Lily

This was probably a bad idea. Her and Potter—alone? All day? She could barely keep herself together a few weeks ago when they were just alone in the library. She shouldn't have agreed to this. And don't get her wrong—Lily Evans definitely did not like James Potter. No way. They were just friends. He just happened to be... objectively more attractive than most of her friends. That was all.

"Just friends? Oh please," Marlene had scoffed. "You two went from him pining hopelessly to being all buddy-buddy pretty damn fast!"

"Well, his love is still unrequited. I've just... seen a new side of him, that's all," Lily had insisted. And it was true—he was loyal. He saved Mary from Mulciber. He defended Muggle-borns constantly. He became an Animagus for Remus. He stood up for her against Snape. He saved Sirius over the summer. He even promised he wouldn't ask her out anymore.

"I don't know, Lils. You're warming up to him fast," Marlene said, grinning.

"We're friends," Lily said firmly. "And that's a big enough step as far as I'm concerned."

"Hey, Evans, ready?" James's voice pulled her from her thoughts. He leapt over the banister from the boys' dorm, Sirius trailing behind, both bundled in Gryffindor scarves. Her heart fluttered. Great. Why did that keep happening?

"Yeah. Is Sirius coming with us?" she asked, trying to sound neutral.

"Is that alright? I figured... since it wasn't a date, I'd bring him along." James gave her an innocent look. Those wide hazel eyes flickered in the morning sun.

"Brilliant," Lily said quickly, stepping out through the portrait hole. "Bye, Marlene."

"Bye, Lily," Marlene replied in a singsong voice.

"Oi, Padfoot! Did you have to push me?" James grumbled as he got up off the ground.

"Accident," Sirius smirked.

"So where to go first?" she asked.

"Three Broomsticks, of course!" Sirius said enthusiastically, practically bouncing with each step along the snowy path.

"He fancies Madam Rosmerta," James stage-whispered beside her.

"Wrong. I fancy Marlene," Sirius shouted.

Lily and James froze and smiled at each other. "What!?" they chorused.

Sirius's eyes went wide, then he recovered quickly. "I mean—I fancy snogging her and all," he added with a mischievous wink.

Lily slapped the back of his head. "That is my friend you're talking about, Black!"

"I'm no Black. Not anymore," Sirius said suddenly. Lily paused. That was the second time in two weeks she'd called him by his last name. Her thoughts spun back to his dishevelled figure this summer. His escape. It must've been from his parents.

"I'm sorry," she said gently and gave him a long hug. She couldn't imagine the horrors he experienced. At the hands of family! Her blood boiled. She thought of how much Tuney's words hurt her, she could imagine what he went through.

When they pulled apart, James stood there with arms open dramatically.

"No hug for me, Evans?"

"I only hug people I like," she replied, giving him a light punch.

"Hear that, Prongs? She likes me better than you!" Sirius declared proudly.

"She likes everyone better than me. Thought we'd established that," James said.

"Well, she did agree to go to Hogsmeade with you," Sirius pointed out.

"And thank God I wasn't stuck alone with him," Lily teased.

"Well, lovely, I'm afraid you will be," Sirius said. "I only came along to help Prongs grab some firewhiskey."

"Firewhiskey!? How do you plan on pulling that off?" Lily asked, half-scolding.

"Surprise," Sirius said with a grin. "Probably the same way I've done since Third Year."

"This is illegal in so many ways," Lily sighed.

Five minutes later, they were outside the pub with a bottle of firewhiskey and a basket of food. James even grabbed her favourite flavour of Butter Beer. How he knew that was beyond her, but she didn't question it.

"You're lucky I don't deduct points, y'know," Lily said.

"Oh yeah? You're the one carrying the firewhiskey," James pointed out.

"Well, I guess it's lucky for all of us then, that I'm not turning you in," she said.

"Right then, I'm off. Minnie McG won't be happy if I kept her waiting," Sirius said, sauntering back to the castle with his usual swagger.

"Minnie?" Lily raised a brow.

"McGonagall," James explained. "They have tea every weekend."

"Wait—tea? What? Does he have detention or something?"

"No. Just... she wants him to have an adult in his life he can trust."

Lily didn't know what to say to that.

Almost as if sensing Lily's dip towards solemness, James bolted toward the Whomping Willow in a mad dash. He whooped and hollered as its branches lifted and swung, deep knotted bark with a mind of its own. She was frozen.

"JAMES!" she screamed. Her wand was raised and before she knew it she was chasing him.

He reached the trunk, and the tree froze as if he had levitated each individual branch. He turned and smirked.

"You absolute twit! You could've died!" she shouted, storming over. "Remember what happened to Davey Gudgeon?!"

"I'm fine." He smiled and took her hands. His touch was warm, his grin lopsided. "Besides, Gudgeon was the only idiot who got hurt. The rest of us had a laugh."

"How did you stop it?" Lily asked, heart still racing. She could feel her anger melting away.

"There's a knot on the trunk. Press it, and it freezes."

He led her to the knot and then into the hidden tunnel. She followed.

They emerged inside the Shrieking Shack—boarded windows, scratches on the floor.

"You don't believe in ghosts, now do you?" James teased, pulling out his cloak and laying it down like a blanket. He set down the Firewhiskey.

"Are you joking? The castle's full of ghosts!"

James laughed. "Right. Forgot about that."

"Don't let Sir Nicholas hear you. Or Myrtle. I hear she's got a crush on you."

"Why are guys comparing notes?" He laughed at her false sneer. "Besides you mean Nearly Headless Nick and Moaning Myrtle? Have you really befriended the ghosts?"

"Myrtle's not so bad. She's just lonely. And honestly, it's insane how everyone treats her murder in a bathroom like it's a minor inconvenience."

"I hadn't thought of it that way. Who killed her?"

"Rumor has it it was an acromantula raised in the castle. But... that's mostly speculation."

James changed the subject. "Alright, enough history. Let's play a game."

"What kind of game?"

"Spin the Bottle?" he kidded.

Lily punched his arm. "There's only two of us, you git."

"Had to try. Truth or Dare?"

"Alright. Truth or Dare?"

"Dare."

"I dare you to... do a handstand."

He laughed. "If I break my neck, you'll have to answer to Madam Pomfrey, because a Marauder never turns down a dare."

And then he did a strange sort of cartwheel/handstand... directly into her. She tried to catch him, but he was much to heavy and moving with too much force. They toppled over in a heap.

"Get off me, you git!" Lily laughed.

He bounced up, unphased. "My turn. Truth or Dare?"

"Truth."

"Weak, Evans."

"Fine. Dare."

"I dare you to tell me a secret."

"That's a Truth! You're cheating!"

"Too late. Spill. And make it juicy."

"Alright. Fine I um– I had a crush on Remus in second year."

James burst out laughing. "You fancied Moony!?"

"Stop laughing at me, you wanker!" She hit him again, trying not to laugh. "And don't go telling him."

"Don't worry. I won't tell him. You don't still fancy him, right?"

She shook her head.

"Then it's no big deal. Everyone knows I fancy you. Sirius and Marlene have their weird thing, and Peter fancies Mary—"

"Peter likes Mary!?"

James winced. "Shouldn't have said that."

"Crushes are just that—crushes. It's not like you're in love," Lily said, but James grew quiet.

"Have you ever been in love?" she asked softly.

"Yes," he said. The laughter between them disappeared. Her eyes questioned him briefly, before fluttering away. There were some things left best unknown.

James

"Can someone tell me what this potion is?" Slughorn asked, peering over his cauldron.

"That's Amortentia," Lily said. "The most powerful love potion in the world. It's said to smell like whatever attracts you most. For example, I smell old books, flowers, and morning dew."

James perked up, curiosity lighting his face as he leaned forward to inhale the potion. He closed his eyes, letting the scent wash over him. He smelled broom polish, wood smoke… and a warm blend of vanilla and strawberries.

His eyes snapped open.

"Got something to say, Mr. Potter?" Slughorn asked with a knowing smile.

"No, I just got caught up in the smell," James muttered.

"Understandable. But if you don't mind me asking… what is it that you smell?"

James hesitated.

"Wood smoke. Broom polish. And… that's it, I think." His voice barely wavered, but his eyes didn't leave hers. Snickers rose from the Slytherin table, but James couldn't look away from Lily. Nor, it seemed, could she.

"Would you like to tell me what you smell, Mr. Snape?" Slughorn asked, shutting his snickers down.

"I smell potion's fumes, vanilla, and something fruity," Snape mumbled, causing James to sit straight up. But no one else thought much of Snape's answer.

"Very well. Mr. Cattermole?"

"Laundry detergent, lemons, and– and a fresh rain I think," the Hufflepuff boy replied. Everyone's face in the room had a slightly dulled over look, an infatuation.

"Interesting," Slughorn mused.

"What about you, sir?" James asked, trying to regain his usual charm.

"Me? Oh, well fresh ink, pineapple, and oak mead," Slughorn chuckled. "Odd combination, wouldn't you say?"

"I reckon mine's just as off, sir," James added.

"Right you are," Slughorn said, smiling. James caught Lily looking at him again—just for a second. It was enough to make his heart ache. She looked away to whisper something to Dorcas.

Sirius elbowed him in the gut. Get a grip.

James has been trying to Lily as often as he could without appearing as weird. He had said that to Sirius with the Marauder's Map pulled up on his lap, and Sirius told him with no qualms that he was weird about her. He always had been. James had no refute to that.

They'd just started becoming real friends, the last thing he wanted to do would be go and mess it up. The Firewhiskey, the Amortentia, there was only so much he could do except name it what it was. Because once they became friends, he saw a new side of her. And it was in that moment that he realized: friends would never be enough.

He pulled out the Marauder's Map once more, searching for her name like a reflex. Her dot wandered aimlessly through the halls. Nowhere in particular. Alone.

Maybe he'd run into her downstairs, or wait until she got back to the Common Room and see if she wanted to study. He hoped she wasn't getting tired of him yet. Her growing affinity for smiling at him proved otherwise, but James never really knows where he stands with her.

Until her dot wasn't alone anymore.

Three other names appeared beside hers—names that spelled nothing but trouble.

James sprinted through the corridors, heart pounding, wand drawn. As he neared the dungeons, the echo of shouts and crashes reverberated off the stone walls.

Then a shriek, high and lithe. Lily.

James turned the last corner just in time to see Mulciber and Regulus Black hurling curses. Avery lay unconscious. Lily was barely holding her own, clearly wearing the impacts of several spells on her body.

"Stupefy!" James roared. Mulciber barely dodged the curse before turning his wand on James.

The Gryffindors fought side by side. Lily cast charms they hadn't learned in class yet. Charms he wouldn't be able to name if he tried. James threw everything he had—everything Sirius ever taught him. Old magic, family magic.

"Expulso!"

"Expelliarmus!"

"Crucio!" Mulciber shouted finally, a stalemate broken, but with his wand pointed at Lily.

Without thinking, James threw himself in front of her. The anticipation of the pain hitting his body never crossed his mind. She was safe, she was safe.

Pain unlike anything he'd ever known consumed him. He lurched, but his mind went numb. There was fire in his veins, his body twisting and convulsing beyond his control. The ground hit him hard, but he didn't feel it. He didn't hear his own screams. Only pain.

But Lily remained.

Raging, vengeful Lily. Stronger than them all.

She exploded, a storm of fury and magic. Her spells shattered Mulciber's shield charm as if it were paper. Curse after curse, he was no match. Regulus watched from the shadows, shaken, torn between sides.

When James opened his eyes, the black spots slowly receding, Lily's face hovered above his, twisted in pain.

She was yelling something, but her voice was muffled. Her hands tried to lift his sluggish body, but he was too heavy and his mind was uncoorperative.

"My pocket," he croaked. He felt as if he hadn't spoken in years. "My pocket."

"Your pocket?" Lily repeated, catching on. She rummaged through his robes and pulled out the blank parchment and an old mirror.

"This is the mirror from Diagon Alley," she said, shocked.

James nodded, managing only, "Sirius!"

Her eyes widened as Sirius' face appeared, first ambivalent, then concerned. Lily caught on quick. She held the mirror up to her face. "Sirius! We're by the dungeons—we need help!"

The mirror went blank as Sirius dropped everything and ran.

James watched Lily. Even bloodied, she looked beautiful. He wanted to reach out, to brush the blood from her cheek.

"You're hurt," he said. She gave a weak smile, as she crashed onto the floor beside him.

"I'll be ok," she said softly, running her fingers through his messy hair. He let his hand caress her cheek just once.

"I can't believe he used an Unforgivable," Lily whispered, her hand retreated as well.

James sat up, dizzy but upright. "I can't believe I let him get away with it."

"Don't worry," she said, pride flickering in her eyes. "I didn't."

"What in the name of Merlin happened to you two?" Sirius yelled.

James was sure they were a sight to behold: nervous shakes, pale skin, and blood. They looked at each other with a shared smile

"Lily was being attacked. When I got there, Avery was knocked out cold, but the other two were still fighting. And not fighting fair. I jumped in and we held our own," James said, shooting her another smile. "But like I said, those bastards fight neither fair or legal. Mulciber got me with the Cruciartus. I don't really know what happened after that."

Sirius' face was stone. He turned to Lily like she was at attention reporting back to him.

"I was so... angry. So purely enraged. I started cursing Mulciber with anything I could think of. I'm not really sure I was thinking, actually. He couldn't do anything but a meager shield charm. Easy enough to break. I hit him with the toenail growing hex-" Lily vented.

"Snape's hex," James growled. Lily shot him a dirty look.

"Yes, Snape does mess around with spell theory, but it was useful even if silly. Anyway Reg- I mean the other attacker pulled Avery out of the way and Mulciber followed quickly," Lily faltered.

"Regulus was there!?" Sirius shouted when he arrived, fuming. He spun and turned to James. "Did he hurt you?"

"He didn't," James cut in. "He stopped fighting altogether after I was hit."

Sirius looked unconvinced but said nothing.

"Snape and his lot have been sinking their bloody fucking claws into him."

"Don't do anything," James warned. "They'll use Unforgivables. No hesitation."

"He's my brother!"

"And your brother, no matter how much he hesitates, he still goes ahead with their ideals. You know he's always been obsessed with You-Know-Who." Now James was starting to get worked up. Sirius did so much for Regulus and got nothing in return.

"Even after you've offered him several ways out, he still goes on with it. He's almost fifteen after all, he's making his own choices," James finished.

"You wouldn't get it," he sneered. James readied himself for a verbal lashing. As much as he embodied a rascal, Sirius didn't tend to be too unpredictable.

But then his face fell, wiped clean of the anger, "Sorry Prongs. I know it's not the time. I just–you know I hate the whole thing."

The three of them sat in silence again.

"I understand," Lily said quietly. She played with her hands in her lap. James wanted to still her nervous twitch.

"What do you mean?" James led on. How could Lily possibly relate to Sirius in that way?

"My sister, she's a muggle. She thinks that I am, well, that all wizards are freaks. Every time I'm home I hear her wrath, sometimes, but indifference is the worst. She wants nothing to do with me. The outcast, the freak," Lily's voice shook, "My dad thinks it's because she isn't a wizard. Jealousy of a sort, but I'm not so sure. I think it's a lot deeper than that. Maybe I just hope it is deeper than jealousy, because that is no excuse to shut out your sister."

"I had no idea," James said with wide eyes.

He had such a sheltered life compared to all of his friends. Sirius' disownment and all sorts of trauma, Remus is a werewolf, Lily is discriminated left and right, Peter's dad's dead, and Marlene's mother. The list goes on.

"It's not something I talk about a lot. Feels sort of silly when I get it inverted at school. Too much magic at home, never enough here."

She shrugged, then found Sirius' eyes again.

"I guess what I meant is that I know how it feels to have a sibling who hates you, that makes you want to hate them, but you love them all the same. It doesn't make you bad for loving him still, Sirius. It makes you better for it."

Sirius let that sink for a moment.

"You're alright, y'know that Evans."

She smiled.

"It only took having a messed up family?"

"Something like that," Sirius said, letting his gaze fall back onto James. "What do you say we get you out of here? Heard they're serving turkey legs at dinner."

"Yeah, I think I'm alright now," James said. He tried to stand only for his knees to buckle and his vision to swim. Light stacked on top of itself, contorting the dim lit dungeon halls.

Sirius caught him.

Lily's face contorted, twisting in pain or pity. Either way it made him determined to wipe that look from her face. He was fine.

James pushed Sirius away, standing on his own. Barely.

"I'm going to head over to Dumbledore's—"

"NO!" James and Sirius said in unison.

"Rule 14," James warned quickly as Sirius shook his head in agreement. "Never tell Dumbledore."

"Rule 14?" she raised an eyebrow, amused. The boys nodded.

"The Marauders' Rules," Sirius explained. "Very serious business."

"You might want to revise them," Lily said dryly. She turned, her hair catching the light as she walked away. His vision swam for one reason or another.

James watched her disappear around the corner.

"What do you reckon she meant by that?" he asked.

"No idea," Sirius said. "But we better get you back to the Common Room before you collapse."