Seeing is Believing

Tap, tap, tap, tap. Lily Evans's fingers drummed rhythmically on her chair's armrest, trying to rid herself of her fidgety impatience. As Head Girl, she was supposed to patrol the corridors at night with the Head Boy, who had yet to show his face. Anxiously, she checked her watch. He was now seventeen minutes and fifteen seconds late. Lily had half a mind just to go out on patrol without him; she wished that the Hogwarts letter with her Head Girl badge would have told her who the Head Boy was so she could track him down and haul his arse down here to act on his responsibility as a school leader.

Of course, because she knew that the Head Boy was also a Gryffindor, she could always just go up the seventh year boys' dormitory and ask which one of them was Head Boy, but Lily didn't particularly like the idea of having to go up to the place where the despicable James Potter and his group of trouble making pranksters inhabited.

Suddenly, the sound of hurried footsteps came her way, from behind her. Lily rolled her eyes, knowing that this being a deserted room, it had to be the Head Boy. Finally, she thought irritably.

"Sorry I'm late, I -"

Lily's eyes widened in shock at the familiarity of the voice. No, not the fact that the voice was familiar, but regarding who the voice belonged to. Closing her eyes, she bit back a scream of frustration as the footsteps came to a screeching halt in front of her.

"Er . . . Evans? Are you awake?" Lily felt a gentle hand softly shaking her shoulders a little.

Grumpily, Lily's eyes shot open, and she shook his hand off roughly. "Of course," she said, her voice sounding harsher than she intended. This was her last year at Hogwarts, and she was not going to take his crap anymore. "You're . . ." she trailed off, checking her watch, "nineteen minutes late."

James Potter ran a hand through his disheveled hair sheepishly, much to Lily's irritation. "I know, I'm really sorry," he said, actually sounding apologetic. "I was unpacking and talking to my friends and lost track of the time . . ." Smiling uncertainly at Lily's austere expression, he politely reached a hand out to help her out of the comfy armchair. "Er, ready to go?"

Lily watched his hand with disdain for a moment, but relented and grabbed it, allowing him to pull her up. To tell the truth, she was surprised at his chivalry. James Potter, a polite gentleman? Who'd thought it'd be possible?

He had also gone first and held the portrait hole open for her. Well, Lily mused, this is different.

James looked uncertain as he stood outside, glancing in both directions.

"Lost?" Lily asked innocently.

He sent her that infamous, usually infuriating smirk. For some reason, it didn't bother her this time as much as it had done in the past. "Just waiting to play 'follow the leader'. Where do we start patrolling?"

Lily jerked her head to the right. "We have a schedule. We're supposed to patrol the Transfiguration corridor -that general area."

James looked confused. "Schedule? When'd we get that?"

"On the train, when the Head Boy and Girl and the Prefects were supposed to meet in the compartment," Lily explained, a hint of accusation in her voice. He had been absent at that meeting.

"Damn," James said eloquently. "Sorry."

"You say that a lot," Lily pointed out.

"Sorry about that."

Lily rolled her eyes, and they continued patrolling in silence, the only audible sounds being their footsteps tapping on the floor. She was surprised that, given the opportunity of getting her alone, James did not make a move on her as he'd done countless times before, in front of huge crowds of people. It was ironic, really. In public he had plenty to say, but in private . . . she glanced at him out of the corner of her eye, and found him looking at her. Noticing that Lily had caught him in the act, James quickly averted his eyes away, staring determinedly in front of him.

She frowned at James's strange behavior, but didn't think on it too much. Feeling compelled to look at him again, Lily saw that he was opening his mouth to speak; she groaned inwardly. Here they go again. Already, Lily could predict what was going to happen: James was going to ask her out for the billionth time, Lily was going to reject him, and the rest of the patrol would be even more insufferable and awkward than it was already.

But he surprised her.

"I knew you'd get the Head Girl position," he commented lightly.

She blinked. "Why?" Lily didn't know what else to say to that, for she couldn't honestly repeat the compliment back to James. To tell the truth, James was the last person she'd thought would get the Head Boy position . . . Lily had been pretty sure it'd be Remus or someone responsible -at the very least not a ring leader of the Marauders.

"Isn't it obvious?" James asked, looking confused that Lily was asking that. "You're smart, kinda strict, responsible, trustworthy, pretty . . ." he trailed off, grinning slightly.

Lily wasn't sure how to answer to that. This wasn't the pompous James Potter she thought she'd known. What happened? But after that, the silence was so unbearably uncomfortable that she had to say something. "So . . . what are you going to be?"

"Be?"

"You know, your job after Hogwarts . . ."

He paused. "Oh. Actually, if I get all the N.E.W.T.s -an Auror." James blushed, looking embarrassed for once. It highly amused Lily that he seemed so unabashed about his current "accomplishments" but so self-conscious regarding his future.

"What about you?" James asked, quickly changing the subject from himself, which Lily found unusual.

"I dunno. Something to do with Charms, I suppose -my best subject. Maybe a curse breaker or something at Gringotts."

James smiled, looking interested. "You'd be good at any job."

"Thanks," Lily said, slightly unsure of his sincerity. But there didn't seem to be a trace of sarcasm in his voice or his expression, so she offered him a smile in return, a rare gift when James Potter was concerned.

He looked as if he was going to say something else, but the familiar voice of a midnight snogging session in the broom closet caught their attention. Exchanging mischievous grins, James and Lily stood in front of the door. Raising his wand, the trademark Marauder grin erupting on his face, James blasted the door open with his wand.

"Theatrical, aren't you?" Lily commented as she coughed out the dust and wood chips that had blown into her face at the explosion.

But James ignored her. Instead, he was staring horror struck at what Lily had yet to see. But gradually, the startled expression on his face melted into amusement. Leaning over to see what had surprised James so much, Lily saw Sirius Black, looking ruffled and slightly shocked at being caught.

"Prongs?" he asked cautiously, as if unsure whether or not he was really seeing what he thought he was. "Did you really just blast the door open?" Sirius turned around, noticing Lily. "And you told on me to the Head Girl . . . I thought you weren't speaking to him?" Sirius pointed out, directing his attention to Lily now.

Lily frowned. She'd forgotten about that particular vow from last year. But then, she'd made them so many times, no one could begrudge her for forgetting some of them, right?

Scowling, James retorted, "I'm Head Boy, you dolt. I told you, remember? You were there when I got the bloody letter!"

Sirius untangled himself from his girl-of-the-week, and looked up at his best friend. "Oh, yeah, I forgot. Just can't imagine you as the door blasting -well, actually, I can imagine that -troublemaking catching, responsible Head Boy."

"He's got a point," Sirius's snogging partner agreed.

Both of the Heads glared at the girl, causing her to meekly shut up.

Lily sighed. "Twenty points from Gryffindor for being out during curfew."

James turned around to his counterpart, protesting indignantly, "Come off it, Evans! Isn't that a bit harsh? They were just having a little bit of fun."

Arching an eyebrow, Lily averted her eyes back to the broom closet, which was an utter, chaotic mess, probably due to the two thrashing about. "You call that a little fun?" she asked sarcastically. "Besides, twenty points isn't that much; I'm sure you'll win it back at the next Quidditch match, being so good at ruffling your hair and all. You'll distract the other players easily -maybe make them drop the Quaffle so they can admire you."

His mouth gaped open a little bit, but James caught himself and closed his mouth, blushing furiously. "At least I'm not a stuck up, stiff . . . board!" he retorted, failing to come up with a proper comeback with Lily's striking eyes boring into his. The beautiful emeralds that James had fallen for were enough to nearly render him speechless, an impressive accomplishment.

She didn't say anything, just stared at James through narrowed green eyes.

"Actually," Sirius's companion piped up, "I'm in Hufflepuff, not Gryffindor."

Lily's glare shifted to her, causing the girl to shrink back, trying to hide behind Sirius. "Fine," Lily said icily, "twenty points from Hufflepuff too, then."

James sent Sirius an exasperated look that clearly read, "You snog these kinds of people?"

With a final glare at the two Marauders, Lily stalked off around the corner, breaking into a run as soon as she was sure they couldn't see her.

* * *

That bloody James Potter, Lily fumed angrily, looking over her shoulder tentatively. He'd been hounding her all week, apologizing profusely for his comment. But she knew the truth; the prat was confused about why she was so furious about what he considered a rather tame statement.

Actually, Lily wasn't so sure herself of the reason. The only thing she could chalk it up to was plain, pure disappointment. It was just . . . that night, Potter had actually begun to sound mature, like someone worth talking to, someone with a heart. But, at the end, they had argued again, and she had seen the old, pompous James Potter shine through. Of course, as many things, his good side would not last; she should have known that.

So now she was stuck with him for patrols, none of which repeated the comfortable conversation at the beginning of the first one. Lily treated him with the silent treatment throughout, and finally he eventually stopped trying to talk to her, although he had originally tried to reconcile with her every chance he got.

Suddenly, someone's frantic footsteps pounded on the floor behind her. Closing her eyes in irritation, she swirled around to scream at Potter, but found that it was her friend Celia instead.

"Oh," she said in relief, "it's you."

Celia raised her eyebrows in amusement. "Wow, you sound excited to see me."

"Sorry, Cel, I thought you were Potter for a second."

She grinned. "You have gotten paranoid in the past week. Anyway, guess what I learned from Professor Sansmen today."

Lily frowned. She never liked Divination; she thought it was a load of bullshit, but Celia apparently possessed a fragment of the All Seeing Eye, and was taking lessons with the Divination teacher to try and enhance her dormant powers. "I dunno," Lily shrugged. "What'd you learn this time?"

Celia was practically jumping up and down in excitement as she took out a small, clear colored crystal ball in her hands. "It's a special kind of crystal ball," she explained, "and when used, it turns into the color that best represents the person who's future is being seen. C'mon, let's try it!"

"But . . . but why are you using it on me?" Lily asked, absolutely baffled. Celia knew perfectly well what Lily's feelings were on Divination.

Her friend practically shoved the ball into her hands, impatiently explaining, "Because you were the one who needs guidance the most. I mean, look at your nonexistent love life! We've got to figure out if anybody but Potter is going to be a figure in your life. Or," she added, smirking mischievously, "if he's going to be the one." Celia laughed at Lily's horror struck expression.

Lily bit her lip, staring at the little crystal ball, unsure about this whole thing.

"Oh come on, Lily, it won't jump out and attack you," Celia chastened. "What harm would trying do?"

Finally, knowing Celia wouldn't rest until Lily agreed to be her guinea pig, she reluctantly gave in. "Fine," she relented. "What do we do?"

"Put your hands out, holding the ball," Celia instructed, and Lily complied, reaching her hands towards Celia, palms up. Her friend slid her own palms underneath Lily's and stared at the crystal ball intently, her eyes practically ablaze in concentration. To Lily's surprise, the ball's smoky swirls began changing color, turning into a brilliant shade of green -the same as Lily's eyes. Then, Celia looked up, but she seemed to seeing past Lily, into the depths of her emerald eyes.

Lily felt extremely uncomfortable with all this, with the intense glimmer in Celia's eyes. She tried hard to break eye contact, to look anywhere else but found herself unable to avert her gaze.

Her struggle ceased when she saw a flurry of images flashing through Celia's eyes, through Lily's head, faster and faster in a swirl of colors and quick pictures. As the images flitted through, she caught snippets of clear figures: a tall, dark haired man, his arms wrapped around a red haired woman with green eyes' shoulders; a baby in a cradle; and a beautiful house.

With a sharp gasp, Celia broke eye contact with Lily and took deep, haggard breaths. Lily blinked and tried to absorb what she'd just seen, noting that the crystal ball was slowly going back to its original white swirls.

"Wow," Celia gasped, laughing, "it wasn't that fast when Professor Sansmen did it."

But Lily was confused. "Wait, wasn't I actually supposed to see everything?"

Celia frowned. "You didn't see the whole vision?" At Lily's shake of her head, she mused, "Maybe it was too long, so it couldn't be shown instantly? Mine was pretty short."

"What'd you want to see?" Lily asked curiously.

"What the surprise for Defense Against the Dark Arts was going to be," Celia answered, grinning impishly.

Lily's mouth dropped. "Out with it!"

"But that'd be cheating, wouldn't it?" Celia teased, clearly enjoying infuriating her friend. "Anyway, for your vision, maybe you should use a Pensive to see the entire thing; you know, take your time with it. Sansmen has one, and I'm sure he'll let you use it if I ask."

Lily bit her lip, wondering if it was really worth wasting her time just to see a bloody vision. But, curiosity got the best of her, and she relented for the second time that day. After giving Celia an affirmative nod, they both made their way up the long, winding staircase to the Divination room, where Celia said her professor was sure to still be.

"Professor Sansmen?" Celia called after knocking on the door.

"Come in," his muffled voice said through the thick door. Tentatively, the two friends stepped into the foggy room, Lily coughing from the strong smoke swirling around the room. "Terribly sorry for the smog, Miss Evans," Professor Sansmen apologized from somewhere in the haze. "I find it better to predict when surrounded with simple fog, when it seems like you are surrounded by nothingness. But I'm sure you'd rather not listen to me go on about this; you had a rather obvious distaste for the subject if I remember correctly."

Celia giggled and Lily blushed at this perfectly true comment. Really, she'd only signed up for Divination because as a Muggle, she had found it somewhat interesting to see how it really worked. Of course, when she got there, Lily just found it extremely annoying and soon became irritated when she made absolutely no progress in the field. It had nothing to do with the Professor, of course; he, Lily believed, did possess some kind of talent for premonition.

"You've come to borrow my Pensive," he stated, not even bothering to phrase it as a question. It was moments like these that made Lily believe in his authenticity.

"Yes, if you'll let me, Professor," Lily said politely.

"But of course, Miss Evans . . . it's in my office. Let me just clear this smog . . ."

Suddenly, the smoke stopped swirling and began gliding towards something, which, as the room became clearer, revealed itself to be Professor Sansmen's wand. "Accio Pensive!" he called clearly. A dark object flew out from an opened door and landed in the Professor's outstretched hand, who carefully placed it on a table. "Here, Miss Evans," he said, beckoning her over to him.

Once she stood on the other side of the Pensive, he began explaining how it worked, apparently sensing that she did not know. "Now, what you need to do is put the wand to your temple and think of the memory you wish to see. Since your vision was quick and blurred, just focus and think about whatever fragments you did see. Once you do that, take your wand away from your head; you should see a silver, hair like substance coming out. Put that in the Pensive, and dive in."

He finished explaining and waited for Lily to act on his instructions. Lily hesitated; this all sounded very fishy to her. Was Celia or the Marauders playing some kind of prank on her? Ah, what the hell, she thought, jabbing her head with her wand and extracting the memory of the vision.

"Good luck," Celia said. Lily nodded and took a deep breath before taking the plunge.

She felt like she was falling forever. There was no up or down, right or left, just . . . emptiness. But as soon as she thought this, she landed onto solid ground, her fall cushioned by the soft rug she was sprawled on. Lily groaned and slowly got up, taking in her surroundings.

It was homey. Definitely homey. The atmosphere gave off a nostalgic feeling, one that made Lily think of home. She cocked her head at the television sitting humbly in the corner amidst the moving photos on the walls. Curious, Lily moved closer to the picture, smiling at a picture of a red haired woman -herself -holding a little baby in a hospital. It was a cute image, but unnerving at the same time. Lily started to question whether or not she actually wanted to know what was going to be her future. Honestly, wouldn't she spend her whole life trying to get everything exactly the way it was here or attempting to change what may be unchangeable?

But Lily didn't know how to get out. She mentally kicked herself; she should have asked the Professor beforehand!

"Er -I'd like to leave now," Lily said tentatively, staring up at the ceiling. "Hello! Celia, Professor! I want to get out!" When she received no response, Lily screwed her eyes tight and concentrated on getting out of the Pensive. When that didn't work, she figured that she must have to complete the memory in order to get out.

After her resignation, that dratted sense of curiosity overtook her again, leading her feet towards the door, through the hallway, and up the stairs until she reached a door.

"This must be where I'm supposed to go," she mused, turning the brass knob.

Tentatively, she pushed the door open, unsure of what she would find. Immediately, Lily was overwhelmed with a sense of magic -sure enough, the green wallpaper was covered with flying snitches, actually darting back and forth animatedly. She smiled, feeling the girly urge to "aww" at the cute décor.

The smile slid off her face as she absorbed the two figures in front of her. Both had their backs to her and were talking quietly. Lily immediately recognized herself from the flaming red hair draped down the woman's back, but the man she could not trace. But then, who's to say this man -who she assumed to be her future husband -was someone she knew already? What if he was someone she met far into the future, or even tomorrow?

Lily made to move closer, to be able to see the faces, but found herself reluctant to do so. Instead, she continued staring at the tall man's lean posture, the way his hand lightly touched the crook of his wife's back, the unruly black hair that seemed untamed . . . hair that seemed peculiarly familiar.

Wait.

Horror filled Lily as an appalling, impossible thought occurred to her. But no, it couldn't be -she would never -no way, not after everything she's seen, not with the hatred she held for him . . . no, this whole thing must be some kind of joke -maybe Celia was working with the Marauders on this?

"Ha-ha, very funny," Lily sneered at the ceiling. "Bloody hilarious, you lot are."

Not surprisingly, she didn't get a response, though Lily could clearly imagine the lot of them -James included -having a great big laugh at all of this.

Well, now that she knew that this whole thing was a fabricated prank, Lily felt no hesitation in stepping around the crib to get a clear view. She had to admit, she knew the Marauders were extremely clever, but to fabricate a whole memory perfectly? Lily was impressed against her will.

Sure enough, a slightly older James Potter was beaming proudly at the blue bundle inside the cradle, a bundle that began to stir. Slowly, the baby opened his slumbering eyes, revealing big green eyes that mirrored Lily's.

"And we just got him to go to sleep too," Fake Lily said, though she didn't seem to be particularly upset about this.

"But he's a good boy. You are, aren't you?" James added, looking down at their "son" with such a staggering amount of love that it took Lily aback. There was a sensitivity and tenderness in his gaze that Lily now realized existed in the seventh-year, Head Boy James Potter.

While she was musing over this, staring at James with a thoughtful frown and knitted eyebrows, the baby began to cry.

"I dunno if I'll ever get used to this," James groaned as the magic was broken. He removed his hand from Fake Lily's waist and picked up the crying baby, whose bright eyes could still be seen even when screwed up into slits.

"What are you talking about? You've lived with loud boys for seven years," Fake Lily teased.

"None of them cried. Well, Peter did that one time . . ."

"Oh, you mean when he thought he'd failed all of his exams-"

"-but found out his scores were switched. Y'know, even Peter isn't that stupid . . ."

"What a perfectly horrid thing to say."

"It was a compliment!"

Fake Lily rolled her eyes. "You're impossible, Mr. Potter."

"As are you, Mrs. Potter."

"As witty as your comebacks are, maybe you should concentrate on consoling Harry?"

"But I have. See, no one can resist the Potter charm, not even a Potter."

Fake Lily made a face. "Do you realize how wrong that sounds?"

"I'm just saying we're good at -say -making babies stop crying. What's so funny?"

"Nothing, James, nothing."

"Do you want to hold him? You're better at making him fall asleep than I am."

"What happened to the Potter charm?"

"Potters comfort exceptionally well, but lack the vocal skills to properly charm someone to sleep."

"Why can't you just say that you're an awful singer?"

"Because we're pompous, bullying toerags whose overblown, big-headed egos prevent us from admitting such a thing."

"You did fit those labels perfectly."

"Shh, I think he's asleep now."

Fake Lily glanced down at the peaceful face, smiling at Harry. She kissed him on the forehead and placed him back down in the cradle gently, wrapping his blanket around him.

Meanwhile, Lily watched this interaction with both interest and a sinking feeling in her stomach. They acted like each other -hell, they still bickered the same, though it was considerably friendlier. It was so weird that their arguing had actually calmed the baby -Harry, she thought his name was -instead of causing utter chaos and possibly hurt feelings.

More unbelievable was the fact that it was obvious that they loved each other.

Suddenly, Lily felt as if she had been lurched upwards, and moments later she found herself sprawled out on the floor of the Divination Room. Regaining her dignity, Lily quickly stood up and brushed off her robes, glaring at Celia all the while.

"What'd you see?" Celia asked eagerly.

"A very funny joke," Lily replied irritably. "Thought it was funny, did you? Were the Marauders in on this?"

Celia looked genuinely confused. "What are you talking about, Lily?"

"Please, Celia, don't play dumb."

"Is everything alright, girls?" Professor Sansmen asked, though his expression indicated that he already knew the answer to his own query.

Lily suddenly had an idea -Professor Sansmen definitely would not be in on the joke; he wasn't like that. "Professor? I was just wondering if what I saw was real, or a joke that Celia played on me."

The Professor stared at Lily for a moment, before replying promptly, "The crystal cannot lie, and neither can Celia."

Bollocks.

Once again, that wave of horror washed over Lily. She was to marry James Potter, have children with him! Merlin, just that thought alone was enough to make Lily want to throw up. Yes, James was good looking, athletic, charismatic, and much more gentleman-like and mature this year but . . . but he was still a bullying toerag!

Bloody hell.

Lily continued cursing in her head as she fled the room, ignoring Celia's trailing footsteps behind her.

"Lily! Lily! Lils, wait!"

She ignored her and kept on speed walking, eventually breaking into a sprint. Her legs carried her body as if in the air, feeling weightless and she just ran through the archaic Hogwarts hallway, trying to wipe that scary, frightening, horrifying image out of her mind.

With a sharp jerk, Lily found her mind coming back to reality as she found herself sprawled on the floor once again, this time bringing someone down with her.

"Sorry," she muttered, holding her head painfully.

"It's okay. Need a help up?"

Lily froze at the familiarly calloused hands in front of her, the same voice that had stalked her for six years. Still angry about the Pensive for reasons unknown to her, she had half a mind to refuse the help up. However, after looking into those surprisingly sincere hazel eyes, she couldn't bring herself to reject him again, especially for such a trivial act of chivalry.

Silently, Lily grasped his hand, allowing him to pull her up. "Where were you running to?" he asked cautiously, as if afraid she'd rear out and attack.

Shrugging, she answered, "Nowhere." Lily realized that if she was going to ask if the memory thing was his idea, the time would be now -yet she didn't have the energy to, which was strange in itself. Lily Evans never lacked the energy to give James Potter a good telling off.

James nodded, accepting her answer instead of interrogating her further, as he would have done before. He opened his mouth to say something, and Lily cringed, waiting for the dreaded words, "Will you go out with me, Evans?"

"See you later, Lily," he said instead, catching her extremely off guard.

As she watched James walk off, listening to his barely audible footsteps, she found herself admiring his athletic stature, his ridiculously adorable tousled hair, his confident strides . . .

He had changed this year. James Potter still remained confident, talented, and handsome, but much of the ego had gone. For whatever reason, he had matured and became more . . . subtle, if that was the word for it. Before, Lily couldn't even comprehend ever going out with him -though now, she wondered why the proposition of one single date had rattled and annoyed her so much. Now that she thought of it, she could have said "yes" to any one of those offers and, if she didn't like him, never go out with him again and avoid the years of harassing.

So why didn't she?

Was she scared that she, Lily Evans, might actually like James Potter?

As those thoughts churned in her head, Lily felt the bold Gryffindor in her urging her to take a chance, to try it one time, no matter how much that image of her future scared her.

"James!"

He turned around, slight surprise in his eyes despite the impish grin that tugged at his lips.

Lily caught up to him, not quite believing that she was actually doing this, and firmly and confidently broke her vow.

"James, will you go out with me?"