AN: hello, first of all, thanks to everyone who reviewed! you guys really make my day. Really should be studying right now, but hey, this is more fun. Ok well, please enjoy!

"Lily Evans, I have never loved you more," James proclaimed, leaning in and smacking a sloppy wet kiss on her forehead. With a grimace of disgust, she wiped her face clean of saliva and glared at her cellmate.

"We're not out yet, Potter. We need a plan."

"A plan," James repeated, nodding and taking his wand from her. "Righto."

Lily waited expectantly, but James continued to smile blankly at her. After a moment he spoke.

"You're actually expecting me to come up with a plan?"

Lily glared. "If you don't want to die, yes, that would be helpful. You've slipped out of classes and detentions so many times I thought you'd be a master of escape."

James grinned. "If I get us out of here, you have to promise to call me the Master of Escape from now on, deal?"

Lily stared at him, completely exasperated. "James, I understand that you deal with difficult situations through humour, but this is seriously not the time."

"All right, all right. Let me think," he stood, and paced the stark walls, running his fingers across the smooth surfaces, scuffing his feet on the dirty floor, and even gazing up at the low ceiling. "Ok," he finally said. "I think I have a plan."

-

Lily was not particularly impressed. In fact, she was about to execute one of the worst plans she had ever heard, all though, as James pointed out, they didn't exactly have a lot to work with. They were also relying heavily on the hope that a mob of Deatheaters weren't outside the door. If so, they would be in big trouble…well, they'd be dead.

Lily looked up from her position on the floor, her back pressed against the wall facing the door, and caught James' eye. He smiled encouragingly and winked. Suddenly, his eyes became serious and he pressed a finger to his lips.

Lily had heard them too. Deep voices and approaching footsteps. It was almost time. Mindlessly, she repeated the enchantment James had just taught her over and over again in her head: Obscurum totalum, obscurum totalum…her silent mantra ceased as she heard the lock in the door click, a man say something quietly, and the door bang open. With a crack, a jet of yellow light passed straight through the wooden door and hit James squarely in the chest.

Time seemed to stop as Lily watched the spell hit him hard, his eyes bulge in shock, then, with a pop, he vanished.

At least, she thought he'd vanished. His clothes collapsed into a pile on the floor, but Lily was sure she could see something move within the pile of robes and muggle attire.

All this happened in a split second: the longest amount of time she could spare, before she raised her wand and shrieked, "Obscurum totalum!" The room instantly filled with a dense black fog. She lifted her cloak to cover her nose and mouth, and ran, blind and deaf towards the door. A jet of green light shot over her head, but she ducked just in time. She could sense movement to her right, and sank to the floor, just as another jet of light almost grazed her ear. Groping towards where James had just been standing. Her hands found his discarded robes, and as she bundled them into her arms, she also picked up something fairly small and quite heavy. In shock, she almost dropped whatever it was. Its squirming told her it was alive: perhaps a dog, or… a young child?

She didn't have time to ponder it. Her hands reached out and groped for the door. Another jet of light flashed but it was a few metres away from her. Standing, Lily made a run for it, flying out of the room, down a hallway and finally out into the cool night air.

Gasping for clean air, her eyes watering from the thick smoke and her throat burning terribly, she made it to the bottom of the path, before spinning on the spot, and disappearing with a crack.

---

"Lily!" Remus exclaimed, starting as the door opened. He was standing by the fireplace, frowning into its depths, waiting for news on his friends. "How did you…why are you carrying a baby?"

Lily hiked the small child higher on her hip and crossed the room to warm herself by the fire.

"Lily, the whole Order's gone out looking for you and James. Sirius said Lucius took you. Where – where's James? Who's that? How did you escape? You're not Imperiused are you?" He took a step closer and stared intently into her eyes, checking to see if they were at all glazed over.

"Calm down, Remus. No, I'm not Imperiused, but…we have a major problem." The child on her hip squealed and grabbed a handful of red hair, before shoving it into his mouth.

His mouth falling open, Remus stared at the child. "Is that…Lily, is that James?"

"You see the problem," Lily muttered while attempting to remove her hair from the small boy's mouth. "Malfoy hit him with a spell, while James was hiding behind the door. I used the Obscurum Totalum curse and just managed to get out. But..." Lily felt herself choke on her next few words as the concept of James not recovering suddenly hit her. "What if we can't fix him?" she whispered.

"Shh," Remus said soothingly, pulling the child out of her arms. "All he needs is a simple aging potion. Dumbledore will fix him in a jiffy." With a flick of his wand, a silver shadow shot out of the tip and flew out of the open window, presumably on its way to inform Dumbledore of Lily and James' return to safety.

"I don't know how I messed up so badly," Lily commented, flopping down on a couch and watching Remus bounce the child up and down on his hip.

"We had no idea Malfoy would be there. He saw James spying on you outside the pub. Thank goodness he didn't see Sirius sitting inside, otherwise we may not have found out."

Lily shrugged. "It may have been better if he didn't alert the Order. What if they're there now? Trying to rescue us? They're out risking their necks because I messed up."

Remus shook his head. "Lily, it wasn't your fault. And besides, you found out what we needed to know. Guildenweed is a Deatheater."

"Not necessarily. We don't have proof. All we know is he hangs out with known Deatheaters…doesn't mean he's one."

Remus sighed then noticed what Lily was wearing and raised his eyebrows. Her skirt her ripped at the side, and her high-heeled boots were splattered with mud. "Hold James," he said kindly. "I'll find you some clothes."

Lily took the sleeping baby James in her arms and relaxed back into the sofa. They were in James' house…or rather, in his manor, on his very large estate. It wasn't exactly the headquarters for the Order of the Phoenix, but since the last one burnt down, they had been congregating here.

It was a beautiful manor as well, with antique luxurious furniture, fireplaces in each room, and high ceilings. Thick Persian carpets were spread on the hard stone floors and old heavy drapes hung from the floor to ceiling windows. Lily couldn't even imagine having grown up here, spending her summer days on the rolling green lawns surrounding the house, or the woods behind the clear blue lake.

The door creaked open again, and Remus had returned, a stack of clothes in his arms. He handed her what must have been some of James' old robes, a plain white button down shirt, and a pair of blue striped boxer shorts. "I'm sure I could have found you some of his mother's clothes," Remus began but Lily shook her head.

"No, this is better. Thanks."

He then held up a t-shirt, which he must have shrunk, as the tiny word 'Tornadoes' could just about be distinguished on the front.

"Very nice," she said. "But you're changing him. That would just be bizarre if I did it."

"Mm, well it would be a funny story to tell the grandchildren."

Lily punched him in the arm. "There will be no grandchildren, or children!"

"You should give him a chance, Lils."

"How about we have this discussion when the boy in question isn't two years old, alright?"

Hope you liked it. And if you wouldn't mind just taking a sec and leaving me a little review! I'll update sooner if you do! haha thanks! xxx