So Far: At this point, I don't remember, but it's the final chapter, so who cares!

A/N: I know that the moviemakers made the decision that Hogsmeade was above the snowline, but I'm not sure that's canon to the book-verse, and also, I have no idea if thunderstorms happen above the snowline, but I assume they do. Otherwise, suspension of disbelief, people, suspension of disbelief. Also, I've never seen The Parent Trap.

Chapter 37

Or

Of the Best Friend Trap

Sunday, February 19th, 1978, 5:30

The morning of the Hogsmeade visit, Lily woke up with a strange pain in her chest. She simply woke up, remembered what day it was, and at that very moment she felt it; the feel of external pressure right between her breasts, lungs struggling to expand against it, when there was nothing there to prevent her from breathing normally. For a moment, she believed she would go through the rest of her life feeling as though an invisible pair of hands was pushing down on her airways, but as she forced herself to breathe in and out, one breath at a time, she realized this was preposterous. She must be sick, or something of the sort; this type of problem would be solved immediately by a Pepper-Up Potion. She would visit Madam Pomfrey, get this sorted out before breakfast, then head out and have fun with her friends at the village.

It took her several minutes to convince herself to get out of bed, but once she did, she realized how truly early it was; the light outside was still tinted blue. It can't have been much after five thirty. Still, suddenly full of a restless kind of energy and itching to get out, she got dressed and hurried quietly down the stairs, straight into the common room, where she nearly walked into none other than James Potter.

"Whoa!" James said. "Where are you rushing to at this bloody hour in the morning?"

"Oh, hey, James," she replied. The pain in her chest was gone! Maybe she could head down for an early breakfast instead of going to Madam Pomfrey. "Good morning to you too."

James blushed. "Sorry. Morning. Seriously though, it's about five forty five, what are you even doing awake?"

"I could ask the same of you. I don't know you to be much of an early riser."

"I'm not," he admitted. "I never went to sleep. Nerves. You know how that Hufflepuff Eleanor asked me out for this Hogsmeade weekend?"

The mysterious chest pain was back. She would have to go see Madam Pomfrey after all. "Yeah. What about it?"

"Well, um. Don't make fun of me, but I don't know if you've noticed, but I haven't been dating much lately. Not at all, really. This is actually my first date this year."

"Nineteen seventy eight? That's not too bad – "

"No, I mean, ahem." He coughed lightly into his fist, then made her promise not to laugh at him. She did, and he clarified: "I mean all of seventh year."

"Oh." And then: "Oh! So this is… a big deal?"

"I guess, yeah," he said, rubbing the back of his head unconsciously. "Anyway, I was wondering… Do you think this is a good idea?"

"Ah, well, uhm." Was breathing always this much of a chore? Was the common room always so hot in the early morning? Was her collar always this tight? She pulled on it as she replied. "I guess it depends."

"On what?"

"Do you want to be dating?"

"Do I? … Merlin." He began laughing. "Yes, I want to be dating. Do you think dating her is a good idea, though?"

"Oh, I don't know. I don't know Eleanor at all, really."

"Right."

"Yeah."

The room was silent for a moment, each of them appearing deep in thought.

"So I think I'm going to ask her out, again, if today goes well."

"Right," Lily replied. "If that's what you want."

James shrugged, appearing distracted. Another moment passed, perhaps a bit longer than the previous one, before he said: "So, why were you rushing down the stairs, again?"

"Oh, I was going to see Madam Pomfrey. I have a bit of a headache," she lied. Why did she lie? A chest pain isn't all that strange. Even if it was triggered by the mere mention of Eleanor-the-Hufflepuff.

"Oh! I'm so sorry for holding you up for so long, then. She should be awake by now." He moved aside, to let her move past.

"You'd know, wouldn't you," Lily smiled. "How often are you down there at this hour?"

"Not unoften," he replied lightly. "I'm going to go upstairs, and uh… get ready for the big date. Feel better!"

"Thank you! And um. Good luck, today."

He flashed a grin in her direction that made her forget to breathe.

Shit.

Shit, shit, shit.

She didn't need to go see Madam Pomfrey. She didn't need a Pepper-Up Potion.

She needed to see a fucking therapist.

Monday, February 13th, 1978, 8:00

Breakfast, in Lily's opinion, should be drama free. She didn't want to be talking about what almost happened last week. She didn't want to talk about the fact that the Daily Prophet hadn't even mentioned it yet. She didn't want to talk about Marlene and Dorcas getting their act together and finally becoming a couple. All she wanted was to eat some toast and get on to her first class.

"All I'm saying is, it's a little weird that the Prophet has just ignored a story like this," Mary was saying. "Even if the teachers were keeping it under wraps, I bet at least a third of the students here wrote to their parents to tell them about it."

"Maybe the Ministry is suppressing it," Marlene suggested. She was holding Dorcas' hand. Lily thought it was cute.

"Why, though?" Mary said. "What's the point?"

"Because the War is going very, very badly," Remus said.

Marlene looked at him as if he was insane. So did Mary, who replied: "What the hell does that have to do with it?"

"No, he's right," said Dorcas, understanding dawning on her face. "They don't want the public to know how close Hogwarts was to getting breached. Hogwarts is one of the most secure places in the world. It's guarded by magic older than the Ministry itself, by several hundreds of years."

"That would explain… a lot," Marlene said. "Why the reports on the people the Death Eaters have been killing are in the back with the general obituaries, for example."

"This is – "

Just then, a sixth year Hufflepuff approached them, and everybody stopped speaking immediately. Oh thank Merlin, Lily thought. The Hufflepuff was short, with an average build – very pretty. She had strawberry blonde hair, only a few shades lighter than Lily's, which reached her mid-waist, and striking bright blue eyes. She tucked a strand of hair behind one of her ears, a gesture Lily herself has been guilty of doing when nervous, and blushed deeply as she said: "Hi."

She was looking at James, who answered: "Oh, hello." He smiled, and added: "Eleanor, right? You're a sixth year Hufflepuff."

She nodded. "Um, well. I was wondering if you – " She coughed. She looked as if she was about to hurl, and her eyes darted from person to person, lingering on Lily and Sirius just a little bit longer than the other individuals sitting at the table. Lily pretended to be busy perusing the Prophet.

"Yes?" James prompted.

"I was wondering if you had a date to Hogsmeade this weekend, is all. Supposed to be a nice weekend, and if you don't have a date, well, um. Maybe I could be your date?"

Lily suddenly really, really hated this Eleanor.

James looked at Sirius for a moment, who shrugged. He then glanced at Lily, who was still pretending to peruse the Daily Prophet, even as she could feel his eyes on her. "Um, yeah, sure. I'll meet you in the Great Hall first thing in the morning?"

"Sounds good!" she said, sounding rushed. Then she hurried back to the Hufflepuff table, where two girls were waiting for her. One had an eyebrow raised, as if she couldn't believe Eleanor had done it. The other was openly gleeful. Lily hated all three of them.

"I'm full," Lily announced, before anybody could resume talking about the Prophet and the Ministry and the War. "I'm going to Transfiguration. Anybody else joining me?"

"Yeah, I'm done," said Dorcas, picking up her book bag. "I'll go with you."

Lily, who was already holding her belongings, began walking without waiting for Dorcas. By the time she was out of the Hall, she was practically running, her breath shallow. She didn't know what was going on, precisely. She didn't like this feeling at all.

A hand grabbed her shoulder, and she jumped.

"Woah, calm down, it's me," Dorcas said. "Why are you running like that?"

"I'm just – rushing to class," Lily replied, avoiding Dorcas' gaze. "I didn't even realize I was running." She wasn't lying. She couldn't remember making a conscious decision to run. She had started without thinking about it.

"Oh, fine then. That's perfectly sane."

"Oh, shut up," Lily laughed. A strange pain in her chest that had been there just a moment before was gone, and as she stepped into the classroom, she swore to forget this had ever happened.

Sunday, February 19th, 1978, 12:30

"I'm in love with James Potter," Lily told Mary in entrance to the Great Hall.

"I know, sweetheart," Mary replied. She was digging through her book-bag in search of something, and didn't even pause for a moment as Lily revealed her heart to her.

"What do you mean you know?"

"Know what?" Marlene said, joining Lily and Mary, Dorcas tailing behind her.

"Lily finally figured out that she's in love with James," Mary replied nonchalantly. "Marlene, Lily, Dorcas, did any of you borrow my quill? I don't want to buy a new one if I still have it."

"No. What do you mean finally?" Lily demanded.

"I didn't either, mine are special left-handed ones," Dorcas said.

"I might've," Marlene said. "I'm not going to check now, however. I can go upstairs when we come back from Hogsmeade. If I didn't, you can still have one of mine, Marlin knows I've taken yours often enough. It looks like it's going to rain this afternoon, and I'd really like to be back before that happens."

"Again?" Mary sighed. "That's two Hogsmeade weekends in a row! C'mon, then, we better start moving."

"Hello?!" Lily cried as the three girls all turned to leave. "I just had the revelation I'm in love with – " she looked around her, to make sure there was no one to overhear, but whispered his name anyway – "James Potter, and all I get from my closest friends is we know?"

"Well, honey," Mary said. "We did know."

"Even I knew, and I'm oblivious to everything around me," Dorcas said.

Marlene nodded. "She didn't even know that Alice and Frank liked each other until she found them full on making out in the common room one evening."

"I told you that in confidence!" Dorcas hissed. "Besides, it wasn't that obvious."

"It was," Lily, Mary, and Marlene said at once.

"It really was, hon," Marlene continued, "but it's okay, I like you anyway." They were holding hands, and standing very close to each other.

"Not that this isn't all very touching, but some of us have dates to meet by two o'clock, so if the four of us are going to spend any time together in the village, we have to go now," Mary said impatiently, glancing at her wristwatch.

"Oh no," Lily groaned. "Dates! He's going on a date! He asked me for advice, and I gave it to him! Why on earth did I do that?!"

Marlene gently pushed Lily in the direction of the gate, and the four of them began walking. "Because, sweetheart, you are deeply stupid."

"What do you mean, stupid?"

"James, James, James," Sirius said. "When you like a girl, and you think she might like you back, you don't say yes when somebody else asks you out. When you love a girl, you don't go on a public outing with another girl you barely know. And when you've loved a girl for, what, six and a half years?" Remus and Peter both nodded. "Prongs, mate, you don't ask her for advice about someone else!"

"Well, I thought she would, I don't know!" James said exasperatedly. "Say something, I guess? I didn't expect her to actually give me advice!"

"Have you met Lily?" Remus said. "She's the nicest person on earth. Obviously, she was going to give you advice when you asked for it."

"Well, what if she doesn't actually like me? What if she just sees me as a friend?"

"See?" Sirius said. "Stupid. You should call off this date and actually ask Lily out."

"No!" James' frustrated call was much louder than he had expected it to be, and various groups walking down to Hogsmeade with them turned around to look at him. He grinned to reassure that everything was fine, but dropped it as soon as people turned away. "No, I will not. I don't actually know that she likes me, and I won't risk our friendship without more proof."

"More proof – mate, the day Marlene and Dorcas got together she practically told me she was in love with you."

"But she didn't actually tell you," James pointed out. "So you don't know."

Sunday, February 19th, 1978, 12:45

"So how did you finally figure it out?" Marlene said. Dorcas shot her a look, which she ignored; she genuinely wanted to know. "I thought it was going to take you at least till this afternoon." Mary shot her a look, which she also ignored.

"I kept – experiencing pain my chest, I guess," Lily said. "I think my body was telling me something was wrong with my metaphorical heart by making my actual heart hurt."

"Oh!" Marlene cried. "That's so romantic!"

"Pathetic, is what it is," Dorcas intoned. "I reckon we should stop at Honeydukes first, they're bound to have a post Valentine's Day sale on some good chocolate."

Marlene thought this was a very good idea for at least two reasons, but she didn't get a chance to express that sentiment before Lily replied quite tartly, "You're one to talk, miss I-Currently-Date-My-Ex-Boyfriend's-Sister."

"I," Dorcas replied, "am also pathetic. Come on already, I need to get my great aunt something for her birthday, and there is no better gift than – "

"Discount chocolate," Sirius said, somehow elongating the syllables so they each took up at least one minute. "Practically free chocolate, I should say. Remus wouldn't skip this for the world, now would he?"

Remus dutifully shook his head. "Never."

"Peter, of course, as always, wants his sugar mice – ironically enough," Sirius added gravely, "and you, Mr. Potter, cannot abandon us in our time of need."

James shot an amused glance at Peter, who seemed to be shaking from embarrassment. Remus took note of the fact, thinking, I probably shouldn't tease him for his choice of candy.

"What's your time of need, exactly?" James asked.

"Now, obviously."

"But what is it that you need?"

"Emotional support due to your stupidity, my dear," Sirius sighed. He hung an arm around James' shoulder in the most nonchalantly handsome way. And, Remus hated to admit, cleverly manipulative way; James would never suspect what they were up to as long as he acted like his normal, dramatic, charismatic self all the way to Honeydukes.

Sunday, February 19th, 1978, 13:00

"Are we there yet? It's going to rain any second," Mary complained.

"You're a witch," Dorcas said impatiently. "Just put on a simple water repelling charm."

"I was never any good at those," Mary grumbled. "I'm better at attracting, not repelling."

"Here," Lily said, "I have an umbrella. We can share."

Mary shot her a grateful look. Thank you, she mouthed.

"What the – "

Lily was startled, and so was everyone else in the group judging by the various sounds her friends made (ranging from ACK to mouths so filthy she was tempted to spell soap into them), by the large sign right in front of Honeydukes. It was a gaudy sort of pink, the kind that hurts the eye to look at all at once directly, with writing in a contrasting orange, which did not dull the blinding effect it had on regular human beings' eyes at all. It was spelled so that the handwriting shifted from a cursive script into an all caps blocky kind of handwriting into a neat scrawl into another handwriting and another and another, and it said:

James Potter, Eleanor is in here!

Well, at least he knew where his date was.

In here!

He was going to scream.

No, he was going to laugh so hard he fell over.

No, he was going to run away.

No, he was going to stare at Lily Evans' shocked expression as her eyes met his, the way they couldn't seem to completely hide how hurt she was, the smile dying on her face.

No.

He wasn't going to do any of that.

He was going to walk straight over there, take that down, and ask Eleanor what the hell she was thinking.

"Merlin's buttocks, I said yes to a date, not an announcement in the bloody Daily Prophet," James muttered, and with renewed resolve, he continued to make his way to Honeydukes, stomping straight past everyone, or at least, everyone that mattered: Peter, still looking slightly ill; Remus, frozen in shock; Sirius, a big smile plastered on his face; Dorcas and Marlene, holding hands, whispering to each other; Mary, holding an umbrella with a little pink elephant for a handle; Lily, whose gaze he wouldn't meet.

He wouldn't.

Honeydukes was empty when he entered, except for Eleanor and the Honeydukes clerk, who immediately got up when James entered and went into the back.

"Wow. This is elaborate."

"Yeah," Eleanor said shyly. "I'm sorry for the sign."

"What were you thinking when you did that?" James sighed, but he couldn't help but also laugh. It was such a ridiculous sign, much easier to laugh at now that he wasn't looking at it directly.

"It actually wasn't my idea," Eleanor confessed. "But I'll admit – " She paused, looking down at her shoes.

"Admit what?" James asked. He had to fight the temptation to lean against something; there was candy everywhere.

She glanced up at him and met his eyes, briefly. Then she went back to staring at her shoes as she mumbled something.

"What was that?"

"I wanted to be sure that you would actually show up," she finally admitted; her expression looked pained.

James raised a single eyebrow, and waited for her to elaborate. She did:

"Just now, I saw the way you looked at Lily Evans through the window, James Potter. Everyone knows you want her. I don't understand why you don't just ask her out!"

"I did, Eleanor," James said. He realized then that he couldn't remember her last name. Which was probably a bad sign for how this date was going to go, even without this awkward conversation. "I asked her out every week for all of fifth year. Nothing came of it. She doesn't like me back. I've moved on."

"Liar," Eleanor said. "I saw you. More importantly, I saw her. We all see the two of you, the entire school, every day, making eyes at each other. When you don't get along, the entire school knows. When's the last time you asked her out?"

"I – " James began, then stopped, frowning instead.

"You like her, don't you?"

James nodded guiltily.

"Then why aren't you trying to actually get her?"

Sunday, February 19th, 1978, 13:30

Lily Evans had been through a lot.

Her father had died, for one.

Her best friend turned out to be bigoted against people like her.

One of her closest friends turned out to be related to people like her aforementioned ex-best friend.

She was unwittingly thrown into a secret war just by virtue of being born with magic.

She had once received a D in Transfiguration, and was still trying to escape that particular shame.

But she could never recall feeling quite so pathetically sorry for herself in public before.

The Three Broomsticks, as usual, was horribly crowded; luckily, it was just her and Mary, and they found seats easily. Mary brought over a shot of Firewhiskey with her Butterbeer, and, still feeling the pathetic quality of her shame, she declined; the last thing she needed was to get even the slightest bit tipsy, considering how she behaves around James when under the influence of alcohol. Mary shrugged and swallowed it all at once instead; that was the great thing about Mary. She reserved all her judgment to other people. She never said it to your face.

She nursed her Butterbeer for what felt like eternity before Mary spoke.

"Sorry, what did you say?" Lily hadn't heard her over the racket of her own heart beating.

"Listen, mate," Mary said. "I'm sorry to take you out of this… whatever this is. But I don't understand why you haven't said anything to him!"

"But I have!" Lily exclaimed. "He rejected me."

Mary waved her off. "Don't be ridiculous. That wasn't a serious come on. You were grieving, not living. You should be living. You should be downing Firewhiskey and sitting with someone who isn't just waiting for their date to arrive and chasing after the boy you like, no matter how ridiculous his hair is."

"I happen to like his hair," Lily objected.

"Then go put your hands in it, you – " Mary sighed, cutting off her own presumed expletive. "The only thing stopping you is yourself. If you want something, you need to fight for it. You want James, don't you?"

"Yeah," Lily admitted. "But he's on a date right now! With somebody else!"

"Who he only said yes to because you haven't made a move! You haven't fought for him, Lily," Mary's tone became chastising. "Every time you even think about making a move, you give up immediately. You fail, so you assume you can't try again. Well, who the fuck said that's true?"

Lily couldn't think of what to say, except, "He's still on a date."

"I bet you he said bye-bye to that little Hufflepuff the moment he saw that sign," Mary said, dismissing Lily's one concern out of hand. "At the very least, you could let him know that you're an option before he asks someone else out! Tell me, Lily. Promise you'll be honest with me."

Lily nodded.

"You're the bravest girl I know," Mary continued. "Why won't you fight for this?"

He was approaching the entrance to The Three Broomsticks when the person he'd been looking for for the past twenty minutes exited the very establishment at a running speed and almost knocked straight into him for the second time that day.

"Hey," James Potter said to Lily Evans.

"Hey," Lily Evans said to James Potter. "You're not still on a date, are you?"

"No," James said.

"Good," Lily said.

She took his left hand in her right. Her right hand she brought almost up to his face, then hesitated.

"What are you doing?" he whispered. It didn't feel right to be loud right now. Not when they were so close.

"I'm going to kiss you now," Lily whispered back.

They both leaned in.

Saturday, January 30th, 1971, 9:30

Lily dreaded her birthday every year. She didn't enjoy being the center of attention like many of her school-friends, and the parties and presents made her nervous. This year, however, she was nervous for a different reason – according to Severus, today is the day she would find out if she's magical enough to go to Hogwarts.

"It's all fake anyway," Petunia told her.

But Lily knew it wasn't. She knew magic was real beyond a shadow of a doubt; she was even sure she had some.

Mostly, she doubted herself.

Am I magical enough? Am I talented enough? Am I good enough?

The morning of her eleventh birthday, she was so nervous she couldn't eat, even though her father made her her absolute favorite food in the whole world: chocolate chip and banana cupcakes. "Pap," she said, using her childhood nickname for her father that she swore at the age of nine she outgrew forever, and voiced one of the many questions in her head: "What if I'm not strong enough?"

"Oh, honey," he replied, kissing the top of her head. "It's never a question of if you're strong enough. It's a question of if you're brave enough to do it anyway – and if you think it's worth doing."

Saturday, March 27th, 1971, 22:00

James loved his birthday. His parents were great gift givers, and although he didn't have many friends, he was still friendly enough with some of the Muggle kids that they knew to say happy birthday to him before brutally beating him in football. After an entire day like that, his mother would usually make him go to bed early; but it was his birthday, and she always let him stay up until midnight, lying next to her on the blue couch in the sitting room, so he could experience every single moment that it was still his birthday.

Today, he was reading over his Hogwarts acceptance letter, tracing the green ink with his fingers, and he wondered aloud, "What's Hogwarts like?"

His mother startled; usually, by now, James would have fallen asleep despite his insistence on staying up. But then again, he was growing up now, wasn't he?

She put aside her copy of Witchcraft in the Middle East, Volume II, and asked, "Well, what do you want to know?"

James seemed to snap out of his reverie then, and looked at her with the most intense expression she had ever seen on his young face. "Everything."

She laughed. "I can't tell you everything," she said. "Each experience in Hogwarts is as unique as the person going through it."

"Mu-u-um," James whined. "I want a better answer."

Euphemia chuckled, unaware of the way James' chuckle would eventually develop to sound exactly the same as hers. "Alright, then. Hogwarts is where you're going to grow up, son. You're going to make friends, some of which might become your best friends for life. You'll excel in transfiguration, if you have any of your mother in you, and do well at everything else, if you have any of your father in you. Girls are going to swoon at your feet – or boys," she added quickly. She kept up with the Muggle news, and was completely aware of the fact that it was the 1970s. "You're going to break lots of hearts with those eyes you've got there. You'll probably fall in love, too. And it's going to be the most intense experience of your life, because you are your parents' son."

"He told me he never loved anybody but you," James recited.

"And I never loved anybody but him," she added. "And if you're lucky, this person you'll love with love you back, and the two of you together will change the world."

Sunday, February 19th, 1978, 13:35

They kissed.

As far as first kisses go, there have probably been better ones.

But certainly not many.

Lily felt as though her entire life had been building up to this moment; eighteen years lived in preparation for this. Years learning who she was, discovering the world she came from and the world she would enter; years making friends and losing them; years getting to know this young man, and learning to like him – even love him – and now, choosing to fight for him; years leading up to him, towering over her, kissing her like this, and just then – for a few, glorious moment, the entire world was Lily and James and James and Lily.

And then the skies opened and the rain started falling.

(See? I told you there would be a kiss in the rain.)

At first, they didn't break apart, unwilling to leave this perfect moment behind. Eventually, however, Lily took a step back. She knew there would be more kisses, kisses like this – tender, sweet, meaningful – and other kisses – deeper, faster, more intense, lighter, fun, happy, sad, comforting. There were kisses of all shapes and sizes ahead of them, an infinity of them, and although she couldn't wait –

She never let go of his hand.

He never let go of hers.

She smiled. She got up on her tiptoes, and kissed his cheek.

"Let's go inside," she said, close to his ear so he would be able to hear over the thunder that was already rolling; they were getting quickly soaked to the bone.

He nodded, and – wearing a grin to match hers – they walked into The Three Broomsticks to thunderous applause.

At first James just thought it was more thunder, and he didn't quite know how to digest the fact that what seemed to be the entire school was applauding Lily and him. It could very well have just been his ego, assuming everything was about him, but he couldn't help but feel a little like it actually was about him this time – especially with Eleanor herself sitting in a chair to the left, clapping as well.

"What's happening?" hissed Lily.

"No fucking clue," James replied similarly.

Sirius waved at him from a relatively secluded corner booth. It would normally seat four, but they had managed to squeeze the three remaining Marauders as well as Lily's three remaining roommates into the seats; James' remaining roommates were sitting with a giant group that included Eleanor and what seemed to be every Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw in their year; some fifth and sixth year students from all houses were in attendance, including at least two from Slytherin.

Pushing his way through, James lead Lily to the booth. As they arrived, Mary and Marlene immediately slid out of their side of the booth, followed by a grumbly Dorcas. Mary pushed Lily and then James to sit down together; Dorcas and Marlene immediately disappeared to find chairs, but Mary somehow managed to convince Peter that it was a good idea for him to sit in a chair instead of a booth, so she squeezed in next to Remus.

Lily leaned her head against James shoulder, and he squeezed her hand, which he was still holding.

"Aww," Mary said, gazing fondly at the new couple. "You're so adorable."

Lily's hand ripped out of James', and two seconds later her hands slammed the table. "What. Did. You. Do."

"She didn't do anything, crazypants," Sirius answered. Mary shot a warning glare at him, but it was too late; Lily's wrath was pointed at him too, now. He recoiled, trying his best to hide behind Remus, which only meant that Lily's deathly glare now met Remus' too, which caused him to flinch.

"You too?!" Lily cried. "Et tu!"

"Bless you," James said, thinking she sneezed.

"Who else was involved in this nefarious plot?!"

"It's not a nefarious plot," Marlene said, finally returning with her chair, Peter and Dorcas in toe. "We just… thought you might need a little encouragement."

"Whoa whoa whoa," James said quickly, "what are all of you talking about?"

"You're so dense, mate," Sirius sighed. "You think this was all coincidence?"

"I – " James began, not quite following.

"How much?" Lily demanded. "How much of it was a trick?"

"Not that much," Marlene said defensively.

"Quite a lot, actually," Dorcas said. "Marlene just didn't want to be involved. She said it 'felt weird to manipulate our friends like that.' I thought it felt weird to be friends with such big idiots, but there you go."

"Wait," James said, slowly comprehending. "So Eleanor – "

"I approached her," Peter said. "And made the banner."

"Remus thought it up, though," Sirius said proudly. "Nefarious plan – it was all because of him."

Lily shot Remus a dirty look.

"Oh, don't look at me like that!" he cried out. "It all worked out in the end! And besides, you should have heard some of Mary and Sirius' plans – " (James shuddered at the thought) – "they simply had no sense of empathy about this. I wanted it to be your choice, at least."

"And what about Eleanor?" Lily said. "How did you get her to do this?"

Remus shuddered; Sirius grinned; the rest of them wouldn't meet her eye. "It's better if you don't know," Remus assured her. "But suffice it to say, she was very discreet. Nobody knew what we were planning besides the six of us – " he gestured around the table – "and herself."

"Wait, wait," James interrupted, "why did everyone clap, then?"

Sirius snorted. "You kissed right outside of The Three Broomsticks, what did you expect?"

"I'm going to need Firewhiskey to deal with that, by the way. I swear, the image of the two of you is burned into my retinas forever," Dorcas complained.

"Rosmerta doesn't serve us lowly Hogwarts students Firewhiskey," Sirius said, "so I don't know how you intend to get some."

Mary laughed. "Oh, you poor little thing," she said heartily. "Watch this."

Mary managed to get Firewhiskey, not only for Dorcas, but for the entire table. Sirius muttered that it was unfair for her to be able to do that while he had spent the entire past year trying to schmooze Madame Rosmerta into letting him have even one shot, and Remus quipped something dry in response. The conversation quickly moved on from the scheme, and even past the alcohol, into the normal hectic style of conversation between teenagers, skipping from topic to topic, cracking jokes and making references and stating opinions.

Meanwhile, Lily had taken James' hand again.

Sometimes, you need to fight for what you want.

And Lily wanted. Lily wanted all of it: a great job, and great friends, and a small house with two children and two cats to match.

A life well lived.

She knew there was a War going on. She knew that people hated her for the blood running in her veins; she knew that people were fighting for her right now, dying for her right now.

And she wanted to fight, too.

She wanted to fight for justice. She wanted to help people. She wanted to make sure that the people who were willing to die for her wouldn't have to.

She wanted to fight for the life she could already see now: James and her, in their old age, sitting together on a porch swing. Her children sitting with them. Her grandchildren, maybe even great-grandchildren, playing Quidditch in her backyard. The breeze moves her hair into her face. James' hand is in hers. Nobody in her family has ever heard the word Mudblood. None of them has ever thought of Lord Voldemort as anything besides an old story, the War as part of a folktale James and Lily tell sometimes, when they've got enough alcohol in them.

And she knew – she had decided, she was sure – that that life, that future, James – they were all worth fighting for.

A/N: I'm glad that I'm ending this with a nice and long chapter.

Epilogue will be uploaded in just a moment.