Disclaimer: I don't own HP, duh.

I dedicate this chapter to: MegaMegan

-Chapter Eighteen-

"Alright Marauders and friends. This is operation-lock-Lily-and-James-in-a-closet-until-they-have-their-tongues-in-each-other's-mouths!" Sirius said proudly, without even stopping to breathe. "We wait for them; push them into a random broom closet then, Voila! Instant snogging!"

"Alright, Padfoot, your insensitivity to the situation is duly noted," Remus said, authoritatively.

"What! You said make a plan, you never said it had to be sensitive," he wrinkled his nose, and said the last word with slight disgust.

"Well, still. What did you girls come up with?" he asked Jade and Adrienne.

"More or less the same as his," Adrienne admitted, pointing to Sirius who was lounging on the couch across from them.

"But, we were thinking bigger," Jade continued.

"Like, what if we ditched them in here?" Adrienne said with a sly smile. Remus looked at them curiously.

They were sitting, quite comfortably, in the Room of Requirement, sharing the ideas they'd come up with the night before.

"Lily told us all about this place," said Jade, answering Remus' questioning look. "This is where they had their first kiss."

"Can't get more sensitive than that," Adrienne said, clearly mocking Remus.

"Aw! Moony! That's not fair. You're going to choose theirs, aren't you?" Sirius whined.

"We can use a mixture. It's still your general idea, just in a different place." As an afterthought, he added, "And a different name…"

Adrienne sniggered, causing Sirius to throw her a less than pleasant look.

"Ollajiacuthttieom!" he read off his hand.

"You expect us to remember that?" Adrienne asked him with indignance.

"Sure, it's not hard!"

Remus just shook his head, and turned to the girls.

"What if we call it something simple? Something we can say in normal conversations and without tipping anyone off. I'm pretty sure James would get suspicious if we ran around saying olajisticolatimobe…"

"Ollajiacuthttieom!" Sirius corrected, indignantly.

"Whatever," Remus said, waving him off. "Any ideas?"

"…Pumpkin Pasties?" Jade suggested, wishing they'd gone to dinner before coming here.

"Mmm… Are you hungry, too?" Adrienne asked.

"Yes, why did we have to meet during dinner again?"

Sirius ignored them.

"Just use Ollajiacuthttieom!"

"Would you just give it up? We're not using it."

"I could never!" he said indignantly. "I was up all night coming up with that! I did not waste all that time memorizing it for nothing!"

"What did you say?"

"I was up all-"

"No, before that."

"… I could never?"

"Yes, I could never. That's it."

"Why!? That doesn't even make sense!"

"Exactly. Just live with it, you made it up."

"No, I- oh, yeah. I did…. I WIN! Hah!"

Adrienne rolled her eyes pretty green eyes, and turned to Remus.

"Ok, operation: I Could Never? Let's work out the kinks."

----------X----------

"Lily! Darling, long time no see!"

Lily, who had been sitting in the library reading, looked up to see Sirius Black come and sit across from her. He closed her book, and looked at her with a devilish grin.

"What're you so happy about?" she looked cautiously around. "Is it safe to move?" She asked thinking of his many pranks.

"Of course it is! What're you reading?" he asked conversationally.

"Uh, nothing important," she said, putting away her book. "Why are you here again?"

"Because, Evans, I haven't seen you in a while. Sheesh!" he said. "And… I thought maybe you could help me."

Lily looked up at him triumphantly. "Aha, see! I knew you weren't here just to talk to me."

"Well, sure I am. It just also so happens that I need your help… It's for Jade."

Lily looked up again at the mention of her friend.

"Why? What's wrong?" she asked, thinking the worst.

"Oh, no, nothing bad, it's just… You know. Her birthday's coming up, and I may have planned something. And well… I hoped you'd help me; I want it to be a surprise. I need you to bring her to the place…"

Lily looked at him quite suspiciously.

"Why, you hardly know her…"

"Yes, well, thanks for rubbing that in," he said sarcastically. "It's just, I had been getting to know her, you know, before Audrey came. I'd like to pick up where we left off."

Lily looked at him sympathetically.

Sirius didn't like talking about Audrey so casually, but he knew he had to. It was for Lily and James; he'd have to just suck it up.

"Sure, Sirius, I'll help you."

Yet another grin spread across his face.

"Alright, Evans, here's the plan…"

----------X----------

At 9:30 the next night, Lily went to find Jade in the Gryffindor Common Room. She found her easily, as she was sitting alone, reading, by the fire.

"Jade, love, can you come here?"

Jade looked curiously up at her friend, and acted as though she hadn't been waiting for her.

"Hmmm?"

"Come here, please. I… want to show you something… Hey, where is everybody?"

She asked this curiously. Although they both knew she was faking it, and they both knew, or thought they knew, where everyone else was.

"I don't know… I haven't seen anyone, really, since dinner…"

"Oh, well, come on."

They got up and walked to the portrait hole, and quickly exited Gryffindor Tower, both anxious. Lily was going over 'The Plan' in her head, and didn't even notice that Jade, who wasn't even supposed to know where they were going, was now leading the way.

Lily was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't notice when Jade stopped walking, either, and ended up walking right into her back.

"Oh, sorry," she said sheepishly.

She looked behind Jade to see Sirius standing against the door to the party. But Sirius wasn't supposed to be out here. Lily wondered why he'd changed the plan.

Sirius motioned for Lily to 'Come Here'. She walked forward, ever confused.

"Sirius, wh-"

Sirius hushed her mid-sentence. He shook his head, and grabbed her hand, pulling her into a friendly hug.

"Good luck," she heard him whisper before opening the door and giving her a shove inside.

Lily stumbled into a warmly lit room that resembled a den, or family room. The walls were a rich burgundy color, and the floors hard wood.

Lily didn't pause to take in her surroundings, though, because she quickly turned to the dark wood door. It had been closed behind her. She tried the surprisingly cold brass door knob, but the door didn't budge.

Lily was surprised, to say the least. She banged on the door.

"Jade!? Jade, let me out!"

"It's no use," said a bored voice from behind her. She whipped around.

"You?! What did you do?"

James looked at her incredulously. "You think I did this? You think I want to be locked in here with a crazy redheaded pillock that hates my guts?"

"It never stopped you before!" she spat venomously.

"Yeah, well, it's not before anymore, is it?"

She said nothing. She sat on the couch farthest from James, counting ceiling tiles.

"You want to know something funny?" Lily asked abruptly with a derisive laugh.

"No," he said curtly, but she went on anyways.

"The thing I didn't want to tell you, that one day, was that I thought you were being too friendly with that girl in potions. I thought you'd cheated."

James' eyes snapped to hers.

"You what? You… You thought I cheated?"

"Well, you did anyways, in the end, didn't you?"

Lily noticed that James' hazel eyes, which were previously blank, were now filled with hurt. As he looked at her, her words stung in his mind.

"No," he said with finality. "I didn't."

Lily looked at James, tears filling her eyes. His reaction to her words had been genuine.

She noticed something on the table between them. She looked down at it curiously. It was a letter. As she stared at it more, she realized it was the letter. The one Audrey had left for Sirius.

She looked over at James, who was focused on a piece of shabby parchment, and dared to grab the letter. James paid her no heed.

She turned her back to him and began to read. Once she was done, she froze. This letter made it sound like Audrey had done all this on purpose, like she'd done it before. But it just didn't make sense to her.

"She's a Seer," James' voice was bored again.

"She's a…" Lily took a deep breath, feeling oddly queasy. "A Seer?"

"Yes… Lily, are you alright?" he asked with sudden worry.

"Um, yes, I'm fine," she said with a sigh. "So she…?"

"Had a vision, and came here to fulfill it," he said, as though he'd shared these words on numerous occasions.

Lily looked back down at the letter in her hands.

"It… It wasn't your fault at all," she said, feeling stupid. James didn't say anything. "James, I'm… I'm sorry."

"Well, isn't that nice?" James said with coldness he himself hadn't expected. Lily looked at him wide-eyed.

"James! I'm sorry," she repeated. "Listen to me James. You have to forgive me."

James looked at her teary eyes, and for the first time, had no desire to wipe the wetness from her rosy cheeks.

She'd finally said the words he'd wanted to hear for so long, but suddenly, they didn't seem so right.

"No," he said. "No I don't."

"I… But- James?" she slurred through her tears. "Why?"

"I've been waiting along time to hear you say that," he said. "But, Lily, it won't change the fact that you didn't trust me."

Lily nearly choked, "But James, I'm s-sorry! I'm so sorry. I love you."

"I know, but right now, I just need to be without you, I- I need to think."

Lily gasped, "Without me? No, James, I need you, I miss you!"

"Lily, just stop it. I said I'll think on it."

He picked up the piece of parchment he'd had earlier up off the seat. He studied it, then got up and walked to the door.

"Padfoot!" he yelled. "Open the door!"

He waited, unmoving, for a moment before the spell was taken successfully off the door.

Sirius and Jade stood outside with expectant looks on their faces. Sirius noticed James seething and looked inside to see Lily nearly sobbing on one of the luxurious couches.

"Prongs, what happened?" he asked, the grin sliding right off his previously cheerful face.

James just walked past him and started off in no particular direction.

Jade rushed in the room James had just exited, and hurried to comfort Lily.

"Lily, love, what happened?" she asked in a somewhat motherly voice.

"I don't want to talk about it," she said stubbornly, with a sniff. She scrambled from the couch. She ran into the corridor to see James turn the corner, and quickly turned to stalk off in the opposite direction, leaving their friends looking utterly perplexed.

"I don't want to have to tell Moony about this one… He'd eat me... With ketchup!" He said, trying to lighten the mood. "…Not it!"

Jade couldn't help but smile a little.

"Come on," she said with a sigh. And they started off towards Gryffindor Tower with slight reluctance.

---------X----------

James, who'd let his feet carry him without paying much attention, ended up in the Astronomy tower. He looked around, sighed, and slid down a nearby wall.

He sat in thought for awhile, before pulling out his ever handy parchment.

He whispered, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."

Ink appeared in spirals on the paper. The spirals quickly formed a map. His troubled eyes quickly scanned the newly formed map for a certain redhead.

----------X----------

"You know… You really shouldn't be wandering around the halls alone, this late at night. You're a foolish little Mudblood, aren't you?"

Lily turned around slowly to see two hooded figures standing in the shadows behind her. Her breath hitched in her throat.

"Awww, what's wrong, afwaid? Are you afwaid of the big bad purebloods?" said the other figure.

The second voice was female, and Lily was pretty sure it belonged to Sirius' cousin, Bellatrix, but she wasn't sure. And she couldn't place the other, though, it sounded familiar.

"Too bad your stupid Blood Traitor boyfriend isn't here to save you, huh?"

Lily's tears, which had slowed, were now flowing freely, again, from her green almond-shaped eyes.

"Leave me alone!" was all she was able to say before she was hit square in the chest with a silent spell.

She fell over to the ground, gasping for breath. Her vision began to blur, and she felt as though knives were being pushed into her everywhere.

The pain was like nothing she'd ever experienced, and she was sure, like nothing she'd ever experience again. At least, that's what she hoped. She just wished it would end. Her life, or the pain, whichever came first. Both seemed like a blessing.

The last thing Lily heard, before she lost consciousness was a familiar voice yelling. She tried to tell him to keep it down, but for some reason she couldn't fathom, no words escaped her lips.

----------X----------

Lily opened her eyes, and instantly regretted it as light poured into her dilated pupils. Once her eyes were used to the light, she began to take in her surroundings. Nearly everything was white; she was either dead, or in the hospital wing.

She chose the latter, however, when she turned to her right to find the sleeping form of one, James Potter. He was sitting uncomfortably in an armchair next to Lily's bed.

She watched as his chest rose and fell. She noticed he looked… terrible. He seemed dirty, and tired. And although he was sleeping now, Lily doubted he'd had a good night's sleep in quite some time.

She was watching him peacefully when one of his eyes fluttered open. The other quickly followed as he noticed Lily's own brilliant eyes staring at him.

"Lily?" he said, jumping from his seat. "Oh Merlin, Lily."

He approached her and quickly took her in a hug. He released her, however, when he heard her rather sharp intake of breath.

"Sorry," he mumbled sheepishly.

Lily rubbed her sides tenderly. "How… How long have I been out?"

"A few days… It's felt like forever, though."

Lily considered this, and then asked, "W-what happened? How'd I even get here?"

"Well, I had walked up the Astronomy Tower, and when I got there, I decided to check the Map to see who was on duty. I saw your dot headed towards Gryffindor Tower, which was normal enough, but then, I saw two Slytherin dots close behind you," he said. "When I got there, though, you were lying on the ground and… and, Lily, I thought you might be dead. It was horrible. You weren't moving, and you were barley breathing. You were so cold…"

Lily looked at him and thought she would surely start crying again if he kept talking.

"Lily," James breathed, taking her hand in his. "Lily, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, can you ever forgive me?"

Lily's breath caught in her throat. Tears were streaming from her eyes, yet again.

"Lily… Oh, Lily, don't cry," he moved to wipe her tears away, but she grabbed his hand.

"James, d-don't apologize. I s-should have t-trusted you. Can you forgive me?"

"Oh, Lils, I already have," he said before kissing her meaningfully on the mouth.

Lily sat up, and James sat on the bed next to her, never once breaking contact. James let his hand tangle in Lily's fiery locks as he held her face to his.

When they'd stopped, finally, they were both panting deeply. They had put everything into that kiss. It had been so long since their last.

"James, I-"

Lily's words were cut off, however, as James put his rough finger to her lips. She kissed it lightly, before it was replaced with James' lips.

He pulled away, and moved to lie back on the pillow, Lily followed suit. She looked over at him, and laid her head on his chest. James wrapped his arms around her protectively, and kissed the top of her head.

"I love you," he murmured into her hair.

"I love you, too."

¡El Fin!

AN: OMFG. OMFG. OMFG. It's done… That's it. 'Tis all over…

I'm so excited to be able to change it to 'COMPLETE'. This is a major accomplishment for Moi, and I'm very happy. I would like to thank the Academy… No. Not really, Lol, I want to thank my reviewers!

If it wasn't for you guys, I may have never had the motivation to finish this. I hope you're happy with it. I. LOVE. YOU. ALL. xD

Any questions, comments, or concerns? Let me know. For serious. I like to think that my somewhat mysterious moments in this story added to the 'plus' side, but I could be completely biased, since you know, I wrote it… So, if there's anything you need me to explain, just ask. All reviews are appreciated, and every reviewer gets a last chapter cookie. :)

Once again: I LOVE YOU GUYS!

Love, Lady Carmilla.