Disclaimer: Shout out to JoRo and Suzanne Collins for creating such amazing universes.

A/N: Sooo, here's some actual Jily action...well, interaction, at least. :) And to the awesome reviewer who mentioned it, yes, you will be finding out why James has essentially given up - just not in this part. Enjoy!

Part Three

The next day began with training for the House Cup, the replacement to James' academic endeavors. There was to be a group class to learn basic spells – lumos, accio, expelliarmus – spells James could perform in his sleep, but were rarely manageable for the muggleborn champions. Muggleborns were, of course, allowed a wand for training, though they were monitored closely with it and had to turn it in after every session. For all of them, it was the first time they'd ever even touched a wand.

All but one of them, James thought.

After the group lesson, they would be free to explore several stations set up to learn and practice skills like Transfiguration, Potions, or Flying.

Voldemort himself never watched the training sessions, but one of his high-ranking followers would always be present. When the champions entered the Great Hall that morning, a pair of icy blue eyes across the Hall zeroed in on James. He recognized them immediately. Their moderator was Lucius Malfoy, who, as a seventh-year Slytherin, had won the House Cup a few years prior by cursing as much food in the arena as he could find. It had struck James as being both particularly awful and particularly cowardly.

Following his victory, Lucius had immediately joined up with the Death Eaters, Voldemort's inner circle, and shot up through the ranks. James wondered if Voldemort had ordered Lucius to keep a special watch on him after he volunteered for Sirius.

The muggleborns crossed over to Lucius to check out the wands they would be using in training. The wands were old and worn-down, some of them with their cores sticking out of the tips, all frayed and splintered. Even if a muggleborn could pick up magic quickly, these wands would never give them perfect results.

James closed his fingers over the end of his own wand, tracing the grooves of the mahogany absentmindedly. He dreaded entering the arena without it.

The fifth year girl from Ravenclaw collected her wand from Lucius, then retreated back to the group of champions, awaiting further instruction.

"In these group lessons, we will be going over basic wand and spell work. For some of you, this may seem tedious-" the Slytherins all seemed to stop mid-eye roll, giving them very much the appearance of dead fish, "-but even the best of wizards can benefit from returning to the basics.

"Now, as we can't have you hurting each other before you enter the arena, you will be practicing against dummies and various magical objects and creatures.

"Today, you will begin with disarming. The incantation is as follows:"

Lucius turned on his heel, whipped his wand toward a dummy across the room and shouted "Expelliarmus!"

A few of the muggleborns jumped.

"Once I feel you have performed the spell effectively, I will tap you on the shoulder and you will be free to move on to other spells or other stations. For now, find a dummy."

James darted between his classmates, weaving in between the crowds of his competition, slowing down to land next to Lily. She took no notice of him.

"On my count," Lucius called out lazily. James raised his wand. "One, two-"

His count of three was smothered by the shouts of "Expelliarmus!" booming across the Great Hall. A different shout came from James, however. Before he could flick his wand, a burning sensation snapped his wrist backward, causing his grip to loosen and his wand to go flying. James grabbed his wrist instinctively, looking around both for his wand and for the source of the spell that had disarmed him.

"Regulus Black!" Lucius yelled. James whipped around and saw that Regulus' dummy was the only one on the Slytherin end that hadn't been disarmed. His dark eyes were narrowed on James with a murderous level of hatred.

"Regulus!" Lucius repeated more urgently, storming over to the young Black and grabbing him by the collar of his robes. "Come with me, now! The rest of you, just…keep disarming – the dummies, not each other! When I get back, if anyone has stepped even a toe out of line…" he trailed off the end of his threat as he exited with Regulus in tow, the boy's eyes still transfixed on James.

"Ten galleons days he's not happy that you took Sirius' place," a light, familiar voice spoke behind him, pulling his focus away from the spot where Regulus had been moments before. James turned to face Lily and found his wand retrieved between her long, delicate fingers. She noticed him staring at her hands and a memory flashed across her face. A flicker of recognition passed over her and she quickly shoved James' wand back at him.

He wanted to thank her for collecting his wand, but that would risk sounding too familiar with her. Muggleborns and purebloods weren't supposed to interact casually, and though that law was now ineffective, as they were both champions in the House Cup, James worried that his tone may betray his past transgressions.

Lily was now focused on her dummy. She waved her wand erratically, making unnecessary mistakes and if anything came out of her wand, it missed her dummy by several feet. Her face never changed its look of fierce determination.

It's a good act, James thought.

Without saying a word, James raised his wand, flicked his wrist, and disarmed Lily's dummy.

She spun toward him, somehow managing to look absolutely furious while her mouth hung open. "What in Merlin's name do you think you're doing?" she hissed at him.

"Getting you to speak to me, for one."

"Knock it off, Potter."

He grabbed Lily's arm. She froze, staring at his hand, then whipped her head around frantically, as though they were certainly being watched.

"Hey, calm down, okay?"

She ripped her arm away from him. "Don't tell me what to do."

The champions from the other Houses were now all focused on the pair of Gryffindors.

"I'm not…" James took a deep breath before pulling himself closer to Lily. She didn't back away; her eyes were trained forward and her jaw was clenched as she stood her ground against the dark haired boy towering over her. James lowered his voice, speaking barely above a whisper. "Look, those other guys are looking at you like you're a joke. Unless you're aiming to get yourself killed before you can even take a step in the arena, if I were you, I'd stop acting like I'd never used a wand before."

He looked down at Lily. She was still facing forward, her face set as though he hadn't said anything to her at all. He backed away from her.

"Your funeral, I suppose."

Something warm suddenly flashed pasted the side of James' face. He faced Lily and found her wand pointed straight at him. No, not at him, he realized. He turned slowly toward his dummy, twenty feet or so behind him. It had been disarmed.

"Miss Evans!" Lucius' voice echoed throughout the hall. Regulus wasn't with him, James noted. He took long strides toward Lily. "What, exactly, were you just doing?"

"I-I-I…" She struggled to reply to Lucius.

"Well, Miss Evans?"

"Sir, she was practicing disarming, as per your instructions." James stepped forward to answer.

"And did she miss my explicit instruction as to what she was to be disarming? That spell barely missed hitting you, Mr. Potter. It looked to me as though–"

"Sir, if you please – she's never even used a wand before. She was probably aiming for her own dummy."

Lucius studied Lily, who kept her head down, as though her shoes were particularly interesting.

"Fine," he said after a moment, seemingly satisfied. "The two of you are dismissed from the group lesson for today."

"Thank you, sir," James said. Lily still hadn't moved, so James grabbed her arm, gently this time, and pulled her away from Lucius. He could feel the older wizard watching them as they walked away.

"Thank you," Lily whispered once they were out of earshot. "And I'm sorry. Sometimes I just let my emotions get the best of me."

"Well, you are a ginger. Isn't that par for the course?"

"Don't make me regret not hexing you."

"Oh, you can hex now? Five minutes ago, you weren't even holding a wand properly."

"And yet, I just disarmed your practice dummy. Apparently I'm full of surprises, so is that a risk you really want to take?"

"Fair point. C'mon." He led her over to a table covered in old spell books. A Ministry witch sat on a stool, her long nose buried into a copy of Witch Weekly. A headline flashed across the cover: "Purity and Power: How to Catch (And Keep!) A Pureblood!"

"Books?" remarked Lily skeptically.

"This station is for Defensive Spells," the Ministry witch said in a low monotone, her face never moving from behind the magazine.

"Aren't you supposed to be teaching us?" Lily pressed on.

She raised an eyebrow at Lily's gall. "You can read, can't you? They do still teach that in muggle schools, don't they?"

Lily grabbed a large, dusty volume in front of her. "Fine." She walked several feet away from the table and sat down on the floor, her legs folded over each other. James followed, taking a seat across from her.

"Do you think there will be Dementors in the arena this year?" Lily asked flatly. She was racing her fingers across the pages, clearly still upset from the interaction with the Ministry Witch, but also trying to move on from the subject. James decided to not push it.

"They're a favorite of Voldemort's, so it's possible. Why do you ask?"

"Because any other magical creature, I can beat with a number of spells or by simply outsmarting it, but Dementors require – Aha!" She turned the book to face James.

"Expecto patronum. That's a difficult bit of spellwork."

"I know. But it's the only spell you can use against them and I don't want to end up cornered and defenseless."

James remembered how, in the earlier years of the House Cup, Gideon Prewett had ended up in that exact situation. His twin brother, Fabian, was killed by Voldemort himself a few months later, after Fabian joined a resistance movement called the Order of the Phoenix. The entire organization had been wiped out by Voldemort and the Death Eaters.

"Alright. You know the incantation, then?" She nodded. "Now think of a memory – the happiest one you can think of –"

"Happy?" she interrupted. "Am I supposed to have happy memories?"

"Just try," he replied.

She closed her eyes tight. James thought of his happiest memory. In his fifth year, he, along with Sirius and Peter, worked diligently and secretively to become Animagi. They had discovered that Remus was a werewolf and felt they could better protect him from Voldemort and his cronies by making his monthly visits to the Forbidden Forrest with him – and the only safe way to do so was in animal form. That was his happiest memory – running around the grounds with Sirius, Remus, and Peter in Animagus form. The full moon hung above them and James could hardly contain his excitement that they were breaking the rules on such a massive scale. These four boys had secret identities right under Voldemort's nose. It was something he could never take from them.

"Okay?"

"Yes."

"Now say the incantation."

Lily raised her wand. "Expecto patronum," she whispered, her eyes still closed.

Silver wisps stretched from the tip of her wand slowly, then disappeared. When she opened her eyes, James could feel the disappointment that ran through her.

"Don't worry. You might need a stronger memory. Here, watch."

He concentrated on his happiest memory and said the incantation. A large silver stag erupted from his wand. Lily gasped as it pranced around her and across the room before fading out.

"Go on. Try again."

The young witch mouthed the spell a few times. She took a deep breath and repeated the words aloud, her voice stronger than the first time. "Expecto patronum."

Silver lines shot out of her wand and flew together to form a larger shape.

"Keep your wand steady, that's it!" James was impressed and he took no steps to hide his excitement.

The last of the silver mist flew from her wand and the shape fully emerged. The smile on his face dropped as it approached him.

Lily Evans' Patronus was a doe.