Following the Natural Curve: Part One

Chapter Seven

Lily didn't hear any more from the Order of the Phoenix in the weeks after the first meeting, though she knew others included had. Some days Dorcas would arrive at breakfast with bags under her eyes, and Lily knew she had been at a "junior" Dark meeting the night before. Remus disappeared every once in a while, saying he was visiting an ill relative. And Peter sometimes looked as though he held a large secret that he couldn't tell anyone. Lily was feeling more than slightly left out as she believed all of these strange occurrences had something to do with the Order. And so, when James was called away for a weekend in early May (the same weekend as the Slytherin vs. Hufflepuff match, so Lily knew it was serious), she confronted him alone during break on Thursday and told him she had a right to know why he was leaving.

James looked at her for such a long moment that Lily started to second guess herself and wonder if he'd called off his weekend away and she hadn't heard about it. But then his expression changed to one of tired vulnerability and he sighed. "You're right, you should know."

Lily was taken aback. She had been ready to argue her case with him; she hadn't dreamed he would give in so easily. "Oh - well, if I'm not supposed to know, then-"

"This isn't - it's not anything top secret," he said with that tired sigh again. "I should have told you, Lily, but I didn't want to worry you or anything. You get worried very easily, you know," he added.

Lily smiled slightly. "James, if you don't want to tell me-"

"No, I want to. It's - it's about my mum."

Lily felt herself pale. "Oh...your mum."

James nodded as his eyes clouded. "She's not doing very well. She hasn't been, not since...."

Lily swallowed and held out her hand, signaling to him that he didn't need to say any more. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have pried-"

"You're not prying," he said with quiet vehemence, "you're not prying. I just didn't want to burden you with all my problems."

"No, you'll never burden me," she said, just as determinedly. "There - there shouldn't be any secrets between us, James. You'll never burden me."

"You'll never burden me either," he said, and reached his hand up to rest on her neck and thread through her hair. He sighed, but this time with a lighter tone, and smiled. "Christopher Miller doesn't know what he missed out on," he told her, leaning his forehead down on hers, his eyes glittering mischievously. They both knew it was risky to show affection in such a public place, but for once, they didn't care.

Lily smiled back at him with equal playfulness, her heart beating wildly. Even though they had been a couple for nearly a month, he still made her pulse race and her knees weak. "Let's just keep it that way, shall we? But really, James," she said, sobering up and pulling her forehead back, "is your mum okay?"

James looked down thoughtfully, working a muscle in his jaw. "I don't know," he said, returning to her eyes. "But she asked me to come home this weekend and I can't say no."

"I'm sure it's nothing," Lily said, looking at him hopefully.

He opened his mouth to answer her, but was cut off when Sirius's voice rang across the windy courtyard. "Oy! Lovebirds! C'mere!"

Lily blushed and scowled as the students nearby chuckled and tried to get a glimpse of Lily and James. James just grinned at his best friend over the heads of the younger students that separated them. He cupped his hands around his mouth, mimicking Sirius, and called, "Oy! Lazy-arse! Why don't you come here?"

Sirius grinned back and shrugged, acknowledging his loss, and made his way towards the couple, Gwen, Peter, and Remus on his heels. "Sorry, mate," he said as he drew up to them, "didn't want to interrupt anything."

Lily rolled her eyes at him. "We were just talking," she told him, and he winked at her.

"Right, of course."

"Did you need something, Sirius?" James said loudly over Gwen's snort of laughter.

"Just wanted to talk to my best mate before he leaves for the weekend, Prongs. If you can tear yourself away from the lovely Lily, that is."

James shook his head good-naturedly. "I'm all yours." He snuck a slightly unsure glance at Lily, as if he was scared he had said something wrong, and she rolled her eyes with a smile, pushing him towards his friends.

"Excellent," Sirius said, clapping his best friend on the back. He lowered his voice and looked at Remus and Peter, motioning them to come nearer. Lily leaned in curiously. "It's crucially important, actually. I think - think - I have a way of getting the Map back from Filch."

Lily, who didn't have a clue as to what they were talking about, saw a marked change in James's demeanor. If he hadn't been interested in what Sirius was saying a moment ago, he certainly was now. He and Sirius put their heads together with Remus and Peter, and the four began talking in earnest whispers.

"What's this, now?" Lily asked Gwen curiously, staring at their backs.

Gwen rolled her eyes. "The Map - the Marauder's Map. It's something they invented - a map of Hogwarts that shows everything, even people walking around. Filch confiscated it last year. Good riddance, too. That map was the secret to their success, I swear."

The bell rang a moment later, carrying them all to Transfiguration, where Professor McGonagall was already reviewing for their upcoming N.E.W.T.s. Lily felt her stomach drop whenever she thought about the exams; she knew that soon she would go into panic mode and not do anything but study. She did every year, especially fifth year, when she had to go to the hospital wing because she passed out from lack of food while studying for her O.W.L.s. Ah, the memories....

After classes, Lily bade goodbye to James with the rest of their friends and watched as he Disapparated from outside the wrought-iron gates that led up to the castle. He was gone with an audible crack!

"You make me sick," Dorcas said to Lily on their way back inside the castle. She was joking, that much was evident, but Lily thought she heard a slight bit of jealousy in her tone.

"Do I?"

"Yeah, you and James." Dorcas sighed. "You're so lucky."

Lily smiled slightly. "I know," she said quietly.

"Wish that would happen to me," Dorcas said moodily. "Oh well, I suppose it'll happen sometime in my life. What d'you reckon?"

"I'm sure it will, Dorcas," Lily assured her, though her heart wasn't really in it. She was too busy worrying about James. What if something happened to him or his mother? What if he was attacked?

"He'll be fine, Lily," Gwen said from her left, as though reading her mind. "He's just going home. He'll be fine."

Lily shot her best friend a guilty smile. "How do you do that?"

"How do you know I haven't got a bit of the Inner Eye, eh?" Gwen said, putting her nose into the air loftily. "I made the best marks in Divination, after all."

"Yes, and if I recall correctly, it was because you copied off of me," Remus said dryly from his spot in front of Gwen, where he was talking to Sirius and Peter.

"Shut it, Remus, you're not supposed to tell everyone that," Gwen called, smiling in spite of herself.

"Right, anyway, who's going to the match tomorrow?" Dorcas asked them all as they started to climb up the sweeping marble staircase that would take them to Gryffindor Tower.

"I am," Sirius said promptly. "I've got my snake costume all sorted out-"

"I think I might," Lily said pensively, cutting Sirius off. "Go cheer for Hufflepuff, you know?"

"As if they're going to win," Gwen said, rolling her eyes. "They haven't got a chance."

It turned out to be just the opposite, however. Hufflepuff led, an incredible one hundred and forty points to twenty, when the Slytherin Seeker, Boris Blankenship, made a fantastic dive from sixty feet in the air. He caught the Snitch, but the crunching noise that echoed throughout the stadium as his body hit the ground made everyone wince - even the jubilant Slytherins.

As Sirius, Remus, Gwen, Lily, and Peter walked back from the match (Dorcas and Mary Katherine had decided to stay in and study), lagging behind the great crowd of Slytherin supporters clad in silver and green and celebrating at the top of their lungs, they decided to take a detour and sit under the huge beech tree near the lake. It was a beautiful, cloudless May day, and Lily was content to prop herself against the base of the tree and enjoy the warm sunlight. The nagging worries about James and studying slowly evaporated. For a long time, no one said anything, content to lounge without words, but their peace was soon interrupted by a boy that Lily had never seen before wearing a silver and green badge. He approached Sirius, who was lazily stroking Gwen's long black hair, and said, in a surprisingly deep voice, "She's marrying him."

Sirius gave a jerk and stared up at the boy before him. The boy had a cold, handsome face, not unlike Sirius's, and was staring at him insolently.

"Go away, Regulus," Sirius said quietly.

"Did you hear what I said?" the boy called Regulus demanded, holding his ground. "Narcissa's marrying Lucius Malfoy. Aren't you happy?"

Sirius got up very slowly. Gwen sat up and watched him as though she was scared he was a bomb about to explode; Remus was the same way. He and Peter exchanged a look before turning their attention to Sirius and the boy.

"Go away, Regulus," Sirius repeated. He had not moved any closer to the boy but was staring at him with an unmistakable glint of hatred in his gray eyes.

The boy folded his arms over his skinny chest. "Mother is glad Lucius is marrying one of them, at least. She took Andromeda off the tree, just like she's going to do to you."

Sirius's calm face became mocking. "What, the old hag hasn't blasted me off yet?" he sneered. "I would have thought she'd done that ages ago."

Something was slowly clicking in Lily's brain. Was this boy Sirius's brother? Why hadn't James ever said he had a brother?

"She thinks you'll return to your senses and come back," Regulus informed him. "She doesn't listen to me when I say you've been completely corrupted by - bad blood." His eyes flicked to Lily; she tensed involuntarily and felt a surge of anger course through her. Bad blood, was she?

Sirius saw him look at Lily, and for the first time, Lily saw his face tighten in anger. "Leave, Regulus, before I make you leave."

"She keeps saying that no one in their right mind would give up the Black family fortune willingly," Regulus continued, as though Sirius had never spoken. "I'm going to get it now, Sirius," he said contemptuously. "You'll be homeless and I'll be sitting in that great big house, counting my gold and laughing at the way things have turned out-"

Sirius's wand was drawn in the blink of an eye; Regulus stopped his tirade and narrowed his eyes at the wand. "You wouldn't dare," he said; Lily detected a hint of apprehension in his tone.

"Wouldn't I, Regulus?" Sirius was flushed with anger. "In case you've forgotten, when I left I swore I wouldn't ever come back. I also remember swearing that, if you came near me again, I'd blast you into a hundred tiny, little pieces. Do you remember, Regulus?"

Regulus definitely looked frightened now. He took a step backwards and swallowed, still staring at Sirius's wand, and said, "I remember, Sirius, and don't worry, I won't come near you again - while we're at school, at least." And with his threat hanging in the air, Regulus turned around and walked back up into the castle. Sirius stared after him, his hand clenched so tightly around his wand that it was shaking, and only when the big oak doors slammed shut behind the boy did he come out of his trance.

"Bloody hell!" he yelled, picking up a rock and throwing it as hard as he could towards the lake. Gwen, Remus, and Peter were up and moving towards him quickly; Lily got slowly to her feet, trying to figure out what everything Regulus had said meant.

"Sirius. Sirius. Sirius," Gwen was saying calmly, "it's okay. Calm down."

Sirius glared at her. "Calm down? Gwen, you heard what he said!"

"I know, I know," Gwen said soothingly. "It's all right."

"Sirius, he's just a kid," Remus said from Sirius's right. "It was his last parting shot at you. You hurt him when you..."

"Ran away?" Sirius put in bitterly. "Hurt him, did I? Good riddance, I hope I did! And he has the nerve to come over here and threaten me?"

"Empty threats, Sirius. He's scared of you," Remus said gently.

"I know he is, the little coward," Sirius muttered, pushing his hair out of his eyes and looking down at the ground. "He tried to curse me when I was packing my things - damn near got me, too. It's Snape; he's been teaching him Dark magic." The look of loathing in Sirius's eyes as he spoke about Snape was unmistakable.

"And he's - your brother?" Lily asked hesitantly. All four turned to look at her; they seemed to have forgotten she was there.

"Unfortunately," Sirius sighed. "Sorry about...you know, his insinuation."

Lily shrugged. "It's all right, it doesn't bother me anymore. Why does he hate you so much?" she asked curiously.

"Because I left him alone in that godforsaken house," Sirius said scornfully. "With my mother."

"She can't be that bad," Lily said doubtfully.

Sirius let out a harsh bark of laughter. "You've obviously never met her. She makes this Lord Voldemort look like a harmless kitten."

Gwen shuddered slightly. "Don't say his name, Sirius."

"He also hates me because I've got a heart and he doesn't," Sirius continued, ignoring Gwen.

"That's not fair, Sirius," Remus objected quietly. "Just because he was put into Slytherin doesn't mean he doesn't have a heart."

"Believe me, Moony, I know my brother," Sirius shot at him. He sighed again. "You couldn't understand unless you'd lived there. In that house."

A slightly uncomfortable pause followed that pronouncement; Lily looked down at her shoes for a few minutes before deciding the silence had lasted long enough. "Well, I think I'm going to go up and study a bit."

The others agreed to come inside too, but Lily parted ways with them on the fourth floor; she wanted to go to the library and draw up a loose study schedule for herself. She entered the huge library and staked out a table in the back (the one she usually met James at for Head Boy/Head Girl meetings) and settled down for a good afternoon of study. She particularly needed to go over a few spells in Transfiguration....

That was how James found her Sunday night, hunched over stacks of parchment and surrounded by a wall of books. Lily didn't realize anyone had sat down at her table until James reached across and moved the books that were obstructing his view of her. Lily looked up; her eyes were curiously blurry from studying her handwriting all day, but she recognized James in a heartbeat. However, the big smile that had lit up her face fell slowly when she got a look at his. "James! What's wrong?"

James's face was pale and worn; dark circles were visible beneath his eyes when he removed his glasses to rub them. He sighed and gave Lily a small smile. "Nothing, now that I'm here with you," he teased. Lily pulled her chair around so she was closer to him and he took her hand. He looked even worse close up.

"What happened?" she asked again.

He rubbed her hand in between his larger ones methodically for a moment before looking back at her with his hazel eyes. "Mum was rewriting her will."

Lily stared at him, her mouth falling open slightly. "Oh, James-"

"She also told me all the things I'm going to get when she - you know." James sighed. "My father left me everything."

"But your mum - surely she doesn't think...?"

James sighed again, getting the gist of Lily's words. "She says it's good to be prepared. When Dad died-" he stopped suddenly, his voice cracking, and Lily squeezed his hand in encouragement. After a few seconds, he said, "I thought she was going to die when Dad died."

Lily was frozen, completely unable to move. While he had talked to her about his dad before, he hadn't ever spoken about his father's death. She thought that it would help him a lot if he were to talk about it, and she was ready to listen, but he steered away from the topic. "She asked me if there was a 'young lady' in my life," James said, the sparkle slowly returning to his eyes.

Lily grinned. "Did she?"

James nodded slowly. "She did indeed. She's quite interested in meeting you now, Miss Evans."

"She is?"

"She asked me about you whenever we had a moment. 'What color hair has she got, Jamie?'" James put on a high voice, mimicking his mother's. "'She's the Head Girl? I thought you hated the Head Girl, Jamie!' 'Will I get to meet her sometime, Jamie?'"

Lily tilted her head to the side and raised her eyebrows. "'Jamie'?"

"Childhood nickname," James explained. "I grew out of it; she never quite did."

"I like it," Lily decided. "Can I call you Jamie, then?"

James faked a long-suffering sigh. "I suppose, if you really want to." He grinned at her for a moment before taking a quick look around. It was nearing nine o'clock and so most of the students had already packed up and left; there was no one around them. Then, taking Lily completely by surprise, he put his hands just below her ears, leaned forward, and kissed her. It lasted barely five seconds but still left Lily breathless and shaky. She was quite glad she was sitting down.

James didn't move his hands right when he pulled back - he just stared at her for a moment, stroking the side of her jaw and fingering the hair behind her ears. Lily could barely form a coherent thought, much less sentence. James came to himself a few moments later and sat back in his chair, taking hold of her hands again. "I've wanted to do that since last Wednesday."

Lily broke into a sudden grin. Last Wednesday he had shown up in her Herbology class, told Professor Sprout that Lily was urgently needed up at the castle (no one had contested, as they were Head Boy and Girl), and then, instead of taking Lily to the castle, detoured behind one of the greenhouses and proceeded to kiss her senseless. His excuse was that it had been more than a week since they had been alone together and sometimes "desperate times call for desperate actions". Lily hadn't argued.

"Which reminds me, it's someone's birthday next week."

Lily ducked her head. It was indeed her eighteenth birthday on the tenth, but she hadn't thought about it very much because of all the studying she'd had to do.

"It is," she said, and then looked back up at him. "Can you believe it? I'll be a legal adult in the Muggle world."

James smiled. "You certainly will be, Miss Evans."

They sat like that for a moment, just beaming like utter fools at each other, until the librarian, Madam Porter, interrupted the moment. She whispered harshly as she tapped the face of her old pocket watch, "Nine oh-six! The library is closing!"

The Head Boy and Girl left the library and set off for Gryffindor Tower. Both were carrying an armload of Lily's books, but they managed to link hands despite the heavy tomes.

~*~*~*~*

On Wednesday, May 10th, Lily awoke and found a large pile of gifts at the foot of her bed. Gwen, Dorcas, and Mary Katherine all piled on Lily's bed and watched as she opened her presents. Her parents gave her the lovely, bottle-green set of dress robes she had been admiring over the summer (Lily couldn't help but think her mother was trying to make up for Petunia's disaster of a bridesmaid gown). Grandmummy's gift was a beautiful set of pearls that had been given to her on her eighteenth birthday that she was apparently "too old" to wear anymore. Gwen (who had always been big on appearance) excitedly gave her a silver engraved mirror that showed you all sorts of aspects of your face and head so you wouldn't have to worry about turning. Remus thoughtfully gave her a book entitled Dilys Derwent: The Diary of a St. Mungo's Healer with a note that said he hoped it would be of help to her as she studied further. Sirius and Peter gave her a joint present of a large box of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans and a book called Quidditch for Dummies (Lily had a sneaking suspicion that that part of the present was entirely Sirius's idea). Dorcas and Mary Katherine both chipped in and got her a gift certificate to the new robe shop called Gladrags, and Lauren gave her a book called Just Breathe: The De-Stress Manual. Then, at the very bottom of the pile were two cards: one was a heavy maroon envelope and had her name written on it in James's familiar, spiked handwriting, and the other was a flimsy pink envelope. Lily knew the latter had to be from her sister, and she was right. It turned out to be the cheap drugstore type of birthday card, and Petunia signed it simply, "From Petunia and Vernon". Lily wished she hadn't even bothered and tossed the card aside. She turned her attention to the smooth maroon envelope and felt her heart lurch excitedly. This ought to be much better.

"Oooh, Lily, open it!" Mary Katherine squealed. The other girls had already figured that it was from James, and all three were eagerly waiting to know what it said. Lily gave them a mysterious look and carefully broke through the seal.

My dear Miss Evans,

May I first wish you a very happy eighteenth birthday? I hope your presents are satisfactory and that your day is brilliant. Secondly, I would like to cordially invite you to meet me in the common room at about four thirty this evening. I'm afraid I won't accept regrets - you need a break.

It was signed simply "James", but it had Lily nearly brimming over with excitement as she handed the letter to Gwen.

"How much you want to bet he's going to kidnap you?" Gwen said teasingly, poking Lily in the ribs as she passed the letter to Dorcas and Mary Katherine, both of whom read it eagerly and then fell into paroxysms of delight.

"Lily! How precious!"

"Yeah, what did you do to get such a catch?" Dorcas demanded, rereading the note. "I especially love the 'won't accept regrets' bit. He's so funny."

Usually, Lily demurred when her friends launched into a tirade about how perfect she and James were, but she figured that today she deserved to hear about how lovely her life was. Because it was, really. Not just the part with James, but all of it. So what if her sister was purposely trying to humiliate her? So what if her N.E.W.T.s were in a month? James was right; she needed a day off. And what better day than her birthday?

The whole day she tried to squeeze hints out of James about his mysterious letter, but he wouldn't say anything beyond, "You'll just have to wait and see." Four thirty found Lily standing in the common room, and she looked up when someone came clattering down the boys' staircase. It was James. He was carrying his Invisibility Cloak and a very mischievous smile was playing about his mouth.

"I'm glad you've decided to come quietly."

Lily raised an eyebrow, following him as he strode towards the portrait hole. "Were you expecting me to put up a fight, then?"

"I thought I'd have to drag you away screaming from your books, actually," he informed her, holding the Fat Lady's portrait open as she clambered through of the portrait hole. "However, I was fully prepared to battle for you."

"Thanks, that's lovely to know," Lily said, grinning up at him as they set off down the corridor. "Where are we going, anyway, O Mysterious One?"

"To have a bit of fun," James said. He sighed with pretend exasperation when she looked at him questioningly. "Just trust me, will you?" he said, and grabbed her hand. "It's an adventure."

"An adventure that could result in the loss of our badges?"

"Don't be silly. They won't take our badges away six weeks from the end of term."

Strangely, this didn't comfort Lily very much.

She did trust him, however, and therefore didn't object when he pushed her down a stone slide that had appeared behind a statue of a sinister-looking, one-eyed witch. As she stood and brushed the dirt off her robes at the bottom of the slide, she guessed that James was taking her to Hogsmeade, and strangely, she didn't feel apprehensive about being caught.

The Head Boy and Girl walked along the earthen passageway, talking and laughing about random things, and came to a set of stone stairs after what seemed like quite a while. Lily looked up; the steps curled around before coming to what looked like a trapdoor. James led her up the stairs and then, when they arrived at the top, he carefully opened the trapdoor and pulled himself up through it. He turned around and helped Lily up, then quickly put the trapdoor back down again. Lily noticed that one couldn't even tell it was there unless one knew about it, as the floor was so covered with dust and the door was partially hidden by a large crate. They were standing in a sort of cellar with large boxes and barrels around them. The box nearest them was stamped in big green letters, "FIZZING WHIZBEES". Lily felt a grin tug at her mouth and she turned towards James, who was shaking out the folds in his Invisibility Cloak.

"We're in Honeydukes," she stated.

James looked up and met her eyes with a grin. "Very good, Miss Evans. Come on." He covered them with the cloak and took her hand; they climbed up the dusty stairs and James paused at the top. "Don't hear anything," he muttered. "Come on."

He eased the door open slowly and left just enough space for the two of them to squeeze through. Luckily, the shop was deserted but for a large man who was sitting behind the old-fashioned till, head tipped back and snoring loudly. Lily bit back a laugh and walked quickly with James towards the door of the sweet shop. It jingled as they opened it, but the man at the counter merely gave a loud grunt and turned his head away from them.

Once they were outside, James took the cloak off. The Hogsmeade residents, thoroughly engrossed in their own shopping, did not notice them. Even if they had, Lily knew they would just think the two were a young couple, not students out of bounds on a Wednesday evening. Lily had expected the town to be deserted at five o'clock in the afternoon, but it seemed that wasn't the case. The Three Broomsticks, the pub that James led Lily into, was very crowded - not full of the usual pub patrons, but of what looked like the town council. The students seemed to have interrupted a meeting; a harassed-looking wizard was telling a story very forcefully in front of the thirty or so people. He had the attention of all of them; though some had drinks, it was apparent that they were only at the tavern to hear his story.

"-came out of nowhere and went on a killing spree, they did. Went for all the goblins. My cousin Vin, he escaped 'cause he's a wizard and they were only interested in the goblins, it seemed-"

The crowd of town officials broke out into angry and puzzled muttering. Lily and James exchanged a questioning glance. Had there been another attack?

Someone in the front caught her eye and her heart stopped. Rubeus Hagrid, the huge groundskeeper at Hogwarts, was engrossed in the story. As Lily watched, his ruddy face became even redder and the enormous hand that rested on the table beside his bucket of mead clenched menacingly.

"James!" Lily whispered, clutching the front of his robes and staring at Hagrid. To her surprise, James just smiled and waved at the huge man. Hagrid noticed him and waved back absentmindedly.

"James, but - he's a - we'll be-"

"Lily, it's all right. I promise. Hagrid knows I'm doing this anyway. He doesn't care."

Lily swallowed. "If you say so...."

Just then, Madam Rosmerta, the pretty barmaid, noticed that she had two other customers and got up from the chair where she had been listening to the wizard intently. She managed a preoccupied smile at the two and said, "James! Have a seat, won't you? I'm terribly sorry about all this, especially on your birthday-" she nodded at Lily "- but a horrible attack's just happened over in Yorkshire. Those horrid Death Eaters slaughtered an entire settlement of goblins...." She shook her head. "Anyway, please, sit. I'll come take your orders in just a tick." She bustled off behind the bar and James and Lily took a table near the back, away from the angry meeting. James seemed very keen to know more about the attack, but Lily had other things on her mind for the moment.

"James, how did she know we were coming?" Lily whispered, shooting a glance at Madam Rosmerta.

James smiled slightly distractedly. "I had to tell her so she wouldn't be surprised to see us and raise a fuss. She won't tell," James hurried to assure Lily, who was looking slightly worried. "She thought it was 'terribly romantic' that I was taking you out for your birthday."

Lily smiled, relaxing slightly. "Well, I've decided I don't care if we get caught. You're right, they won't take away our badges so close to the end of term, will they?"

"I just wish this wasn't going on," James said a bit grumpily, gesturing to the crowd of witches and wizards.

Lily smiled. She was happy to be there, away from school, regardless of what the circumstances were. "James, it's okay."

He saw her face and must have been able to tell that she wasn't bothered by the crowd (in which some were now demanding they storm the Ministry and put some "capable" wizards in charge) because he too relaxed. "As long as you're fine."

She took his hand in reply and forgot where she was for a moment as they stared at each other. How very...hazel...his eyes were. Honestly, there hadn't ever been another pair of perfectly beautiful hazel eyes like his before, had there?

"What'll it be to drink, then?"

Lily came to herself and looked up into the expectant face of Madam Rosmerta. She and James exchanged a quick glance before James said, "I'll have a Butterbeer. Lily?" He was looking at her rather significantly, a mischievous glimmer in his eyes.

Lily ordered the same, all the while grinning at James, and when Madam Rosemerta had left, she said, "Okay, Mister Clever Trousers, how much of my outing with Christopher Miller did you hear?"

"Enough to understand what gets on your nerves and what doesn't," James said loftily. When Lily gave him a piercing look, he broke down and laughed. "Right. All of it, actually. Sirius, Remus, Peter, and I were all sitting at the table behind yours - our chairs were practically back-to-back. That guy really is thick," he said, shaking his head.

"How so?"

"Well, I couldn't even see your face, but I could tell by the way you wiggled about in your chair after he ordered two Butterbeers and then put up your cloak that you were feeling rather crotchety."

Lily laughed delightedly, and at that moment, Madam Rosmerta arrived with their Butterbeers. "There we are. And I believe there's something back there in the kitchen for you, too," she said with a wink, and bustled off, her sparkly heals clicking on the floor.

"James, what else did you do?" Lily asked, her eyes wide with excitement.

"Saw to dinner," he said casually, grinning at her. "What?"

Lily was staring at him. "Why is Madam Rosmerta doing this for you? For us?"

"Weeell," he said slowly, still smiling, "she likes me quite a lot. Sirius and I used to make her die laughing. And she also likes you. Figures it's about time you went on a proper outing with a bloke."

"Would you call this a proper outing, then, Mr. Potter?"

"I would indeed, Miss Evans."

Lily laughed gleefully again when Madam Rosmerta clacked back to their table floating two dishes of shepherd's pie - Lily's favorite - and assorted cutlery. James and Lily discussed many things over their dinner. James told Lily a story about a particularly memorable Care of Magical Creatures class that had happened earlier in the year in which Remus, Sirius, and James were caught trying to smuggle subdued doxies back up to the castle to test their venom for a prank to play on Severus Snape; they had managed to ingeniously wriggle out of detention by blaming the doxies on Remus. They had pretended Remus wanted to study them further because he had a fascination with magical creatures but had been too timid to smuggle them out alone; old Professor Kettleburn had rather tearfully commended Remus and even given the three a few extra doxies to "study further".

As Lily chuckled into her Butterbeer, she remembered something she wanted to ask James. "Oh, James, I've been meaning to ask, how is Remus's relative?"

James went oddly still and said, "What?"

Lily peered at him curiously. "Remus's relative," she said slowly. "You know, the one he went away to visit a couple of weekends ago. The relative who's always sick - I heard from somebody it was his aunt. What's wrong?"

James must have realized he was staring at her strangely and he shook his head. "Sorry, sorry, it's just - I can't believe you never figured it out."

"Figured what out?" Lily asked, feeling her curiosity peaking.

James sighed and looked around. "Lily, this isn't really the time to tell you-"

"It's my birthday, James."

James sighed again, but this time in resignation; her face told him all he needed to know about what her mood would be like if he didn't tell her. He lowered his voice (even though this wasn't very necessary as the council was now shouting rather drunkenly about making Madam Rosmerta Minister of Magic) and said, "There is no sick relative. There never has been. He's been leaving the grounds once a month."

"But why?"

"Because Remus is...well, Lily, he's...he's a werewolf."

Lily stared at him for a moment, her brain completely frozen from the shock of his announcement. "No he's not," she said finally, laughing incredulously. "That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. He's completely normal, I would have noticed-"

But then she remembered something that made her stop speaking abruptly, remembered something she had seen but never really thought about.... Last year, as she was looking out of her window on a crisp fall evening, she noticed two figures walking down the sloping lawns towards a huge tree called the Whomping Willow that attacked anyone that went near it. She was certain one of the figures was the school nurse, Madam Pomfrey, and the other looked slightly familiar as well, though she couldn't quite place him. The darkness seemed to swallow Madam Pomfrey and the boy somewhere around the vicinity of the willow. Lily stared out for a moment longer before shaking her head and returning to her studies. She hadn't thought about it again.

And then another instance with Remus that had struck her as odd sprang up in her mind. Back in fourth year when they had been studying Dark creatures, their teacher, Professor Kiser, had set the class against a Boggart, calling each one of them forward and making them battle their worst fear. Remus Lupin's Boggart had turned into a silvery orb that Lily had trouble discerning - was it a crystal ball? - before he destroyed it by making it explode. She realized now it was a moon, and that meant-

"Moony?" Lily asked James, and she was surprised at how calm her voice sounded.

James nodded slowly. He looked down at his plate, where he had just finished off the last of his pie, and then back up at her. "We found out ages ago - end of first year. Remus hadn't told us because he thought we'd shun him, like everyone else who knows about him. He almost didn't get to go to Hogwarts, you know. If it hadn't been for Dumbledore, he wouldn't be here." James looked down sadly. It seemed he wanted to tell her more but was very reluctant to do so.

Lily knew something else was up. She was thinking about the nicknames of the group of friends - Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs. She had never been too curious about learning the background of the names (after all, she had hated the Marauders) and thought they were just silly nicknames. But now - now she wasn't so sure. She felt a chill of foreboding. "But James, what about, you know, your nicknames?"

A very odd array of emotions flashed across his face at her words. The most obvious, however, was hesitation. He sighed and ran a hand through his messy hair. "I - Lily, this isn't the place-"

Lily nodded in understanding, for she knew he would tell her eventually, but James seemed to want to give her a satisfactory excuse. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you now," he said almost urgently. "I'd have to be somewhere where you could see."

Lily hadn't the foggiest idea as to how showing her something pertained to the idea of nicknames, but she did know one thing: she could survive without knowing for now. She smiled at him gently. "Jamie, it's okay. I understand. So long as you'll tell me eventually."

His face relaxed into a smile. "I swear, I'll tell you the moment I can. More Butterbeer?"

~*~*~*~*

When the two returned to the castle at quarter past six, it was to pandemonium. They stepped into the entrance hall and stopped in shock. The entire school, teachers included, was running around with green, red, pink, purple, and yellow slime all over their bodies, trying to get away from what looked like flying pastries that, as Lily and James watched, seemed to be charmed to explode over people's heads. The entrance hall was a huge mass of slippery, multi-colored slime and shrieking Hogwarts students and teachers trying to escape from the mad pastries.

Without thinking twice, James grabbed Lily and they hurried into the nearest room, which turned out to be the small chamber off the Great Hall that the first years waited in every year before being Sorted. There was already a small crowd of disgusting students there, all of whom looked to be either very angry or very excited. James and Lily squeezed through them, stopping before a huddle of Hufflepuff seventh years. Caradoc Dearborn was covered in bright yellow slime and was smearing it surreptitiously on Hestia Jones's back as she talked to her friends.

"James, Lily," he said, beckoning them over. Lily noticed that his dark hair was almost completely covered by neon yellow slime. "Wow, you're dry. How'd you manage to do that?"

"How did this happen?" James asked, gawking around at all the students. "Were those exploding pastries?"

"You weren't there?" Hestia asked, turning around to listen to the conversation. She wiped some pink slime onto Caradoc's shoulder nonchalantly.

James and Lily exchanged a quick glance. "Er, no, we were - out."

Caradoc looked at them closely but didn't press the matter. "Right, well, we were all at dinner - and this must've been an half an hour ago - and it was packed, and suddenly all these really delicious-looking pastries soar into the Great Hall on five big platters - you know, one for each table - with a note that said something like, 'With love from the House-elves. The teachers were kind of wary, but we all dug in, and as soon as we took a bite, they all became possessed and started exploding in everyone's face. McGonagall started yelling bunches of spells but they exploded even more, and then-"

"Then more came in," Hestia interrupted. "Hundreds more. All the students started running, but the slime is so slippery that no one could get out. Loads hid under the tables, but some - like us - got out into the entrance hall where-"

"More of the pastries were waiting," Caradoc said, taking the conversation back again. "We were in the first bunch, got it full in the face." He took a glob of yellow goo from his hair and smeared it on the top of Hestia's black hair. She didn't even flinch.

"So after slipping about for a bit, we took refuge in here," Hestia explained. She grunted as they were pushed farther back in the small room as more slimy students piled in. "It's great, though. Loads of fun. We've been out again, just sliding around." She turned to her friends. "Right, want to go back out?"

She and Caradoc were obviously the leaders of the gang. They nodded solemnly to Lily and James and charged through the crowd before going out of the room. Lily and James took the space they had vacated gratefully; Lily was starting to feel a bit claustrophobic. As she watched, James reached over and scooped a great handful of mixed slime - it was an odd brown color - from a nearby Ravenclaw's shoulder and placed bits of it strategically in Lily's hair and on her face. He stepped back to admire his work as Lily wiped some away from her right eye.

"Thanks so much," she said sarcastically, looking around for some with which to decorate him. She spied a hot pink glob of goo on a fourth-year Hufflepuff's shoulder and she scooped it off neatly before smearing it all over James's chest and his cheeks.

"Now we blend with the scenery, Lily," he told her cheerfully, and she couldn't help but grin back. This was a strange way to end one's romantic eighteenth-birthday dinner, but Lily decided she liked it.

She was feeling a bit suspicious, however, as the Marauders were usually behind huge tricks like these, and so she put her hands on her hips and glared at James in the most McGonagall way possible. "All right, James Potter, I want to know how involved you were in this."

"Yes, that is what I'd like to know as well."

Lily spun around to face the real Professor McGonagall. She looked ready to commit murder and was gripping her wand in white-knuckled, slime-covered hands. Her hair was an interesting shade of magenta, her robes stained beyond recognition, and her bun had come almost completely down from its ties. Her nostrils were deadly white and her mouth was almost invisible. "If you do not tell the teachers how to get rid of this - this disgusting substance right now, Mr. Potter-"

James held up his hands. "Professor, you've got the wrong idea. It wasn't me - us. I didn't know anything about it."

Professor McGonagall stopped within inches of James's face and stared at him for a moment, breathing heavily, before backing down. "All right, Mr. Potter, all right. But so help me, if I discover you actually were in on this plot - no Quidditch match for you!"

James and Lily stared after her as she pushed through the students, who scattered when they saw who it was. She flung open the door so she was half inside the small chamber and half in the entrance hall, pointed to her throat, and cried, "Sonorus!", a spell Lily knew would magnify her voice to ten times its normal volume. She yelled, "Back to your common rooms, students! And if the group who did this would KINDLY tell us how to get rid of this mess, we would be much obliged! Otherwise, so help me, I will CANCEL THE QUIDDITCH FINALS! Understand? CANCEL THE QUIDDITCH FINALS! Now back to your common rooms, and for goodness sake, try not to track too much of this up there!"

There was already a gaggle of slipping students making their way up the marble staircase when Lily and James got back into the entrance hall. A mass of students were also coming out of the Great Hall, and the pastries were still pursuing them. Lily and James collided with someone and both fell painfully on their backsides. The person they had run into turned out to be Sirius.

"Oy, Prongs! Isn't this brilliant? Wish we'd had this idea!" he yelled over the din, holding out his hands to them both. Lily and James accepted the help gratefully and hauled themselves up. Lily was completely covered now, and it was hard to walk through the goo, which in some spots went above her shoes. As they stood still, a pastry exploded over their heads, covering them in red slime.

"Let's get out of here!" Lily cried, and James nodded.

"Coming, Sirius?"

"Don't leave yet, Prongs, this stuff's awesome! Besides, Gwen and Remus and Peter left at the beginning. Gwen wasn't too happy."

Lily grinned. No, Gwen wouldn't have been too happy. "I'm going up," she said to them both, and James hesitated, looking between the two. "Stay, James. You've made my birthday perfect - I won't mind if we don't see each other until tomorrow."

James grinned and kissed her quickly, adding more slime to her face. "See you in the morning, Lils."

Lily trooped up the stairs with some difficulty behind the other Ravenclaw and Gryffindor students and later just the Gryffindors as they continued their ascent to the seventh floor. The common room was packed with slime-covered students; Lily tried half-heartedly for a few moments to get everyone up to bed but then gave up and took her own shower before hopping gratefully into her comfortable four-poster. Gwen was next to her, snoring peacefully. Lily could still hear the noises from the common room below, but she was so tired she didn't pay them any attention. She sighed with contentment, for it had been one of her best birthdays in memory, before drifting off to sleep.

~*~*~*~*

The next morning, however, the tone of the common room was much different. When Lily went downstairs with Gwen and Dorcas, everyone looked as if their favorite dog had died - even Sirius, Remus, and Peter, who were sitting in their usual corner. James was nowhere to be seen.

"Morning," Gwen said, sitting down next to Sirius. "What's got into everybody?"

Sirius turned a very mournful face towards her. "We're done for, Gwen."

"What are you talking about?" Lily asked as she pulled a chair up next to Peter. "Where's James?"

"You know that slime last night?" Sirius asked, sighing heavily. Lily nodded. "Well, it turns out those two fourth years, Roger McKenzie and Allen Pope, bewitched all those pastries. And then, damn it, McGonagall took fifty points from each of them."

Gwen's jaw dropped. "What? But - but - that means-"

"Yeah," Sirius said grimly.

"Quidditch cup," Remus told Lily and Dorcas, both of whom were looking distinctly puzzled. "We're last now for it and the house cup, and Slytherin's first with 410 points - that's exactly 70 points more than us."

"Where's James?" Dorcas asked after a beat of shocked silence. "He hasn't thrown himself off the astronomy tower, has he?"

Peter shrugged miserably. "He said he was going somewhere to think. I suppose he wants to be left alone."

"Really, you think?" Gwen asked sarcastically, throwing her head back so it was resting on the top of the couch. "Sounds like a good idea, actually," she mumbled, staring at the ceiling.

"So we have to be seventy points in the lead against Ravenclaw before catching the Snitch this weekend to win the house and Quidditch cups?" Lily asked, her eyebrows launching towards the sky.

"Pretty much," Remus sighed, shooting glances at Sirius, who had buried his head in his hands.

"It'll never happen," Gwen, the eternal optimist, moaned. She turned her head around so it was smashed against the back of the couch. "They're too good," she said, her voice muffled. "Too good."

All day the Gryffindors moved through classes in a daze. The Slytherins, on the other hand, were almost indecently happy and took to joyfully proclaiming their sure victory all day. The Ravenclaws weren't out yet, though, and they were much happier than they had been before - a window had opened for them. If they pulled a huge win against the Gryffindors, they might be able to tie with Slytherin for the Quidditch cup....

Professor McGonagall was practically shunned by her house; Lily admired (secretly, of course) how she didn't flinch at all when she walked into the seventh years' Transfiguration class, only to be greeted with a sullen silence and glares. She endured a lesson of disinterest bordering on defiance, and only cracked when James said "Why did we ever believe she wanted us to really win?" loudly as he was lazily transfiguring his potted plant to a salad (with dressing) and back.

Professor McGonagall clenched her jaw, turned on James, and snapped, "I will not tolerate such abuse from you, Potter. I rather expected it was beneath you. Kindly act your age."

Lily bit her lip to keep from laughing at James's thunderstruck face as McGonagall swept away from his desk, wand and nose in the air. Sirius elbowed James with a guffaw and James gave him such a glare that Sirius backed off, though he continued to chuckle at his best friend. Gwen, who was seated next to Lily, didn't move; she'd been in the same position all lesson, staring at her potted plant, her blue eyes glazed over. Lily had secretly been transfiguring both Gwen's plant and her own all lesson. She didn't care as much as the others for the Quidditch cup, though she would, of course, be ecstatic if they won.

The two weeks preceding the match passed by rapidly. Even though they professed to have no hope, the team practiced at all hours, their homework and studying put on hold as they prepared for what would be their hardest match to date. All too soon, Lily, Dorcas, Remus, Peter, and Mary Katherine were heading down to the Quidditch pitch for the last match of the season. James, the captain, had encouraged his team to eat while taking nothing for himself; the team had, in turn, shuffled their eggs and bacon around their plates before finally giving up. The Gryffindors had never approached a match with such downtrodden spirits before. However, that didn't stop them from roaring at the top of their lungs as their team came out of the locker rooms. Lily looked around at the crowd; more than half were decked out in blue and white, including the Slytherins and the Hufflepuffs, though a few Hufflepuffs had dressed in scarlet and were cheering on the Gryffindors. Hestia Jones and Caradoc Dearborn were among those Hufflepuffs; Lily's heart warmed considerably towards them.

Lily turned her attention back to the game in time to see James shake hands with the Christopher Miller, who was, of course, the Ravenclaw captain, before mounting his broom and standing ready. Madam Hooch blew her whistle sharply and they all shot up into the sky.

The May day was very clear, for which Lily was quite grateful - it was very easy to spot the players. James in particular held her attention as he moved quickly through the air, dodging the players in the blue robes and shouting to his scarlet teammates. He was the first one to score a goal, only thirty seconds into the game, and the Gryffindor supporters roared as if they had won the cup.

From then on, it was almost easy. The Gryffindor team had never played so well before; its coordination was perfect, and its daring and ruthless moves elicited gasps of surprise from its supporters and rivals alike. Sirius and his fellow Beater, Amelia Proust, were all over the field, saving their team members from the vicious Bludgers and hitting them with deadly accuracy at the Ravenclaws. Betty Harkerator, their Keeper, had never been in such fine form; she only let the Quaffle past her and into the goal twice. After nearly an hour of play, the score was a miraculous eighty to twenty. Lily's hands were clenched as she watched Lucinda Cunvil, one of the Chasers, weave through the Ravenclaws. All they needed was one more goal....Just one more, then Gwen could start looking for the Snitch-

The roars of the Gryffindor supporters that rang out through the stadium when Lucinda flung the Quaffle into the far right hoop in their goal were deafening. Jon Cox, who was again commenting, was a Gryffindor fan, and was beside himself with glee.

"AND I DON'T BELIEVE IT! GRYFFINDOR'S MANAGED TO PULL SEVENTY POINTS INTO THE LEAD! YOU KNOW WHAT THIS MEANS, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN - GWEN WATSON, START LOOKING FOR THAT SNITCH!"

Gwen didn't need to be told twice. She was already pelting around the stadium, her eyes peeled keenly for a glimmer of the tiny Golden Snitch, the Ravenclaw Seeker on her heels.

But things had turned for the worse below the two. The Ravenclaw team, enraged that it was being beaten so terribly, managed to score again against Betty, and were awarded with a penalty shot when Sirius hit Christopher with his bat and pretended he hadn't noticed the Keeper was there. John Tucker got the Quaffle past Betty, and the Gryffindors moaned in disappointment. Gwen slowed down her search and looked grimly at her teammates. James called a timeout.

After Madam Hooch called the team back into the air, the Gryffindors fought with new enthusiasm. They had tasted the cup and weren't about to give it up. James scored against Christopher; the score was now 100 to 40. Gryffindor was awarded a penalty when Christopher, in retaliation for his earlier assault, elbowed Sirius in the eye. Lucinda and Geoffrey had to physically restrain Gwen from rushing at Christopher as James got the shot past him, making the Gryffindors once again seventy points in the lead.

And then, everyone's heart stopped as the Ravenclaw Seeker dove sharply from his position near the Ravenclaw goal hoops; the Gryffindor supporters screeched as one for Gwen, who was still near the Gryffindor hoops, to turn around. The Snitch was fluttering about ten feet off the ground, right smack in the middle of the pitch. Gwen was soon hurtling towards the ground, gaining on the Ravenclaw Seeker every second. ... They were level....

"YES!"

Cheers exploded from the stands as Gwen rose out of the dive with the tiny Golden Snitch clutched tightly in her palm, face flushed with exertion and her victory. And then Sirius grabbed her and kissed her. James hit both of them with the force of a battering ram a second later; the rest of the team copied him and they slowly moved towards the ground in a huge bundle.

Lily, Remus, Peter, Dorcas, and Mary Katherine sprinted down the stairs and onto the field as quickly as they could. By the time they were on the ground, the seven team members were on the shoulders of the hysterical Gryffindor supporters, being carried slowly towards the place where Professor Dumbledore stood with the Quidditch cup. Lily's heart felt like it was going to burst as James took the cup from Dumbledore and held it aloft before passing it to Gwen, who was sobbing unrestrainedly onto Sirius's neck. James searched the people, looking for someone, as Lily fought fiercely through the screaming crowd, trying to get to him.

"Get out of my bloody way, I'm Head Girl! Excuse me!" she yelled, and finally James spotted her; he untangled himself from the people holding him aloft and elbowed his way through. She flung her arms around him when they finally found each other, and when he kissed her in the middle of the roaring crowd, she knew that it just didn't get much better than this.