March
"Are you sure?"
The maternity healer nodded at her, a smile on her face as she looked at the projection charm.
"Yes dear," she laughed. "You and James Potter are having a baby boy."
Lily was silent, unable to look overjoyed as the healer watched her.
"Did you want a girl?"
Lily looked up at her, flushing lightly.
"I don't know anything about boys," she explained. "I didn't have brothers and was raised close with my female cousins, not the male ones."
After the healer finished, Lily left the Hospital Wing. She could see Madam Pomfrey treating a student's injury and suppressed her anger.
Amycus was outright torturing students, while his sister was letting some students test jinxes on the half blood students and elves. Hogwarts was not the school she'd left, with so few of the bright spots that made it marvelous.
Lost in her thoughts, Lily walked straight into someone, stumbling back.
"Sorr— Remus?"
She found herself staring at the form of Remus Lupin, one of James's closest friends who she hadn't seen properly in months. He looked exhausted but managed to smile at her.
"Lovely Lily," he returned. "You're looking well."
"James mentioned you were teaching Transfiguration," she noted.
"Yes," he replied, pulling his cloak closer. "I'd always wanted to return and teach but this isn't quite the Hogwarts we left."
Lily nodded, staring absently at him as he waited for her to speak. She laughed apologetically.
"Sorry I'm being rude," she replied.
"I'm sure you have more on your mind," Remus chuckled. "Did you just come from a healer's visit?"
Lily nodded, bringing a hand to her stomach and fighting the urge to smile a bit.
"Turns out I'm carrying one of the next Marauders— we're having a boy," she explained. Remus's lips split into a wide smile.
"That's brilliant. Prongs must be thrilled."
"He's been on a mission," she answered. "I haven't seen him in two weeks."
Remus's face flickered with surprise but he nodded.
"He's been leading missions here in the north," he offered. "But there's not much work left now."
Lily's mood turned grim at Remus's words. She walked with him to the Great Hall, seeing students streaming in for their weekend breakfast. Upon arriving, Remus left out a sigh.
"There are only seats free next to Snape," he explained, a sour expression on his face.
"Severus?" Lily repeated. "He's been cordial to me— what is it that you and James have against him?"
Remus leaned closer to her, guiding her to sit at the end of the near empty Gryffindor table.
"He was recruited in around the same time as I was," Remus said in a low voice. "Found out I was a werewolf and tried to tip the Prophet off when my dad was Minister of Magic… Prongs and Padfoot still haven't let him forget it."
Lily took in the statement with shock.
"That's atrocious," she replied. Remus shrugged.
"Getting parents to let me teach their kids has been rough," he continued. "That's why I arrived late. Too many know I'm a werewolf and didn't want me near their kids."
"What changed?"
"Letters of unforgivables being practiced here… Turns out that most death eaters don't want their second years seeing slicing jinxes being practiced. I'm here to report anything amiss."
"Everything's rotten here," Lily scoffed. "My students haven't smiled in class since I arrived."
They sat in silence for a moment as copies of the Prophet rained down. Since arriving, Lily had lost her desire to read the paper, finding nothing but propaganda in the pages. But that morning she froze, grabbing one and staring at the cover.
"It was a quiet wedding," Remus said, watching her gaze flicker with pain.
"200 people attended," Lily said, looking at the bottom caption. The cover was dominated by a massive photo of Marlene and Sirius. Marlene wore a set of white robes, staring up at Sirius in adoration. "There's no way she willingly walked down that aisle. Did he imperio her?"
Remus was quiet and she tore the paper open, stopping at an image of Sirius, him, and James at the wedding.
"All of you went?" she asked in a cold voice. "I'm her best friend why didn't James take me?"
"There were concerns you wouldn't… that you would case a scene."
Lily's mind filled with anger and she shoved the paper into her pocket and rose.
"He's missed every single healer's appointment but could pop into the biggest sham of the decade," she scoffed, turning and leaving Remus. As she stomped off, Lily found herself heading for the lake and sitting on a bench.
She was frustrated with the complete lack of transparency in her life. James was gone, somewhere she'd never know. Yet he now had the power to know when she woke and went to sleep thanks to the crest.
After sitting and fuming in the cold for 30 minutes, Lily rose to leave but froze seeing a figure standing by the old beech tree.
"Lo," she greeted, making eye contact with Severus Snape. His face flickered as he nodded at her. Lily began to walk off but stopped when he called out from behind.
"Wait!"
She turned, watching as he walked to her.
"He said we could trust you," Severus said in a clipped voice, eyes going to hers. "I need your help."
Lily frowned at him, crossing her arms.
"With what?" she demanded. "Outing more of my friends as werewolves?"
"Dumbledore said you were trustworthy," Snape responded. Lily's eyes flickered. "I'm in the Order."
"The Order is gone," Lily hissed. "Besides why would a death eater from Drumstrang be in it?"
Snape remained silent and she nodded, turning to leave.
"I need your help," he called. Lily wanted to keep walking off, refusing to believe that this man could be her answer to helping. But she froze, feeling his hand on her wrist.
"Let go of me."
He swallowed, removing his hand and standing in front of her. He pulled a coin out of his pocket and Lily's eyes widened at the image of a phoenix pressed into the sickle.
"I need your help," he repeated.
An hour later, Lily found herself following Snape towards an empty hall on the seventh floor. She watched as he paced in front of a tapestry three times before pulling her inside of a door that appeared.
"Merlin," Lily gasped, seeing the group camped inside. Her eyes froze at the familiar sight of her old headmistress and classmates. She could make out the faces of many people plastered on most wanted lists.
"Welcome to the Order," Snape said. Lily found herself walking to Professor McGonagall and freezing at the sight of the older woman's pale skin and an open wound on her leg.
"Miss Everett," McGonagall greeted. "Or I should say Mrs. Potter now shouldn't I?"
Lily's face flushed lightly and her old Professor smiled sadly.
"They've been on the run for months," Snape explained as they walked through the makeshift camp in the room. "Started with a group of 40 and now there's just 18 left."
Lily's mind was spinning as she took the news in.
"Why do you need me?"
Snape swallowed.
"There's camps," he explained, stopping in front of a group consisting of Professor Flitwick and two old aurors. "They're rounding up muggles, muggleborns and anyone deemed a traitor and sending them there. This group helps with getting people from the camps."
"Everett."
Lily turned and felt arms come around her.
"Alastor," she greeted, returning Mad-Eye Moody's embrace. He looked grim, clapping her shoulder. "Merlin it's good to see you."
His magic eye whirled, landing on her stomach and then back up to her face.
"Heard you've decided to be a mole," he said. "Didn't know how far you'd gone."
Lily flushed, shaking her head.
"This happened before I agreed to help," she explained. "I didn't even know the Order still existed."
"We're on the run," Moody replied. "We spent most time breaking into camps and helping people escape. Dearborn's got contacts from the French and America ministries helping us get people out of the island."
Lily nodded, taking the group in again, feeling the painful absence of all who'd died or been captured.
"How many camps are there?" she asked, voice getting tight.
"We don't know," Severus answered grimly. She nodded, facing Moody and meeting his eyes firmly.
"How can I help?"
Moody's magic eye whirled around her form again, and he made a noise of displeasure.
"You took his crest?" he demanded. His exclamation was loud enough that people in the room turned to stare, the conversations growing quiet. Lily flushed, knowing that his eyes must have sensed it.
"He wouldn't let me return unless I did," she admitted. Moody cursed and even Severus was looking at her with pity. "Why does it matter?"
"It limits what we can ask of you," he replied. "He can know your location and every movement… You can't help us and you shouldn't have brought her Snape."
Lily swallowed, looking to Severus for help as his brows knitted together.
"Dumbledore didn't want her to help with getting people out of campus— she's pregnant for Merlin's sake," he argued.
"He wanted me to provide information," Lily supplied. Both looked at her and she shook her head. "I don't have any information. James doesn't tell me anything."
"Convince him," Moody barked. "You're his wife, I'm sure you'll come up with something."
Over the next few days, Lily mulled Moody's words over while remaining anxious that someone would discover the Order members hiding in the castle. Severus assured her that they only came in sporadically to retrieve messages and get medical treatment.
She found herself returning from dinner to attend to a pile of papers she left to grade.
"It's like the buggers are getting dumber," James greeted, as she entered her chambers.
"Merlin James," she said, jumping in surprise and clutching her chest. "You scared me."
James was sprawled out on the couch looking at one of the papers. He kept it down, rising to come over to her as she removed her cloak.
"I'm sorry," he said, stopping to lean down and kiss her. She returned it, as he broke it to look at her. "You look beautiful."
"I look large," Lily replied, not bothering to indulge him. She was showing more and more every day, having to let out robes and order new ones. She moved to sit on the couch, tugging her hair out of its ponytail and shucking her shoes off as James followed. "Marlene and Sirius married and you didn't tell me."
"You've been busy here," he replied, moving next to her.
"It was on a Saturday," she accused. "I haven't heard from you in over two weeks."
"I can't write about where I am or what I'm doing," he countered.
"Then tell me— tell me so I don't need to wonder if you're dead in some forest up north!"
"I didn't know you cared for me," he scoffed.
"I'm serious James," she sighed. "I don't want our son to grow up without a father."
He was silent and she looked at him, pausing at the look in his eyes.
"Son?" he repeated hoarsely. Lily nodded, bringing her hand to his hair.
"Hopefully he doesn't inherit your awful hair," she mused, smiling at him. James's lips broke into a smile as he moved closer to her.
"This is brilliant," he declared. "A boy!"
He leaned down, capturing her lips against in a fierce kiss and Lily returned it for a moment before breaking it and bringing a hand to his chest.
"I'm serious James," she interrupted. "I can't do this without you, without knowing if you're okay or where you even are!"
He swallowed, running a hand through his hair and looking at her seriously.
"It's only three more weeks," he said in a low voice. "I'm on assignment until Spring begins. The Dark Lord's reappointed me back to London."
"For what?" she asked.
"They've reformed all the departments," he explained. "And need someone to lead the aurors."
Lily blinked at him.
"You're 23."
"I have more dueling experience than most," James replied. Lily nodded, still skeptical. "This is a good thing— I won't have to spend weeks up here hunting runaways."
"Are the camps up here too?" Lily asked. James's eyes narrowed.
"How do you know about the camps?"
She swallowed, looking down.
"You've mentioned them before," she said weakly, watching him try to track their continuous cycle of angry conversations. "James isn't it dangerous to have them here with the children so close?"
"It's not," he replied curtly. "There's a 50-mile radius around Hogwarts with wards so powerful dementors can't get in."
Lily nodded and he continued to observe her.
"I heard Montague was positioned here," he said in a distasteful voice.
"Grant?" she asked, regretting saying his name when James's eyes darkened. "He is but I haven't seen him often. Ran into him in Hogsmeade and he said he's on a mission that takes up all his time."
"Has he been bothering you?"
"No," Lily insisted. "James we're not children anymore and Grant's a gentleman."
He scoffed and Lily watched as Charlemagne prowl out from near the fire to rub himself against James's leg.
"Stay away from him," he said brusquely. "I wanted him assigned to the frontlines bu-"
"Frontlines?' Lily asked.
"The Dark Lord is going to launch a campaign in the mainland after winter ends," James explained. "That stays between you and me Lily."
She nodded, pocketing the information as James pulled her onto his lap, brushing her hair back.
"Who else would I tell?" she murmured, leaning down to kiss him.
The next day after James had left her in the early hours of the morning, Lily barreled down to the dungeons. She threw the door open to Severus's classroom, finding him alone brewing a potion.
"He's planning to launch a campaign in France," she said breathlessly.
"What?" Severus said in confusion.
"The Dark Lord," Lily clarified. "He's positioning death eaters and setting supplies- James let it slip last night."
Severus's face flashed with many emotions before he nodded.
"Welcome back to the Order," he said, looking at her grimly.
R&R