A/N: Thank you to Dangling.Radishes, lyin', FollowMyLead, lilyre, Kore-of-Myth and mustardgirl1128 for reviewing my "spring" chapter! After this there will be just one more - an epilogue, because I can't resist.

Her Eyes: Summer

In the midst of the deception and distrust of the late 1970s, Lily and I somehow managed to become as thick as thieves. Revising for our NEWTs by the lake (she helped me with Potions, I helped her with Transfiguration), cheering on James on the Quidditch pitch (they'd been made Head Girl and Head Boy, which made it only natural that they started dating), laughing at the girls in Madam Puddifoot's as we ran past on our way to the Three Broomsticks…

But the day came when we no longer had the hallowed halls of Hogwarts to protect us. Suddenly, there was no one to protect us; we were the ones who would have to do the protecting. James, Sirius, Remus, Peter, Lily and I joined the Order of the Phoenix in an attempt to add meaning to our lives.

You see, apart from the Order missions, I hardly went outdoors – I spent my days in a Daily Prophet office and my free nights alone in my apartment, trying to avoid the shroud of terror that had settled upon the world. And trying to avoid spending time with my brother Myron, a ten-year-old piano prodigy who was playing Mozart sonatas and Merlin knew what else. It was so unjust that I was tone-deaf, and he was pitch-perfect.

It was seeing Lily once or twice a week that kept my faith in humanity alive.

Cheer up, Marlene…I'm sure journalists earn more money than musicians…

And then Lily and James got married. And before long, Lily was pregnant with a baby boy. Well, in my head there was some dispute about the order of these two events, but what I cared much more about was losing Lily's companionship, as her involvement in the Order waned.

Imagine my exhilaration when, out of the blue, one Sunday morning, an almost-solid silver doe showed up on my doorstep

"He's here! St Pristina's!" it announced, in Lily's dear voice.

St Pristina's was a magical maternity hospital. I snatched up my bag, strode out into the comforting summer sun and Disapparated.

I was the only one on the ward – presumably, "The Marauders" had already visited. The baby was so warm, pink and cuddly that it melted away several months of stress in a matter of moments. "What'll you call him?"

"Harry," said Lily.

"Harry James," said James. "After his grandfather and father, of course!"

"You mean, after his grandfather and father's egos?"

Lily rolled her eyes and rocked the bundle in her arms. "So can you give your godmother a smile, Harry?" she cooed.

If I had been sensitive to heat, this would've been enough to push me over the brink and I would have fainted.

"Godmother?"

"Will you be his godmother?" asked James. "We're asking Sirius to be his godfather."

I could hardly believe my ears. "Has Sirius agreed?"

"I'm sure he will, when we ask him."

"He hasn't been here yet? So how did you get to…" Apparition and floo-powder were not considered safe means of travel for a woman in labour, and since James was a typical pure-blooded male who could not drive, I had assumed that Sirius would've lent his giant motorbike to the cause. Until this moment, when, cursing my lack of commonsense, I realised that motorbikes and brooms were hardly safer. "…Oh, Remus got you here? I thought it was…"

"No, Matthew drove us."

"Matthew who?"

"Matthew McKinnon, of course!" said James. "You know, it was lucky that Lily and I bumped into Matthew when we were out at…"

This was where I ceased listening. I saw Matthew every day at the Prophet offices, and since graduation, we had maintained a firm, but purely professional relationship.

"PRONGS!" shouted a voice. All of a sudden, three men pushed past me to whack James on the back. "I trust it all went well?" They chorused. "C-congratulations!" said a wheezy voice. "He has hair! Black hair! I suppose there's no doubt he can be yours, then, James, eh? Be a bit suss if his hair was yellow, or something…"

I caught Lily's smile out of the corner of my eye. She beckoned to me. "Matthew waited here for ages – I think he wanted to talk to you."

"What?"

"I know – it's none of my business – but you should know that every time he thought he heard a pair of sneakers squeaking down the corridor, he stopped breathing."

"What?" I repeated.

"Why don't you ask him out for dinner or something?"

"Oh god, Lily, I'm getting butterflies in my stomach just thinking about it."

"Just…be mature about it! I know you've been avoiding him for the past three years, but think about it, it's been three years!" she looked at James, who was beaming at her.

I don't know what came over me that moment - I put it down to the excess of ecstasy in the room, but I winked. "Hey, if nothing ever changed, there'd be no butterflies…"