Chapter 4
Lily walked down the streets of Hogsmeade with Marlene and Alice. The air smelled like rain, and Lily carried a large umbrella just in case. Alice was going on about how much she would miss Frank the following year. Marlene rolled her eyes so that only Lily caught on, and she tried to stifle a giggle.
"Oh you two are always mocking me! But you'll see, when the two of you find true love you'll only be mocking yourselves. What am I even saying, when you two realize what you've got right in front of you, you'll come right and apologize. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a date!" And with that, Alice left Lily and Marlene staring at the ground. The two continued walking in silence, and when they turned the corner they spotted Remus, Peter, Sirius, and James. Because Remus waved, it was too late to pretend they hadn't seen them.
"If it isn't the lovely Marlene McKinnon and Lily Evans. Where's the third musketeer?" Remus chatted.
"Alice is with her better half." Marlene smiled.
The ladies fell in step with the Marauders. No one questioned this because in truth, after all of the supposed animosity between Lily and James, they somehow always found themselves together. If they had a spat during breakfast time, by dinner they could sit next to each other and laugh when Peter squirted pumpkin juice from his nose. If James pulled a prank on Lily, she would retaliate accordingly, but then they would be paired up in Defense Against the Dark Arts and together finish the lesson before any of their classmates could even grab their wands.
The rest of the group was already conversing amicably while Lily and James fell a step behind.
"So I noticed you haven't hung out with Diggory lately."
Lily snorted. "Your plan to make me the least eligible witch at Hogwarts is working."
"The James Potter curse is nothing to be taken lightly." He paused before adding, "Evans, despite my best efforts, you've rebuked all of my advances, but you also seem to be warding off every other fellow interested in you. I'm not complaining about that, I swear, but what's the problem?"
She considered the question. "First it was my friendship with Sev-I think I prioritized him too much. And then after fifth year-"
"I never said I how sorry I was for that. I didn't mean for you to get hurt. Sirius and I were just having a bit of fun, and trust me, Snivellus had done plenty to deserve it, but still…"
"No it's fine. I was sorry to you for my outburst. But it was a wake-up call. And afterwards I just focused on what I want to do after Hogwarts, it's taken up plenty of my time."
"I know what you mean, I've been set on qualifying to be an Auror. I've wanted to for a while. Things are dangerous outside of Hogwarts Evans. I figured I might as well fight to make it less dangerous. There are many people who aren't safe, you included. I can't bear that." He finished softly. He noticed that they'd already lost the others.
Lily laughed a little. "It's not that I'm surprised Potter, you're incredibly intelligent, I don't doubt you can do it. It's just that you spend plenty of time fooling around, pulling pranks, and being overall disobedient. I didn't think you'd considered life after Hogwarts."
He looked at her in amusement. "A part of me will never want to stop fooling around. But a big part of that is also brainstorming ideas for new tactics, new spells, new tools that will give us an upper hand."
"So when you dyed my hair magenta it was to advance your career?" Lily pretended to look horrified.
"Think about it. Death eaters would be easy targets with purple hair!" His expression was solemn, but the twinkle in his eyes betrayed him.
Lily chuckled. "What would it be like to work with James Potter for the rest of my life? No wonder you're in all of my classes. I'm also aiming to be an Auror." She elaborated when he raised an eyebrow.
James squinted his eyes to mask his panic. "You're determined then? I mean, you'll be a target, you're a muggle born, it will be ten times worse."
"That's why I have to do it. The only real downside will be suffering through your humor every single day.
"You're life would be boring without me Evans. You'd miss me the first day in." His grin was contagious but short-lived as thunder shook the ground. When they looked above, the sky had drastically changed, from a mere snowy white to a belligerent black. It started pouring suddenly, an ugly black precipitate. And the drops were large, life size even.
Because it started raining Death Eaters.