Twenty one reviews after I posted the last chapter. Wow. You guys are amazing. So here's a (relatively) fast update. I know I said that I was going to update last Friday but I had quite a few family emergencies between the posting of the last chapter and then, so much so that I didn't even get to start writing this one until last Thursday. Nrgh.

Thank you to all you amazing people who reviewed, followed and favourited. You all deserve cookies.

Chapter Six

Pulling Petals

Hogsmeade at night was perhaps even more wonderful than Hogsmeade during the day, Lily realised as she appeared right in front the Three Broomsticks. Maybe it was because there were no students crowding her or jostling to get to their destination or maybe it was because of how picturesque it looked what with the star dotted sky and the orange glow of the candles. It felt magical.

With that little inkling of a thought, she set off towards the castle, walking as quickly as she could with long determined strides. She waved her wand over herself as she neared the gates, reverting back to her normal redheaded self. An impatient hand raked the dark red curls up into a sloppy ponytail. With a small flick of her wand the gates were unlocked and she stepped in. It was ten to twelve. Surely no students would be about at this hour, but, nonetheless, she still cut through some of the hidden passageways. There might have been a curfew but students were always sneaking out for late night shenanigans. She would have known; she caught more than a few during her tenure as Head Girl. Hell, sometimes even she toed the rules and snuck out.

Her footsteps echoed within the empty halls as she ran and when the stone gargoyle finally came into focus, she almost cried in relief. However, Lily ended up skidding to a halt and the determined expression slipped off her face.

She had not been in the castle since the beginning of September, more than six weeks ago.

Lily still tried however. "Sugar quill?" she asked breathlessly. The gargoyle did not move. She sighed and muttered a curse. "Of course," she groaned, "He changed the password. Brilliant. Er, Fizzing Whizzbees? Chocolate Frogs? Cauldron Cakes?"

As soon as the word 'cake' left her tongue, the gargoyle slipped open and revealed the staircase. She let out a silent whoop of joy before climbing up quickly and knocking on the door. Dumbledore's voice filed through almost immediately and she pushed it open, only to freeze at the scene in front her.

Dumbledore sat behind his desk with Marlene and Potter in front him. The blonde was holding her wand, apparently in the middle of healing something while the other two stared at her in the doorway. Dumbledore regarded her amusedly and Lily felt herself blush slightly as she realised how she must have looked to them. Her hair was in tangles, her cheeks flushed and her chest was heaving after running almost a mile up there from the Three Broomsticks, while her clothes were a rumpled mess.

Embarrassingly, she felt her eyes drift over to Potter of their own accord. He was staring at her, mouth opened slightly and his eyes darkened and unfocused. She dropped her gaze almost immediately and took a step into the office, clearing her throat softly.

"Professor," she began, "I found out something this evening at the Cauldron." Dumbledore ducked his head, prodding her to continue. Lily took a deep breath before straightening her spine and staring fixedly at a silver object on the wall. She jumped right into the tale, starting from the first day Archibald came by to the pub, how he appeared every day after that- spending long hours by himself- before explaining what happened this evening with him and the man she thought to be a Death Eater right down to the dragon eggs.

"I know we can't do anything about the dragon eggs but maybe we can get Moody to send some aurors or something. They are, after all, class A non tradable goods," Lily babbled, "But we can still stop that man- whoever he was- because I'm positive that he's a Death Eater."

At the end of her lengthy speech no one said anything for quite some time until Dumbledore stepped in. "Are you going to be working at the Cauldron tomorrow?"

Lily nodded. "I'll be there from four until midnight," she told him. She had a double shift tomorrow. Combined with her back to back all nighters, she was getting the rest of the week off and would not be needed until next Monday.

He nodded at her, jotting down something on a small scrap of paper, before turning towards Potter. "Mr Potter, do you think that you would be able to accompany Ms Evans to the Leaky Cauldron tomorrow? If not I can always message Alastor, but I will not be certain if he will have any aurors to spare on such short notice."

Lily's eyes widened and she tried her best to hold her tongue, knowing that if she opened her mouth, she was bound to do something embarrassing like beg Dumbledore for some other auror, Order member, basically anyone except him.

James straightened his back and nodded, a steely mask of professionalism slipping into place. "Of course. Am I to be undercover or undercover?" he asked, placing particular emphasis on the last word.

"Whichever one you prefer," replied Dumbledore before turning back to Lily. "Is there anything else, my dear?"

She pushed aside the panic and rage that was brewing in her mind for a moment in order to rack her brain. "Er, he mentioned something about this weekend. I'm not sure where, but he said something about it being a pity that they couldn't use the dragons for their plans this weekend," she told him.

The wrinkles that lined his forehead grew more prominent now. Quickly, he grabbed another sheet of parchment and dipped a large quill into an inkpot. The office fell silent, save for the gentle whirring of several silver mechanisms and the scratching of the quill against the parchment. Those few minutes became the most awkward Lily had ever faced- and that was including the time she got caught by McGonagall when her last boyfriend got a bit too handsy in a broom cupboard. She refused to look at Potter, but could feel him staring at her back. Since she did not want to even glance his way, that meant she could not look at Marlene either and the portraits looked a bit too judgemental for her liking. Lily paid particular attention to her scuffed up sneakers for a good five minutes.

"Mr Potter," said Dumbledore, his voice effectively shattering the heavy silence created, "Go with Ms Evans to discuss any precautions that may be needed to be undertaken tomorrow. Ms McKinnon, if you don't mind staying a bit longer," he ducked his head in Marlene's direction, "I have some things I would like to discuss with you." Without anything further, he tapped his wand against the parchment and it disappeared in a blaze.

"Of course, Professor," said Marlene, sinking into her chair while Potter got out of his. Lily, taking this as her cue to leave, mumbled a hasty goodnight and stalked out of the room, trying her damnedest not to slam the door behind her. She stomped down the stairs and hurried through the hallways, becoming more incensed once she heard his heavy footfalls slapping against the floor in quick succession as he tried to catch up with her.

"Evans!" he yelled, still far behind her. She quickened her pace, though she could feel him gaining on her. "Evans! Hey Evans! Lily!" Finally catching up, he stretched out a hand to grab her shoulder.

She turned around with a snarl and pushed off his hand. James' smile faltered once he realised the intensity of her glare. "Evans-"

"Don't you 'Evans' me, Potter!" she hissed angrily, jabbing him hard in the chest. He stumbled backwards a few steps. "You wanker. You stupid, sodding wanker."

"I didn't-"

"Six weeks!" she shouted over him. Lily made an effort to reduce her volume lest she wake the entire castle, but found it very hard. She didn't have the patience to hear whatever excuse he scraped together and her temper was shot to ribbons. "Six bleeding weeks and you just show up trying to 'Evans' me as though nothing out of the ordinary happened?"

James ducked out of the way from her hand which was coming to prod him again. "I was on a raid," he said helplessly, holding his hands up.

"Oh yes, I knew that," she spat acerbically. "Of course, I had to hear it from Sirius last week. Who, by the way, also told me that you were only gone a week back then. That leaves you with almost a month. Obviously I didn't expect you to throw a party in my name, but you could have at least popped in with an 'Oh hullo Lily, nice to see that you're alive. I'm alive too in case you were wondering.'"

"I had things to do," James snapped, running an anxious hand through his hair. "My life, in case you haven't realised Evans, does not revolve around you." He regretted the words as soon as he said them. Lily's eyes widened and she took a step back, almost stumbling into the wall. "I didn't mean-"

"Save it," she sneered, turning away from him. "I'm sorry for wasting your time then. Forgive me for thinking that the fact that you decided to train me off your own accord without any input from Moody or Dumbledore meant that you cared or something along those lines."

"Is there anything Sirius or Marlene didn't tell you?"

"That you're a fucking idiot but I worked that out by myself funnily enough."

He reached out again and this time refused to pull away when she made an attempt to shrug him off. He caught her shoulder and turned her around so that she was facing him once more. Lily folded her arms across her chest and held her head high despite the unnatural brightness in her eyes. "I do care, Evans and that's precisely my problem," he told her, his voice dropping to almost a whisper.

She rolled her eyes and managed to successfully slip out of his grasp this time. "Wow. This is how you show someone you care? You avoid them? Good on you Potter."

James ignored her cynicism and pressed on. "I didn't even know how you managed to put up with me after what happened. I wouldn't have been able to do it. I took it upon myself to make sure you were ready for that mission and I almost got you killed."

"You didn't-"

"Quiet Evans," he shushed her. "I almost got you killed. Of course I'm going to avoid you. I could have barely looked your way after."

"So you avoided me because some stupid Death Eater slammed my head into the wall," she stated flatly. He nodded. "You're a real piece of work, you know that?" she scoffed, jabbing him once more. "Did you even stop for a moment to think that I didn't blame you? That I was actually grateful for you saving my life?"

"Why would I do that? No normal person would be grateful to someone who almost got them killed!"

"You didn't almost get me killed!"

"Yes I did!"

"Merlin, what is your problem?" she screeched, swinging her fist forward. "I thought you just said that you cared!"

"I do!" he shot back at her, his temper finally flaring. He caught her oncoming fist and pulled her to him so that she lurched forward into his chest. He bent forward so that he could look her in the eye and their noses were almost brushing. "You want to know my problem, Evans? It's that I care about you and I care too much." And then, without even a moment's hesitation, he leant forward even further so that their lips pressed together.

Lily gasped in surprise and James clenched the fabric of her shirt tightly in one hand while still gripping onto her other hand. She remained unresponsive beneath him and James was just thinking about pulling away and bracing himself for the slap that was bound to come, when she finally snapped out of it and grabbed his collar, pulling him closer and finally moving her lips with his. James tripped forward, causing her to stumble backwards until her back hit the stone wall. He braced both his hands on either side of her while his chest pressed into hers, effectively pinning her to the wall. Meanwhile, Lily's other hand found its way to his hair and gave it a hard tug, making him gasp. They continued to assault the others mouth in a series of deep, heady kisses until Lily finally pushed him away.

A sharp stinging sensation across his cheek brought him out of his lust charged daze and he looked down to see Lily glaring at him. "Fuck you, James Potter," she growled before stomping off.

He watched her go, still gobsmacked. His lips still tingled, his blood felt as though it was charged and he couldn't hear anything over his heartbeat thundering in his ear. James remained in the draughty corridor long after she turned the corner. When he finally came to his senses he groaned and banged his head against the wall.

Lily was right; he was an idiot.

The bell above the door jangled just as the old grandfather clock in the corner signalled four o' clock. Lily nodded at Tom before tying her apron around her waist, getting ready for the double shift she had to pull this evening. She felt his presence behind her and the annoyance that had been prickling beneath the surface of her skin since she left the flat flared up once more.

She was getting ready to leave when there was a knock at her door. Wand at the ready, Lily- already disguised as Catherine- opened her door only to reveal James standing there, hands shoved inside his pocket. When he saw her, he gave her a small smile and ruffled his hair. When she saw him, she scoffed and slammed the door in his face. She finished cast the rest of enchantments on her flat before wrenching the door open and pushing past him without even a word of hello.

It was safe to say that she was still angry with him.

She was angry that he left without a word for six weeks. She was angry that he told her that he cared too much about her. She was angry because he kissed her last night and it was the only thing that she could think of.

If Lily was being entirely honest with herself she would say that yes, she was angry, but it was only a small part of what she was feeling right then. A myriad of emotions were swirling around her insides; anger... well, it was the easiest thing for her to grasp onto. So she pretended to be much angrier than she felt. She refused to talk to him, or even look at him, when he showed up at her flat. She just stomped down to her designated apparition point and apparated without waiting to see if he followed. She knew he had however; he must have cast a disillusionment charm because she couldn't see him, but she could sense him. The fact made her grit her teeth.

She could feel him fluttering about behind her and she was positive that it was just her imagination that made her feel the heat he radiated outwards. His hand grazed the small of her back and she felt the apron being tightened. Her cheeks flushed slightly but the irritation reared its ugly head once more. If he did not stop hovering she was going to snap his neck.

Surreptitiously, she took a step back and grinned victoriously when she heard his muttered swear as she smashed his foot. She did not wait around for him to be able to comment on her actions as she stalked over to behind the counter with a small smirk.

Now, halfway into her second shift, Archibald had finally made an appearance. He was whistling jovially as he pulled himself onto a stool and placed his briefcase on the ground next to him. "Hello, my dear," he said, smiling at her.

"Hello Mr Archibald," Lily greeted just as happily. She pulled out a glass in one swift motion from beneath the counter and ignored James who immediately came to her side once she mentioned Archibald's name. "What will it be today?"

"How about some Firewhiskey?" he said, placing a galleon onto the wooden counter. She swept it up easily and went over to the till to dispense his change. "Don't worry about that," he said with a careless wave of his hand. "Keep the change. It's the least I can do for my Golden Girl."

Lily grinned at him and pocketed the rest before none too kindly elbowing past James to get to the liquor shelf. She poured him his drink before making her rounds once again. The pub was significantly busier than it had been last night and she refilled several tankards and took out several trays of food before switching over to the kitchen to take care of the dishes.

"I could steal the eggs right now," James muttered in her ear while she was washing up in the kitchen. "But Moody told me that he wanted to catch the bastard too."

She made a disgruntled sound in the back of her throat. "Piss off," she snapped. He was standing much too close and smelt too good. She could feel his breath being expelled against her neck and the room became near stifling despite the cool October air. Her mind flashed back to last night when he pushed her against the wall and wondered what would happen if he were to do that here. Soap and water would slosh everywhere for one thing. It would soak her clothes and maybe it might effectively cool her off. Tom would be mad at her though.

Blushing furiously at the direction her thoughts had taken, Lily focused on scrubbing the same plate she had been washing for almost five minutes now. She glanced at the clock. It was just past eleven. Within the next hour Archibald would have to make the exchange. Within the next hour she and Potter would be stopping a Death Eater. The thought both thrilled her and knotted her stomach with anxiety at the same time.

By the time she finished washing the last pan and dried her hands, it was half eleven and she quickly made her way back out in front. The number of patrons present had dwindled considerably- so much so that the only people in the entire establishment were Archibald, a younger looking couple, Tom, the other waitress, James, and herself.

She was called over to pour another round of drinks for the couple. Archibald continued to peruse his newspaper. Tom sneezed.

Then, just like yesterday, his head shot up and without a word of warning, he grabbed the brief case and walked out of the pub. She finished fixing the drinks and was about to tell Tom that she was going for her break when and an invisible hand grabbed her forearm and pulled her back.

"Oh no you don't," whispered James. "You're going to stay here; I'll go take care of that."

He let go of her arm and slipped out right after Archibald, just before the door slammed closed. Lily pouted and rubbed her arm. "Like hell I am," she muttered. "Hey Tom, I'm going to step out for a little breather." His eyes merely flicked up at her and he waved his hand. Lily hurried out the door and quickly cast a disillusionment charm on herself. She managed three paces before someone grabbed her.

"I thought I told you to stay inside," said the disembodied voice exasperatedly. She could practically see him rolling his eyes.

"You can't tell me what to do and the longer we stand here the greater the chance of him escaping."

"Blasted stubborn bird," he muttered and then, right before her eyes, James appeared, holding a silvery looking cloak and wearing a fixed frown. "Put this on," he tossed the cloak at her. "Your disillusionment charm is shoddy at best."

"I resent that," she said coldly. Nonetheless, Lily tossed the cloak over herself and watched as James cast the charm on him. Disgruntled, Lily realised that his was significantly better than hers. The only indication of him being there was a light ripple of air when he moved too quickly. Without another word, the two of them set out once more. By the time they managed to catch up with Archibald, the dark cloaked man already had the briefcase and Archibald was pocketing a hefty looking pouch.

Potter stopped walking and Lily almost slammed right into his back. She stared up at him. Why did you stop walking, she wanted to say but could not, as the other two men were within hearing range.

The dark cloaked man procured his wand from his robes and twirled it between his fingers. "Let's just see about these, yeah? I can assure you that if you tried to pull one over on us, Half blood, the Dark Lord would have you dead before you can even begin to explain."

Archibald visibly swallowed before nodding once. The Death Eater tapped his wand against the briefcase and it opened, exposing three large, coloured eggs, each almost the size of her head. So focused was she on the eggs that she did not notice when James whipped out his wand and shed his disguise until he said, "Evening boys," in a falsely cheery tone.

Three pairs of eyes flashed towards him and Lily wanted to slap him. Instead, she readied her wand, contenting herself with the thought that she would slap him later for his stupidity.

The Death Eater whirled on Archibald with a snarl. "You filthy Half blood! Did you think you could get away with calling the aurors? Avada Kedavra!"

She could only stare in shock as the jet of green light hit Archibald straight in the chest and sent him slumping against the wall. Vaguely, she thought she heard someone scream. With a start she realised that it was her. The Death Eater turned to face James but before he had even opened his mouth, James sent a stunner at him, pushing him back into the alley where he collapsed in a crumpled heap.

The cloak was pulled off her but Lily couldn't bring herself to look away from the body. She had never seen the killing curse used on anyone before.

"Evans," said James, grabbing on to her arms. "Evans, come on. Look at me."

Dazedly, Lily turned her head to face him. "Wha-"

He pushed her forward slightly and she stumbled. "Go tell Tom that you're not feeling well and you want to go home," he told her. "The aurors will be here soon; trust me, you don't want to have any part in it."

Wordlessly, Lily nodded, glancing back at the body in the alleyway once more. She barely remembered walking back to the pub and telling Tom that she wanted to go home. He did not even object. She unsteadily made her way to the back of the pub to head into Diagon Alley.

"Come on, Evans," James said softly, grabbing her by her arm.

She blinked owlishly at him. "I thought you were in front?"

"I was, but then I realised that in this state you might end up splinching yourself," His arms snaked around her waist, pulling her to his chest. Lily did not even acknowledge the heady James scent that surrounded her or the comfortable warmth that engulfed her. There was the brief suffocating sensation of apparition before they appeared in James' living room.

He led her to the couch and pushed her down gently. "Stay here," he told her, "I need to get back there before the aurors show up. I'll be back soon."

Lily dumbly nodded along with his words. Some undecipherable emotion flickered through his eyes for a brief moment before he bent and pressed a quick kiss to the crown of her head. He spun on his heel, disappearing with a quiet pop.

She sat there on the couch, ignoring the springs uncomfortably digging into her back. The scene from the alley played out in front her eyes on repeat. The green light striking his chest, how he sagged down the wall as all the life left his body. Over and over again she saw the same thing. The image seemed to be burnt on to her brain and no amount of Obliviate's or Scourgify's could get it out. Every time she shut her eyes she would see it: the light, his glassy eyeballs staring into nothingness, how he fell down like a tossed aside doll.

It was all she could think of, her gaze fixed on a small stain on the cream rug. It moved in slow motion on a loop in her brain, slowly driving her mad. And then, if that was not bad enough, her mind started replacing Archibald's broken body with others: her parents, Petunia, Marlene, Sirius, James...

A drop of something fell onto her hand and she finally turned her gaze away from the mat. She stared at the droplet of water on her hand and it took her a full minute before Lily finally realised that she was crying. Weakly, one of her hands came up to wipe away the few tears that leaked down. She remained staring at that single droplet of water on her other hand though, long after it had finally evaporated and left.

Through her haze, she managed to hear the small noise that signified apparition. It was followed by the sound of something falling to the ground and a slew of violent curses.

"Ruddy lamp," James muttered as he walked into the living room, pulling off his cloak. He threw it onto an armchair before stopping short at the sight of her in the same position he had left her. "Evans?" he asked. "You're still awake?"

Her neck felt sore as she finally looked up at his confused face. "Yes," she said, frowning slightly. Her voice was hoarse and scratchy from disuse. "Why? What time is it?"

James glanced at the watch strapped onto his wrist. "Almost four."

She did not react in any other way other than widening her eyes. "Oh," she said softly. He regarded her for a moment before picking up his cloak and throwing it over her shoulders. Lily realised with a start that her arms and legs were covered with gooseflesh and had become slightly numb with the cold. He did not say anything as he walked off to the kitchen, reappearing a few minutes later holding two steaming cups. The couch groaned when he sat down and handed her one of the cups.

He sat next to her, sipping his tea. Finally, when he was finished, he placed the empty cup on the small table in front of them and asked, "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," Lily replied automatically taking a small gulp of tea. She grimaced. There was too little sugar and he had put milk in it.

James ran an agitated hand through his hand, ruffling it up even more. "I haven't slept in almost forty eight hours, Evans. I spent the last few cleaning up a murder scene and taking that Death Eater into custody- which, might I add, wasn't the easiest of tasks since the cretin kept trying to do me in. So we ended up having to stun him again and now my shoulder is sore. Moody sent me away halfway through my questioning which is all well and good because any more time there and I probably would have lunged across the table at him. So trust me on this, Evans, I do not have the time or patience for your bullshit." He flicked his wand and Lily felt her disguise peeling off. Her face filled out a bit and her hair retained its dark red tint. "So you're going to answer me properly. Are you alright?"

He was using his supposed 'scary auror voice.' She glared at him, placing her cup on the table next to his and crossing her hands across her chest. His intimidation tactics were not going to work on her. "Well bugger for you. I don't care what you think, but I'm fine."

"Fine people don't remain in the same position for nearly four hours," he scoffed. Immediately his face softened and he reached out a hand to place on her shoulder. Lily shrugged him off. Completely blasé at her behaviour, James pressed on. "You've never seen the killing curse been used before have you?"

She refused to meet his eye and glared hotly at the rug.

"It's okay, you know," he said lightly. "The first time I saw somebody die I was eighteen. Had just entered the academy and we had our first field assignment. No one expected Death Eaters to show up. He killed our instructor. It was-"

"Just stop," Lily choked out. "Stop talking about it. I can't- I don't want-"

"Hey," he said, rubbing his hands soothingly down her arms. Lily cringed out of his touch and stood up. "It's okay you know, to be a bit worried or scared or whatever."

"I'm not scared!" she snapped at him.

"Whatever Evans. Just sit down and drink your damn tea." He pulled her back down to the couch, laughing at the sullen face she made. His laugh caused some of the heaviness on her chest to dissipate.

"It tastes terrible," she ground out, even as she grudgingly sat back down on the couch next to him, still sulking. James slung his hand up behind her on the couch using his other hand to wearily scrub across his face.

He pulled a face that almost caused her to smile. "I'll have you know that I'm an expert tea maker, Evans."

This time the smile really did appear and a flash of victory flared to life in his eyes. It was too easy for them to fall back into that casual intimacy they had with each other. He knew exactly what to say or do to make her laugh, to make her comfortable. She flashed back to the kiss again. It had been one hell of a kiss. When she went home yesterday, she was too wired up to go to bed. She took a long, hot shower in hopes of calming down, but her efforts were in vain. Her blood still raced through her veins, her mind was still left in that dimly lit corridor where he had fried it with one touch of his lips. And when she finally did fall asleep he consumed her dreams. Just the thought of it made her blush.

She forced herself back to the present, feeling as though the temperature in the room had risen significantly. As Lily shrugged out of his cloak, she realised that she had been staring at his mouth and her blush deepened.

"Yeah, well, it tastes like piss," she said far too late in response to his last statement.

James grinned roguishly at her and she had a brief moment of panic as she wondered if aurors knew occlumency. If he knew what she was thinking a few moments before, Lily was positive that she would die of embarrassment. However, he did not make any suggestive comments or say anything that linked to what she was thinking about. In fact, he did not say anything at all as a yawn overtook him and Lily realised that it was after four in the morning and he had been up for almost two days and -oh Merlin!- she had been keeping him up.

"I'm sorry," she gasped, standing up. "I've been keeping you from bed. I'll leave you be."

"Calm your knickers, love," he said to her sleepily. "It's fine. Besides, you can stay here if you want. Especially after what you've been through this evening."

Lily shook her head. "I'm fine," she tried to take her hand away from his grasp, "Goodnight, Potter."

"Goodnight Evans," he muttered before brushing his lips against the inside of her wrist.

Lily left his flat wondering if she would ever return to her normal complexion around him or if she would have to get accustomed to being a human tomato when in the presence of James Potter.

The next chapter should be the last and I can already tell that it's going to be incredibly long. I'm trying my best not to cut it in half. Then after that, we have an epilogue and we're done. This has been fun.

:)