In the late hours of a cold November evening, James Potter and Lily Evans trudged up towards the entrance to Hogwarts Castle. They were just returning from a lovely evening with their good friend Hagrid. Lily had been visiting Hagrid ever since he had spotted her crying outside the castle one day during her second year and had comforted her and cheered her up. James also visited Hagrid regularly because Hagrid had been friends with James' father before he was expelled. The head boy and girl had coincidentally decided to pay Hagrid a visit the same evening, and so they all ended up having tea in Hagrid's hut together and having a lighthearted debate about which Bertie Bott's Every Flavored Bean was the worst. Lily and James had been having such a delightful time with Hagrid that they hadn't realized the time and stayed until it was quite dark outside. After realizing what he had done, Hagrid had shooed them out of his hut and sent them back to the castle.

As the two heads walked, Lily pulled out her wand and muttered "lumos" to create some light on the dark grounds.

"Much better," she said happily. James stopped her.

"I could do you one better," he said mysteriously.

"Well then let's see it Potter," Lily challenged joking. James pulled out his wand and concentrated very hard. He scrunched up his forehead as if he was trying to remember something very clearly.

"Expecto patronum!" James commanded and something huge and silvery burst out of his wand. The silver light transformed into the shape of-

"A stag!" Lily said in awe. "Prongs." She laughed at the realization of what James' nickname meant. She reached out her hand and the patronus stag nuzzled it with his nose.

"How did you manage to produce a fully fledged one," she asked.

"I've been practicing," James said. The entire NEWT Defense against the Dark Arts class had been practicing conjuring a patronus for the past month, but no one had been able to produce a fully fledged one. The professor insisted that they all learn to conjure a patronus before they headed off into the outside wizarding world at the end of the year. In the dark times they were all in with the Dark Lord He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named finally coming to power, a patronus would come in handy, especially now that the dementors were being controlled by him. All Lily had managed to conjure was a few wisps of silver smoke, nothing compared to the magic James had just accomplished. "Pretty impressive, huh Evans," James boasted, a playful smile on his face. Lily rolled her eyes, but she was still smiling.

"I've been trying so hard to produce one, but all I've managed is a few wisps of smoke whenever I try," Lily said disappointed.

"Well let's see it then," James encouraged, taking a step back. Lily did everything the professor had instructed her to do. She concentrated hard on a happy memory, the same one she'd been concentrating on since she first started practicing her patronus. At first, Lily had had a difficult time coming up with a happy memory. Most of her earlier memories were either tainted by Severus or Petunia. Eventually, she opted for the time that she had first gotten her Hogwarts letter. She remembered the feeling of happiness she had felt, the excitement. She remembered how thrilled and proud her parents had been. Lily let the feeling fill her up inside. She concentrated and shouted out, "Expecto patronum!" To her and James' disappointment, all that emerged from her wand was the usual wisp of smoke.

"Maybe what you need is a happier memory," James suggested. "For awhile, I couldn't do it. I realized it was because the memory I had wasn't strong enough. I had to think of someone that truly made me happy, that made me want to produce the patronus." Lily froze.

"You said someone," she noted.

"No I didn't. I said something," James said quickly.

"No I definitely heard you say someone-" Lily stopped as suddenly the air grew cold. A feeling of dread washed over her, completely draining the happiness away that she had just been feeling a minute ago. James' stag which had been standing next to Lily flickered and then vanished. The light from her wand stifled out a second later. Lily's mind was suddenly filled with horrible memories; the moment when Petunia had found out she was a witch and called her a freak, the feeling she felt when Severus had called her a mudblood. She looked at James and could tell the same thing was happening to him. He looked back at her and uttered one word:

"Dementors."

"It's not possible," Lily whispered, her voice quivering. "They could never get inside the castle unless-"

"Unless someone summoned them in," James finished "Someone like Mulciber or Avery or-" He didn't finish his thought but Lily knew who he was thinking, Severus. Suddenly, out of the darkness floated at least a dozen dementors. The pair had never seen dementors before. They all wore tattered black cloaks, but it didn't cover the rotting grey flesh of their arms reaching out towards them. James immediately stepped protectively in front of Lily and reached for her hand. Lily barely even had a second to process the thought that she was holding hands, with James Potter?

"E-expecto Patronum," James stammered. The stag once again burst from his wand, but it was weaker than the first patronus. The dementors faltered for a second, but then continued to advance at a slower pace.

"Lily," James said. His voice was strangely calming; he was trying to sound brave.

"Listen to me, my patronus is enough to hold them off, but it won't drive them away. You need to run back to the castle, try to get help. I'll hold them back-"

"No James, I can't just leave you out here. You know what happens when dementors get too close to someone. They'll, they'll-" She couldn't bring herself to say it. They'll suck out his soul.

"Fine then you'll have to try to create a patronus," James said desperately.

"But I can't!" Lily felt like crying. She couldn't do it; she had never produced more than a few wisps of silver, nothing powerful enough to stop an army of dementors.

"You have to try," James told her encouragingly. Lily could curl up in a ball and hide. But she wouldn't. She was a Gryffindor. If James couldn't count on her to be courageous and brave when he needed her to be, then what kind of a Gryffindor was she? Lily met James' hazel eyes with her deep green ones. She couldn't let James down, he was depending on her. She raised her wand, trying to conjure the happiness she felt when she first received her Hogwarts letter, but she couldn't concentrate. James was much too close, his hand was still closed around hers, and he was counting on her. All she could think about was, James.

"Expecto patronum!" She shouted. Something huge, no enormous erupted out of her wand. The animal charged at the dementors. The demons scattered as Lily's patronus and James' patronus stormed each of them. The dementors disappeared into the night. Lily was panting hard from the efforts it took to produce her patronus. She watched as her and James' patronuses circled each other before vanishing, leaving the two Gryffindors in darkness.

"What was your patronus, a deer?" James asked, still staring in the direction the patronuses had been standing.

"A doe I think," Lily responded. Suddenly her eyes widened. She jumped away from James like he was on fire.

"Evans what the-" James stopped in his tracks as the realization dawned on his face. "A doe is a stag's mate, but then that means... THAT MEANS -" Suddenly the grounds were filled with light as three professors charged onto the grounds. James' heart sank as he made out Professor McGonagall, Professor Slughorn, and in front of both of them, Professor Dumbledore. Lily silently praised the lord. She had just been saved from what was going to be a rough confrontation when the time came. James thought that he and Lily were going to get in big trouble for being out of the castle after curfew, but the professors weren't even focused on that.

"Where are the dementors," McGonagall asked determinedly.

"I- we drove them off," Lily stammered breathlessly.

"You mean to tell me that the two of you drove off an army of dementors all by yourselves?" McGonagall still sounded very serious but there was a hint of pride in her voice.

"Lily conjured up a fully fledged patronus and it fought off all of the dementors," James explained, "She was amazing." Lily blushed.

She couldn't help but think, James Potter thinks I'm amazing. Lily shook herself out of it.

Slughorn was in the middle of saying, "Inside Hogwarts grounds? How could this have happened?"

"The only way is if someone summoned the dementors inside the grounds, someone with an allegiance to Lord Voldemort," Dumbledore said gravely. Everyone but Dumbledore shuddered at the name.

"Well we must enforce more security from now on!" McGonagall stated.

"I agree Minerva, from now on, nothing gets in or out of the grounds without my explicit permission, but it is late. We will deal with this in the morning. These children have had a long night. I will ask that you escort Miss Evans to the hospital wing. I must have a quick private word with Mr. Potter," Dumbledore said to McGonagall.

"Oh but Professor I'm fine," Lily protested.

"I'm afraid I must insist, Miss Evans. No doubt conjuring up a fully fledged patronus took a lot of energy out of you. Mr. Potter will join you in a few minutes after we are finished.

McGonagall, Slughorn, and Lily made their way back to the castle leaving Professor Dumbledore and a very nervous James Potter out on the grounds. McGonagall lead Lily up to the hospital wing where she was then placed into the care of Madame Pomfry, who fed her chocolate until she felt sick to her stomach. Although there was nothing wrong with Lily, other than major fatigue and a stomach ache, she was forced to stay in the hospital wing overnight. Madame Pomfry fed her a potion that would ease her into dreamless sleep.

She was still in shock with what just happened. Lily's patronus could have taken the shape of any animal in the world, but it had chosen to be a doe. The animal that reflected Lily's personality the most, was the mate of a stag? Lily tried convincing herself it was a mistake, or just a coincidence, but how could it have been. She was thinking about James when she cast her patronus. She was casting her patronus for James.

Right before Lily passed out, she heard the door to the hospital wing open again as James Potter was escorted inside by Professor Dumbledore. Lily would have to deal with James and the patronus incident tomorrow morning, but for now all she wanted to do was sleep.

Lily awoke early the next morning. She could see from behind a curtain in the hospital wing that James was stirring as well. Better sneak out before he awoke fully and started questioning her about her patronus again. Her patronus. The events of last night came flooding back to her; the dementors, the stag, the doe, James.

Lily rushed out of the hospital wing and heard James call "Lily?" behind her in confusion. She raced back to Gryffindor tower. By the time she reached her dorm room, the other 7th year Gryffindor girls were almost ready for breakfast. When Mary saw Lily, her eyes widened.

"What happened to you last night?" She asked, concerned.

"It's a long story, I'll tell it to you later," Lily said, quickly changing into a new set of robes. She had to get out of Gryffindor tower before James got back, or else there would be no way to escape from him. If she just made it to the Great Hall for breakfast without encountering James, she could escape confrontation, at least until the end of breakfast.

"I heard there was a dementor attack last night, you wouldn't have had anything to do with that, would you Lily?" Marlene asked sleepily.

"Um yeah sort of," Lily said, grabbing her book bag. She practically ran down the stairs to the Gryffindor common room. Sitting on the couch was Remus.

"Lily!" Remus said in surprise. "Where's James? I heard there were dementors-" But Lily was already out the portrait hole. She walked briskly down the corridors towards the Great Hall, trying to blend in with the crowd of Gryffindors. She had just made it into the Entrance Hall when-

"LILY!" A voice bellowed from the corridor across the one she had just come from. She had been spotted. Lily tried to keep her head down to avoid being sought out.

"LILY YOU CAN'T KEEP AVOIDING ME!" Several students were giving their head girl odd looks as she tried to make her way into the Great Hall.

"GO AWAY I HATE YOU!" She screamed back and that voice that could belong to none other than James Potter. He was coming towards her, fast. Lily picked up her brisk walk until it was practically a run. She was just about to dash into the Great Hall when she felt a yank on her hand, and she was spun around to face a seething James Potter.

"We need to talk," James growled, his voice dangerously low.

"Let go of me, Potter," Lily commanded, but James just held onto her arm tighter. Several students were beginning to gather around the pair, including a very bewildered Sirius, Remus, and Peter.

"How long have you felt this way about me?" James interrogated, referring to Lily's patronus.

"I don't feel anything for you except pure hatred," Lily spat.

"That's not true, your patronus proves it. You like me," James said, his eyes boring into Lily's. She yanked her hand away from his and marched towards the doors of the Great Hall. "You want to know how I was finally able to produce a patronus, Evans? You want to know?" James called after her. Lily stopped in her tracks and turned around to face him, her arms crossed over her chest. "I was thinking about how hard I've fallen for you. I was thinking about how happy you make me and how much I've had a crush on you since bloody first year!" James began advancing towards Lily. "I was able to produce my patronus because I was thinking about the beautiful, the maddening, the kind, the stubborn, the amazing, Lily Evans." Lily's features softened as she took in what James was saying. He closed the gap between them and stared her right in the eyes. "And I know that to produce your patronus, you were thinking about me, which is the reason that my patronus is a stag, and yours is a doe. How long are you going to keep fighting me on this, Evans? You and I, we've got something that no one else has." And with that, James leaned in and kissed Lily Evans hard. She was surprised at first, but then she sank into him and kissed him back. The crowd around the two heads was astonished. James kissed Lily for a full ten seconds before she abruptly pulled away.

"I hate you!" She yelled and smacked him across the face before turning on her heel and stalking into the Great Hall, leaving James Potter standing in the entry hall, completely stunned.