She was flying across a setting sky, her blonde hair streaming after her. She was free, like a bird she glided across the sky gracefully. She cried out with wonder as she saw the tiny world under her.

And then, suddenly, she was in the Gryffindor common room, looking at Sirius. And then they were kissing. Mel! she thought wretchedly as she ran her hands through his gorgeous black hair. And then her mouth was speaking words she had not made, feelings she had not ever had, "Will you go to the dance with me?" No! she cried in her head, but her traitorous mouth betrayed her, betrayed Mel and said "Yes!"

Images flashed through her mind. She was in the library with Remus, crying on his shoulder. She was with Sirius again, but this time his gray eyes were cold and hard, and he was cruelly rejecting her. What was this? Was it some sort of twisted dream, or a harsh reality?

She was looking out at the Great Hall and all the students sitting at the tables. People were crying! What was she saying? Was this a curse?

And then she was in James' strong embrace. Lily! she thought horribly, worrying about what she had become. Oh Lily, I am so sorry!

She heard a scary, throaty voice saying, "the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches ... Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies ... And the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not ... And either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives ... The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies..."

Her dreams continued. Images were flashing by faster and faster.

Faster.

Faster.

Faster.

She was in a house. She walked into the lounge and saw James, but not the James she knew. This James was older, and looked more mature somehow. He was playing a silly game of hide and seek with a little boy, who she presumed to be his son.

"19, 20… Ready or not, here I come!" he was saying in a jokey voice, "And where's Harry? I just can't find him!" Suddenly he seemed to notice her. "Lily!" he said happily and tenderly, looking at her lovingly. She wanted to recoil and say "I'm not Lily!" but her body moved of it's own accord and she was walking over to James, kissing him. "Hey darling, having fun with your intellectual equal?" she heard herself ask him jokingly, but it wasn't her voice she heard, it was Lily's…

There was a loud bang outside, and the door was being battered down.

"Lily!" James said frantically, standing up from his playful game abruptly. Harry had started crying. "Lily, take Harry and go! It's him! Go! Run! I'll hold him off!"

She heard herself give a frightened sob, before hardening herself and running to James, holding his hands and kissing him passionately, well aware that this kiss could be their last. Then she ran upstairs, taking Harry with her and holding him protectively. Downstairs she could hear a struggle taking place and then suddenly, cruelly, then the sound of a voice saying "Avada Kedavra!"

"No!" she screamed wildly, clutching at Harry's crib in order for her world to stop spinning. "JAMES!"

There were footsteps coming up the stairs. She knew who it was and what he wanted. He had killed her husband but she wouldn't let him kill her baby too…

The door was opening, and Lord Voldemort stepped through, his red eyes glinting evilly.

"Not Harry, not Harry, please not Harry!" she screamed desperately, shielding her baby with her body.

"Stand aside, you silly girl. Stand aside now!" he ordered her forcefully, raising his wand at her baby menacingly. She refused to move. It would do her no good. She was as good as dead without James and Harry.

"Not Harry, please no, take me, kill me instead!" she insisted, sobbing hysterically, "not Harry! Please! Have mercy, have mercy!"

She heard his cold laugh resonating through the room with a sense of hopelessness. But she wouldn't let him have her baby, she wouldn't!

Then she heard those fateful words, the killing curse. "Avada Kedavra!" A bright green light enveloped her, and her world faded. She couldn't see and she couldn't feel anything.

And then suddenly she heard a voice, saying-

"Do you think she's ever going to wake up?"

"Honestly, Sirius! Don't say things like that! Of course she will!"

"Sorry Lily," Sirius said meekly, and from what she could hear he was still the arrogant handsome git he was when she had last seen him. Which had been when? How long had she been out? Days, weeks, months?

"It's only been a week, guys!" came James' voice, obviously trying to reassure the other two and himself, "She's gonna wake up soon!" And what of James? Had he finally managed to get Lily? And how was their Quidditch team doing in the House Cup competition?

Her eyes opened ever so slightly and she groaned softly. This was all it took for the seven teenagers standing around her bed, having been kept in suspense about whether she would wake up or not, to erupt into cheers.

"Chloe!!!" Lily yelled, throwing her arms around her enthusiastically, squeezing her tightly, "We thought- we were so- so worried!"

Chloe promptly turned and threw up into a bucket that had been conveniently placed by her bedside. "S- sorry guys," she said weakly.

"Welcome back," Remus said, looking slightly white.

"What happened?" she asked, confused.

"We don't know," Lily said, sounding shaken, "We found you in the Room of Requirement, unconscious. Do you know who or what did that to you?"

Peter stiffened unconsciously, crossing his fingers behind his back.

"No," Chloe said, confused, "No, I don't. Sirius!" she said frantically, "You asked me to the dance!"

The boy in question quirked an eyebrow in puzzlement, "No I didn't! I asked Mel, and she said yes! We're going out now!"

Chloe sighed in relief, before something else occurred to her. "I was the girl! In my dream, I mean!" she said, seeing his look of contradiction, "So that means that everything else I saw was true as well!"

Kendra frowned, trying to understand what had happened to her friend while she had been unconscious, "What did you see?"

"Well, I saw Sirius and - Mel, I guess, and then I was in the library with Remus and I was crying-" she said honestly, breaking off when she saw a pointed look pass between Remus and Kendra, "And that was true too, wasn't it?"

They nodded, their friends giving them quizzical looks.

"I told her," Remus said proudly, his friends giving him highfives.

"And I told him," Kendra said, giving her girlfriends meaningful looks.

"And then I was with Sirius and he rejected me," Chloe continued, "And I stood up at the front of the Great Hall and I was telling them news and people were crying! And then I was hugging James," she said, breaking off. She couldn't take any more! She couldn't tell them what the last image had been - it couldn't have really happened. James and Lily were both very much alive and well and were younger than they had been in the dream. And as far as she knew, they didn't have a son yet. It had only been a week! Lily couldn't have had a son in a week! Unless it wasn't Lily's son… but she didn't think James would be stupid enough to do that! Besides, if it really was true, they had very little time left and she didn't want to jeopardize their relationship and force them to have less time together.

"Out! All of you out!" Madame Pomfrey said loudly, making shooing motions with her hands, "This patient needs her rest!"

After a lot of grumbling and "We'll see you later, Chloe!"s Lily, James, Kendra, Remus, Mel, Sirius and Peter left the room, planning to go on the Hogsmeade trip, which they had been going to forfeit to be with Chloe. But as they couldn't do that now, they decided they might as well go.

xXoXx

The girls and guys split up - the girls because they needed to get their outfits for the Christmas Dance, and the guys because they needed to rent their tuxes and wanted to go to Zonko's Joke Shop and the girls didn't. They agreed to meet up for lunch at the Three Broomsticks and went their separate ways.

The girls went into Gladrags Wizardwear and began looking for the perfect dresses. It wasn't easy as the shop was huge, so they grabbed bundles of dresses and grabbed changing rooms next to each other so that they could show each other their dresses.

Their first lot of dresses were okay. Lily was wearing a tight, white dress that was extremely short and although it looked good on her, she didn't like the style. Melissa was wearing a long, bright red halter neck dress that didn't flatter her, as her curves did not look as pronounced as they could look. Kendra was wearing a gorgeous creamy knee length dress with a thick waistband of the same colour and a slitted top. Its skirt had two layers - cotton with tulle underneath and the tulle was in a lighter cream colour. She loved it, as was obvious because she was spinning around in it excitedly and exclaiming, "Isn't it hot!" in a way that was very un-Kendra like. It was obviously the dress she wanted.

Lily and Melissa went back into their changing rooms and tried on another dress. They came out and Lily was wearing a dark purple dress that had a wrap around middle and showed a lot of skin, which she did not particularly like. Melissa was wearing a figure hugging black dress that flattered her immensely, but she wanted a more complex dress, she said.

They tried on about ten more dresses before Melissa came out wearing a sweet pink chiffon dress with a low v-neck and a triple knot ruched bodice. The bottom of the dress went from just below the knee to down by her ankles. It looked fantastic on her and she knew it. Now Lily was the only one of them who hadn't found a dress.

She tried on about five more dresses before finding the perfect dress. It was a strapless dress that was so long it almost covered her feet. The material covering her boobs was black while the rest of the dress was white. It had black beaded embroidery down the front and sides to her waist. It was multilayered and flared out at the bottom. It was a Faviana dress and therefore very expensive.

"I can't buy this!" Lily said, aghast, "It's too much!"

Melissa walked over behind her and checked the price tag, "Nonsense, Lils! I'll chip in with however much you need, anything to get you in this dress! All the guys won't be able to keep their hands off you!"

"I should hope Remus, Sirius and Peter will," Kendra said jokingly, "They'll get a piece of us if they don't!"

They all laughed.

"Will you be wanting to buy those?" the shop assistant asked, looking at the dresses the girls held.

"Yes please," Lily said happily, beaming with joy.

They bought their dresses, and then looked around for shoes. This was going to be fun…

xXoXx

Meanwhile, the boys were in Zonko's checking out the latest in pranking gear - a massive basket full of pranking equipment, ideas and classic tricks such as whoopee cushions and fake dog poo.

"I want it!" Sirius whined, purposely annoying the other three enough to make them split the money with him. Not that he didn't have enough money to buy it himself, but it was more fun to share pranks than do them on your own.

"I know what you're doing, Sirius, and it's not going to work this time," Remus said stubbornly, crossing his arms over his chest. "And don't give me those eyes!" he said furiously, seeing Sirius give him his famous puppy-dog eyes that most of the Hogwarts girls would melt at.

"What eyes?" Sirius replied innocently, staring at Remus and blinking his eyes.

"THOSE EYES!" Remus said, annoyed.

"Moony, lets just buy it with him and get it over with!" James suggested, rolling his eyes at his friends' antics.

"Yeah, c'mon guys we've only got about ten more minutes before we have to go meet the girls," Peter said, backing James up.

They ended up buying two baskets and some old classics they needed to stock up on, like dungbombs and trick shampoo bottles that were actually dye or bleach (for Snape).

"Every time…" Remus complained, mock-glaring at Sirius, while he was actually looking forward to doing a prank, because the Marauders had been very quiet lately.

They got to The Three Broomsticks and saw the girls sitting down at a table already. They met up with them and began talking about their day's shopping. They agreed that after lunch they would divide into pairs and one three so they could shop for their friends, and then they would change pairs and shop for their 'other halves.'

So it was that Sirius and Melissa went off together, Remus and Kendra went off together and Lily, James and Peter set off together.

Lily was, surprisingly, not at all unhappy about this arrangement, as she had found that James had been maturing lately and she had started to actually enjoy his company!

After about ten minutes of shopping for presents, Peter decided he wanted to go back and see Chloe, so he left, leaving Lily and James together.

"You know," James said thoughtfully, hoping his words wouldn't offend Lily or annoy her for doing the very thing he had been doing for about three years, "Seeing as Melissa and Sirius are going together, so are Kendra and Remus, and Peter will be going to ask Chloe when he sees her in the Hospital Wing… Well I was just thinking that maybe- to keep the group together, see… I thought that perhaps we could-"

"Yes James?" Lily said curiously, having a fairly good idea what he was going to ask and strangely looking forward to it.

"I just wondered if you'd like to- That's if you want to, I mean- Just that we might go to the dance together?" James stuttered nervously, watching Lily's face for her disgusted reaction, but none came.

"You know, James," Lily said, "We might as well. To shock everyone."

James let out a breath he hadn't realized he had been holding, "You mean- you're saying yes?"

She nodded, laughing at his incredulous face, "C'mon James, lighten up! Tell you what, I'll race you to the bookshop!" And with that, she set off to the bookshop with a stunned James running after her, not quite able to believe what had just happened.

When you're feeling low
To whom else do you go
See I cry if you hurt
I'd give you my last shirt
Because I love you so

If my sky should fall
Would you even call
Opened up my heart
I never want to part
I'm giving you the ball

When I look in your eyes
I can feel the butterflies
I love you when you're blue
Tell me darlin' true
What am I to you

Yeah well if my sky should fall
Would you even call
Opened up my heart
Never wanna part
I'm giving you the ball

When I look in your eyes
I can feel the butterflies
Could you find a love in me
Could you carve me in a tree
Don't fill my heart with lies

Hey guys!!! Just so you don't start worrying, I won't be having a song in every chapter, just some. This song is What I Am To You by Norah Jones. Personally, I love the lyrics to this song, but I don't know what you guys think, so please review and tell me what you think!! Thanks!

Sorry this chapter took so long!!! Thanks so much to all my reviewers, especially emeraldeyes who has been reviewing since my first chapter, I think!!

xx

Baby seal