James didn't leave her side for the rest of the night.

She tried, feebly, to get him to go back to his room and get some sleep, because it didn't take long for her eyelids to get heavy again. But he simply brought a chair over and held her hand while she fell asleep. It wouldn't have been a comfort to have him hold her hand and watch over her while she slept only a few days ago. She hadn't trusted him, she had been weary that he would try to trick her or that he had ulterior motives.

But now she treasured the warmth that passed from his hand to hers, and she didn't see a fae capable of being a monster when she looked at him. She saw the warmth and worry in his eyes and knew that it was genuine, she saw his messy and tousled hair sprouting out around his small antlers and saw a boy who had had to grow up to quickly to wear a crown that he didn't literally wear that often.

It was also astounding to her just how normal it seemed for him to have antlers growing out the top of his head.

When she woke up the next morning, Remus was arguing with one of the medics in the corner of the room, Peter and Sirius were lounging on a pair of beds on either side of her and James was resting his head against her bed, his hand still wrapped around hers.

"You should have slept, like I told you to," Lily said, reaching out and running her fingers through his hair without thinking. He jolted upright and her hand fell back to the bed. His eyes were wide, and Remus stopped arguing to look at her. "Was I asleep for too long again?"

James shook his head. "No, no, it is morning now."

"Are you feeling alright, Lily?" Remus asked, walking up to the end of her bed, almost sheepishly.

"Perfect, actually. You?"

Sirius snorted and Remus narrowed his eyes at the both of them.

"I'm alright, Remus. I need you to stop blaming yourself for whatever happens to me."

"I can't do that," He said. "My mum made me promise to look after you, and us fae take promises a bit more seriously than mortals do. I knew inviting you here was going to be dangerous and I did it anyway." He put his head in his hands, his hair flopping forward.

"I know, but we're not kids anymore. At some point what happens to me has got to start being my own fault." Lily tried to bump him with her toes, but she couldn't reach him. "And everyone is calling me the true queen now, so maybe I should start looking after myself."

"I do not know how good of an argument that is," Peter laughed. "I mean, we do spend all of our time looking after James, and he is the high prince."

"Yes, but I spend all my time keeping you lot out of trouble as well," James shook his head. "It is a give and take and an uneven one at that. Sirius is always knee deep in some kind of trouble."

"That is true," Sirius nodded. "And Remus never once, has blamed himself for the trouble that I get into. Seems like he might like you more than he likes me, Lily."

"Or maybe you go looking for trouble," James suggested. Remus pulled his hands away from his face and looked at his friends.

"I'm still glad that you invited me, if that makes you feel any better."

"You having an apparent death wish does not make me feel any better, thank you." Remus huffed and sat down on the end of her bed. "You have actual handprints around your neck. That you got while you were sleeping, in a dream! How are we supposed to keep you safe if you're getting attacked in dreams?"

"A dreamless draught." A medic said, coming up to Lily to check on her wounds. She had another jar of the salve they had used last night. "Which is what we gave her when she came in, which is why she had no more dreams, yes?" She looked to Lily for confirmation. "I'm Madam Pomfrey, by the way."

"Thank you for taking care of me, Madam Pomfrey." The mediwitch nodded curtly. "And she's right," She added, looking at Remus. "I didn't have any more dreams, though I don't think Riddle will try that again regardless. Did you tell them what happened to him?"

James nodded. "His hands melted."

"No!" Lily made a face and flinched away from Pomfrey. "Sorry," She muttered. "No, his hands didn't melt, they turned to ash!"

"That is significantly less gross." Sirius nodded.

"Significantly." Lily agreed. Madam Pomfrey finished with the salve and dressed her wounds again. It felt very strange to have bandages around her neck, nothing like having a bandage on your knee or your finger. This one was going to be hard to forget about.

Lily quietly thanked her an then she walked away.

Peter snorted. "Can you imagine him walking around right now, angry as hell because he tried to kill you in a dream and ended up losing his hands." Sirius laughed, but Lily couldn't find it in her to even smile.

Because Peter was right. Riddle was going to be angry as hell and that would make him lash out impulsively.

"I need to go to the library," Lily said. "I need to start actually learning about this stuff," She pulled back her blankets and swung her feet around to the floor.

"You need to rest," James said, putting a hand on her shoulder to stop her from getting up.

"I'm fine." She shook her head. "I have slept quite a bit, especially considering everything that's happened. I need to go to the library." She stood up and looked at Remus. "Will you help me?"

"Of course," He nodded, standing up and walking around the bed. "I don't really know what you want to look over, but I'm quite familiar with the library."

"Lily,"

"James, I'm sure that you have things that need your attention. I'm fine." She tried to assure him, but assuring him also wasn't at the top of her list of priorities just then. She needed to get to the library and learn something, she needed to figure out what Riddle's plan was going to be and what her role in all of this was. There was something in her itching to go, just like when Remus and Peter had been trying to keep her in the room above the tavern. Riddle was going to do something and she needed to be prepared when he did.

"We do have things that we need to be doing," Sirius agreed, getting up from the bed that he was sitting on.

"And she does appear to be fine." Peter added.

"I'm not going to let anything happen to her," Remus assured him.

Lily looked around at the four of them and laughed. "James, go do your job. You three," She looked at each of them, "Stop talking about me like I'm not standing right here. I'm not fragile or weak or incapable of speaking!"

And then she started out of the hospital wing, not having a single clue where she could find the library, but knowing that Remus would catch up.

She hadn't realized that she'd given them direct orders.

The library, as with the rest of the castle, took Lily's breath away when she stepped into the room. She shouldn't have been surprised, but she was. The sheer volume of material in here was astounding. She didn't know how anyone could manage to keep track of all of this without a computer of some kind.

She gave Remus a general idea of what she wanted to look at first, and he was able to narrow things down for her. He got her an intro book about prophecies, a book about the general concepts of magic and a few others that he wanted to look at. Books about dream magic, and sacrifices throughout history. He also found a book titled, 'Living at Peace with Fairyland.' It felt a bit on the nose, but he reminded her that when on a journey, sometimes the answers were put in plain sight for you to find.

But it ended up being a cautionary tale for mortals who stumbled into fairyland, but he said that he would read it later anyway, just in case.

They set up camp in front of a fireplace that was unlit. It was the middle of summer after all, but it was cozy without a fire, and there was a blanket that Lily could wrap around her shoulders. She'd never changed out of her pajamas, so she was still wearing her nightgown, and even with the windows in the library open and the warm summer air coming in, she was still a bit chilly.

"You keep touching your neck." Remus said after an hour or so of them quietly reading.

"Well, you keep looking at it." She countered. "Did you find anything in your book?"

He shook his head. "No. I've never heard of magic like that. And all dream magic says that in order for you to access someone's dream in any kind of substantial way, you need to be connected to them somehow."

Lily frowned. "Like related?"

"No," Remus shook his head. "It could be the land that is linking you. He's draining it, which connects him. And then you've agreed to let the land use you as a weapon, so you're connected. It could explain why you burned him too. He was using a connection that favors you."

"That sounds made up." Lily sighed, flipping the page in her book.

Thousands of prophecies fail to come to pass every year, because thousands of prophets choose to keep those prophecies to themselves. A fae without knowledge of what their future holds, holds power over what their future.

Lily scoffed. She understood to an extent, but at the same time, it didn't seem like real magic if prophecies only came true if people made them come true.

"I know it sounds made up," Remus sighed, slouching over in his chair. "Because I just made it up. I mean, theoretically, it sounds good. But I did just pull it out of my ass."

Lily laughed, "It does sound good. I didn't mean to make you feel bad."

"Shut up," He muttered. "I'm going to go and get a charms book. Maybe we can fashion something together to keep it from happening again." He stood up and Lily shook her head. "I don't trust a dreamless draught against Riddle's magic, Lily."

"He's not going to do it again. I don't think he'd risk it. He's going to do something else."

Remus sat back down and looked at her. He looked so tired and Lily wished that there was something that she could do for him. "What do you think he's going to do?"

Lily sat up and put her book on the couch next to her. "Well, what is his goal? What is it that he's trying to accomplish, other than gaining immortality?"

Remus frowned. "He wants power. He wants to be the high king."

Lily nodded. "And he's angry and scared. That isn't a good combination for a man like that."

"They had that witch tell them that you would give them power." Remus said.

"Clearly he's elected to ignore that." Lily shrugged. "I mean, he did try and kill me." She kept her hands in her lap so he wouldn't say anything about it.

"Maybe." He let his head fall into his hands. "There are just too many variables! How are we supposed to be prepared when we don't know what he's going to do?"

"But we do know." Lily shook her head. "He's going to make a play for the throne. For King Fleamont's throne. And he's going to do it soon. He knows that he can't hurt me, I might be able to hurt him, he's scared and he's angry and so he's going to lash out and make a hasty play for the throne."

Remus tilted his head and looked at her. "You sound pretty sure."

"I am sure." Lily nodded. "That's why I wanted to come here, so I can learn more and be prepared for when he gets here."

They went back to their books for a few more hours, Remus getting up to switch them out every now and then, sharing bits of information, Lily asking questions at a rate she thought was too often, but for the most part, they sat quietly.

And so, when Sirius and James entered the library, loudly talking about patrol schedules and the need for extra training, Lily jumped and Remus dropped one of his books.

"This is a library, your highness," The librarian, who had let Remus and Lily be for the last few hours, quietly reminded James. Lily leaned over and picked up Remus's book for him and then sat up a bit straighter.

"My apologies," James nodded at the older woman and then looked at Sirius as though he was used to being reprimanded by the librarian. They both sat on the couch next to Lily and James looked at her with wide eyes.

"So, what was that?" He asked.

Lily narrowed her own eyes and frowned. "The librarian told you to be quiet."

Sirius snorted. "No, back in the hospital wing, red."

Lily's frown deepened. "What are you on about?"

"You told me to go and do my job," James said, "And so I had to go and do my job."

Sirius laughed now, "Yes, and he was quite grumbly about it the entire time."

James glared at him and then looked back at Lily.

"I forced you?" She asked, her voice quiet. Then she threw her hands in the air and stood up. This kind of realization required some pacing. "How can I do things like that without even realizing that I'm doing it!" She looked over at the librarian, but she was busy with a stack of books.

She looked back at James who was holding the charm bag that prevented people from hearing what you're saying when they weren't right next to you.

"I didn't mean to," Lily said, pulling the blanket closer around her shoulders. "I didn't mean to force you to go and do anything. I thought magic was supposed to require some kind of sacrifice, that you were supposed to be focused on your intent when using it?" She waved toward the book she'd been reading about the elementary concepts. "How can I do it accidentally?"

"Well," Sirius kicked his feet up on the table that Lily's books were on and put his hands behind his head. "You did mean it when you said it, even if you did not think that saying it out loud would force him to go and do his bloody job."

"I'm sorry," Lily said.

James waved off her comment. "I know you did not do it on purpose. I find it interesting more than anything."

"And frustrating. You had a lot of work you needed to catch up on."

James gave Sirius another glare and sighed. "Yes, I suppose I have had other more pressing matters to attend to these last few days."

"You are just lucky that your dad has been picking up the slack or you would have been stuck in the throne room all afternoon." James reached over and shoved him. "I mean, a pretty girl shows up and it is as though-"

"Yes, we get it," Lily sighed, sitting back on the couch and pulling the prophecy book toward her. "I'm a distraction. But can we focus? For just a minute? And then you can go back to teasing James." She was going to have to word everything as a question now, so she didn't accidentally make anyone do anything they didn't want to do. It was like Ella Enchanted in reverse.

"What do you need us to focus on?" James asked.

Remus leaned forward. "Lily is quite sure that Riddle is going to make an appearance here very soon."

That sobered Sirius up rather quickly. He dropped his feet back to the floor. "Why do you think that?"

"It's like Peter said," Lily sighed, rubbing her hands over her face. "Riddle is mad as hell. And he's scared. Anger and fear make people do desperate things, and I just have a feeling that he's going to come here and try and grab what it is he really wants."

"You think he is going to try and kill you in person?" Sirius asked.

Lily shook her head, but then sighed. "He won't try again himself., but I suppose he might try and have someone else do it." She couldn't help but look around. "I hadn't thought of that, but of course he's going to try and kill me, if he believes that I'm the only one that can harm him. But no, he's not going to come here to kill me, he's going to come here for the throne. He wants to be the high king, right?"

The three boys all looked at one another and then James slumped back against the couch.

"Where's Peter?" Lily asked.

"I asked him to go to Severus' and," He ran a hand through his hair, "Well, I asked him to confirm what you just said. I think he is going to make a grab for the throne as well. He will most likely challenge my father. And I will take his place in the duel. And then…"

"And then you fight him." Sirius said. "You send his ass back to the hole that he crawled out of."

Lily kept looking at James. He tried to smile for his friend, but she knew, same as he did, that it wasn't going to be that easy.

AN: This chapter didn't exist yesterday... But we got there just under the wire. I'm posting this chapter about two minutes before I have to run out of the house! I hope you enjoy!