, with a serpent's head—"

"Abraxas Malfoy?" I deduced, astonished.

Dorcas nodded. "I think so. I recognized it from the day the school governors came to stop our Hippogriff match. Anyway, I tried to escape as soon as I saw him. I got to the edge of the clearing, and that's when I saw him—Potter. He'd been watching them. He tried to help me make a break a for it, but as soon as he cast a Silencing Charm—I think it was because he was just outside of the clearing—it set off a ward, and suddenly, there were all these spells firing at us."

James had put up a Shield Charm, but they'd already been hit; Dorcas with a ricocheting Sectumsempra, and James with a—

"Sponge-Knees Curse," said Dorcas.

"Bit amateurish," judged Peter.

We all looked at him in disbelief.

"I mean, for a Death Eater, eh?" he clarified, attempting to appease us.

"Anyway," continued Dorcas. "It only got one of his knees, but it still made it almost impossible for him to run away."

"Fuck," muttered Sirius.

"We could either risk going straight back to the castle, or hide out somewhere nearby. I didn't really like either option, so I decided we had to go further into the forest, and Side-Along James to Hogsmeade."

"Brilliant plan," said Peter.

Dorcas smiled. "It would have been, only some of the Death Eaters had thought of it, too, and weren't far behind when we finally got there. We hid behind the buildings, trying to decide when to make a break for it, but there was a Death Eater at both gates at either end of the village, and another pair of them patrolling the streets. There was no way out. We were trapped.

"We spent the whole night trying to avoid them. Then dawn came, and when it started to rain, Potter said we'd better get to the Shrieking Shack, because there was a secret passage back to the school from there."

They'd used Disillusionment Charms to sneak to the Shack, but the rain made the ground slick, so James kept falling with his Sponge Knee, and Dorcas kept having to stop to heal her wound, which slowed them down, and by the time they realized their charms had worn away, one of the Death Eaters had spotted them.

"We couldn't go to the Shack at that point, because we'd be leading them straight back to Hogwarts," Dorcas recounted. "So Potter said we'd better split up. He gave me this—what'd you call it? A map?—and said you'd probably be looking for it, Black.

"Meanwhile, Potter was going to make an appearance back at Hogsmeade to lead them away from the Shack while I got away. I thought it'd take me forever to find the passageway, but the trap door was wide open as soon as I made it past the front door."

Sirius shot Peter a meaningful look at that, but Dorcas didn't catch it and went on.

"I made it pretty far until my Stasis Charm started to fail on my wound, and I just collapsed. And that's when you lot found me. What's so special about this map, anyway?"

Sirius looked down at his parchment and breathed a huge sigh of relief. "Oi, look, Wormtail, he's made it through."

Peter grabbed the parchment from him and a giant smile split across his sleep-deprived face. "Prongs is back."

I'd deduced that this map of theirs was probably a map of the Hogwarts grounds and had been made to track each other as long as they were within its boundaries, but I didn't want to take away from James explaining it to me, so I just shrugged at Dorcas.

"Marauders' honor," I supplied unhelpfully.

Sirius laughed and Peter grinned up at me.

Then, from down the tunnel, I heard James's voice say, "Did you prats show Lily the map without me? Because if so, I see a few pumpkin heads in my future."

A dim light ambled clumsily towards us, casting shadows across the stone and dirt walls. I practically jumped up and ran to James, who caught me in his arms as I hugged the life out of him.

"You're okay!" I murmured into his robes, and he had to lean against the wall to hug me back. I pulled back immediately. "Oh my Godric! Except your knee!"

He pulled me back into his arms. "Nothing a little Skele-Gro can't fix."

I reached up to brush my lips gently against his. "You and Dorcas need to get to the Hospital Wing immediately. And then we have to report everything to Dumbledore."

"But we'll get in trouble!" protested Dorcas.

James put his weight on me as we walked back to the rest of the group. He stared at her intently. "We might, yeah. But we can't have Death Eaters trying to recruit students in the middle of the night, either. You alright?"

Dorcas nodded, looking away from him with a troubled expression on her face.

Sirius and Peter came up to him and clapped him on the back.

"Good to see you, Prongs," said Wormtail.

"Monsieur," said James, and the three of them started in on a ridiculous round of hat tipping.

I turned to Dorcas, who still looked unconvinced. "Dumbledore will need to expand the wards on his castle to cover the forest," I elaborated. "And to do that, he'll have to meet with the centaurs and other beings of the forest for their permission."

"Thank you for saying 'beings' and not 'beasts' or 'creatures,'" said Sirius.

I mimed a hat-tipping at him, to which he curtsied and we grinned idiotically at each other for a moment before I turned back to Dorcas. "It's your choice, obviously," I told her.

James nodded. "I'll leave your name out of it, if you'd like me to, but I need to tell Dumbledore what I saw."

Dorcas looked away sheepishly. "I'm so stupid," she muttered to herself.

"You're a Ravenclaw," pointed out Peter. "You can't get into your common room if you're actually stupid."

Dorcas giggled in spite of herself. "Yes, but I meant—I didn't realize that—I just… didn't want to believe it."

We all waited in silence for her to gather her thoughts.

Finally, she said, "There's a war going on isn't there?" and looked at us all with shining brown eyes.

"Yes," I answered, and she looked so vulnerable as she searched my gaze for some kind of guidance.

"Then I suppose it's time I had a think about where I stand," she resolved.

It wasn't our place to make that choice for her, so we merely agreed silently, and the five of us crept back up to the castle.

James refused to go to the Hospital Wing before speaking to Dumbledore, so I helped levitate him up to the Headmaster's tower, and let him go in alone.

Ten minutes later, I was being dragged into Dumbledore's office myself, as the whole Death-Eaters-recruiting-students-in-the-Forbidden-Forest thing was now a school wide concern.

"As Head Boy and Girl, I expect you'll keep a special eye out for any sort of hostility that may interfere with the safety of our students," Dumbledore said, his blue eyes shrouded with worry. "This is indeed devastating news. I must meet with Magorian at once."

Magorian was the leader of the centaur colony in the Forbidden Forest, and James shot me a knowing look.

"Sir, before you go, I wondered if you'd considered my proposal from our last meeting," James said.

Their last meeting? What?

I shot James a curious glance, and he looked so hopeful. Now I was more than intrigued.

Dumbledore softened a little. "I assure you that a change of curriculum for our first and second years is under serious review. One of the school governors, Mr. Fenwick, was particularly impressed by your proposal, Mr. Potter, so I do believe it has a chance of getting some attention by the next scholastic year."

James nodded, but I could see he wasn't particularly pleased.

As I was completely clueless and had no idea what either party were discussing, I remained as politely indifferent throughout the exchange as I could.

But I would definitely be asking him as soon as I had the chance.

That chance wouldn't come until I'd finally forced James to go to the Hospital Wing, after several detours to Gryffindor Tower ("I'd like a shower first, love."), the Great Hall ("Wouldn't a nice, spiced cuppa do us both some good?"), and the library ("I'll need something to distract me from the awful pain of growing back a kneecap, you know.").

It wasn't until I thought to pull the Remus card that he stopped putting off his inevitable hospital stay. "It'll be good for him to see a friendly face next door," I'd said.

I visited with Remus as Madame Pomfrey got James into a hospital robe, and we threw a few smirks over her shoulder at James's many protests against her prodding and fussing. When she left to retrieve a few more potions, I took the opportunity to distract him with my questions.

"What proposal has Fenwick so impressed, anyway?" I asked, attempting to be nonchalant about the whole thing.

I was Lily Evans, Casual and Cool.

"Just something I've been working on," he said vaguely.

And he was James Potter, Maddening Mystery.

Remus snorted. "Lily, could you please tell your boyfriend to shut up and stop talking about his proposal already? I can recite it all by heart by now."

I cracked a smile. "I know, he's so annoying. Can't keep anything to himself."

James chuckled. "Alright, fine, stop begging; I'll tell you." He sat up in his bed and pulled at the neck of his hospital robe. "I've been trying to get Defense Against the Dark Arts to be required education for first and second years instead of an elective that you can start taking third-year. I think it's important for young kids to be able to defend themselves, especially now, but I've been meeting so much pushback from the governors and other educational bodies saying that eleven is too young to be introduced to defensive magic, that it'd be cruel to shatter the innocence of someone so young.

"And I understand that, I really do, but if an eleven-year-old gets lured into the Forbidden Forest because their older housemates are recruiting kids to Voldemort's side, and they have no way of backing out because they haven't learned a basic 'Protego' or 'Expelliarmus,' and they don't know how to stay calm in a high-stakes situation like that, it isn't fair to them. We aren't preparing them for the realities of this world, this war—this—they deserve so much better." His eyes were bright and passionate, and looking anywhere but at me.

Which was strange, as I'd never known him to be apologetic about anything that he believed in before.

I stared at him with something that felt a lot like awe and great affection. "James, I—" I didn't get a chance to say anything, and I wasn't sure what I'd say, exactly, as Madame Pomfrey chose that moment to return with a large bottle.

"Now, I can't say this will be pleasant, Mister Potter, but it's the only way to undo this nasty curse on your knee. Bottoms up!" She administered a healthy dose of Skele-Gro, which I could tell from the look on James's face tasted about as pleasant as a mouthful of troll bogeys.

"Ms. Evans," she said sternly, rounding on me, "I think it's best if you left these two young men to rest."

It wasn't a question. "Of course. May I just say goodbye?"

She nodded curtly, but didn't leave James's bedside, and I knew I wouldn't have a chance to respond thoroughly to his soliloquy, so I hugged Remus goodbye, and bent down to place a chaste kiss at James's cheek. "I think that's a brilliant idea, James," I whispered.

He smiled wondrously at me as I swept away, and I laughed as I heard him say very loudly to Remus, "Mate, I think she likes me."

"I dunno, mate," I heard Remus answer as I got to the doors. "I'd say she likes me better."

A/N: Thank you so much for sticking with this story, dear ones! I'll admit I had to put this aside the last month and focus on finishing up my master's degree. But now that's done, I'll have more time to write! My apologiesfor the long wait; hopefully I didn't disappoint. :) Enjoy and feel free to tell me what you think!