I can't even begin to say how sorry I am for leaving this neglected for so long. To everyone who pestered me, begged me, pleaded with me and otherwise tried to get me to write more of this, thank you. You are the reason I kicked myself up the butt and told myself to post the next bleeding chapter of this (as Lily would say) damned thing. To anyone interested, the reason it's gone so long updated is because I'm officially healthy again, back in full time education, trying to fit in running four clubs for 11-13 year olds, working part time at a local school for children with autism, trying to fit in work experience, riding my horse, running, playing badminton and actually having time to see my friends every once in a while. Hence, I'm extremely busy, and writing is such a huge distraction for me that I have to pretty much not even think about it until I have a bit of spare time. Again, Sorry!
"Isn't there a white knight upon a firey steed?"
'Holding Out for a Hero - Bonnie Tyler'
"That was awful." Lily said as she threw herself onto the sofa with a groan "Truly, completely awful."
Sirius patted her on the head in a half pitying, half amused gesture before moving Lily's legs and folding himself onto the end of the sofa. Lily watched him for a moment.
"You look like a cat when you curl up like that." She told him, unaware of the reaction it would provoke.
"I do not!" Sirius yelped, jumping off the sofa and scowling at her. Remus and Peter in the background laughed.
Lily's eyebrows rose "Why have you taken that as an insult?"
Sirius pouted childishly and refused to answer. With a sigh, Lily propped herself up and looked over at Remus "How long until James gets back?"
Remus chuckled a little "Why should I know? I haven't a clue about how long it takes to test for Amortentia. Besides," He ribbed "Shouldn't you be the one who knows, what with being his fiancé and all?"
Lily's face involuntary curled into a little smile. It felt pretty reassuring to know that someone wanted her enough to marry her. At the same time, the situation wasn't exactly... fairytale. She shrugged at Remus, before concentrating on the link she shared with James.
'How long are you going to be?' Lily asked
She received a grumble in return 'I haven't a clue. They've only just given me the bloody potion, which tasted awful by the way, so that's at least another half an hour. No doubt Mother will be furious when the test comes back clear, and she can't blame you for this mess.'
Lily sighed heavily. Merlin, how awfully boring.
"I can't believe you fainted, Sirius." Peter said as the four tried to pass the time waiting for James to return
"I can't believe you and Remus dragged me bodily the entire length of the Head's Tower to get me to James's room! What are you, muggles? Did you forget you had magic or something?" Sirius snarked "Gee, you'd think you didn't like me or something."
"Now where might you have gotten that idea from, Padfoot?" Remus muttered with a slight grin.
Lily giggled quietly. Damn it the suspense was really getting to her. Sirius shot her a betrayed look.
Still, this waiting was better than her meeting with James's parents had been. After the disastrous start, which she'd wildly claimed was the outcome of a botched tickling charm, which 'kept activating randomly', things had just deteriorated. She'd foolishly assumed that the only way it could go from the start was up, but that had been wrong.
She'd offered them tea or coffee and they'd looked at her like she was an alien. 'Don't you have Gillywater?' Mrs Potter had asked. Lily didn't even know what Gillywater was. Wasn't Gillyweed a plant that turned you into an amphibian for an hour? Why on earth would anyone want to drink that? They'd begrudgingly accepted tea in the end, and then looked at her like she was a Flobberworm when she handed them the tea in, god forbid, a mug and not a cup and saucer.
Then she offered them cauldron cakes, only to discover James had eaten two whole packs (i.e. every single one in the cupboard) in the short time between the hous-elf delivering them and his parents arriving. Merlin only knew how. He had the good grace to look sheepish, but that didn't bring back those cakes. James's parents had to make do with some crumbling digestive biscuits. They weren't impressed.
James seemed to be either completely oblivious to the tension, or religiously ignoring it. Maybe he was used to it. It was clear to Lily that James's parents absolutely adored him, and had already decided she wasn't good enough for him. That was fine. She knew she wasn't good enough for him.
Then Sirius had finally come round, bounding into the kitchen without a single indication that he'd fainted in the first place, and enthusiastically hugged both Dorea and Charlus. He called them Auntie and Uncle. They acted to him as they acted to James; fondness and a surprisingly long fuse for their jokes and japes. Sirius pulled a few of the newly created photos off the wall, piling them onto the small kitchen table and excitedly regaling the Potter's with the numerous stories behind each image.
Lily had to allow that they did seem to enjoy looking through the pictures of their son, and adopted son... but then they got to the one of Lily and James after the ball, the one that was Lily's favourite, and Sirius didn't know the story behind that particular photo.
"Hey, when's this one from?" He asked innocently
"Oh... it's from just after the Yule Ball. It had just started snowing, and Lily loves the snow, so we went outside." James replied easily, glancing over it with a fond smile.
After that, the Potter parents lost the slight softness Lily had thought she'd seen during the photo show. With one icy glare in her direction, Dorea announced it was time for James's appointment at St. Mungo's.
"Finish your butterbeer, James." Charlus ordered, and James dutifully gulped down the rest of his drink before standing and following his parents back out of the kitchen, through the lounge/common room area and into the entrance hallway. Lily hung back, sending him a quick 'bye' through their link and then retreating to the study. James didn't reply verbally, either through the link or out loud, but Lily caught a fairly hefty amount of apology radiating off him. She wondered if his parents knew how much they were upsetting their precious son by being rude to her.
It made her feel quite smug, actually.
"Earth to Lily?" Remus asked, frowning at her "Are you alright?"
Lily nodded sheepishly "Yeah, just thinking about earlier... do you think they'll ever like me?"
It was Sirius who answered, backed by the nods of the other two "Of course they will, Lils. You just have to remember that all their lives, they've had to protect their family against people who only want to associate with them for their name and influence. They've always wanted to wrap James in cushioning charms so he never gets hurt... and you're a very real possibility for him to get hurt. Once they get to know you, and realise that you'd never just use James for money or connections, they'll warm up to you. Charlus is actually pretty funny, and Dorea's like the only real mother I have."
Suddenly Lily jumped with the overwhelming panic she felt from James.
'What is it? What's the matter?' She asked, eyes going wide as she tried to wade through his emotions
'Someone's given me Amortentia!' She finally received.
Her mouth dropped open, both literally and figuratively.
'The healer's are trying to work out who it was aimed at...' James continued 'It shouldn't be too difficult.'
Lily turned to the three Marauders, who were all staring at her in worry, and explained. Cries of outrage were heard, but there wasn't anything they could do. They knew there was no way Lily Evans would give James Potter a love potion of any kind, but if the healers couldn't find a definite signature on the potion, which would tell who the potion's creator was... well, everyone would just assume it had been Lily.
'My parents have said they're going to keep this quiet and out of the press... they've already decided it was you.' James told her after a tense moment
'But... you know it wasn't right?' Lily
James's familiar laugh floated through the link 'Merlin, Lily, have a bit of faith in me, won't you? Of course I don't think you did it. But... I can't think of anyone who would do this. I've certainly not had any unusual feelings towards anyone of late.'
Lily frowned in concentration. No strange feelings, and yet he'd been given Amortentia. If the potion had been brewed correctly then he would have, about a minute after its consumption, desperately wanted to be near the person the potion was keyed into. The Amortentia must have been brewed correctly; else the tests wouldn't work, right?
She stood and looked at the Marauders. Strangely, they'd somehow become her friends... without her realising. How awkward. She tugged at a strand of hair for a moment, before whirling away into the kitchen, hopping up on the side board and reaching above the cabinet, pulling out a box of crystallized pineapple and blowing the dust off it. The smiling face of Mrs Honeyduke beamed up at her, surrounded by pictures of the famous sweets. The lady waved, winked, and then vanished.
Lily gave it a rattle just to be sure there was enough in there to convince the Professor. With a guilty glance at the three Marauders, who were now lounging on the chairs surrounding the breakfast table, Lily transfigured a dishcloth into an ornate silver-coloured metal box, lining it with red tissue paper transfigured from a spoon, and then ripped off the packaging around the pineapple.
Three sets of eyebrows rose as Lily deposited the shop-bought pineapple into the transfigured dishcloth-and-spoon-box.
Lily frowned in concentration as she charmed the pineapple a little sweeter than the shop bought stuff, and removed the charm that helped make the sweet last longer. It only dulled the flavour, and Lily knew Slughorn would eat the entire contents within the week.
She took another spoon and turned it into a lid for the box, before grinning at her creation.
"You think it looks homemade?" She asked, waving it under their noses with a flourish
Sirius grinned widely "My, my, Evans. How long have you been giving ol' Sluggy 'homemade' pineapple?"
Lily turned her nose up with a sniff "I have no idea what you're talking about." She claimed, although her mouth twitched upwards. She slipped her shoes on and shrugged on her robe, and then she was gone. As the portrait hole closed, she faintly heard Sirius comment
"If she wasn't Prongsie's girl, I'd go after her myself."
It didn't take her long to get to Slughorn's office. She knocked once and entered at his call, smiling sweetly at him and presenting him with the box of 'homemade' pineapple.
"Oho! Oh goodie goodie!" He chirped "My very favourite thing!"
Lily smiled widely, years of the same tactic numbing her guilty feelings. "Well... I know how much you like it, Professor."
Slughorn was already munching away, and offered Lily a cup of tea simply by way of waving his hand towards the tea set in the corner. Lily made herself a cup quickly, mainly so she'd have something to hold in her hands and prevent her from fidgeting.
"Sir, if Amortentia had been brewed wrong, would it still show up on the healer's tests?" She plunged straight in. Slughorn looked up from his pineapple and stared at her for a moment.
"Lily, you understand that if you weren't my favourite pupil, I wouldn't be able to answer that. That's classified information, my dear."
Lily did her best to look sheepish "Sorry... if you can't tell me I suppose I could search a bit more in the library..."
It didn't take long for Slughorn to cave and share his considerable knowledge.
"The test substance, a drop of Sunlight from a Sun Flower, binds with the Midnight Rose petals, which are the final ingredient of the Amortentia, and are used singularly in its creation. As I'm sure you know, the Rose petals are a very volatile thing, and adding them to anything other than a perfect Amortentia potion will result in them exploding. Thus, the test actually only tests for the presence of Midnight Rose, but as Midnight Rose is used for nothing but Amortentia, and it explodes when used in anything but a successful potion, it is a conclusive test for Amortentia."
"Oh." Lily let out a sigh "Sir, I'm sure you know James is at St. Mungo's now, being tested. He's just told me the test has come back positive to Amortentia. I swear, sir, I swear on my life I didn't give him it. You know how much I didn't like him before we became friends. But he says he's not had any weird feelings towards anyone, so how could he have been given Amortentia if he doesn't feel any different?"
Slughorn stared closely at her, and Lily sipped her tea to stop herself fidgeting. After a long moment, Slughorn sat back with a little 'huh'.
"You know, Lily, what you have with James really is something special." He said after a moment "The only way to counteract correctly made Amortentia is to have a soul bond with another person. James must have been given the potion keyed into someone other than you, but because you and he share a strong enough bond, it hasn't affected him."
Lily blinked. Huh. Well, that was obviously wrong, because they didn't have a soul bond in the first place. Not that she could tell Slughorn that.
"But sir, everyone's going to assume it was me who gave him the potion, so they won't do any more tests and find out the truth!" Lily said instead
Slughorn chuckled "Lily, my dear, it seems your information might be a little dated. All that will happen is James will have to stay in St. Mungo's until the Amortentia is out of his system. He will then be re-tested, and if he then comes up clear and still claims to feel the same way about you, then they will continue to the next stage."
"Oh." Lily said, letting out a little puff of relieved air "Thank you, sir. I'm so nervous about it." Yeah, Lily thought, isn't that the understatement of the century!
"Not to worry, Lily, not to worry. Is there anything else I can help you with?"
Lily shook her head and drank the last of her tea. "No, thank you, Professor. I'll leave you in peace now, sir."
Slughorn smiled and saw her out of the door.
'They can't get a reading on it.' James's voice rang out in her mind 'My parents look a little too smug for my liking.'
'What do you mean, James? Too smug? You don't... you don't think they've given it to you, do you?' Lily asked
James was silent for a moment, and when he replied he sounded graver than before 'I hate to think they might have done, but in their eyes they would be doing the right thing for me. I think it's a possibility. It would explain why it's not keyed in to anyone. They made the Amortentia, but they didn't bind it to any specific person, so while I had it in my system, it didn't affect me. It just showed up on the test.'
Lily groaned out loud 'Bloody hell. Your parents really don't like me, do they?"
'They just... don't know you yet, Lils.'
Right, Lily thought. It has nothing to do with being a muggleborn with no social standing, or 'stealing' their son away from an arranged marriage or anything like that at all.
Lily hurried back to the Head's Tower to tell the remaining Marauders what was happening. They all listened silently, but when Lily proposed the possibility of Mr and Mrs Potter's involvement, Sirius protested vehemently.
"They wouldn't." He snarled "They're good people."
Lily shrugged uncomfortably "It wasn't my idea. James suggested it."
No one knew quite what to say.
Lily milled around, compulsively tidying and fidgeting all day, getting the occasional report from James that nothing much was happening at his end. The other three Marauders decided they couldn't stay cooped up in the Head's Tower all day, and went out to do whatever it was they did with their free time. Around five o'clock, James finally announced they'd re-tested him after giving him the counter potion, and he was officially Amortentia free. Apparently his parents were fretting, and James wanted to push to get the rest of the tests done before his parents had a chance to meddle any more. He reckoned it must have been in the butterbeer his father told him to 'finish up' just before they left for St. Mungo's.
'Floo to St. Mungo's now, Lily, before they think of something else. We'll do the second test – the sight and emotions one, and hopefully it'll be too late in the day to do the final test with the magical core strength. We'll have until tomorrow to come up with a way around it.'
Lily's stomach flopped like a dying Flobberworm as she stepped out of the emerald flames and into St. Mungo's reception.
"Can I help you?" The lady behind the desk asked
"Yeah... I'm here for the soul bond test..."
The entire room went silent, as everyone craned their necks to see 'Lola' Evans, the girl who had given Amortentia to poor James Potter. Lily went a fire-engine red and stared at her shoes.
"Down the hall, fourth door on the right." Came the clipped reply from the receptionist.
Down the hall, fourth door on the right turned out to be a white, clean, examination room. Lily knocked, and went in. James was sat on the examination bed, scowling. Charlus and Dorea looked worried, sat in the chairs provided. The healer was an elderly lady with a tag that read Healer Carlton.
"You must be Lily Evans." Healer Carlton said "Come, sit next to James. We'll test you quick, and then if you're clear, we'll move on to the next phase."
Gingerly, Lily levered herself up next to James, glancing at him out of the corner of her eye. He grinned at her, and slightly reassured she allowed the healer to perform a series of spells over her, that caused a strange buzzing feeling in her fingers and toes.
"All clear, dear."
"Thanks." Lily mumbled.
She was led into a separate room by a younger healer, and sat on a similar examination bed.
'They're showing me a picture of a love heart. Can you believe it? How ridiculous is that? What is this place, cliché central?' Came James's voice in her head
She snickered as she relayed the information to the healer in front of her "He says they're showing him a picture of a love heart and he's not impressed with how clichéd that is."
The young healer stared at her with wide eyes and a slack jaw, before hurriedly scribbling it down on his clipboard. Obviously they hadn't been expecting any kind of result.
This continued for about two hours; James being shown a picture or object, and Lily telling the healer what James could see. Then they would swop, and Lily would see the object or picture and James would tell the healer what it was. It seemed a pointless exercise after they got the first five right, but the healers it seemed were insistent in being thorough.
Next, Lily was given a vial of drowsiness draught, and James a vial of pepper-up potion, and then they were asked to describe the emotion the other was feeling. It was easy, and Lily knew that after being given twelve different potions each, no one would be able to dispute the outcomes.
"Alright." The healer in front of her finally said "I think you've passed." He glanced at his watch and frowned "I don't think we'll have time to finish the third phase today. You'll have to come back tomorrow."
Lily nearly cried in relief.
James's parents wouldn't even look at her as they stood in the queue for the Floo. Dorea and Charlus flooed to 'Potter Mansion', while James and Lily both called out 'Head's Tower, Hogwart's'. Lily stumbled as she stepped out and grabbed onto James to steady herself. James chuckled, and Lily sent him an annoyed scowl.
"Just because I'm new to all this." She grumbled
James pulled his face into a mockery of sincerity "I said not a word, Lils."
Lily rolled her eyes and threw herself onto the sofa, staring up at the ceiling of the Head's tower and wondering what the hell they were going to do about the third test.
"We're screwed." James said, voicing her unsaid question with a frank answer
Lily glanced over to James out of the corner of her eye, watching him moodily poke the fire with the iron poker. Her dad used to say that there was nothing better for a man's mind than being sat by a fire on a winter's night with nothing better to do.
"Your dad was a wise guy."
"Stop snooping." Lily returned, half-heartedly "Any way, got any grand plans? C'mon, Batman, how are we going to get out of this one?"
"Batman? Who's that?"
"Muggle thing." Lily sighed
"Oh. Well, no, I haven't a clue what we're going to do."
They needed to have a score together, which was greater than their individual scores added together. So they needed to... c'mon, Lily, she thought to herself, think outside the box.
"We need our scores individually to be less than our scores together." Lily mused
James dropped the poker and jumped up, startling Lily "Lils, you're an absolute genius! I think I love you! All we have to do is suppress our magic a bit when they test us separately, and then let our magic go when they test us together! You and I are both above average magically, so we can afford to lower our scores a little without them noticing, and then it'll seem like we have more magic together than we do apart! Haha, we'll have cheated their stupid little system! I'll be back in two seconds, stay right there!"
Lily stared after him, as he burst out through the portrait, robes flapping, and wondered if he'd really just said he loved her. And then she wondered if she was being stupid taking 'I think I love you', when said in the way James had, in the same context as 'I love you, and I want to marry you, and I want to live the rest of my life with you'. And then she realised she was marrying him, so then she made herself a cup of tea and tried to slow her rapidly increasing heart rate to something a little more normal.
Damn. She really, really needed to get a grip of herself. Even Petunia never got herself in such a fuzz. And there, she was all calmed down. Funny how the thought of being worse than her sister could fix her in no time.
Lily pondered how she could 'suppress' her magic, like James had said. That sounded like something that took time to learn. Was this going to be an all-nighter just to have the time to learn the technique? And if so, would taking a pepper-up affect the test results?
Deciding there was a chance she wouldn't have time for anything later on, Lily treated herself to a nice hot bubble bath and set her hair in rollers, her feet in fluffy slippers and her toes in foam toe-holders so they wouldn't smudge their new toe-nail polish, done in a Gryffindor red.
'Where are you, and when are you getting back?' Lily sent to James, now waiting impatiently for him on the couch
'Just been to the library for a few books, although I've had to, uhm, borrow them without the dear librarian's notice in case this all goes to trial and they think it's a bit funny that we've borrowed books on-'
'Yes, yes, go on.' Lily interrupted, stressed by the mention of court
'Alright, keep your knickers on, Lils.'
What followed was clearly something James hadn't meant to send her, and had her face redder than her new toe-nails. Jesus, did he really have so little control over his thoughts that he had to send her an x-rated image of her, er, not keeping her knickers on? Damn it, how was she ever going to look him in the eyes again without turning into a tomato?
'Shit.' He finally sent 'Can we forget about that? Please?'
'Yeah. Yeah, that's a good idea.' Lily couldn't think of anything better than a nice little side-trip to Denial Land. That had been how her mother had always coped with things.
'Thanks. I'll be back in about five minutes. I've brought more cauldron cakes.'
Lily rolled her eyes in the empty tower. He'd brought more cauldron cakes, and he'd have eaten them before they had time to sit in the cupboard. Honestly, it was an absolute miracle he wasn't as big as a Hungarian Horntail and as squishy as a pygmy puff. Unbidden, she found herself picturing James, middle-aged and a little rounder around the middle, glasses slipping down his nose and Daily Prophet in hand.
She was still giggling as James came through the portrait hole, four books under one arm and mouth full, and crumbs on his jumper, looking sheepish.
"Thu cowdrun ca'es arr gone." He announced, dumping the books on the coffee table and throwing himself into the armchair, swallowing noisily "Dunno where they went, though."
Lily raised an eyebrow and suppressed a smile. He was pretty funny when he wasn't trying.
"Don't speak with your mouth full." She said, on principle. Just in case he thought she was going soft, or something.
James threw her a lopsided grin and leant forward, shuffling through the books he'd brought with him and pulling one out, accidentally pulling the binding off it and then shrugging, dropping the binding on the table and flicking the now un-bound pages open. Lily watched on with increasing horror.
"Episkey!" She breathed out, flicking her wand "Episkey!"
James glanced up and stared at her for a moment "Lily, that's a spell that only works on living things."
Lily blinked, "Oh."
James rolled his eyes fondly and finally settled on a page, skimming his finger down it and pointing out the passage that related to their situation.
"Here, listen to this: '... magic is a limb, of such, a metaphysical one which, after a sudden moment of realisation which can be achieved for some in moments, for others never even in a lifetime, can be controlled with the likeness of a physical limb – an arm or a leg or so on. All one must learn is the ability to move this limb, akin to learning to walk as a child.'."
Lily frowned as she tried to pick out the useful information from the old fashioned waffle "So basically, our magic is sort of like the arm we never learnt to move?"
James nodded "I think so."
"And it could take as little as a moment and as long as a lifetime to learn how to move it?"
"Yeah."
Well, Lily thought, leaning back onto the sofa and staring upwards at the ornate ceiling, that idea was out. They could waste Merlin only knows how long trying to achieve that technique, and the likelihood would be they would never achieve it anyway. And even if they did, how would being able to 'move' their magic help at all with making it smaller? Lily could move her arm, but she sure as hell couldn't shrink it. At least, not without her wand.
"That won't help, James."
James nodded slowly "That's the conclusion I'd come to, but I wanted you to look at it just in case. Here, this is the next one: '... magic, theoretically then, must be infinitesimally huge to achieve these feats, and yet must also be able to be present in the tiny cells of a zygote, first conceived in its mother's womb, else energy would have to be created at some point in the life of the child, which completely breaks the law of conservation of energy...'."
Lily nodded "I see where they're coming from... but what's to say the magic in the body isn't actually somehow taken in from the surroundings, and more channelled through the body, rather than stored in the body?"
James looked out of his depth, instead choosing to pick up the next book and leaf through to the next passage "And this one: '... were magic, in fact, not an actual thing which we are unable to perceive, yet know it exists all the same, but instead the act of breaking the laws of nature, then theoretically anything must be possible once magic has been accounted for. If this is in fact true, then could magic be both large and small at the same time? Yet, for it to have a magnitude, it must be a quantity, however to reach the question posed above we have had to suppose magic is not a quantity, but an action. Hence, if we are grouping magic to be the entire actions of breaking the laws of nature, then it is possible for it to be both large and small at the same time...'."
Lily moved to stand over James's shoulder. Her eyes flicked back and forth as she tried to fully wrap her mind around the concepts; for so long she'd considered magic some kind of thing, rather than an action, that it was all but inconceivable to her that it could be anything but an intangible object.
"Alright. What's the next one?"
James pulled the last book out and flicked it open, before clearing his throat "... were Jolterings to be correct in his writings'," James paused, and pointed to the book he'd just read from "That's Jolterings, by the way. Anyway... oh here I was... 'Correct in his writings, then it stands to reason that if no magic were being performed by the subject, no magic could be recorded by any magic-detecting device. However, there are many reliable tests, which when performed on a muggle return with a negative result, and when performed on a magical-being return with a positive result, no matter what magic the subject is or isn't performing at the time. Hence, these tests must either not record magic itself but the potential to perform magic, or the theory Jolterings presents must be false...'."
Lily re-read that passage, straining her brain to understand the theories being presented. She still couldn't see how these linked together and how on earth that would get her anywhere.
"But that can't be right." Lily mused "Because when you've done a lot of magic, say a Patronus charm for a long period of time, your magic becomes depleted, and you feel tired."
James sat up straight and stared at her, and Lily could almost hear his brain working. Her eyes flicked between his, desperately wanting to know what he'd worked out, but not wanting to intrude on his thoughts while he ordered them. Her mother always did that to her, whenever she was trying to think things through, her mother would pop in with some kind of annoying comment that would knock her completely off track.
"Lily... how long do you think we have between them testing us together, and then testing us apart?" He finally asked, slowly.
Lily clicked what he was getting at "You mean, would we have time to go and perform some kind of very difficult spell between the time they measured us together and the time they measured us apart? Good idea... but they test us apart first, and then together after that, to prevent anyone doing just that – going out of the room to somewhere private and casting four Patronus charms at the same time to drain their magic."
James slumped down again, shaking his head a little "I guess I see what you mean. Besides, if you really wanted to drain your magic, you'd want a dementor. They're the only things that make a massive difference to your magic levels in a short enough amount of time, right?"
Lily smiled slowly, like a cat that had suddenly worked out how to open the fridge door and get the cream out for itself. "James, what do you give someone who has suffered a dementor attack?"
"... Chocolate...?"
Lily's smile widened "And that makes them feel better by instantly boosting their magic, right?"
"...Yeah...?"
"Hence, what instantly boosts your magic, James?"
James was silent, staring at her as if not sure her theory would work, or if it was just too insanely simple to possibly be right. Then he grew a grin to match hers
"Shit, Lily, you're an absolute genius. Merlin had nothing on you."
Lily blushed and glanced down, reaching to twiddle with a strand of hair in embarrassment "Ohh, I'm not sure about that, James... but, er, thanks, I guess."
After that, it was simply a matter of working out how much chocolate they needed to boost their collective score by the amount expected were a soul bond present, and how long the effects of the chocolate would last. The spell to test magic levels also took some perfecting. Eventually, after much chocolate had been, erm, tested, it was concluded that about four squares of Honeyduke's Dark was the most effective way of increasing the score given by a magical test, and that Honeyduke's Dark would last almost two hours, while the limited edition white chocolate frogs were the worst, increasing it dramatically but for only a maximum of fifteen minutes.
Feeling like she might turn into a little square of chocolate if she ate a single more piece, Lily hauled herself off the floor by the fire, teasingly ruffled James's hair on her way past, put her mug down in the kitchen sink, and fell into bed, knowing it would be an early morning after a late night, and not looking forward to it at all.
Who knew chocolate really was the answer to her problems?
Unbidden, a long-forgotten daydream drifted into her mind. Some un-faced, but undoubtedly handsome man on one knee in front of her, in his hand a sparkling ring. The setting was blurry; it had been changed so many times before as she grew up, that Lily could no longer recall the one she had settled one. Then there was the beautiful white wedding, with her father giving her away and her mother crying and her sister (however petty it might be, excuse the pun) looking like a green eyed monster was lurking below her makeup. Then the scene morphed again, and Lily rode away into the sunset on a white horse, arms lovingly around the waist of her new husband.
Lily rolled over, her good mood gone. She slithered further under the covers, and stared silently at the blackness of her room. Her hair was a red pool on the pale pillow behind her, and the silence was deafening. She didn't like silence. She never had. As the tears stung her eyes, she wondered with detached thought if maybe it would be better if she made a noise as she cried. Then she wondered what sound tears would make, if they made a noise. Then she let out a harsh, barking laugh into the silence, and rolled over. She was just being silly. She was just a silly little girl.
The door creaked as it slowly swung open, and James peered into the gloom, his shape softened and sharpened by the light behind him and the dark in front of him.
"Lily?" He whispered
She stayed silent. She was asleep, she chanted to herself. Asleep, asleep, asleep.
James chuckled quietly "Alright, you daft chit. You pretend to be asleep. See you in the morning, Lily. Night."
He closed the door again, and Lily remained frozen, certain he was waiting by the door to pounce in when she so much as gave a hint she might be still awake. Her tears had mostly dried now, and she pondered the picture James made, haloed by light, peering into the darkness, and found herself crying all over again for the world they were soon to be set free into, and crying that human nature couldn't be more forgiving and less deceitful.
The door creaked open again, and this time James seemed to think she was asleep. He tiptoed across the floor, expertly avoiding the creaky floorboards in a way that made her certain he'd done this before. He knelt on the floor near her face, reaching a gentle hand across to sweep a lace of hair out of her eyes.
"Oh Lily." He whispered, and his voice was sad "I wish you could see how beautiful this world is. I wish you could see how beautiful you make this world. Do you know how it feels, to watch, to feel you hurt like this? To know you're worrying over problems that aren't your own to fix? Can't you see how many good things there are, how many rights there are for each wrong? And Lily..." He paused for an immeasurable amount of time, and Lily had to all but force herself to maintain a steady breathing pattern else James would have known immediately how tense, and how very awake she was. "I wish you knew how much I love you."
She couldn't help it. Her eyelids snapped open, and she stared into his eyes with a clarity in her green orbs that portrayed just how clearly and just how much of his little confession she had heard.
Damn it all to hell.
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