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"Lily be careful out there today," said Vicky very seriously as the teens sat eating breakfast the morning of the duel between Mick and Lily.
"Lily be careful?" scoffed Sirius as the rest of the group, sans Lily, chuckled. "I think Mick is the one who needs that advice!"
"No I mean that she should be careful that she doesn't kill him," snapped Vicky temperamentally.
The group instantly sobered as Vicky continued. "Lily is one of the foremost duelists at the Institute, which then means that she is one of the foremost duelists of her age in the world. She studies and practices more in a week than this Mick character probably does in a month. In all likelihood, if this were a true duel, he would not survive."
Lily was the only one not wearing a shocked look on her face.
Lily sighed and rolled her eyes. "Well thank you Vicky for that little ray of sunshine. I'm glad that we're all getting a happy start to the day."
"They should know what's going on," persisted Vicky tensely.
Although the two girls had only been at the Potter mansion for less than 48 hours, this issue had already developed into a persisted and large-scale argument between the two of them. Vicky believed that Lily's home friends should know exactly what went on at the Institute and precisely how talented she was. Lily believed that understatement was key; she hated seeing the startled looks on the faces of her friends. With every explanation out of Vicky's mouth the way they looked at her changed a little. She was not okay with that.
"I haven't gone around blabbing about exactly who you are and what you can do," Lily hissed. "You should do the same."
"Why are you hiding who you are from them?!" asked Vicky loudly. "I thought they were your friends."
By now the atmosphere around the table was really tense and awkward. No one knew what to do or say.
"I am not hiding anything!" spat Lily.
"No you just aren't telling them the majority of your life. Big difference," said Vicky sarcastically. "Lies of omission are just as much lies as lies of commission are."
Lily glared at Vicky for a long moment and then without breaking eye contact informed the rest of the table, "Vicky has a huge crush on Remus. They stopped exchanging letters because she wrote him saying that she had a boyfriend. She did have a boyfriend but she only did it to make Remus jealous. Remus interpreted it differently, thinking that she had never really liked him and so stopped writing. Vicky was incredibly embarrassed that her plan didn't work and she couldn't work herself up to write to him to tell him what she had done." Lily smirked as Vicky's eyes widened and her cheeks turned red.
"Bitch!" muttered Vicky with much emotion. "The very first day at the Institute Lily kissed another guy and ever since then they've been going on the morning runs together."
Lily paled and couldn't turn her gaze from Vicky's triumphant face because she knew she would be met by the glares of her friends and the wounded stare of her boyfriend.
"You dirty whore," she spat.
"That's enough," said Remus sternly. Neither woman had seen him approach because they were focused solely on each other, trying to kill each other with their eyes. He physically pushed them away from each other and then stepped in between their chairs, severing their connection.
"Vicky you come with me, everyone else go do something, Lily and James need to talk," ordered Remus as he physically pulled Vicky out of her chair and out of the room.
Once Vicky and Remus has reached an empty parlor, Remus turned to her and said, "Even though you don't agree with Lily's way of handling things you have to respect it. If there are things she doesn't want to share then it is your job as her friend to help her to keep those secrets. Secrets and lies are completely different things."
"But in relationships you should be honest with the other person or persons," disagreed Vicky.
"Complete honesty can be more hurtful than helpful," countered Remus.
"She is leaving out nearly everything about herself!"
"I don't see you laying all of your cards on the table, what gives you the right to demand that of her?" questioned Remus.
"I- uh… well…"
Remus quirked an eyebrow, clearly showing that he didn't expect she would have an answer. "Exactly. When the day comes when you expose your every secret to the world you can ask Lily to do the same. Until then please keep your mouth shut and stop screwing up Lily's life."
"I am not screwing up her life," Vicky muttered half-heartedly.
"Oh but you are," said Remus emotionally. "She and James have enough problems without you stirring things up. He is already scared of her being so far away, he doesn't need you telling him that she's cheating on him and putting her life in danger by being there. How could you possibly think that was a good idea?!"
"I don't think that they are a good idea," explained Vicky. "She can do better."
"That isn't yours to decide," hissed Remus defensively. "You're the one who knows how truly smart she is, don't you think she's competent enough to decide whom to fall in love with?"
"You don't understand," protested Vicky. "She is settling by staying with him. They will never work because someday she's going to realize that she wants more than he can give her. They aren't equals."
That hit home for Remus. She thought love had to be between equals. He wondered what she thought of as equals. Would a poor and nearly employable werewolf be the equal of an Institute girl, one of the most talented witches in the world who could go anywhere and be anything she wanted? Perhaps not.
Remus had nothing more to say. He opened and closed his mouth a few times, willing some more wise or witty words to flow out, but unfortunately his wounded heart had swollen and risen to his throat, blocking any more words from rising from his vocal chords. His eyebrows knit together and his gaze fell to the floor, causing his face to take on a confused and hurt expression.
"What?" she inquired, her lack of social skills revealing itself.
Remus finally spoke, "Then why do you fancy me?"
"Uh…" the Institute girl was speechless again.
"You may be the biggest hypocrite I have ever met," Remus stated as he turned and strode from the room.
-----
"So that was an interesting breakfast," began Peter to break the silence that had descended upon the four teenagers whose lives were relatively drama-free at this moment.
"I don't think I like this Vicky girl very much," stated Marlene in her customary blunt fashion.
"I'm still trying to figure out if they are friends or enemies," joked Sirius lightly.
"They're best friends," said Alice quietly. "She's doing what she thinks is best for her friend."
"By breaking up her relationship?" asked Sirius heatedly. "How would that do her any good?"
"I think Vicky thinks that we are all beneath her," said Marlene caustically. "I overheard her talking to Lily early this morning when they came back from their run and she referred to all of us as 'commoners.' As if she was a bloody queen!"
Silence reigned again as each of them became lost in their own thoughts and worries.
"Do you think Lily and James will be okay?" asked Peter voicing his concern.
Sirius nodded slowly and then said, "Yeah. They'll get through this just like they've gotten through everything else. But I swear- if that Vicky chick interferes again I'm taking her down."
"What about Remus?" asked Alice.
"What about him?" responded Sirius.
"If he likes her he won't let you hurt her…"
"He won't stand in your way," promised the subject in question as he walked into the room. "He won't help, but he won't stop you," he added as he read the question on Sirius's face.
"That's good enough for me. I can take her by myself," boasted Sirius.
"So does anyone know if Lily actually did kiss someone else?" asked Marlene like a gossip hound sniffing around a foxhole of juicy scoop.
All four heads swiveled and glared at her.
"Even if she did Potter should forgive her since she forgave him for- how do you say it?- snogging you," said Vicky as she stood on the threshold of the room.
"She told you about that?!" screeched Marlene.
"Of course she did. You all might think that the two of us are sworn enemies because all we've done since I've arrived is fight, but we fight because we are best friends. We care about each other and want the best for each other. Even the things we don't have the courage to get for ourselves," and with that she let her gaze linger on Remus's stony face. "They will either get over this and move on with their lives and relationship, or they will break up. If they break up it will be for the best because they clearly aren't meant to be together. If they stay together then it will just be some more water under the bridge and they will be closer for it. If anyone needs me, which I doubt, I'll be in the library until the duel at three."
"Isn't she a piece of work," muttered Sirius after she was long gone.
"I just hope she was like that before she went to school and that that school doesn't do that to people. I don't think I could stand being around Lily if she acted like that all the time," stated Marlene loftily.
"You know you aren't such a cupcake all the time either," Sirius shot back at her with a sideways glance.
Marlene's mouth fell open in shock as Remus, though at first he had controlled himself, burst out laughing.
"She isn't a cupcake? Sirius you're a moron. What does 'cupcake' even mean?" he asked his best mate.
"You know… cupcake!" argued Sirius. "Actually that was stupid, I don't even know why I said it…"
"Speaking of talking," said Marlene who had quickly cooled off once it was Sirius who looked stupid instead of her. "Do you think James and Lily are still talking?"
Remus pondered the question for a moment before offering his opinion. "I bet it started off with Lily talking and James yelling and then Lily talking and James yelling then Lily yelling and James talking and then Lily talking and James talking."
"I say it goes more like this," said Sirius as he cleared his throat. He adjusted his voice so that it was a high and squeaky, very unlike Lily, but they all understood what he was trying to do. "Ummm… James? About that guy? Well I didn't really like him, but you know how uncontrollably attractive I am and well… he has a thing for me so one day he just came up and kissed me. It wasn't my fault and I kicked his arse right after. It was nothing I swear!"
Sirius then lowered his voice and took on the persona of James. "Why didn't you tell me about this?! I can't believe you would do this to me! I knew you never should have gone to that school- way too many blokes that I haven't scared away from you yet!"
Then Sirius went back to Lily. "I am a capable and independent woman! I don't need you to protect me you sexist prick! I kicked Teddy's arse so calm down! It's not like I like him or anything!"
"Teddy?" Peter interrupted. "Who is Teddy?"
Sirius, who had gotten very involved in his speeches, suddenly froze and became pale.
"Sirius?" asked Remus when Sirius didn't respond. "What do you know about all of this?"
"Nothing! Absolutely nothing! Didn't Vicky say the bloke's name was Teddy? Maybe I'm just hearing things again…" he said weakly.
"No, you know something," persisted Remus.
"Sirius I will tickle the information out of you," Marlene threatened.
"Oh Merlin," muttered Sirius. "Fine. I don't rightly know the bloke's name, Lily just called him Teddy in her letters."
"Letters? As in more than one?" inquired Marlene. "What is really going on with this Teddy guy and why did Lily tell you so much about it?"
"The guy randomly came up to her on the first day of school and kissed her. Like I said she kicked his arse, but for some reason the masochist keeps coming back for more. He knows that she has a boyfriend and she has told him that she wasn't interested but he fairly well stalks her. She never told James about him because she knew he would overreact but she wanted some advice on what to do so she wrote me but made me promise not to tell anyone," explained Sirius solemnly.
"Well I bet they talked for like two minutes and have been snogging ever since," said Peter in a very non sequitur way.
"I disagree," said Alice softly. "I think that they are talking about and evaluating their relationship. For the last three months they have kept a long distance relationship alive, but they aren't going to last much longer without making some adjustments and concessions."
Just then a small group of auror trainees was shown into the room by one of the house elves and all conversation about James and Lily stopped and talk turned to the duel that was only a few hours away.
-----
Twenty minutes before the match Mick arrived in grand style: he was fully decked out in wizard garb from the pompously pointed hat on his head to the thick midnight black velvet cape than hung from his shoulders and formed a pool around his pointed shoes.
"He looks ridiculous," Sirius muttered to Remus as Mick approached. "Hey Mick! How was your trip?"
"Just as smooth as this duel is about to be. Where's the bird?" asked Mick as he looked around disdainfully, his nose pointed high in the air.
"Oh you know birds, she's powdering her nose or something," said Sirius dismissively. "Did you bring your chocolate frog collection?"
"Yes," said Mick as he pointed to the large trunk at the other end of the Quidditch Pitch where the match was to be held. "And the key to your vault?"
Sirius rummaged around in his pocket for a moment before producing the small golden key which had once held thousands upon thousands of golden coins… but that was the price of running away from home. "Satisfied?"
"Eagerly anticipating my new fortune," he retorted with a smarmy smile. "I already have plans for the money. I'm going to invest it so that by the time I am turn twenty I will be a millionaire, and that will be before I come into my inheritance!"
"What makes you think that you wouldn't instantly be a millionaire if you won this fight?" asked Sirius confusedly. To Remus it was clear that Sirius was goading the guy, but all Mick saw was a waterfall of gold cascading before his eyes.
"You're even more moronic than I had anticipated Black," laughed Mick.
"I think we'll all learn a lesson here today," said Sirius vaguely. Only Remus caught the dangerous glint in Sirius's eyes.
"So where is this bird of yours Black?" Mick asked again, eager to win… begin.
"She'll be here," said Sirius confidently. "The match doesn't start for another fifteen minutes."
"If she's any more than five minutes late she automatically forfeits," stated Mick.
"What, are you scared Mick?"
"Of course not! I just have better things to do with my very valuable time than to wait around for some girl to show up."
"Well while we're waiting we wanted to go over some guidelines with you," said Remus as he pulled out a piece of parchment. "This basically says that you can't kill each other or use Unforgivables. Lily already signed it so all we need is your signature."
Mick read it thoroughly, nodded and then took the proffered quill and signed it.
"Excellent," said Remus as he snatched the parchment back and tucked it into a pocket within his cloak. "And here comes Lily."
Mick turned around sharply and a grin spread over his face. For a moment he had been slightly intimidated; the fact that Sirius was willing to risk millions on this duel had finally pierced his ego and registered in his brain. For a nanosecond he had wondered if this Lily was a superhuman or something like that. But no, she looked like any other girl from what he could tell. Most of her body was concealed by her pink cloak, but she wasn't overly large or anything so he was no longer concerned.
"You must be Mick," she said cheerily.
"And you are Potter's girl," he stated.
"Yes, but generally people call me Lily," she said with only a bit of irritation leaking into her tone.
"So Lily, what do you do?" he asked patronizingly.
"I'm a student," she said simply.
Mick turned to Sirius and snarled, "You said she wasn't in the Auror Academy!"
"She isn't," responded Sirius calmly.
"What are you being trained for?" he asked, once again calm.
"I don't really know right now," said Lily airily. "Maybe healing, or teaching… I really like Charms and reading... maybe I'll write a book about Charms!"
Remus nearly gagged. Lily was pretending to be stupid! It was almost nauseating.
"What's the name of this school of yours?" he asked condescendingly.
"It doesn't really matter," said Lily. "How about we start this duel thingy?"
"Yes, let's," said Mick disdainfully. "But where's Potter? I want him to see this."
"Oh don't worry, he has the best seat in the house," began Sirius. "He'll be offering a running commentary throughout the match."
Remus gave James the high sign and then he and Sirius ran off the field as James's amplified voice rang throughout the pitch.
"Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen and thank you for coming out today to witness this epic duel between the resident prick of the Auror Academy, Mick, and my exceedingly lovely and talented girlfriend, Lily!" The crowds booed and cheered appropriately and then continued. "I would just like to fill the rest of you in on the guidelines for today's matchup. There is no killing, no seconds, and no Unforgivable or otherwise illegal spells to be used. Other than that, anything goes, and folks I guarantee that we will see some of that anything, because there is more to Lily than meets the eye and trust me, there is a lot that meets the eye."
While James was speaking both duelists had been preparing themselves for the match. Lily was mentally focusing her energies and calling forth her reservoirs of magic, while Mick was showing off, doing sit-ups and pushups to physically get himself warmed up. As James said "there is a lot that meets the eye" Lily chose to fling off her cloak, revealing her interesting choice of clothing. Although she didn't look like a prostitute, her relatively short skirt and tight fitting blouse made her look like she would fit in better in a dating scene than the dueling scene. James smirked as there was an uproar from the crowd and Mick's jaw nearly dropped down to his chest. James wolf-whistled for effect.
"Well now if both duelists are ready could they please approach the middle of the field where the official, our very own dueling instructor, Professor Jeremy Ringer, is standing," said James.
The instructor took over the formalities from there. He had the duelists bow, turn back to back and then walk ten paces away from each other. But on the ninth pace, Mick spun and shot a spell at Lily. Used to such dirty tactics, she was expecting such an attack and easily ducked out of the way. Then she turned around to face the cheater as the crowd booed and James yelled obscenities.
"Are you that nervous?" she asked with a smirk. "You need to attack me while my back is turned?"
"No of course not! I was trying to go easy on you; it hurts less if you don't see it coming!"
"Don't go easy on me because I will definitely not be easy on you!"
Mick laughed and then his face became serious and he launched a flurry of attacks. All of the colorful jets of light collided with an invisible wall a meter or so in front of Lily, exploding in a furious stream of sparks.
Now it was Lily's turn to laugh. "Is that all you've got?"
Mick turned red and doubled his efforts. For a moment there were so many spells and sparks shooting through the air that it was impossible to even see Lily. James paused in his comments for a moment, holding his breath with the rest of the crowd and then cheering the loudest when the smoke and sparks cleared and Lily was standing, yawning of all things, perfectly unharmed.
"There is no shield in the world that could block all of those spells and curses without shattering!" bellowed Mick as copious globs of spit flew from his mouth.
"Then maybe it isn't a shield," stated Lily lightly as a feral grin contorted her lips.
She stretched her arm, palm toward Mick, directly in front of her, brought all of her fingertips together and pulled back a little. Suddenly in the exact spot where all the spells were disappearing a colorful membrane materialized. As Lily pulled toward her the membrane dimpled inward. When it came within her reached she reached out her other hand and closed off the colorful membrane so that it was a ball in her hand. She let go of the rest of the wall and it bounced back into place, becoming invisible once more. Then she juggled the ball between her hands, enjoying the increasing amount of fear that was apparent on her opponent's face.
Frightened and desperate, he cast off more spells in rapid succession. Once the flow halted she began moving toward him slowly. She passed the point where the spells had been disappearing and Mick shot another curse at her. She waved her free hand as the light beam came close to her and bent it so that it curved into the ball in her palm and left her unscathed. He was visibly shaking now. All of his usual tricks were failing miserably; in fact he couldn't hit her with a single spell and now she had this ball in her hand?!?! How does one protect himself against something he has never seen before?
"It was fun dueling with you," said Lily sweetly as she blew the ball off of her palm just as she would blow an eyelash off of her fingertip to make a wish. As soon as the ball left her hand it flashed across the distance between the pair and plunged into Mick's chest launching him all the way to the edge of the field. He was unconscious before he hit the ground. Lily watched his body for a moment, nodded and then walked stately back to the middle of the pitch where the official held up her arm to signal that she was the winner.
Lily amplified her own voice. "I would like to extend a challenge to the rest of you. This is a chance to restore the pride to your school. I will duel anyone who is willing right here and right now. So any volunteers?"
At first everyone simply looked at one another as if to say "No you go ahead and duel the crazy woman in the skirt." Then Mihail, the man who won the duel against Alice, raised his hand. "I will do it. Same rules apply. Let's go."
Lily cracked her neck and said, "Bring it on."
After the formalities, both duelists turned and faced each other, but neither cast a single curse. Mihail was expecting Lily to pull the same trick, so he refrained from casting any spells because he correctly guessed that the spells fed whatever wall she constructed. Therefore Lily shot off the first couple of spells and missed. Mihail laughed as he sidestepped the beams easily. For a split second he wondered if she was only a one trick pony. Then the invisible and much more potent spell hit him and he went down. She had tricked him into standing precisely where she wanted him so that he could not escape her spell. The fact that it was colorless was also helpful.
"Next?" she called cutely.
Enraged that another of their better duelists had gone down, a few more trainees stepped up to the plate. All were summarily disposed of. As the day wore on Lily got fancier and fancier with her strategies. The later volunteers thought that they would have an advantage after watching her fight a few times, but unfortunately for them she was completely unpredictable. Her spells were faster, stronger, and nearly impossible to block. She surprised many when in one battle she allowed herself to be disarmed and then knocked out her opponent with a wandless curse. Also she was able to do many things that others had never even heard of. Generally speaking each spell employed in a duel had a color, it presented as a beam of light. Many times Lily did not simply silently cast the curse but she also made it completely colorless. It was as if her victims were dueling with their back to her- no one could see their demise coming.
After fourteen victories Lily announced that she needed a water break but would return in five minutes. The remaining opponents gathered together to figure out a strategy so that there school would not be so ashamed. Their dueling instructor was growing more and more angry with each defeat, and the trainees knew that things would not be pleasant when they returned to the Academy after the holiday unless they could take Lily down in some spectacular way.
When Lily returned she casually asked, "Who's next?"
"We have a proposition," one stepped forward to say. "We'd like you to duel all six of us at once."
Lily tilted her head and thought about it for a moment. "I don't see why not. The only condition is that when we line up all six of you must be facing me. After the bowing and the ten paces and whatnot you can go wherever you want, but you must start facing me."
The leader turned to his group with a silent question. They murmured amongst themselves for a minute and then the leader announced that they accepted her condition.
The crowd muttered in surprise, some in worry, as Lily faced off one third year student, three second years and two first year trainees. James was not least among the worriers though he tried to pass it off in jokes as he announced what she had agreed to do.
At the end of the ten paces the six trainees fanned out into a semicircle and launched a nearly simultaneous assault upon Lily. She ducked some and blocked others before retaliating just as fiercely. Spells flashed across the pitch so fast that the onlookers lost track of who had fired what.
It seemed like almost an even match, Lily was finally taking some hits, though she was casting the countercurses nearly as quickly, and all of her opponents were still standing. She was actually sweating and no longer thinking or planning, just acting and reacting. Then suddenly she counted. She only saw five attackers. Where was the other one? And then she felt it- the strength sapping curse that hit her full on in the back. She fell to the ground and sighed; she didn't know the counter for that curse or even if there was one.
However she had gotten knocked down before; she spent much of her first weeks at the Institute becoming very familiar with its floors. She drew upon her last reserves of energy and played her last card. Murmuring to the earth beneath her lips as the crowd and her opponents wondered if she was down for good, Lily cast a powerful incantation. She flipped onto her back and touched the ground with her wand. Then twirling her wand in tight circles she lifted it until that her arm was perpendicular to the ground. As the wand soared up so did a huge boulder formed of frozen earth. With one great sweep of her arm she took out all six trainees who had foolishly formed a circle around her as they moved closer.
Once it was evident that they were down for the count, most with several broken bones and a few with concussions, Lily lifted herself to her feet to uproarious applause. A moment later Sirius and Remus were at her sides helping her to stand as they cheered her on. Only a minute after that James was sweeping her into his arms and twirling her around.
"You were fabulous love," he gushed as he kissed her cheek.
"Yes, but now I'm not feeling so fabulous. I think a nice cup of tea and a long nap in front of a warm fire might do me a world of good right now," she told him softly.
James just smiled and replaced Sirius and Remus as her support. They didn't make it far however before the dueling instructor stopped them.
"Now where is it that you go to school?" he asked her.
"The International Institute for Extremely Talented Wizards," stated James proudly.
"Genius school," editorialized Sirius.
"Ah," said the instructor shortly. "That explains a lot. Who is your dueling instructor?"
"Amadeus Aranio," answered Lily quietly.
"You are studying under Aranio?!" gasped the instructor. "The Aranio? The greatest duelist of all time?"
"Yes sir," said Lily simply.
"To study under him is the greatest honor, treasure the experience."
"It kept me alive today," said Lily dryly.
"That is has," mused the instructor.
"You wouldn't consider transferring to the Auror Academy by any chance would you? To have such a pupil- though if I were in your extremely talented shoes I would not leave Aranio for all the jewels in the world!"
"I think my place is at the Institute with Master Aranio," said Lily kindly.
"I would very much agree! However, if ever you change your mind, I can personally guarantee that you would be welcome at the Academy, even if you only desire to sharpen your dueling abilities. Merlin knows that you could teach these knuckleheads a thing or two," he chuckled. "Well anyway enjoy the rest of your holiday and please know that I thoroughly enjoyed watching you duel this afternoon."
"It was nice to meet you sir," said Lily as she and James moved on.
"So this Aranio guy-?" asked James lightly.
"Has devoted his life since the age of 11 to learning everything there is to know about dueling. For the last 80 years he has read every book he could find, watched every match, every tournament he has heard of, and engaged in as many duels as possible. About eight or nine years ago he retired from the dueling circuit and turned to teaching at the Institute," explained Lily. After their heart to heart earlier that day in which James had told Lily that he wanted to know everything and he would try to do his best not to see her differently, Lily became committed to not withholding anything.
"And he taught you all that stuff?" James asked, referencing her dueling moves of the last three hours.
"Most of it, some of it I improvised, some I learned from my duels at the Institute against my classmates and other stuff some people in my head taught me," she said vaguely hoping he would understand that she was talking about her gifts as a Guardian.
"Well you were bloody fantastic out there!" said James carefully diverting the conversation.
"Thank you. It was fun. And now Sirius is the proud owner of a billion chocolate frogs cards."
Then suddenly Mick appeared in front of the pair, his chest heaving and his eyes wild. "You're a freak! A freak! No one can do that! Makes balls of energy out of nothing! And that wall! You're some sort of freak of nature!"
"She isn't the one who is shouting like an insane person," said James coldly as he felt Lily stiffen and saw her face grow cold.
Mick whipped out his wand and before either James or Lily could react he cast a blasting curse at her. At such short range and with so much unadulterated rage and humiliation behind it, the blast threw Lily out of James's grip, all the way across the Pitch and into the stands where an audible crunch was heard as she landed.
As predicted Sirius and Remus were at James's elbows in a second, wands out and eyes blazing.
"Take care of him," stated James breathlessly as he sprinted toward Lily's prone figure. She wasn't moving and a puddle of blood was forming underneath her. The mediwizard Sirius had commissioned for the event arrived a few moments after James and quickly assessed the situation.
"It's not as bad as it looks," he stated gruffly. "A few broken bones and some bruises. Maybe some internal bleeding. It doesn't appear that she severed her spine so she probably won't be paralyzed. But I think she did break her back. That might take some time to heal. She'll definitely have to go easy for a week or two. I've seen much worse than this. I was very surprised that she didn't sustain any serious injuries during any of her duels, especially the later ones. After a duelist gets tired they get clumsy and when a duelist gets clumsy they make mistakes and I have seen worse mistakes than this. Magical stuff is hard to treat. First you have to figure out what hit 'em and then what hit 'em before that and how that will be an interaction, and then you've got to figure out how to stop it and then clean up the mess that used to be a body. Just body stuff like this- no big deal. Ten minutes tops. It's all straightforward, basic. Like I said she's going to be stiff and you should keep a close eye on her, but she seems fine. It's lucky she's in such good shape and so young, otherwise it might have been much worse. But she'll pull through and by the New Year she shouldn't be any the worse for wear. That which doesn't kill you makes you stronger," ended the medic with a chuckle.
Although the mediwizard's incessant speech was designed to keep James calm it really had no effect on him because he didn't hear a word of it. The only thing he heard was the blood rushing in his ears and the sound of his own raspy breathing. Then when the mediwizard cast his last charm and Lily opened her brilliant, wonderful, sparkling emerald eyes, James returned to the world. For the first time he noticed that he wasn't the only one circled around Lily; none of the trainees had stuck around once they heard that she was going to be fine, but Alice, Marlene, Vicky, and Peter were there looking as pale as James felt and Lily was.
"I could really use a cup of tea," she said hoarsely.
James laughed in relief as he scooped her up in his arms and headed toward their home. On the stairs down to the pitch he met with Remus and Sirius. "Everything taken care of?" he asked.
They both nodded seriously.
Lily felt sore all over and completely drained of energy, but she knew that in some ditch there was a first year auror trainee who was probably feeling much worse than she was.
"Tell the mediwizard where he is please," she requested.
Sirius was taken aback but he gave her his word that he would. As the duo went to the mediwizard who was cleaning up and repairing the damage done to the bleachers, Sirius remarked, "Do you think that Lily might be too good for Prongs? He all but orders us to kill the guy and then she wants him healed?"
"If someone hurt him she would react the same way," theorized Remus.
"But he wouldn't want the person healed," Sirius said. "I'm just saying, maybe Vicky is a little bit right. She's more talented, intelligent, and moral than he is."
"But how can you look at them and say they don't belong together?" questioned Remus. "I have never seen two people more cut out for each other. They balance each other out and make each other better. Lily made Prongs grow a conscience, and he helped her to develop her self-esteem. Think about either of them during our fifth year; both were miserable excuses for people, but now they are… whole. They complete each other."
"That was completely sappy Moony, but absolutely true," stated Sirius. "I've kind of started to think of them in my head as Lily and James or Lily and Prongs. I don't see them as distinct individuals anymore; they're a couple."
"In the truest sense of the word," agreed Remus.
-----
A half hour later Lily got her wish. She had changed into sweatpants and a tee-shirt and just finished a cup of her favorite raspberry tea when she settled down next to her boyfriend on a pile of blankets he had laid out in front of a roaring fire in the fireplace.
"How are you feeling?" he asked softly as his eyes roamed over her face.
"Much better now," she answered as she tucked herself in closer to him.
He was lying on his side and facing the fireplace. She was on her back pressed up against his chest. For a while the pair stayed just like that listening to each other breathe and the logs crackle in the fireplace.
"I'm sorry for overreacting this morning," he whispered, not wanting to break the peace but needing to get that off of his chest.
Lily had been staring at the fire but she shifted so that her focus was on James's face. He looked genuinely remorseful. Lily raised one of her hands and stroked the side of his face that wasn't being propped up on his hand. "Apology accepted. I don't hold it against you even a little bit. I would have reacted in the same way if the situation was reversed."
"Actually," James began with a smile. "I think I reacted a bit better than you did this summer."
Lily's smile dropped a hair as she said, "Marlene is my best friend; Teddy is a stranger. They are completely different situations. If you found Sirius and I snogging I doubt you would forgive me in a matter of hours."
"I would forgive you," said James thoughtfully. "But I would have to kill Sirius."
"I think that's what keeps him from snogging me," whispered Lily as if she was revealing some huge secret.
"Do you know why I would kill Sirius and not you? It's because I have two other best mates, but I only have one girlfriend… that you know of," he joked. "I would miss you far too much. I really don't know how I survived these last three months."
"The letters definitely helped," Lily told him.
"Yeah but you look like some sort of creep when you kiss letters; I missed kissing you."
Lily smiled. She could tell where this was going. James lowered his face to hers and kissed her softly and sweetly at first, but she had other ideas in mind. James grinned as she traced her tongue around his lips; he was pleased to know that for once he wasn't the hornier of the two of them. After teasing her for a moment more he accepted her invitation. She tasted like raspberries… raspberries and Lily.
As things got hotter James made to move on top of Lily, but he forgot one key detail- she had been seriously injured little more than an hour ago. She groaned and at first James didn't understand, but then he slid off of her carefully.
"Yeah I don't think that's going to work," grunted Lily as she got her breath back.
"What hurts?" asked James concernedly.
Lily placed her palm on her belly button. "I have this big ugly bruise where the curse hit. It's really tender."
"Let me see," requested James as he settled into a sitting position at her side. With more gentleness than one might expect, he lifted her shirt up, exposing her black and blue abdomen. Lily lifted her head slightly, saw the bruise again, and then let her head drop as she groaned.
"Do you want me to kiss it and make it feel all better?" James asked slyly.
"It really hurts, how is touching it going to make it feel better?" snapped Lily. She was more than a little frustrated that the bruise had interrupted what promised to be a great snog.
"You'll see," James promised. And then he began to trace the very edge of the circular bruise with the lightest of kisses. Lily's abs were tense with the anticipation of pain, but almost immediately she melted as James went to work. She couldn't believe that she actually did begin to feel better. And then he approached the bottom of the circle which was a mere one or two centimeters above the waistline of her sweatpants.
"James," she moaned as he lingered there. "Merlin! Do you know what you're doing to me?"
He chuckled as he pressed one more kiss there and moved on to complete the circle.
"I think a taste of your own medicine is good for you," he said with a smirk as he saw how fast and dramatically her chest was rising and falling.
"Now it's my turn," said Lily devilishly as she sat up next to him. Without any sort of warning she had removed his shirt and tossed it across the room. Then firmly but gently she pressed him back down on the blankets.
"I can't decide if you're goal is to torture or pleasure me," joked James as he cradled his head in his hands.
"That all depends," said Lily silkily as she lightly traced the line from his belly button to his neck. "If you're a masochist they're one and the same."
"I chased you for all those years, I don't know how I could not be a masochist," said James weakly.
"Umm…" agreed Lily, but the time for words was over. She was determined to make him feel as crazy for her as he had just made her for him.
She nearly laughed as she felt his muscles tighten under her touch. She then crossed over his body and began to kiss his neck, making sure to find his pulse point and linger there. As she felt the blood rapidly rush through his artery she smiled. Meanwhile James was concentrating on remembering to breathe.
"You're driving me crazy," he admitted as she and her kisses migrated down his chest.
If he was crazy then he truly went insane a moment later when she kissed the strip of skin just above the waistline of his jeans.
"Merlin woman," he moaned as she literally took his breath away.
But she wasn't done. Suddenly she was straddling him and her lips were on his.
"You win," he said breathily as she released him from the kiss.
Lily smiled. "And just think if you hadn't forgiven me this morning you would have missed all of this."
"Remind me to never not forgive you," James told her.
Lily laughed and agreed as she got off of him and resumed her former place next to him so that he wouldn't have a heart attack.
As she rested her head on his shoulder and he absentmindedly played with her hair she was struck by the idea that life didn't get any better than this.
A/N. So finally the long awaited duel has arrived!
What did you think of the duel between Mick and Lily?
What did you think of the duels between Lily and the other trainees?
What do you think of Mick and his act of revenge? What about the reactions of James, Sirius and Remus?
Any comments on the fluff between James and Lily?
And to backtrack a little- what do you think about Vicky and her views on Lily's relationships?
What do you think about Vicky and Remus's relationship and where do you see it going?