Summers had been lonely for Lily since she was twelve years old. She had always craved the summer days one read about in books, where young girls spent hours in the sun with their friends in the park, or at the beach, making promises of life-long friendship and discussing their mad future plans. In any other year, Lily would have rejoiced at the fact that she was spending every other day lounging on the Green outside her house with her dorm mates. But this year, Lily felt robbed.

"Marlene?" Alice poked her downcast friend in the arm. "What's wrong?"

Marlene gave Alice a scathing look. "The world is in mourning, Alice. Haven't you noticed?"

Alice looked round to the other two girls in confusion.

Dorcas, the decidedly less elegant of the four, had a smear of marshmallow on her glasses. She wiped this away with a sticky finger. "Alice, Elvis died last night. Surely someone would have told you. Even I knew, and I don't know anything."

Alice looked to Marlene. "Is Elvis... your... pet?"

Marlene rolled her eyes. "Purebloods. Elvis is a God... was a God..."

Lily, who had remained silent or albeit monosyllabic for the past hour or so, tried not to roll her eyes at her best friend's melodrama.

Marlene, who lived in a tiny ghost town on the Welsh coast, had been sleeping on a mattress on Lily's bedroom floor for the past week. She had been bouncy and chatty, waking Lily up with cups of tea, helping her mother make lunches, gazing out of Lily's bedroom window at night in awe of the glittery cityscape, excitedly running in and out of shops in Covent Garden and Charing Cross; basking in the delights of city life that she never got to see.

Dorcas snorted. "Why would the world be in mourning for Marlene's pet? And similarly, why would Marlene name an animal 'Elvis'?"

"Because Elvis was my first love," said Marlene. "I'm going to name my firstborn 'Elvis'. Because it is the name of a legend."

"I thought Marlene was just being... you know..." said Alice quietly.

"I was being what, Alice?"

"Theatrical."

Marlene rolled her eyes again. "Have a little respect, Forest."

'Forest' had been Alice's nickname since first year. It was rarely used, for its origin wasn't as easily recognised as Lily's 'Ginger', or Dorcas' 'Dorky', which she was originally christened by the more mean-spirited Slytherins, until the rest of the Gryffindor girls adopted the nickname themselves, with ironic affection, so that the Slytherins could no longer use it as a weapon. Alice was Forest because of her doe-eyed fragility. She was the kind of person whom your heart broke for if you saw her shivering with cold, or trip over something. She was 'Forest' because she resembled a gentle woodland animal. But her three friends had seen first-hand over the past year that she could be as fearless and territorial as the leader of a wolf pack. It was no longer worrying that Alice wanted to become an Auror. It made complete sense.

But 1977 had been a year of discovery for Lily, too. The fact that it was Alice who was nicknamed because of her doe-ness made Lily irrationally jealous.

As her friends educated Alice as to who Elvis Presley was, or had been, Lily looked across the Green to the duck pond, and the willow tree that bowed over it, and the picnic bench that sat wonkily at the base of its trunk. She had sat there with James Potter four times this summer, for hours at a time, and although she had nothing to hide about it, she had wanted to keep it a secret. For reasons unknown to her yet, it felt as though her friendship with Potter was only meant for them. It did not make sense in the real world. Nobody would understand. So, they'd existed under the willow tree.

"I miss Hogwarts," Alice announced to the others. "I'm outnumbered here."

Lily almost asked what Alice meant, before Dorcas explained without prompt.

"Three to one, muggle-borns and pureblood. I see why you would feel different outside our enclosure. Without the presence of other purebloods to make up the difference, you're positively an outcast. Luckily for you, summer's almost over. You'll be back with your beloved Longbottom, soon. And the marauders are all pureblood enough. And you'll have Mary-"

Alice wrinkled her nose. "She's a muggle-born. There's no escaping my alienation in our House."

"Mary isn't going to help Alice with anything, Dorcas," said Marlene. "Mary has decided not to be a part of our thing anymore."

"Our 'thing'?" questioned Dorcas.

"Yes. Us," Marlene gestured to the four of them. She then turned to Alice. "You don't have to worry about alienation, Alice. Not that you ever needed to."

Marlene's moodiness sank into something darker as she spoke.

The four friends remained silent as the tone of the afternoon grew gloomy.

Dorcas suddenly sighed loudly, and took her glasses off to clean them on the hem of her dress. "Cast out like a runt of a litter. Spurned by the villagers. Mary is like the wounded weakling from a tribe of warriors. Or, perhaps a more fitting simile could be..." Dorcas put her glasses back on. "... a witch from her muggles."

Nobody responded.

"No? Nobody sees the parallels?" asked Dorcas. "I'll make it simpler. I don't think we should exclude Mary from our group just because of a decision she made."

"Your simile is flawed, Dorky," replied Marlene evenly. "A witch is spurned from her muggles because of who she is, and what she's always been. Mary was never spurned until she decided to turn her back on her own kind."

"I wish you'd stop saying her name like that," said Dorcas. "And she hasn't turned her back on anyone. She's just decided not to fight, which I think is very rational."

"She's turned her back on blood equality, which directly affects her, a muggle-born, thus she is being irrational. Fucking mental, actually."

Dorcas contemplated Marlene's words. "Hmm... I see your point. I admire pacifism, but when you're passive to the forces that will kill you... it is, as you say, 'fucking mental'..."

Alice laughed at Dorcas' uncharacteristic use of swearing.

Marlene seemed to relax. "It's not just Mary... this whole situation is fucking crazy. Muggles built the wizarding world. It doesn't make sense for anyone to fight them..."

"Muggles didn't build our world..." said Alice, confused. "Wizards did. Hence 'The Wizarding World',"

"Don't you remember Balthazar Rankenthorpe's theory of Parallel Evolution?" Dorcas asked Alice with a tone of shock that she didn't.

"I don't study History of Magic," replied Alice, mockingly scathing.

"Well, I do. Rankenthorpe argued that the parallel evolution of muggles and wizards resulted in a give-and-take relationship between the species."

"Don't use the word 'species', Dorcas, it's essentialist," Marlene interjected.

"His words, not mine! Anyway, his basic line of argument is that we have given muggles folklore, protection from magical creatures, Martchbourne's concept of B.S.I..."

"B.S.I?" questioned Marlene.

"Blissful Supernatural Ignorance. We gave them all this, and in return they gave us...well, most things. Democracy, currency, law, trade, the nuclear family, fire..."

"Hey," Alice interjected this time. "The nuclear family is an oppressive social construct."

"Here, here..." Marlene agreed in a droll tone.

"And, " Alice continued. "There is no proof that wizards didn't invent fire."

"Redundant!" Dorcas dismissed her. "My point is- and what Marlene was trying to articulate- is that muggles built the foundation of wizarding existence as we know it, so it makes no sense for blood purists to argue that muggle-borns are destroying the wizarding world. If anything, we should be challenging what purebloods have done for us..."

"ENOUGH!" Lily stood up.

The three others jumped as though they'd forgotten she was there.

"She speaks!" exclaimed Dorcas. "What ails you, Child?"

"I believe she's pining," said Marlene, smirking. "That picnic table over there has the marks of love on it."

Marlene had managed to wrangle all the secrecy out of Lily within hours of arriving at her house. The table, Lily had shown her, had a carving of James and Lily's initials together, which James had carved ironically, to be funny. But it had been something. And in their letters since they last saw each other, they were struggling to ignore it.

Lily ignored her embarrassment at Marlene's information.

"You cannot seriously think that this war is about whose blood is more valuable than whose..."

"We don't, Lily," said Dorcas gently.

"Good. And don't you dare start thinking it. It's about stopping mass murder and making the wizarding world see that things aren't right. That's it."

"War?"

Lily looked at Marlene, who'd spoken. "Huh?"

"You said 'war'," Marlene looked around at the other two ominously. "You know I don't like labels..."

Lily softened slightly. "Yes. War."

Dorcas nodded solemnly. "Two groups fighting the same cause for different outcomes. This is, indeed, a war."

Lily pretended to sigh in frustration. "Alright, your new nickname is 'Dorktionary'. Live up to it."

Dorcas closed her eyes, breathed in and smiled at the sky. "I am free..."

Lily sat back down, this time closer to her friends. Marlene shuffled close to her, and put her arm around her shoulders.

"People die in wars," said Marlene.

"They do," Lily concurred. "Which is why we can't attack Mary for wanting to opt out."

Marlene stiffened.

"Mary wants to live. She's happy to live however the world will let her, which is fair enough," Lily continued. "But that's not enough for us. We want to live well. And we want other people to live well, too."

"Mary doesn't want other people to live well?" Dorcas questioned.

"She does. She's just not willing to die for them. She's not alone in that."

After several seconds, Marlene reached in to Dorcas' bag of marshmallows, took one, and held it aloft in a mock toast.

"Evans is the Voice of Reason, as always," Marlene saluted her. "Sorry, Lily. It just worries me that there are so few of us in this fight."

"There will be more," Alice assured her on Lily's behalf. "Once it gets serious... and it will... more will come. And some of their lot will run and hide. We'll win, though. We've got Dumbledore on our side."

Nobody spoke as the girls accepted Alice's rationale. The breeze picked up, and around the Green women were pushing prams and walking dogs. The older ones wore the uniform haunted expression of the survivors of the 1940's. Lily had been lucky to spend her early life in a tiny nowhere town in the Midlands. But London still shook with the tremor of the Blitz, and people still seemed to walk around in a shocked daze, as though they'd just stumbled out of a battered Anderson shelter. Lily hadn't moved to London until her father's death, so it was tragically bad timing that Lily's awakening to the effects of war only happened once she'd lost her ex-soldier father. His glazed expression, his reserve and his neurotic attachment to the cigarette box all made sense now that he was gone. And Lily knew that by the time the new war ended, she'd either understand him completely, or she will have joined him.

Dorcas finished her bag of marshmallows and loudly scrunched it up and stuffed it into her satchel. She looked around at the Green, at the Londoners milling around, and the sky-scrapers clouded and blue-ish in the distance. She, like Lily, came from a little Midlands town. Her family had never left it, on account of their family business 'Meadowes' Fine Motors' being founded there. Hogwarts and London were adventures for Dorcas, and she gazed around at her escape environments with the fondness with which a mother might look at her children. But her mind was always on ten different things at once. Currently, she was brought to curiosity by Marlene's early statement.

"You said that Lily is pining," Dorcas recalled. "But from where I'm sitting, it's you who's lovesick."

Lily and Alice looked at Marlene, who leant back on her elbows on the grass. "So?"

"Marlene..." Alice stared wide-eyed. "Are you in love with Black?"

Lily knew she was. She'd told her so, secretly, some nights ago. Marlene did not shy away from love for him. She wore it like armour, which both surprised and pleased Lily.

"I am indeed," Marlene shrugged. "And he's in love with me. It's all very neat."

Alice smiled briefly, before frowning. "That must make you more nervous about the war. It makes me nervous..."

"Love? Nah. You and Frank will pull each other through just like Sirius and I will. Then, when it's all over, we can get on with stuff."

"Stuff?"

"Life."

Dorcas blinked and raised her eyebrows. "We're a little young to be thinking about life partners, don't you think?"

"Nope," replied Marlene decisively. "It's a war, Dorcas. If I survive it, I want to live as I bloody-well please. And I like having him around. So I'll keep him."

Lily smirked. "That'll be a sweet addition to the wedding vows..."

Marlene closed her eyes and smiled. "'I like having you around'... that's as romantic as we get."

oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo

April 1982

Lily sat on the sofa in the lavender-coloured living room of Sirius and Isabelle's flat, watching her toddler son cluelessly copying the excitement of the others in the room. James and Remus were the ones standing around Isabelle, gawping at her engagement ring, speculating as to how much Sirius spent on it. There was a gaggle of other guests invited to the spontaneous 'after-party', most of whom were only acquaintances to Lily. Sirius' new employees were invited, including the enormous security guard brothers and a moody young girl who was Sirius' questionable choice of customer advisor. People chatted and drank butterbeer and nosed around in Sirius' stuff, but nobody seemed to know the bride-to-be.

"I hate weddings," announced Andromeda, sitting down beside Lily with a glass of firewhisky. "Please don't tell me you're soppy about them, or I won't dance with you at the reception."

"I've only ever been to two," Lily shrugged. "My sister's and my own."

Andromeda raised her eyebrows in surprise. "What's your verdict?"

Lily shrugged noncommittally. "Watching my sister walking down the aisle was a bit like watching her walk the plank. But mine was nice. I like a party when I can drink and I'm not enormous."

Andromeda looked down at her stomach. "Come back to me in three months and complain about your size..."

Lily rolled her eyes. "Don't."

"Nymphadora was ten pounds when she was born. Ten pounds. I could barely fit through my front door."

"I produce babies, not monsters. I should be fine."

Lily had been overcome with relief when Andromeda arrived at the party. They'd arrived late, due to Ted's apprehension about walking through Diagon Alley when there were so many of their enemies scowling up at the shop. But the unpleasant parties had dispersed just after Sirius' proposal, and the Tonks' were safer to enter. They followed the small party of lingerers back to Sirius and Isabelle's flat for the impromptu celebration of their engagement, and Lily was happier to see that the Tonks family were alive than she was that Sirius was engaged.

"We would have contacted you," said Lily. "But we couldn't trust that our owl wouldn't be intercepted."

"Relax," said Andromeda, rolling her eyes. "My sister's after you, not me."

"That doesn't make me relax."

"It's a pity you're pregnant. You could do with a stiff drink."

Lily stared longingly at the brown drink in Andromeda's hand. "Can I sniff it?"

Andromeda held the glass up to Lily's face. She inhaled.

"God, that's delicious..." Lily sighed, closing her eyes. "Get out of me, Child. I miss self-destruction."

Andromeda raised an eyebrow. "Enjoy the forced self-preservation while you can. Once your nest is empty, you'll be drowning yourself in this stuff just for something to do..."

Lily looked at Andromeda with sympathy. "How long until Nymphadora goes to Hogwarts?"

"Four months and two weeks."

Lily blinked at her specificity. "Wow."

"I'm not too sad. At least she'll be far away from this mess. God knows what my psycho sister is planning. And support for her is rising! Can you bloody believe it? That's what Tiger Eye is claiming, anyway..."

"What's 'Tiger Eye'? There were a couple of people at the shop who said they were from it."

"It's a newspaper."

Lily looked at Andromeda questioningly, wanting to know more.

"...sort of. It's like a newspaper, but... it's not all news. There's other stuff. Art and music and stuff... lots of opinions..."

"Like a magazine?"

"Muggle-talk, Lily. But yes."

"I'd never heard of Tiger Eye until today."

"It's brand new. Started soon after You-Know-Who died. It's a freedom-of-identity sort of thing. It's all 'equality' and 'new age' and 'diversity'... it's for weirdos, mostly, but I like it. Blood purists hate it, so it's got my support. How have you never heard of it?"

"I don't get out much," replied Lily, patting her belly.

"That needs to change," said Andromeda. "But not yet."

"Because I'm pregnant and boring?"

"Because you're in danger."

Andromeda's expression was uncharacteristically solemn. The rest of the party seemed to get quieter, but no-one was listening to their conversation. Everyone else was immersed in their own chats and dramas. People scarcely paid attention to the newly-betrothed couple now.

"She's following people home from the Ministry, Lily," said Andromeda. "Remus works there. He's not safe, neither are you, neither is your kid."

Lily looked across the room at Remus, who was stood with James. Her husband had their son hitched onto his hip, and the sight of them attached to each other made Lily want to run towards them. Not to embrace them, but to hide them. Fling the invisibility cloak over both of them and drag them away, out of the flat that was dense with strangers.

"It's not enough for you to go from friend to friend anymore," Andromeda continued. "Leave the country."

Lily stared at her. "Are you sure that isn't a bit excessive?"

Andromeda gave her a dull look. "She's killing people, Lily. People who've never met her are leaving the country. She wants you and your family dead."

The cold ache in Lily's heart, which had dissipated since moving in with Remus, was starting to swirl back into action. Sirius was getting married. Remus was lonely. The Tonks family were just as endangered as the Potters were. It was the worst possible time to leave. But looking at her husband and child after Andromeda's warning, all she wanted to do was gather up her family and flee. But she and James were still not used to fleeing. Harry and the baby were the only things stopping them from running towards the burning building.

oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo

A/N: A very short one this time- sorry about that. But I wanted to upload quickly so that I could tell you I'm not dead. I've just spent the past few weeks finishing my degree. Mostly finished now. Anyway, A.R is definitely not abandoned!

Good luck to everyone who has exams coming up,

N x