Hello! I am back from a long hiatus, and I'm excited to share this next chapter with you all. For anyone who is still reading thank you for returning to this story, and for anyone who's new I'm excited to continue sharing this with you all as we delve deeper into the events leading up to the first wizarding war.

Easter break came far too quickly for Lily's liking. She wasn't looking forward to an entire evening spent in the company of one James Potter, but she knew Dumbledore was a brilliant wizard and he wouldn't have asked if it wasn't important. He must have had his reasons for pairing her with James Potter as well. So, she found herself on the day before the Easter holidays sitting in Defense Against the Dark Arts class chewing her nails down to the beds while Marlene smirked at her from her position at the desk by her side. Lily tried to slink out of class as soon as it finished, planning on hiding in the library where she figured Marlene wouldn't find her, but Marlene had other ideas. Marlene, who normally spent their post-defense against the dark arts class time snogging Sirius before dinner was instead dragging Lily to the girl's lavatory.

"Ok, what is with you? Ever since your not-so-secret meeting with James Potter you haven't been able to glance his way without being overtaken by the crimson monster."

"Shut up," Lily hissed, dragging Marlene away from the doorway and the prying eyes of her classmates, "It's not like that." She said.

Marlene smirked as the aforementioned red tinge began to overtake Lily's pale cheeks.

"So, you don't fancy James Potter then?"

"No, I don't" Lily said adamantly, glancing behind her nervously in case any nosy girls were listening in. With an annoyed huff Lily continued. "If you must know, Professor Dumbledore has James and I participating in some extra credit work over the break. And I guess I'm a little…nervous about it, alright?"

"Extra credit work, huh?"

Marlene said, that infuriating smirk overtaking her face once again.

"Yes, that's all it is. I'm telling you…"

Unfortunately, it was that moment that George decided to approach the defense against the dark arts classroom, and Lily caught sight of him before Marlene could distract her. He ignored Lily as he snuck past her muttering "excuse me" as he snuck by her into the classroom. Lily blushed crimson at the thought that he might have overheard the conversation between her and Marlene. Marlene tried her best to ease Lily's incoming anxiety, but Peeves had other ideas. Having sensed a moment for chaos he immediately began chewing and spitting great wads of gum at Lily's hair.

"Buzz off Peeves!" Marlene shouted, muttering "Flipendo" shooting the last wad of gum back at the poltergeist, nailing him right in the eye.

She then pulled Lily down a passageway next to the classroom, powerwalking through the castle until they finally made it back to the bottom of Gryffindor tower where she paused, holding Lily's hands.

"Are you alright, love?" Marlene asked, noting Lily's stony gaze right on the edge of cracking.

"I'm fine, just didn't need that reminder today."

She said, the stress of the afternoon increased tenfold by the unplanned run in with her ex-boyfriend.

"Yea, I get it." Marlene said, and then, "It has been four months. I'm sure he's moved on at least a little by now." She said, trying to offer Lily some consolation. Lily's brow just creased at that, a lumpy feeling clenching in her stomach.

"Not actually helping Mar,"

"Right, sorry, he's still sobbing alone then, he'll never get over you." Marlene said, severely overcorrecting to the point that Lily couldn't help but chuckle.
"Neither of those is what I want; I just," She paused for a moment, considering her words, "I didn't think that I would feel so bad about becoming close with other guys after this long."

"So, you and Potter are close?" Marlene said suggestively.
"That's not what I meant. And no, but I guess I haven't found him as horrible this year as before. And the last few months it's like something's shifted inside him."

Lily said, trying to figure out what she had been sensing in James over the course of sixth year. It's not like he'd exactly been kind, between the slug club and the Slytherin boil prank. He hadn't grown up at all in that respect either, and he was still an arrogant toerag with a smug streak from his Quidditch winnings. So, what was it about James Potter that had drawn Lily in when she'd hardly given him a passing glance before?

"All teasing aside Lils, maybe it would be worth it to give him a chance. If you think he's worth it that is, to bury the hatchet so to speak, not hate him like you always have."

Marlene said, pulling Lily out of her thoughts for the time being.
"I didn't hate him." She replied a little sheepishly.

"Just think about it, during this extra credit assignment, maybe try to set old biases aside hmm?"

"Yeah, maybe you're right." She said. "But I'm not interested in him," Marlene smirked "At all." Lily emphasized elbowing Marlene when she kept the suggestive smirk up.

The next morning those who were leaving for the Easter holidays, always less than the Christmas ones, boarded the train home. Marlene and Alice were among them, although Susan and Mary had decided to stay behind. Lily woke up earlier than usual, blaming the nerves of that night's excursion. She went downstairs to get her usual coffee and toast, and she found herself not unpleasantly surprised to find James Potter down there.

"Morning Potter."

"Morning Evans," James replied, tapping on the edge of the table with his fork and knife like a discount drummer. "So, how are you feeling about our little adventure?"

"I don't know if I would call it that. This is a serious mission Potter, and I don't want you treating it like one of your stupid schemes."

"So serious." James teased, but Lily's eyebrows knit together as she continued sipping on her coffee, hands shaking with nerves. "If you recall, I have been on one of these quests before; I could be helpful in that regard."

"Slytherin will win the house cup before I go looking to you for help James Potter."

"Don't jinx it, Lily." James said, uncharacteristically serious at the mention of such a catastrophic event.

Lily snorted into her coffee, and James smiled lightly as they finished the rest of their breakfast in a comfortable silence.

That night Lily arrived in the common room at 8 o'clock sharp, tapping her feet as she waited for James to meet her. She heard his footsteps tromping down the dormitory stairs about 5 minutes later.

"Sorry, got caught up." He said, and Lily couldn't help but notice the slight amount of singing at the edges of his hair and on the bottom of his robe. She smiled a little at that, imagining Sirius was likely involved in this latest development.

"No problem," She said.

Lily and James left the common room together, moving silently under his cloak until they arrived at the door of Dumbledore's office to receive their assignment. Lily took the lead, knocking politely before she heard a soft: "Come in" from behind the door.

They sat across from Dumbledore who smiled at them both, that everpresent twinkle in his eye.

"Thank you for taking the time out of your holiday to do this. I promise I wouldn't have asked if it wasn't of the utmost importance."

Lily glanced at James, but for once his eyes weren't locked on hers, focused entirely on the wise old man before them.

"Now I don't believe in wasting words or time. Many months ago, I had Mr. Potter bring me something; this time you will be delivering something of mine."

Professor Dumbledore slid a letter sealed with wax shaped in the Hogwarts crest; Lily picked up the letter sliding it carefully into the pocket of her robes.

"So, we're just playing post owl again?"

James snarked as Lily gawked at his obstinance, but Dumbledore just chuckled lightly.
"Yes, Mr. Potter, but it is no less important."
"Why do we even need two of us for that? You can leave the castle whenever you want."
Lily elbowed James this time, but Dumbledore smiled at him.

"It is true Mr. Potter. I am free to travel whenever I wish, but it is best for these particular missions that I have a solid alibi. For example, I will be spending this time when you two are off establishing myself having been drinking brandy with Horace all evening. I will certainly be in no form to have been conducting secret missions under the ministry's nose."

"Sir, is what we're doing illegal then?" Lily said, no less willing, but perhaps a little more hesitant than she had been before.

"Not illegal necessarily, but I'd rather not word of what we're doing here spread through the Hogwarts gossip mill Miss Evans."

He winked at her, but Lily didn't match his amused gaze. Dumbledore changed tactics.

"Miss Evans, I understand your apprehension, but I assure you that what you and Mr. Potter are doing tonight is wholly necessary."

"Necessary for what, sir?"

Professor Dumbledore put the tips of his long fingers together, icy blue eyes meeting emerald green as Lily stubbornly held her ground.

"Professor, if my life or James' is going to be put at risk, I think we have the right to know it."

James looked up, surprised at Lily's concern for his well-being. Lily kept her eyes locked on Dumbledore who considered the statement before answering carefully.

"What I can tell you is that the village where you will be delivering the letter is completely safe. I cannot be seen there, which is why I have turned to you. Further information than that I cannot give, and so I'm going to need to ask you to trust me. Can you do that?"

There was a long pause, a quick shrug from James showing his assent. Lily was harder to persuade, a contemplative look in her eyes as she felt Dumbledore's crystalline gaze boring into her heart and soul.
"Yes." She finally replied.

"Wonderful. So, you can both apparate I take it?" The pair both nodded, having passed their apparition tests shortly after turning 17.

"Here is the location." He handed them a piece of paper that read: Polperro, Cornwall, England "Burn it as soon as you've memorized it, and report back to me once you've returned here safely." Dumbledore finished, James and Lily understanding that they were dismissed.

They used James' cloak through the castle, sneaking into the one-eyed witch passageway much to Lily's surprise.

"Is this how you guys manage to sneak out of the castle?" She asked.

"Sometimes." He replied, smirking back at her.

They made it to the end of the passage, James pushing up the trapdoor and pulling himself into the cellar in Honeydukes. He removed the cloak from himself and Lily, wiping the sweat from his forehead from being concealed underneath it for so long.

"Honeydukes?" Lily asked, glancing sternly at James as he sorted through one of the boxes shoving a handful of chocolate frogs into his pocket.

"What? I'm hungry."

Lily rolled her eyes. "You remember the spot?" She asked, pulling out the paper for one last look.

"I've got it." James said, grinning back at her.

"Good," Lily said, "Incendio." She muttered burning the paper as Dumbledore instructed. "Let's go."

Lily turned on her heel, mind focused on the location Dumbledore had given them, apparating to the outskirts of a muggle village. She stood on top of a grassy hill, little specks of light peeking out of houses in the distance, a handful of townsfolk catching a late-night television program or making themselves a last-minute snack before bed. She smelled the salt of a nearby sea, heard the splashing of its waves against the shoreline less than half a mile away. Lily breathed in the fresh air, her mind at ease as she began looking around for James. He should have been just behind her. A few minutes passed before a loud crack startled Lily out of her worries, her wand pointed right at James' heart as he put his hands up in defense.

"It's just me Evans." He said, a cocky grin lighting up his face as Lily lowered her wand somewhat begrudgingly.

"What took you so long?" She said in a furious whisper.

"I was just…I forgot the name." James said sheepishly, Lily Evans' shining eyes distracting him from any lie he might've come up with under normal circumstances.

"You told me you had it." Lily said.

"Well, I was wrong, wasn't I?" James replied.

Lily huffed, "Come on" as she began walking towards the town, wet grass staining her white trainers as she made her way down the hill. James followed closely behind her, glancing around curiously as they made their way into the tiny muggle town similar to where Lily herself was raised, albeit a bit smaller. There were mostly houses in the area, although a shop or two stuck out amidst the sparse town square as Lily and James continued walking quickly realizing that they hadn't asked Dumbledore where or even who they were meeting.

"Figured someone would have popped up by now," James whispered as they made their fifth circle around the town square glancing at every moving shadow or little sound that made itself known.

"Maybe we should go back." Lily whispered, but James held up a finger to silence her, a subtle change in the wind unlike the other sounds that night whispering across his well-attuned ears. Some animagus traits stuck around in the human form, and James' ability to sense danger was one of them, which is exactly why a split second before the stunning curse landed on its intended target, he was able to shove her out of the way.

"Stupefy!"

Lily was on the ground next to James' motionless body before she could get her bearings, and it was pure instinct that led her uncooperative limbs to dive behind a nearby whiskey barrel, "Impedimenta!" leaving her mouth before she could even glance at her attacker. A jet of red light launched over her head, Stupefy!, flying from her wand tip next. Another two red lights launched at her in quick succession, one hitting the barrel she was hiding behind slamming it into her back with brute force. The wind knocked out of her, Lily worked desperately to catch her breath as the crunching of boots on broken glass approached her from less than ten meters away. Her breathing still shaky and uncooperative, Lily waited until the sound of the boots was practically over her head before aiming her wand hand around the barrel a nonverbal incarcerous curse spewing out, the sound of a man's loud grunts informing her that she had been successful.

She peeked cautiously over the top of the barrel, and she saw a woman dressed in black lying across the street from her, a purple bump forming on her head. A silver mask lay next to her still body. The man who had attacked them was still struggling against Lily's binds mere inches from the barrel where Lily had just been hidden, trying to reach his wand which was just beyond his grasping fingers. He wore one of those silver masks as well, and Lily felt a realization overtake her. The Daily Prophet, the reports of attacks, the pictures of masked figures that had been sneaking into her nightmares over the last few weeks. As Lily stood over the man who was likely responsible for some of these attacks, some of those deaths, a furious malice shot through her. She kicked his wand far from his reach, and he grunted furiously under his mask which remained firmly on his face, unable to speak through the binds around his mouth. Lily finished the fight with a well-placed kick to the man's head knocking him unconscious alongside his partner. She ripped the mask from his face, an ugly snarl still in place below a scraggly mustache and short-cropped blonde hair. The man was young, no older than 19 or 20, and Lily felt the barest sense of pity before she thought of those orphaned muggle children and considered breaking his nose to add to the bump that was rapidly forming near his temple. As the rush of angry blood in her ears began to fade, her mind shifted to her partner in this endeavor still lying just as unconscious as the others on the ground.

"James!" Lily shouted, running over to James who was still lying stunned on the stone walkway. "Renervate" Lily said, James coming to quickly, a little bit shaky as Lily helped him to his feet.

"It'll be completely safe" James said, mocking Dumbledore's words. "Could have gotten us bloody killed. Are you ok?" He asked, looking Lily up and down for any signs of injury. She shied away from him, only the bruise on her back to show for the battle she had just fought.

"I'm fine, but you're hurt." Lily said, glancing at the blood flowing freely from a small gash at James' temple.

He shrugged nonchalantly, "It's just a scratch" he said, removing his cracked glasses, and repairing them with a tap from his wand.

"Don't be stupid. Come here, I can fix it." Lily said.

James looked at her with mock suspicion, but moved forward, leaning down so that Lily could reach his head from her smaller vantage point. She muttered a spell and James felt his skin stitch itself back together. He ran his finger over the smooth skin where there had just been a sizeable cut and couldn't help but be impressed.

Before he could speak to that though the sound of another person approaching reached their ears. They both held their wands out, lowering them when they saw a kindly middle-aged woman approaching them.

"Keep your wand out fool. They don't always have to look dangerous to take you down."

She glanced over at the man lying at James and Lily's feet.

"I'll make a call, get the right people to take care of him. Good shot young lady." She said, glancing at Lily.

"Thanks, um, are you who we're meeting then?" Lily asked, wand still at the ready, a little jumpy from the unexpected attack.

"Well, I should hope so. Come on inside in case there are more of them."

She led Lily and James down the street and cut through a back alley, leading them to the doorway of one of the smaller houses on the street. They walked into the house immediately noticing the strong smell of boiled cabbage. Lily smiled as two cats, one charcoal grey, and one a fiery orange, approached them rubbing their heads against her legs begging for pats.

"Oh, hello little ones. You are so cute."

She scratched behind their ears as James bent down on one knee next to her, reaching his hand out to let the charcoal one catch his scent and smiling lightly as it ran its sandpaper tongue over his long, nimble fingers.

"Alright, now on to business. What do you have for me?"

The woman stood up and James nodded, pulling the letter from an inside pocket of his robes and holding it out to the strange cat lady who had met them in the road.

She read through the letter, quietly taking its content in, before a crease appeared between her eyebrow, lips downturned in frustration.

"You can tell Dumbledore that I received his message, and I'll see what I can do."

James and Lily nodded, abandoning the cats for the more serious conversation ahead of them.

"So, is that all you need from us then?"

"Yes. Better you two get out of here sooner rather than later. Thank you for this."

The two teens nodded, turning around, a little unsure of the anticlimactic ending to what had been quite an eventful night. James turned to Lily as they walked through the muggle village, making their way to the outskirts to apparate out.

"So, you want to be a healer then?" He said, trying to fill the silence with conversation.

Lily shrugged. "I'm good at it."

"That doesn't answer the question." James replied, pausing alongside Lily who was biting her lip, deep in thought.

"I don't know. You're just supposed to be what you're good at, so I guess in that sense yeah, I could be a healer." She said.

"I guess so, but if you're not passionate for it, then you won't be happy."

Lily shrugged, but she had to admit she'd never really thought about it that way. They walk in silence the rest of the way to the apparition point.

Lily and James make little conversation as they sneak back through the basement passage in Honeydukes arriving back in Hogwarts under the cloak. They use it to be safe, nearly running into Peeves without the help of the Marauder's Map. They walk into Dumbledore's office, and he is waiting in seemingly the same position, nimble fingers pressed against one another.

"We did it." James says.

"And did she have anything to say?" He asked with an unreadable expression.

"She said she would do her best." Lily replied.

Dumbledore frowned, but he nodded. "Very well. Thank you both. You can head back to your dormitories."

James and Lily were a bit taken aback by the abrupt dismissal, but they began to make their way out of the office, when they were stopped by one last word from the old headmaster.

"And Mr. Potter?"

"Yes, sir." James replied, turning to meet his eyes.

"I know how close you are to your friends, Mr. Black especially, but I am asking you as a special favor to me to keep the events of this evening to yourself."

James was not thrilled with this prospect, lying to Sirius, but he nodded firmly covering himself and Lily with the cloak as they left the office in silence. They slunk back into the common room, James pulling the cloak from both of them, shoving it back in his robe pocket.

"Alright, well, night Evans." James said, climbing the stairs to the boy's dormitory.

"Night," Lily said aloud, remaining downstairs in the common room to process the evening's events.

James entered the dormitory late, having been out all night with one Lily Evans. Naturally, Sirius wanted details.

"So, what was that about?" He asked, a cigarette held loosely between his fingers which James promptly summoned and snuffed out.

"Nothing, just quidditch stuff," James replied lamely.

"Quidditch stuff? With Evans?" Sirius asked disbelievingly. "Come on Prongs you can't tell your best friend about your midnight makeout session?"

"It wasn't like that." James said.

"Defensive." Sirius stage whispered to Peter who snickered with a ratlike squeal.

"Sirius, can you just drop it?" James asked, looking sternly at his best friend.

"Fine." Sirius said, growing quickly annoyed with James' secret keeping. "Come on Wormy," He grabbed Peter by the collar and stormed out of the dormitory while James just watched, not wanting to deal with a Sirius meltdown after the night he'd had.

Remus and James were left alone in the dormitory, Remus not seeming to have paid much attention to the conversation, nose in his latest book.

"You two were doing work for Dumbledore, right?"

He asked. James had begun taking off his robes getting ready for bed, but he stopped with his head still stuck inside, taken aback by Remus' revelation.

"How'd you know that?" He sputtered as he pulled them off the rest of the way, Remus' eyes patiently trained on his.

"Remember last month? I spent like a week in the hospital wing?"

James thought back. That had been a particularly strange full moon, especially because Remus hadn't seemed all that worn out afterward.

"Yeah." He said.

"I wasn't there for a couple of the nights. Dumbledore had me doing some work for him."

Remus said, not elaborating on what kind of work he had been participating in. James knew better than to ask.

"Really?"
"Yeah, I guess he's begun recruiting."

James furrowed his eyebrows at that. "Recruiting?"

"You've been reading the headlines Prongs."

Remus closed his book, standing up and beginning to pace as he often did when he was stewing over something.

"There's a war coming, and Dumbledore isn't the type to sit back and allow it to happen without a fight."

James didn't have time to process this as Remus fired another statement at him.

"You didn't tell Sirius." His eyes were trained on James once again. He winced a little under the intense gaze, but he answered honestly, Remus one of the only people who could bring out his more earnest qualities.

"I don't want to disappoint him, Dumbledore I mean," James needlessly clarified, "and I love Sirius you know that. He's my brother. I trust him with my life but…"

"Dumbledore told you to keep it quiet." Remus answered sagely. James nodded.

"I wonder why Dumbledore didn't recruit Sirius. His family?" James said, blood boiling at the very thought.

"No, Dumbledore's not like that. I know Hagrid's a part of whatever it is, and he's a half giant, isn't he?" Remus muttered, almost to himself.

"He is?" James replied, shock overtaking his features as his brain flashed through all the instances that now began to make far more sense given Hagrid's apparent lineage.

"Well, I wasn't supposed to-" Remus began to stutter in a panic, realizing how sensitive the information he just revealed likely was.

"It's forgotten." James replied, cutting off Remus' anxieties. His mind was still on his best friend, off on some spiteful adventure with Peter just because James hadn't told him everything he'd gotten up to. "I suppose Sirius is a little more hectic than you or I." James said.

"That's putting it lightly," Remus chuckled.

"Still, we need all the help we can get." James said, taking a seat on the edge of his bed, deep in his own thoughts. "Wonder why Dumbledore's recruiting at Hogwarts?"

"That's what Voldemort's doing right?"

James winced a touch at the name, but Remus sat next to him on the edge of the bed, fingers stroking his own slightly stubbly chin.

"You've seen our classmates; they're not exactly quiet about their plans for after school. I suppose young people are a lot more willing and able to drop everything to go fight." Remus said.

"Yea, I suppose so." James echoed Remus' sentiment, clenching his fists as he began to make up his mind about something.

"I'm not fighting this battle without him." James said, mind still on his headstrong brother in all but blood, as he ran a hand through his messy hair.

"So, we'll go to Dumbledore first thing tomorrow and put in a good word." Remus said.

"You'd do that?" James asked, grinning at Remus' willingness to go along with his plan.

"Of course, and we can talk to him about Peter as well." Remus said, clapping James on the shoulder as he stood up making his way over to his own bed before James had time to process his words.

"Peter?" James asked, not even trying to hide the disbelief that overtook his face.

Remus turned back to him, a look of uncharacteristic determination in his eyes.

"You promised him we would go after Voldemort together." Remus said.

"Right but-" James tried to protest, but Remus cut him off.

"After everything he's lost, he deserves a chance to fight back."

James folded his hands, thinking through his next words as Remus stared at him patiently.

James finally settled on, "I don't want him to get hurt," truth being the theme of the evening. "Peter is far more fragile than the rest of us. I would never forgive myself if something happened to him because of me."

Remus shrugged off James' concerns with uncharacteristic bravado. "He's got more strength than you know. He's first rate with magical plants and creatures."

"Fat lot of good that'll do in battle," James replied.

"He's getting better at his charm work." Remus tried again.

"Better isn't good Remus. We'll be fighting the best of the best."

Remus tried again, "Then don't have him fight, use him in other ways. He has great stealth capability."

"Yeah, with an illegal skill." James answered him, standing up in his concern. "What if people start asking questions?"

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it." Remus answered, James still shocked at the apparent role reversal of himself and his friend. "You promised him James, and I'm not going into this fight without all four of us side by side. I'm going to Dumbledore tomorrow, and I'm going to vouch for Sirius and Peter as well."

James considered this for a long moment before he nodded. "Ok. I'll follow your lead on this one, Moony."

Remus beamed, making his way over to his bed where he quickly fell asleep. James stayed awake far longer, staying up past the time when Sirius and Peter had returned and fallen asleep in their own beds. He stared at the ceiling of his four poster, allowing his wheels to turn well into the night until sleep finally took him.