Lovely by LadyAkako

Rating: PG
Genres: Romance, Humor
Relationships: Lily & James
Book: Lily & James, Books 1 - 7
Published: 01/04/2011
Last Updated: 01/04/2011
Status: Completed

The story of Lily Evans' life from the day she received her Hogwarts letter until the day
she died told through small moments, both important and not. A collection of drabbles, if you will,
all put together into a long one-shot




1. Lovely
---------



This project has been festering on my computer for almost a year. It's come in fits and
starts, so some pieces were written months ago and some were written a couple days ago. It began as
a drabble challenge, which I never actually finished because I commitment issues, and then evolved
into this...which is a collection of moments from and about Lily Evans' life during her
Hogwarts years and beyond. I've tried to be fairly canon compliant, even including aspects of
canon I wished didn't exist. So, here we are...

--

Year One

--

10 July, 1971

The day Lily got her first Hogwarts letter was burned in her memory forever. There was nothing
outwardly special about the day, but then again, many extraordinary things happen on very ordinary
days.

Although she had always fully embraced and loved the idea of Hogwarts that Severus Snape had
presented to her so long ago, she had not completely believed that one day she would be invited.
After all, how could she belong in such a magical place as Hogwarts?

The day the owl woke her from her slumber in the early morning by pecking impatiently at her
latched window, she screamed so loudly her parents and sister thought that she had had a nightmare.
Instead, they had rushed into her bedroom to find the small girl clutching an envelope from
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry half-torn from her giddiness.

Her parents studied the owl dubiously, suspecting some elaborate prank. Petunia was strangely
silent and disapproving. Lily could not have cared less. Magic was finally real and no longer an
intangible idea from the playground for her. Every doubt she'd had previously vanished in that
moment and she knew she would be on the train to Hogwarts this September just as Severus had
promised.

Exactly a week later, a strangely dressed but amicable man came to discuss Hogwarts with the
Evans and it was decided once and for all that Lily would go. Her father was ecstatic at
discovering the talent of his youngest and her mother was relieved to finally have an explanation
for the strange happenings of Lily's childhood. Petunia remained silent, shutting her door to
her younger sister's exuberance.

Lily felt as if she was flying from the high her happiness gave her. She ran to the playground
to find Severus, telling him everything even though he knew it all already. He didn't seem to
mind and immediately began plotting with her in earnest about all the wonderful exploits they would
have while at Hogwarts.

--

September 2nd, 1971

“Sev, it's not like we can't be friends just because I'm in Gryffindor,” Lily
pleaded. There were tears in her eyes as she faced off with her friend in the nearly empty
corridor.

Severus stared coldly at her, his mouth set in frown. She wished he would say something,
anything, even if it was just her name, but he remained stonily silent. Lily's face, in
contrast, was overwhelmed with hurt that her best friend was angry at her on their second day of
being in a new, foreign place.

It's not as if she could help that the stupid hat didn't think she would fit in
Slytherin. It had called out “Gryffindor!” before Lily had a real chance to protest. She had tried
in vain to tell this to Severus, but despite everything he still treated her sorting as some sort
of betrayal.

He was angry because she had spoiled all his grand plans of them being in the same house
together, but Lily didn't see why it was such an obstacle. She only had the vaguest notion of
the rivalry between the two houses and couldn't care less abut its implications. She only
wanted her only friend to speak to her again.

“Talk to me,” she pleaded, wishing he would stop acting so strangely. He shook his head, but his
dark eyes softened a bit at her distress. Lily relaxed at the shift in his mood, believing that it
was a sign he would eventually get over her deviation from the plan.

--

Year Two

--

21 June, 1972

At the beginning of the summer, Lily had been eager to see her parents and sister again after so
long away from them. However, June hadn't even fully passed away before she found herself
wishing to be back in the Gryffindor girls' dormitory at night instead of her childhood
bedroom.

She stared listlessly at her trunk, its contents sprawling across the floor reminding her of all
the magic she was missing. Sometimes she would close her eyes and pretend she was back at Hogwarts
already, especially when Petunia was in a foul mood because she tended to take it out on Lily.

Today was one of those days. Lily had gotten in Petunia's way one too many times in the
kitchen while they were supposed to be making their father's birthday cake and then had
accidently turned what was supposed to be blue icing completely pink. Petunia screamed that she
wasn't allowed to do her “freak magic” at home and Lily, tears in her eyes, had screamed back
that she'd just put the wrong dye in, but Petunia would hear none of it. Furious that she
wouldn't listen, Lily stormed up to her room in tears and bolted the door behind her to cry in
peace.

She prayed fervently that the days until September would pass more quickly than ever before and
wistfully stared out the window, hoping to see an owl bearing a letter for her, but of course, none
came. Instead, there was a soft knock at the door.

“Lily, dear?” her father's soft voice called before turning the doorknob. Lily sighed, a
little childishly, before getting up from her bed and opening the door, but not without wiping her
eyes first. Her father took in the sight her without comment and gestured for her to sit back on
her bed where he joined her.

“Petunia doesn't really mean the things she says about your magic, love,” he said finally,
trying to comfort his daughter.

“Yes, she does, Dad,” his young daughter argued, tears threatening to spill over again. “She
hates me.”

“Sisters could never hate each other, not really,” her father countered and when he caught her
attention, winked playfully at her. Lily smiled weakly, but didn't reply this time, instead
choosing to stare at her scuffed trainers. He finally added, “You should keep that in mind when she
screams at you.”

“Okay,” Lily mumbled, unconvinced.

Her father patted her hand and rose to leave. As he reached the door, he turned as if to say
something more but the sight of his daughter, dejected on the bed, stopped him and instead he
closed the door quietly behind him, leaving her alone.

--

Year Three

--

3 February, 1973

“Your friend Snivellus looked awfully clean today, Lily. Was today his monthly shower?” Sirius
called across the green, his voice laced with malice. Lily stopped in her tracks, knowing she
should ignore the bait, but felt heckled all the same.

“I told you to stop calling him that,” she said, marching over to Sirius, who leaned against a
wall alone.

“You never gave me a reason though,” he said, bored.

“Because it's incredibly rude, for a start,” Lily burst out, hotly. She felt her temper
rising at the ridiculous way Sirius Black shrugged at her. “Besides, why can't you just use his
name?”

“It's such an ugly name,” he whined, pushing himself off the wall as if to go. “Why are you
on his side about this anyway? Gryffindors don't side with scum like that.”

“This Gryffindor can side with whomever she pleases,” Lily said stiffly right as James Potter
sauntered up behind her to hear what she was saying.

“Well,” he interrupted, surprising her. “If you're not with us, you're against us and
that's never a good place to be.”

Stung at the comment, Lily gaped slightly as Sirius laughed and slapped his partner-in-crime on
the shoulder.

“So, I'm the enemy now just because I think you should stop calling him that horrible name?”
Lily cried out, frustrated at the easy grins and sarcasm that the boys had.

“Exactly, Evans,” James confirmed, stressing her last name as he said it and winning a grin of
approval from Sirius. It was obvious it was all a game to the two and Lily threw her hands up in
the air in anger.

“Honestly, get over yourselves!” she huffed before turning on her heel and leaving the two boys
grinning in satisfaction.

--

Year Four

--

April 2nd, 1975

“I just don't understand why you're friends with him,” Mary said with a wrinkle of her
nose as she watched Severus retreat down the hallway. Lily frowned. She'd had this conversation
too many times for it to be a welcome topic anymore.

“Mary,” Lily sighed, hitching her book bag further on her shoulder as she started off in the
opposite direction. “We've been over this.”

“It still doesn't make sense,” her friend pointed out. “Not only is he a Slytherin, he's
also got a strange fascination with Dark Arts that is hardly healthy.”

Lily lost a bit of her resolve at this. It hadn't escaped her notice that ever since Severus
had befriended a few older Slytherins, his tastes had turned decidedly darker.

“I've known him for a long time,” Lily countered, knowing it was a weak argument. “He's
a good person...he just gets...I don't know.”

Mary stopped in her tracks, giving Lily a strange look.

“Lily, all I'm saying is that you should consider that you've grown apart from him,”
Mary suggested gently, but it still stung. Lily flinched, uncomfortable at the way the conversation
had gone. “People are starting to talk about some strange things in connection with him. Have you
heard about the hex he sent James Potter's way last week?”

“James Potter probably deserved it,” Lily defended Severus coldly, although she did admit
silently to herself that it had been particularly nasty sounding. Mary shook her head in disbelief
at Lily, but eventually shrugged and continued walking down the hallway. Lily trailed a little ways
after her for a moment before catching up.

“Look, I'm sorry if I upset you,” Mary apologized as they reached the classroom they had
their next class in. “I just want you to think about some things is all.”

“I know,” Lily accepted, following Mary inside and sitting down beside her in the still only
partially full classroom.

--

Year Five

--

30 June, 1975

Lily's letter from Hogwarts was early that year and she was surprised to see the stately owl
waiting for her at her windowsill when she came home from the park that day. She fed the owl a
crumb of the half-eaten biscuit on her desk before taking the heavier-than-normal envelope from
him. He pecked her thankfully and flew away without ceremony.

She absently tore the letter open, expecting nothing more than an extra-long booklist and was
startled when a shiny badge fell from the folds of parchment stuffed inside. She stared in shock
for a moment before picking it up.

“Mum!” she yelled, before she can stop herself, a grin plastered sillily across her face. She
grabbed the letter and ran into the hallway, calling for her mother again. “Mum!” Breathless, she
found her mother in the kitchen with Petunia, who was glowering at the interruption that Lily had
caused.

Lily ignored the hateful looks her sister was sending her way and instead thrusted the letter
and badge toward her mother proudly.

“They've made me a prefect!” she announced, practically brimming with excitement at her
unexpected achievement.

Petunia made a sound of disgust from where she was leaning against the counter, muttering
“Freak!” under her breath.

“Petunia,” their mother intoned warningly and then turned with a proud smile to Lily. Lily
rolled her eyes at the now familiar act from her sister and instead turned back to her mother's
glowing expression. “This is wonderful, Lily,” she announced, drawing her youngest daughter into a
tight hug. “Your father will be so proud when he gets home tonight.”

The rest of the summer passed in a strange delirium and not even the fact that her sister hated
her more with every day or that the boy who was once her best friend was drifting farther and
farther away seemed to matter at all, at least for those last, few precious weeks before fifth year
started.

--

19 November, 1975

She had picked up the book inadvertently after they had finished revising for Potions one
evening and when she'd found it later in her bag, she had immediately planned to give it back
to him the next morning. She never meant to open it. She immediately wished she hadn't when she
did.

The next morning, she returned it to him, too scared to confront him about what had been inside
the Potions book just yet. He took it from her wordlessly, his face blank, obviously trying to
gauge if she had looked through it. He seemed uneasy at what he saw on her face.

A few days of silence later, she confronted him in their usual corner of the library.

“Sev?” she asked uncertainly, standing over the chair she would have normally seated herself in.
She didn't want to sit. He seemed to sense immediately what the conversation would be about and
the cold expression that crosses his face is almost completely foreign to her. “What are those
spells for, Sev?”

He ignored her question, bending further over his books.

Frustrated, she walked around the table to where he was sitting and pulled his work away from
him.

“What are those spells for, Severus?” she repeated herself, her voice a little harder this time.
She is shaking on the inside, but to him she appeared calm, even menacing as she questioned
him.

“They have nothing to do with you, Lily,” Severus finally answered. He pulled his books back
toward him forcefully, meaning to end the conversation.

“And they shouldn't have anything to do with you either,” Lily whispered furiously, a flush
suddenly rising on her cheeks. Her cool had vanished and her eyes burned as she glared at her
friend. “Those spells that you've written in there...they're evil, Sev. They're
downright malevolent.”

Her words seem to have little effect on him. He continued to scribble across a parchment, the
only visible sign of his emotion was the deathly grip he had on his quill.

“I said,” he grinded out after a moment, “that they have nothing to do with you. Now leave it
alone.”

“Those spells are Dark Magic, Sev. I thought you told me you weren't going to get mixed up
with that stuff,” Lily pleaded, trying a different tactic. Her words had even less effect on the
boy sitting in front of her this time and she sighed after a moment of watching him write out an
essay.

“Is this how it's going to be from now on?” she asked quietly.

“Nothing's changed.”

“Yes, it has.”

“Just keep out it,” he ordered shortly.

Lily straightened up, sensing that she was being dismissed. She left him alone without another
word, not noticing or caring that Severus watched her every movement until she was long out of his
sight. As she left the library, she resolved that this would hardly be the last he would hear about
this.

--

24 April, 1976

“I can't pretend anymore. You've chosen your way, I've chosen mine.”

“No - listen, I didn't mean-”

“- to call me a Mudblood? But you call everyone of my birth Mudblood, Severus. Why should I be
any different?”

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, page 676

Severus opened his mouth, ready to excuse himself again, but Lily was already halfway through
the portrait hole by the time any sound came out. The portrait clicked shut neatly behind her, the
sound registering strangely in the chaos that screamed inside her head. She stepped into the common
room slowly, swallowing back tears in case anyone happened to have come in while she was talking
with Severus.

It was empty. Lily collapsed in the nearest armchair, tears spilling freely down her face. She
sniffed, trying to wipe away the traitorous emotion, but the tears were too fast and thick to
really deter.

“Lily?” a soft voice questioned, coming from somewhere behind her. Lily stiffened involuntarily.
A moment later, Remus Lupin's loping form came around her chair to loom next to her. “Are you
okay?”

There was no point in trying to hide the fact that she'd been crying. Her botchy red
complexion and red-rimmed eyes were always a dead giveaway. Lily gestured vaguely to a nearby
armchair while trying to find her voice. Remus nodded, sitting down in silence next to her. His
presence soothed her and the tears lessened after a moment.

“Remus,” Lily said, after collecting herself. “Why do you think it matters so much?”

He looked confused for a moment, not able to immediately pick up on her train of thought. Then
as the cog slipped in place, as if he too was replaying this morning's incident in his head. He
nodded slowly, his mouth contorting strangely in the flickering light of the fire.

“I don't know,” he sighed. “Tradition is a hard thing to let go of, I suppose.”

Lily stared miserably at the fire, swallowing back a new wave of tears.

“He was my best friend once,” she confessed. It was something no one ever seemed to understand,
but Remus didn't ask why. He merely nodded quietly again.

“I'm sorry that James and Sirius make that harder than it has to be,” he apologized, the
ghost of a smile tugging at the corner of his tired mouth. Lily sniffed in response, not ready to
forgive them for anything yet.

Remus sat back in his chair and she watched him as the shadows played strangely with the scars
on his face. He would almost paint a frightening picture if it weren't for his overtly gentle
nature. It was almost impossible to believe what Lily had known as fact for a long time now about
Remus. Impossible to believe that beneath the gentle exterior lurked a dark illness.

“Have you ever lost a friend over...it?” Lily hesitated. Remus started a bit. They had never
openly discussed his condition, although when Lily had become frighteningly adept at predicting
when Remus would be unavailable for rounds it had become an unspoken secret between them. Remus
swallowed visibly and shifted, his careful face crumpling a bit in sadness.

“Yes,” he murmured. “Of course.”

The heavy silence of the shared burden of loss fell between them. Lily suddenly clenched her
jaw, a resolution forming. She grabbed Remus's hand from his lap and squeezed it hard.

“It's not important,” she resolved with a fierce shake of her head. “You can't help your
illness anymore than I can help who my parents are.”

He smiled and returned the squeeze.

“It's hard to remember that sometimes,” he admitted. His gaze was still sad as he studied
her hand clasping his. “It's good to have friends who see beyond it anyway. Don't forget
that you have those too.”

“I know,” she agreed quietly.

They sat together in silence for a moment before Remus seemed to come to himself again. He gave
Lily's hand another squeeze before letting go and rising.

“Well, I promised Peter I'd help him with some homework tonight. I just came back down to
grab I book I left down here actually,” he excused himself, smiling apologetically.

Lily rose too, wiping her face one last time before nodding in agreement. Remus crossed the room
to pick up a battered Defense textbook, tucking it neatly under his arm. Lily walked over to the
foot of the staircase, waiting for him. She kneaded her hands together, trying to dispel the
emotion that was still coursing through her from the fight she'd had.

“Thanks for listening, Remus,” she said as he joined her. Before she could stop herself, Lily
launched herself at him, embracing him tightly. He hugged her back cautiously, letting her hold
onto him for a long moment. She pulled away with a sheepish smile which he returned, a moment of
understanding passing between them.

“Anytime,” he replied with a small smile and bid her goodnight with a small wave. She headed up
the girls' staircase, her heart still heavy at the final loss of Severus, but there was a
lightness there too.

--

Year Six

--

2 December, 1976

Lily lay in her bed, staring at the canopy above her and listening to the soft breathing of the
other girls in the room. On any normal night, she would have been asleep hours ago.

Instead, she was mentally replaying every moment she could remember ever encountering James
Potter.

He was driving her crazy.

James Potter had somehow, inconceivably, morphed from an inconsiderate bully into a funny and
almost...charming classmate and Lily was having a hard time remembering when this evolution has
started.

What happened? What changed? She thought to herself desperately. It was impossible to pinpoint
when the imperceptible shift in her own thoughts toward him had occurred and even harder somehow to
think of the point in time when James had stopped hexing younger students for fun. It had happened
so slowly that Lily had barely had time to notice until it already happened...James Potter had
grown up.

And all Lily knew was that earlier that day when he had joked about accompanying her to
Hogsmeade next weekend, she had found herself suddenly wanting to say yes.

--

15 February, 1977

Lily can't recall a time when she'd been completely alone with James Potter before. It
made her uncomfortable in a way she was having trouble identifying. Yet here they were, abandoned
by friends on both sides and uncomfortably alone in a classroom.

Lily cleared her throat and shifted in her seat just for something to do.

James studied her, not shy about openly watching her. He seemed about to speak when she
interrupted abruptly.

“Can I ask you something?”

Startled, he nods dumbly. He can't remember the last time she initiated a conversation
between them.

“And you'll be totally straight with me? I mean, really honest?”

He nods again.

“Do you really want to go out with me or are you just trying to have some fun?”

He stared. The question caught him even more off guard than he already was, but he struggled not
to let it show. His features softened after a minute of struggle and a deep V creased his forehead.
Lily can't help but trace the lines with her eyes, unwilling to look at him fully in the
eye.

“I think it started out that way...just a game, I mean,” he admitted softly, strangely
introspective. His hand ran through his hair, mussing it. “But it's not that way anymore.”

Before she can respond, a small flood of students stream into the classroom, shattering the
moment. Lily turned back to her unopened book and pretended to study the the well-worn cover of her
textbook, well aware that James Potter had yet to take his eyes off her.

--

2 May, 1977

“Ms. Evans, have a seat,” Professor McGonagall said warmly. Her usually stern features were kind
as she peered over her spectacles at the tired young woman in front of her. Lily sank into the seat
quietly, clutching a piece of parchment in her hands with a neatly scrawled list on it. “Would you
like some tea?”

“No, thanks, Professor,” Lily declined. She looked down at the list, her eyes scanning it as if
she was looking at it for the first time.

“The object of this meeting is not to scare you, Ms. Evans,” Professor McGonagall suggested
gently. Lily nodded, clearing her throat.

“It's not really this...it's -” Lily broke off wildly, her green eyes showed her
discomfort.

“Ah,” the professor intoned, understanding. “I understand that the events of last week are
distressing, but I want to impress upon you that there is nowhere safer for you to be than this
school, Lily.”

“I've never doubted my own safety,” she admitted quietly. Her hands worked furiously on the
end of the parchment, shredding the smooth edge. “But isn't someone doing something for the
people who don't have a place like Hogwarts? There are more disappearances every day,
mysterious deaths...”

McGonagall sighed unhappily and her lips straightened almost imperceptibly.

“Whenever darkness threatens, there will always be those who fight to bring the light back,” she
mused, not answering the question directly. “There will come a day soon that you will understand
this better than I can explain to you now, but this rebellion is not unchallenged.”

Lily was sitting straight as a board in her chair, her eyes dark with emotion. She was visibly
tensed but had stopped tearing at the parchment in her hands. McGonagall motioned for her to hand
the list over and Lily complied, smoothing it as best she could.

“When we spoke last year, you expressed your interest in working for the Ministry in a
Charms-related position. You've changed your mind?” Professor McGonagall looked over at Lily
who was almost silent across the desk from her.

“I have,” Lily answered. Swallowing hard, she added, “I've decided I want to pursue healing.
I believe I still have time to complete all the required N.E.W.T.S. next year.”

“Indeed,” McGongall agreed. “I see no reason to deter you from this plan if it's what you
really want.”

“It is,” Lily said determinedly, her jaw clenched.

--

16 May, 1977

“James Potter?”

Lily recognized the acidic tone immediately and turned to face Severus in the mostly deserted
hallway.

“Severus, I don't want to discuss it with you,” she said softly, her eyes sad as she took in
her much-changed friend. His face was drawn with a bitterness that looked out of place on a boy
just coming into manhood.

“Well, you should discuss it with someone,” he hissed angrily. “Can't you see that Potter is
manipulating you?”

“Manipulating me?” Lily almost laughed at the absurdity. “Severus, you're being ridiculous
and besides what do you even care who I'm friends with these days? You have a new crowd of
friends, I have mine.”

“The way I hear it, he's more than a friend,” the boy insinuated maliciously and Lily
colored at the jab. Without a word, she turned away and stormed down the hallway.

“Lily, wait!” Severus cried and grabbed her arm forcefully to make her stay. She jerked away,
but he wouldn't release her.

“Let me go,” she said in low tone, incredibly aware that his fingers were bruising the pale skin
on her arm from holding so tightly.

“You've got to listen to me about Potter first,” he insisted, his black eyes cold and
determined.

“No, Severus,” Lily refused, jerking away again. “Whatever you've got to say, you've
said before. I'm not listening to it anymore.”

He let her arm go suddenly, looking slightly shocked at her words.

“So, that's it then? You're one of his worshippers now with no second thoughts?”

“I don't worship him,” she snapped, rubbing her sore arm. “And I have the right to be
friends with whoever I'd like without interrogation from you. You lost that right a long time
ago, so sod off.”

--

Year Seven

--

July, 1977

The summer that Petunia met Vernon Dursley was the worst Lily ever had.

Lily came home from Hogwarts that summer to find her home life inexplicably changed. Her father
had suffered a stroke a month before and his once boisterous presence was confined to a bed,
leaving the house feeling emptier even though he was still in it. Her mother spent her time at
work, trying to pick up slack while her father was out of commission. It took its toll. Petunia
refused to speak to Lily except for the most dire circumstances and besides that, she spent most of
her time with the snooty friends she'd picked up at school.

Lily felt the sharp sting of loneliness despite the steady stream of concerned letters from
friends. She spent her days taking care to make her father comfortable or thinking about how much
she wanted to return to Hogwarts so she could pretend this life wasn't hers.

One day, much like the others that had already passed, Petunia abruptly announced to Lily and
their mother that she had gotten engaged the previous night. The man's name was Vernon Dursley
and they would have known that if they hadn't been so involved with their own lives, but no
matter, he would be coming for dinner later that week.

On the appointed day, Petunia made sure that the house was perfect and she helped their father
down the stairs to seat him at the head of the table, a place he had not sat in weeks because it
was a strain to walk up and down the stairs more than once or twice a day. Petunia had also made
sure to instruct Lily sharply that she was to keep her mouth shut about any “weirdness” and stick
to the carefully thought out script for the night.

Vernon Dursley arrived at 7 o'clock sharp for dinner. Petunia's thin face broke into a
smile for the first time all day as she led him in, introducing him to the family. He was already a
fairly rotund man who looked a few years older than Petunia and his blonde hair only served to
highlight an unattractive ruddiness in his cheeks. Lily never thought it was possible she would
meet someone more obsessed than Petunia with being completely and utterly normal.

The dinner was quiet, filled with the silence of a family that no longer knew how to communicate
with each other, much less a guest. Petunia did her best to fill the gaps of conversation by
prodding Vernon Dursley into telling one awful joke after another. Lily watched her parents
carefully for their reactions, but their faces were harder to read with the newfound tiredness that
had come to them.

The dinner was deemed a success as soon as the door closed soundly behind Vernon Dursley that
night and Petunia cornered their mother in the kitchen to discuss the details. Lily helped their
father up the stairs and he thanked her quietly, not saying much. As she was leaving for her own
room, he told her quietly that he hoped she would one day find a man who made her as happy as
Vernon Dursley made Petunia. Lily had nodded absently, her mind far from the thought of her own
romantic life.

Two weeks later, Petunia shook Lily harshly from an already uncomfortable sleep. Her thin face
was drawn and pale, a mixed look of horror and grief twisting her features. She didn't need to
say anything for Lily to know what had happened. For the first time in years, the two sisters
embraced as they mourned their father.

When the heavy letter came by owl bearing a shiny new badge proclaiming her Head Girl for the
coming term at Hogwarts, Lily threw it out of the window in a fit. She folded herself into a corner
of her bed and cried herself to sleep. Later, when she woke up, she would find the letter and badge
sitting neatly on her desk after Petunia had recovered it from the patch of flowers she had been
tending in the garden outside.

--

28 October, 1977

“You never ask me out anymore,” Lily mused one night as they finished up their rounds together.
She snuck a glance at him out of the corner of her eye and gratified to see she'd caught James
off guard.

He cleared his throat, pulling a hand through his hair nervously.

“I thought you wanted me to stop,” he answered finally, his voice quieter than usual,
unsure.

“There was a time when I did,” she said mysteriously, stopping as they reached the Gryffindor
common room entrance.

“Are you telling me you'd say yes if I asked you now?” he asked and she smiled to see the
light that animated his face suddenly. It was amazing how expressive his features could be when he
was happy, she admired.

“I'm saying...” she trailed off, choosing her words carefully. “That it wouldn't hurt to
try again soon. You might find the odds more in your favor.”

--

17 November, 1977

James was visibly nervous. He couldn't yet see Lily, but she could easily see him from her
vantage point at the top of the darkened girls' staircase. It was late and nearly everyone had
gone to sleep, but she had agreed to come out with him tonight. She wasn't sure what to label
what was happening between them. He was fast becoming her friend, confidant and...something more.
Lily blushed in the darkness and stared down at the boy sitting in the common room.

She knew she was already late, but she couldn't resist the chance to watch him without being
watched herself. It was a rare occasion to see James unaccompanied by his faithful friends and an
even rarer occasion to see him without the cool, confident swagger he usually displayed. The James
she was observing now was a far cry from the one she had known through most of their years at
Hogwarts.

Lily sighed and stood, shaking her robes out and straightening her hair before descending the
stairs. James seemed immediately aware of her presence and he tensed, looking, if possible, even
more nervous than before. Lily smiled, a strange fluttering sensation of her own in the pit of her
stomach.

“Hey,” she said quietly.

“Hi,” he returned, his voice strained.

They stood there for a moment in ridiculous, awkward silence before James laughed nervously,
letting out a long breath of air. He straightened himself up and offered, “Shall we go?”

Lily nodded, eager despite herself.

“So, where are you taking me exactly?” she teased playfully as she followed him through the
portrait. “I need to know if this abuse of our Heads privileges is worth it.”

He offered her a hand to help her down from the hole and she took it, hopping down easily. He
dropped her hand uncertainly as he gestured the way. Lily tried not to let her disappointment at
the loss of his hand in hers show in her face, but even if it had, James seemed oblivious in his
nervousness.

“I thought we'd go for a midnight snack,” James explained. Lily smiled, deeming it a worthy
option for the night and let him lead the way for her. They walked in silence for a few minutes,
Lily hyper-aware of every movement of his body beside hers in way she'd never been before. The
few times her hand brushed against his arm and she would blush involuntarily, her fingers
stretching a bit and almost grabbing his, but always stopping just before they caught hold.

He was seemingly blind to her attraction for once and she wondered what was keeping him from
poking fun at her tonight. He was usually so quick to point out anything that would even suggest
she was attracted to him. It had evolved over the years from a mean-spirited joke to a more playful
cajoling between the two.

“James,” she said as they turned into the hallway that would lead to the kitchens. “Is something
wrong?” The question was quiet, but it stopped him in his tracks.

“Wrong?” His brow furrowed and he looked a bit lost as he studied her face as if it would reveal
the motivation behind her question.

“You just seem quiet, is all,” Lily observed. She wanted desperately to reach out to him, to
touch him somehow even if it was just holding his hand, but some invisible force held her back.

He sighed loudly and turned away from her momentarily, running a hand through his hair and
tugging harshly on it. When he looked back at her, his hazel eyes were flooded with a riot of
emotion. She watched, transfixed, as his the apple in his throat bobbed up and down as he swallowed
whatever it was he wanted to say. He fixed his gaze on her steadily and she had never felt so
transparent in her life.

“What is it that we're doing?” he asked finally. His question was cryptic and he offered no
explanation. There was no need anyway, it was if he had plucked it right from Lily's own
musings.

She opened her mouth, hoping the answer would come easily, but it didn't. Instead, she
dropped his gaze, fixing her eyes instead on his hands that were clenched by his side. After a
moment of hesitation, she reached out and took one of his hands in hers, uncurling it gently so she
could thread her fingers in his. This accomplished, she swallowed and met his now carefully guarded
eyes.

“I never thought I would feel this way about you,” she confessed, weakly taking a stab a laugh.
His mouth quirked in a mixture of understanding and amusement.

“I never thought you would either,” he agreed in a soft murmur.

She brought their interwoven fingers to her lips, kissing his knuckles gently.

“I'm glad I do though,” Lily decided.

--

4 December, 1977

“Petunia's written on the invitation that I'm not allowed to bring any of my kind with
me to her wedding,” Lily mused as she turned the frilly invitation that had arrived this over in
her hand. She was sitting across from James at a small table in a hidden corner of the library.
Books and papers littered the table and space around them; they had been there for awhile, but Lily
was only just bringing up the subject that had been on her mind all day.

Her eyes slid up to meet his across the table and he flashed a small smile at her before asking,
“Your kind?” He had the grace to look bemused at the idea of a Muggle not wanting to mix with
magical folk.

“Oh you know...the type of people who turn her teacups into frogs and nonsense like that,” Lily
answered, trying her best to be nonchalant.

“You turned her teacup into a frog?” He looked impressed as he pushed his essay away from
himself and lounged back in his chair.

“Once,” she replied defensively. “By accident.”

He smirked, not believing a word of her defense. There was a time when that look would have made
her want to slap him, but instead Lily shook her head and huffed to herself. They both resumed
their work in comfortable silence, Lily sneaking looks at James while he pretended not to be
finished with the Transfiguration essay she still needed three inches on. She doodled in the
margin, her mind far from schoolwork and with another glance at the invitation sitting tauntingly
by her hand, she made up her mind.

“Do you want to come with me?” she asked suddenly, the words tumbling out so fast she didn't
have time to re-think her decision. She blushed fiercely, staring down at the pen she had in a
death grip.

James was perfectly still for a moment, his usually expressive features blank with shock.

“Sorry, what was that?” His voice wavered between amusement and genuine concern that he might
have just heard Lily Evans ask him on a date.

“To the wedding. With me,” Lily mumbled, half-regretting mentioning it. “Do you want to
come?”

“Ah,” James cleared his throat. “I definitely don't qualify for admission if your
sister's to be taken seriously.”

“Oh, she is,” Lily warned, meeting his eyes for the first time.

“Count me in.”

He smiled, a real, warm smile free of his usual satire. She nodded, allowing herself a small
smile too before leaning over her essay again.

“Good.”

--

2 February, 1978

“James, it's cold,” Lily complained, only half-heartedly.

“I need to show you something.”

She sighed at his insistence and wrapped her arms around herself a little more tightly as she
followed him through the snow-covered grounds.

They were walking along the edge of the forest with the last light of day just leaving the sky.
Lily frowned a bit at James, trying to divine his intentions. His face was cast in shadow, making
it hard for her to discern his emotion. He grabbed her hand and stopped just as they reached the
path that would circle them back toward the castle.

“What's this all about, then?” Lily asked curiously.

“I - we - well, Sirius and Peter aren't sure if I should trust you with this yet, but I
think you should know. Remus agrees with me,” he stated shakily, his hand running through hair
nervously. Lily stared at him in silence, at a loss for what was going on. “Just watch, okay?”

He squeezed her hand, letting it go when she nodded in compliance. She flinched when he drew his
wand from his back pocket, but was too dumbfounded to say anything. Then, without a word, his shape
suddenly twisted and morphed and for a moment, Lily looked around wildly to see where James had
gone. The tall, regal presence of a stag registered a moment later in her mind and Lily gasped,
stumbling backwards in shock and falling to the ground. Her eyes were wide as she gaped at the
beast in front of her. Shaking, she reached out as the stag started toward her as if checking that
she was uninjured.

“I - I don't understand,” she choked out. Her hand rested on the velvety nose for a split
second before she recoiled, not in anger or shock, but from the overwhelming confusion she felt.
“Why?” she asked quietly.

Suddenly, James was standing before her, unchanged and worried. He sat down beside her carefully
before answering.

“It's not obvious?” he asked, studying her reaction. His eyes wandered upward and Lily's
followed his to see the moon peeking out from behind clouds as the sky grew darker with the growing
night. Her face paled at the implication, but the emotion that flooded her eyes now was far from
fear.

“You did this all for Remus?”

He nodded. She took his hand in hers, turning it over before bringing his palm to her lips for a
kiss. Her mouth lingered against his skin for a long moment before she let go. He pulled her closer
with an arm around her shoulders and she rested against him without protest.

“Sirius and Peter too?”

“Of course,” he confirmed.

“It's illegal,” she said, with no real conviction.

“I know.”

“And dangerous.”

“I know.”

“And stupid.”

He sighed, hanging his head a little, his free hand playing with his wand nervously. She shifted
in his arms to face him and pulled his head up so she could look him in the eye. He relaxed a bit
to see that she wasn't angry despite her words. She rested a cool hand on his face before
kissing him softly.

“I love you,” she whispered against his mouth. It was the first time she had said it out loud
and his heart soared to hear the confession.

--

17 April, 1978

Lily's hands shook as she held the paper up to read the article that covered the entire
front page of the Daily Prophet. It was accompanied by an awful picture of Aurors levitating
lifeless bodies from a broken home. She shivered at the sight.

“I thought you were going to stop reading the news?” James asked as he took his place next to
her at the breakfast table that morning.

“Sometimes I can't stop myself,” she murmured, her eyes still scanning the article. He
glanced at the headline over her shoulder, his mouth in a grim line as he read the headline.

10 WIZARDS FOUND DEAD; 8 STILL MISSING AFTER ATTACKS LAST NIGHT

Then, without hesitating, James pulled the paper from her grasp and flung it down the table,
startling some nearby fourth-year girls who had just been giggling over how handsome they thought
he was. He gave them a small smile in penance and then turned back to Lily, pulling her hands into
his.

“It's getting worse every day, James,” she said softly. Her big, dark green eyes were filled
with sadness and fear as she stared at their intertwined hands. “I just...feel so helpless here. I
want to do something.”

“We will,” he promised. “As soon as we're out. We can join Dumbledore's new Order and
fight.”

He squeezed her hand, hard, and leaned his forehead against the side her head, breathing in the
scent of her hair. She turned to him, gently kissing him before pulling away and standing up from
the table.

“I'm not hungry anymore,” she announced and he nodded understandingly. Grabbing a scone, he
hopped up from the bench to join her as she left the Great Hall. She grabbed his hand as they left,
lacing their fingers together.

“What's going to happen to us after Hogwarts is over, James?” she asked quietly, not meeting
his eyes.

“Oh, I suspect we'll never talk again,” he cracked, trying to make her smile. She shot him a
glare instead and he sobered a little. “I'll stay with you for as long as you'll put up
with me, probably longer.”

She smiled at that and he pulled her into an embrace, kissing the top of her head lightly.

“Then one day, when you're least expecting it, I'll do something crazy like ask to marry
you,” he murmured in her ear, his whisper tickling her skin. “Then you'll say no, but
you'll really mean yes and we'll have this great wedding with just us and our friends and
families. Then a couple years down the road, we'll start having children - lots of them. I want
a whole Quidditch team, mind you, and we'll watch them grow up and send them off to Hogwarts
while we grow grey together at home.”

She giggled, burrowing her face into his warm chest.

“That sounds nice,” she conceded, a glow of happiness on her face.

“It does,” he agreed.

--

After Hogwarts

--

27 September, 1978

James hadn't quite succeeded in keeping his proposal a secret, but Lily let him believe he
did because she knew how much it meant to him. It was only because Sirius couldn't keep his
mouth shut that she was tipped off at all, although she might have figured it out from his sudden
attack of schoolboy nerves that night.

He had tried to be so casual as he suggested they take a walk through the park on the pretense
of enjoying the beautiful colors the leaves were turning at this time of year. She had smiled,
giving into his suggestion a little too eagerly. He didn't seem to notice.

He had taken his time getting around to it, waited until they were deep into the park and most
of the errant passerby had disappeared. She wondered if he would ask at all. Perhaps her sources
had been wrong.

But then he'd stopped her. And cleared his throat. And shuffled his feet a bit. Then he
nodded to himself, just once, before taking the plunge.

“Lily, I wanted to ask you something.” He sounded uncharacteristically serious and Lily almost
cracked a very inappropriate smile at the worry lines that creased his forehead at the moment.

“Yes, James?” She did her best to sound innocent and for good measure, squeezed James's hand
in silent encouragement before releasing him. He looked up then, catching her eye and she knew in
that moment that she was busted. He grinned, a little sheepishly and she smiled to see a faint
blush on his cheeks.

Changing tactics very suddenly and dropping his serious demeanor, he grabbed both of her hands
back, bringing them gently to his mouth to kiss them. His thumbs stroked the soft skin of hands
before letting her intertwine their fingers together.

“Marry me?” he asked softly, a fierce happiness in his eyes that made Lily shiver.

Of course, there was no other answer but yes for her and he knew that too. Instead of saying the
words, she flung herself at the man in front her, hugging him as tightly as she could. James
didn't miss a beat and swung her around joyfully, his laughter mixing with hers.

Lily, for her part, couldn't remember a time when she had felt so perfectly happy.

--

7 January, 1979

“James?”

Lily stirred from her chair at the kitchen table at the familiar voice. She sighed and tried to
look relaxed before she called out to Sirius, “He's not back yet. I'm in the kitchen.”

Sirius sidled into the room a moment later from the entryway and smiled at Lily, but not without
noticing her worried eyes. He propped himself up against the counter and set a small bag next to
him.

“What's up with you? You're looking rough,” he commented casually and began to pull out
several bottles from the bag next to him. Lily shrugged, not answering him immediately as she
watched him pull an impossible number of bottles from the bag.

“What's all that?” she asked curiously and stood to walk over to where Sirius had unloaded
his stash.

“A selection of every beer and whiskey The Leaky Cauldron has to offer,” Sirius said
proudly.

“What on earth for?” Lily made an incredulous face at him as she noticed the moving color labels
on the bottles for the first time. She picked up the nearest bottle that screamed `OGDEN'S
FIREWHISKEY' on the label and turned it over in her hand as if she'd never seen such a
thing in her life.

“Lily, Lily, Lily,” Sirius said patiently, amused at her confusion. “Have you forgotten that
you're getting married in a month? You do have to decide what you'll be using to get your
guests drunk at some point in the very near future. Why not today?”

“I haven't forgotten, but I still don't see why you had to bring the entire bar into my
house.”

“James asked me to,” Sirius answered simply, and started rooting through the various bottles and
pulling some toward the front. He took the whiskey bottle from Lily's hands and replaced it
with a much daintier bottle with a foreign label that boasted a small dragon cradling a bottle on
the label. He flicked the top off with ease and gestured for her to try it.

“I'm not drinking this,” Lily insisted and tried to hand the bottle back to him. “Did you
say James told you to bring these...here?”

Sirius smiled at her roguishly and covered her hands in his while pushing the bottle towards her
face.

“Try it, you'll like it. And, it makes sense to bring it all here. This will be your future
dwelling place with your husband-to-be,” he explained, smiling as if it all made perfect sense to
him. Lily frowned at the bottles on the table, but she knew better than to put up too much of a
fight when Sirius had teamed up with James. She sniffed experimentally at the beer in her hand and
was surprised to find the scent pleasant. She raised it to her lips and took a small sip, then
deciding she liked the taste, took a more generous mouthful.

“Good?” Sirius asked in a way that suggested he already knew her answer. He opened a bottle of a
less exotic looking beer for himself and sat at the table. Lily followed him to the table and sat
next to him. She sighed as she set her beer on the table, already feeling its tongue-loosening
effects.

“I'm worried, Sirius,” she admitted, her tone dark. His smile faded for a moment but
returned quickly.

“Just keep drinking,” he suggested. “I've found there are few problems in the world that a
little beer or whiskey can't help.”

Lily cracked a smile and slouched deeper into her chair. She took his advice, however, and took
another swig of the beer he'd given her. She let out a long breath of air and pulled herself up
in her chair. They drank their beers in relative silence as the minutes ticked by with still no
sign of James.

“What if one day it's one of us doesn't come back from one these missions for the Order?
What if one day it's one of us that is found dead?” Lily blurted out suddenly, her face pale
and drawn despite the flush of intoxication.

Sirius straightened himself up and grabbed her hand on the table.

“Lily, listen to me,” he commanded gravely. “I know it's hard, but what we're doing is
important. I know you know that, but sometimes we just have to be reminded of that.”

She squeezed his hand in hers, clinging onto it for dear life. He let her calm herself down
before continuing.

“Besides, you should know by now that even if some bloody Death Eater somehow gets his hands on
James, he'll find his way back to you even if he has to resort to haunting you for the rest of
your life,” Sirius joked, in hopes of lightening the mood. It seemed to work and Lily laughed
quietly. He smiled in relief and joined in her laughter.

“What's all this then?” The very man in question suddenly stepped into the kitchen,
interrupting their growing laughter.

“James!” Lily cried and launched herself from her chair into his arms. He hugged her back
happily, smiling into her red hair.

“I see you two have started without me,” James laughed, catching sight of the beer bottles on
the table once Lily had released him.

“Well, mate,” Sirius said, lounging in his chair with a smirk, “You know I'd never pass up
an opportunity to get the lovely Lily Evans drunk.”

Lily laughed, her eyes never leaving James as he grabbed the bottle of firewhiskey that Lily had
been studying earlier, and then she shook her head.

“You two are ridiculous,” she decided, going back to drinking her own beer.

--

1 March, 1979

“James, that is not funny,” Lily pleaded as seriously as she could, putting her hand on his
underneath the table to still his wand.

“I know you don't mean that,” he laughed, grinning as he turned Vernon Dursley's
mustache into an unsightly green color. Vernon and Petunia were sitting at the very end of the
reception dinner table on Petunia's insistence that she be as far away from the “freaks” as
possible. Unfortunately, it seemed that the entire wedding party was qualified to be a “freak” and
both of the Dursleys looked ready to bolt. It didn't help that a few moments ago Vernon's
mustache had started to inexplicably turn the most extraordinary colors. He hadn't noticed yet
thankfully, but Lily didn't think she'd ever seen Petunia's eyes so large. She bit back
a giggle, attempting to give James a warning look.

“You promised you'd leave them alone,” she reminded him gently. “I'm lucky they even
came. You don't know how much begging I had to do to convince Petunia.”

“It's not my fault his facial hair practically begs to be a lovely shade of pink!” James
defended himself, still laughing quietly to himself. He ribbed Sirius to see the new shade he'd
just turned the unsuspecting Muggle's mustache. Lily sighed in defeat.

“If my sister never talks to me again, it's your fault,” she said, half-joking.

“She'll never know it was me, promise,” James swore, distracted for a minute from
Vernon's mustache to turn to the woman he was marrying the next morning. He smiled, his
silliness stemming from the complete happiness he felt at the thought of marrying her, and pulled
her a little closer by wrapping an arm around her. He kissed her cheek, whispering into her ear,
“Are you ready for tomorrow?”

“Am I ready to put up with you turning my brother-in-law's mustache pink for the rest of my
life, do you mean?” she challenged sarcastically, not bothering to hide her smile this time.

“I'm fairly certain that's included in the fine print for becoming Mrs. James Potter,”
he agreed solemnly. She laughed, throwing her head back and enjoying the feeling. She reached up to
run her fingers alongside his face, feeling the light stubble on his jaw where he still needed to
shave, and kissed him soundly.

“I can live with that, I guess,” she promised softly. “As I long as I get to be Mrs. James
Potter.”

--

7 June, 1979

Lily would never forget the first time she'd seen him come home injured from a battle.

He had been late, late enough to make her worry, and she was pacing the kitchen in way way that
she was becoming far too familiar with. And then, suddenly, he was there, but it wasn't right
somehow. She'd known immediately that something was wrong, but it wasn't until she crossed
the room to him that she saw the blood.

“James!” she cried.

“Hit me with some curse right as we were leaving,” he wheezed, the words coming out jumbled as
she led him to the couch and pushed him on it. Her wand was in her hands before she even knew what
to do and she tore his shirt from to see the worst of the damage in a huge gash across his
chest.

“James,” she murmured, her heart squeezing in her chest. She wished desperately that someone
else was here, someone with a clear head. Of course, she had learned how to mend such injuries but
as she stared at the gash all she could think about was that this was James's blood pouring
from the pale, torn skin.

Steeling herself, she called every mending charm she knew to mind and began to work to close the
gaping wound. The skin obeyed slowly, reluctantly, and even with Lily's expert touch, when the
wound closed there was an angry welt, no doubt the lingering effects of the curse.

James's breathing evened out after a time and he tried to sit up but she forced him back
down.

“Don't, you could tear it open again,” she warned. He took her hand in his, kissing her
fingers gently.

“I'm sure it's perfect,” he assured softly. “I'm sorry for coming home like
this.”

“You scared me,” she admitted, seating herself onto the couch beside him.

“I'm sorry,” he repeated and pulled her gently down to here he could easily kiss her mouth
without moving. As an afterthought, he added, “I've gone and gotten blood on our new
couch.”

She laughed weakly, shaking her head before kissing him again, her hands framing his face.

“What am I going to do with you?”

--

18 November, 1979

“We've been tipped off to a possible Death Eater attack on a small Muggle village in Wales
tomorrow evening. We believe they may be targeting a young squib who lives there with
relatives.”

Lily felt almost as if she were back at Hogwarts in class again as she listened to McGonagall
address the room, calmly outlining the newest information the Order had received.

“We'll be there to meet them then,” Sirius spoke up from beside Lily and she nodded, feeling
James do the same.

“Count Lily and me in,” James offered, squeezing her hand under the table.

McGonagall nodded tersely. Lily wondered briefly exactly when it was that McGonagall had given
up trying to stop her just graduated students from fighting. They needed all the fighters they
could get for the Order and their young age was no longer allowed to be a barrier.

Lily couldn't recall ever actually feeling nineteen anyway even though she'd reached it
in January. Sometimes, she felt as though she'd lived through at least three times that amount
of years and every battle added ten more years to her running total.

--

30 January, 1980

“Happy birthday, love,” James whispered in Lily's ear, making her skin prickle at the nape
of her neck. His arms wrapped around her from behind as they surveyed their now empty house that
had just been emptied of the last of their friends who'd come to the modest celebration.

“I need to tell you something,” Lily sighed. She had put it off long enough, worrying over his
reaction. Her hands instinctively rested on her still flat stomach and she swallowed, trying to
find her courage.

“What?” he laughed softly, nuzzling her neck gently with his lips in a way that was making it
hard for Lily to concentrate. She pulled away from him and tried not to register his confused look
as she took his hands in hers.

“I'm...” she trailed off, finding it hard to say it out loud. “ James, I'm
pregnant.”

He was silent for a long moment and she was scared she had misread the situation. He raised a
hand to his face, rubbing his chin and exhaling loudly as if she had punched him in the stomach.
When he looked her in the eyes, however, Lily's fears dissipated at the warm, heart-melting
emotion that was there.

“Are you sure?” he asked, his voice barely above a whisper. He leaned his forehead against hers
and she shifted closer to him, feeling his hands ghost across the fabric of her shirt and then
trace invisible lines across the skin underneath.

“Doubly,” she assured him, wrapping her arms around him and burying her face in his warm
chest.

“Lily,” he murmured, drawing her as close as he possibly could, his fingers now tangled in her
hair. He didn't seem to know what else to say, but Lily didn't need him to anyway.

“I know,” she agreed.

--

2 May, 1980

“Have you talked to Remus lately?” Lily asked Sirius as they ate dinner together quietly.

James had taken off with Peter to run errands for the Order hours ago and Lily had invited him
over to keep her company as she stared at the clock. She had wanted to come with James and
Wormtail, but James had insisted on going alone with Peter because he had seemed so down.

Sirius shook his head, his mouth too full of potatoes to answer properly right away. He
swallowed hard and his face creased into an uncharacteristic frown.

“He's slid off the map for the past few weeks,” Sirius answered darkly, pushing his food
around on his plate as if he'd just lost his appetite. He sighed and leaned back in the chair.
“I'm not sure what to make of it.”

“This isn't like him,” she murmured, worried for their friend.

“It isn't,” Sirius agreed. “James and I...we're worried. Wormtail's been trying to
find him through some friends at the Ministry he made, but no luck. It's like he doesn't
want us to find him.”

“You don't think...?” Lily asked, but couldn't finish her own question, unable to fully
picture Remus crossing over to the other side.

“I don't know what to think,” Sirius answered grimly.

--

29 August, 1980

Harry wasn't the kind of baby to cry in the middle of night, but James had taken to sneaking
out of bed to stand by his crib anyway. Lily pretended not to notice, smiling into her pillow when
she saw him silently staring down at his newborn son as if he couldn't quite believe he was
there.

One night, when he had caught her staring, he had smiled sheepishly before commenting, “He has
your eyes, you know. They're so green.”

“Maybe that means he won't be half-blind without glasses,” Lily teased and he laughed
softly, not wanting to wake the newborn who slept soundly only a few feet away.

“Hopefully,” he agreed before climbing back in bed with her and hugging her close.

--

23 October, 1980

“A prophecy?” James asked incredulously. “You want us to stop fighting and go into hiding
because some crackpot made a prophecy?”

“James,” Lily admonished, putting her hand on his arm to remind him to calm down. He stepped
back a bit from Dumbledore, who for his part was listening to James' outburst impassively.

“James, I understand your reluctance,” Dumbledore assured him. “But I'm afraid the prophecy
very clearly makes you and your family targets for Voldemort and his followers. I feel the best
course of action would be for you to disappear, for your son's sake, if not for yours.”

“What should we do then?” Lily asked, speaking for the first time since Dumbledore had revealed
his purpose for calling them there today.

“I propose a Fidelius Charm,” Dumbledore answered her, his blue eyes calculating. “I, of course,
would be happy to act as your Secret Keeper if you choose.”

“Sirius will do it,” James interrupted fiercely. His brown eyes blazed in an anger that belonged
to a caged animal that knew it had no way out. Lily grabbed his hand, intertwining their fingers
tightly.

“Very well,” Dumbledore agreed. “I'll need you both to be ready within a week.”

--

29 October, 1980

“They'll expect me to be your Secret Keeper, Prongs,” Sirius insisted, his black eyes bright
with ideas. “If we use Wormtail instead, they'll be thrown off the trail even longer. It will
keep you and Lily and Harry safer longer, don't you see?”

“Padfoot, I trust you with you it. We don't need a feint.”

James was shaking his head while he paced the small room. Lily sat quietly at the table,
watching and listening in silence as her husband argued with their friend. They were to go under
the Fidelius the next day and Lily felt a strange uneasiness at changing the plan now, but she was
trusting James.

“I just think you should consider it,” Sirius said adamantly. “I have to go now, but I'll be
back tomorrow for the casting. I'll bring Wormtail.”

And with that, Sirius apparated suddenly with a large crack. James sighed, his hands pulling at
his hair in frustration as he threw himself in the chair beside Lily.

“I don't know what to do,” he admitted. “Sirius has a point, but...”

“Do you trust him?” Lily asked simply, not knowing what else to say.

“Wormtail?” James asked, looking surprised at the question. “With my life.”

Lily nodded, clearing her throat.

“Then I trust you with whatever you decide,” Lily assured him, taking her hand in his and
kissing it gently.

--

3 August, 1981

Lily couldn't remember laughing so hard since Hogwarts.

“James! you've got to catch him!” she gasped, unable to catch a hold of her small son who
was busy zooming about on a miniature broom. Right at that instant, there was a huge crash and
momentarily worried, Lily sobered until she heard Harry laugh delightedly as he surveyed the damage
he'd caused safely from James' arms who had scooped him from the wreckage just in time.

The tail end of the small broom had knocked an ugly, red vase from its precarious position on
the bookshelf and Lily sighed at the broken pieces.

“Petunia gave me that,” she observed.

“You can't possibly tell me you're actually upset that it's broken,” James laughed,
smirking at his wife as he bounced Harry up and down in his arms. Harry seemed as unperturbed by
the broken vase as James and was desperately reaching for the small broom in hopes of flying again.
Lily picked the broom up off the floor and quickly stashed it for the moment, deciding there had
been enough flying for now, at least until she had the glass cleaned up.

“I'm not upset,” Lily insisted, rolling her eyes at James who was hardly even paying
attention to her as he made various faces at Harry. Harry, for his part, was eating it up, trying
to twist his face to imitate his father's expressions. She smiled at the sight, pressing her
lips together to keep from laughing at the pair.

“Did you see what a natural flyer he is?” James asked suddenly, practically bursting with pride.
“He's going to be a great Quidditch player like his dad.”

“And hopefully a little more humble about it,” Lily teased, swatting James on the back of the
head. Harry giggled delightedly at his parents' squabbling and Lily laughed along with James at
the sight.

--

31 October, 1981

“You're going to make yourself sick with all that sugar, James,” Lily admonished playfully,
grabbing a cauldron cake for herself before he could gobble them all up.

“Oh Merlin, I don't even care,” he groaned, splaying himself out on the couch lazily.
“It's been so long since I've had Bertie Bott's. Sirius really outdid himself with this
one.”

“He did,” she agreed, surveying the huge pile of sweets that Sirius had had sent to them earlier
in the day. The sweets had delighted Harry and the sugar had kept him awake hours later than he
should have been, exhausting both James and Lily. Lily had only just gotten him to bed after a full
day of chasing him around the small cottage.

“This was a good day,” James observed softly, playing with the wrapper from a chocolate frog.
Lily smiled in agreement, running a hand through her hair before pulling it back. She started to
gather up the rubbish from the table and took an armful to the kitchen to throw it away when a
strange scuffle outside the window attracted her back to the other room.

“James, what was that?” she asked and was surprised to see her husband alert and suspicious when
she walked back into the room. “James?”

“Lily,” James said sharply, suddenly. He had moved closer to front corridor, his eyes casting
around wildly for his wand that Lily realized too late was buried underneath wrappers somewhere in
the room. She made a move to go upstairs, but stopped, still waiting for something more to
happen.

There was another huge crash, this time from the direction of the front door and Lily felt a
cool shiver of fear run through her. She paled as she looked towards the direction of their front
corridor and then to the stairs, Harry's bedroom light still shining from the top of them. He
saw her hesitation and pushed her firmly in that direction before half-running to the corridor,
still without his wand.

Lily heard another crash, this time almost certainly the front door coming down. She opened her
mouth to yell after him in warning but he cut her off suddenly and harshly, spurring her into
action.

“Lily! Take Harry and go!” James ordered loudly and at that she bolted, his words following her
up the stairs like a horrible curse. “It's him! Go! Run! I'll hold him off!”

His words jangled in her head uselessly and she flung open the door to Harry's nursery,
inexplicably relieved to see him still sleeping soundly, but that feeling disappeared instantly
when a strange flash of green light invaded the hallway behind her. She screamed silently, grabbing
Harry from his crib, realizing too late that she had no idea where her wand was.

“Damn it, damn it,” she cursed, tears flowing down her face as she held Harry close to her chest
and looked for an escape route. The window was the only way out. Just as she made a move for it, a
cold, high-pitched voice behind her stopped her in her tracks.

“Step aside, girl.”

--

The end.

--

Sorry for any mistakes, I tried to weed them out! Also, kind of, but really, sorry for how long
this turned out to be. I didn't mean to keep adding onto it, it just happened and then I
decided to post it before it became a novel or something.

Please make my day by leaving a review. :D



