Lily's Decision

Lily's eyes swept over the Great Hall, now serving as a dance floor for her first Yule Ball. There was James, two couples away, biting his lip in concentration, but waltzing competently enough. Circe, a thin smile pasted on her face, was practically leading.

Circe had what she wanted, didn't she? But she wasn't grinning in amusement, as Lily would have done, she wasn't looking in Sirius's direction and breaking into outright laughter with him and Remus, only to have James join in, too. Circe Clearwater wasn't a Marauder, after all....

Speaking of Sirius and Remus (or, rather, thinking of them, since Lily's own partner would definitely not have wanted to hear their names), where were they?

Nowhere near James--though, if Lily had been his partner, they would have stayed by him all night. They and Peter and Hildy. The Marauders would have gone to the Yule Ball together, just as they went everywhere together. They'd have laughed and danced all night. They'd have included Hildy Siegfried, Peter's partner, a pink-cheeked, easygoing fifth-year from Hufflepuff House, because she was a Marauder kind of girl.

Sirius and Remus were on the other side of the room, twirling through the waltz with synchronized athletic grace. Ignoring James because Circe was with him, and, as Sirius put it, "Circe rubs me the wrong way."

And avoiding Lily like the plague, because she was with--

"You dance beautifully, Lily," Severus said softly. He wrapped his arm a little tighter, drew her closer to him, until their bodies almost touched. Lily felt warmth radiating from him. She responded with a warmth of her own, that crept out from her heart to her face. He led in their dance, with all the confidence James lacked, with the grace and strength of the championship dueler he was. He swept them through the swirling couples to his favorite spot in the center of the floor.

"Thank you, Severus," Lily answered, sounding ridiculously prim to her own ears. An answer suited to the old Severus, when the new Severus was so much changed.

Or was it only that she'd gotten to know Severus Snape better than she'd ever known him, in the five-and-a-half years since she'd entered the Hogwarts School? He had changed, physically. He was nearly as tall as James, but, unlike James, he had grown into his height. All those summers at his family's villa on the Mediterranean, she supposed, sailing and swimming in the azure sea. To say nothing of dueling. He'd been on the Slytherin team since his second year, and, as the youngest Captain of a dueling team in Hogwarts history, had led the Slytherins to the school championship every year since his fourth year. Even Lily, though she was generally accounted a good dueler, hadn't won a match against him yet.

The competition, either from Gryffindor House or Lily Evans, hadn't bothered Severus--at least, not this year. It hadn't kept him from seeking her out as his partner in the term-long sixth-year Herbology/Potions project. But then, Lily was very nearly Severus's equal in Potions, and had a few points on him in Herbology.

So they'd partnered in the project. Lily had thought it was nothing more, on Severus's part, than Slytherin ambition to beat James out for the post of Head Boy next year. And, on her part, the hope that, with the cleverest Potioner in the school as her partner, she'd make a good grade on the project the St. Mungo's internship program weighted most heavily in considering their applicants' records.

She hadn't reckoned on the moonlit walks by the edge of the lake and the Forbidden Forest every week, to collect specimens. Professor Bose never failed to sign the necessary permission for Snape, the best student in his House, for him and his project partner to be out after curfew. And so they'd collected: fungi, ferns, roots, aerial parts. And just as much--maybe more--they talked, about every subject under the sun, and moon. Lily had never guessed the reserved and aloof Severus Snape could be so confiding. Even more confiding, when he didn't talk. When his hand brushed hers as they knelt together to examine a herb. When he gazed at her, long and silently, a strange softness in black eyes that normally glittered with cynicism.

When, last week, under the waning moon, beneath the spreading branches of an elm, he'd moved close to her and asked if he could take her to the Yule Ball.

Lily was startled. But the "Yes!" was out of her mouth before she was over her surprise. And how could she take it back when he folded her hand in both of his, twining his fingers around hers, and smiled with such happy gratitude? When, with her power buzzing and tingling deep inside her, in a brand-new way, the thing she wanted at that moment, most of all, was to go to the Yule Ball with Severus Snape?

It had been the only moment, since Professor Dumbledore had announced there would be a Yule Ball that year, that she hadn't wished James would ask her....

The waltz ended. But Severus kept his hand on Lily's waist until they found one of the small tables at the edge of the dance floor. They passed Lucius Malfoy and Narcissa Black on the way, but Severus didn't even notice their stares of icy contempt. Lily did, and she had to fight to contain her mocking smile.

Poor Severus! His own crowd had cut him dead ever since he'd started spending so much time with the Muggle-born girl. He didn't seem to care. He was either supremely courageous or supremely contemptuous of Slytherin opinion--Lily had never gotten up the nerve to ask him which.

They reached a small empty table surrounded by four chairs. Severus pulled one of them out and practically bowed Lily into it and bent over her solicitously.

"May I get you a drink, Lily? Something to eat?"

"Yes, thanks. A sandwich and a glass of pumpkin punch?"

"Certainly."

Severus threaded his way neatly through the press of students and teachers, his dress robe of black velvet and green silk swirling around his ankles, a study in surprisingly elegant good taste.

Lily gazed after him ponderingly. After a minute or so, with the distinct feeling she was being watched, she looked away.

She was being watched. From some twenty feet away, James was looking at her, his round hazel eyes magnified by his glasses. Then Circe came up behind him and touched him on the arm. Turning away, he followed his partner. Circe, the girl he'd asked to the Ball instead of Lily.

Blushing, Lily looked down at the tabletop.

"Enjoying the view?" said a voice behind her.

Lily started and turned. It was Sirius, frowning down at her, eyes ablaze, arms folded tightly against his chest. Remus was nowhere in sight.

Lily tilted her head and eyed him: she wasn't in the mood for Sirius Black tonight. "Which one?"

Sirius unfolded his arms, bent close to Lily's ear and whispered harshly. "Why did you do it?" He tossed his head in the direction of the buffet tables. "Why did you let that great black bat take you to the Ball? Why do you let him waltz with you? Fondle you?"

"Helpful for a change, are you, Black? Prising Severus out of the Mudblood chit's clutches?"

The cold, snide voice was unmistakable. Sirius whirled, pulling his wand from his robe and aiming it at Lucius Malfoy, who stood smiling a few paces to his left.

"No!" cried two voices at once. One was Lily's, as she launched herself from her seat for Sirius's wand arm.

The other voice was Remus Lupin's He'd appeared out of nowhere, throwing himself between Malfoy and Sirius. Now he stood in front of Sirius, holding one of Sirius's forearms in each hand, gripping so fiercely that Sirius dropped his wand. Remus, meanwhile, faced Malfoy and Malfoy's wand pointing straight at his chest.

Sirius squirmed. "Did you hear what he called her? Let me at him!" But he struggled in vain, for it was the new moon and Remus was at the very top of his vast strength.

"No," said Remus, staring at the tip of Malfoy's wand.

"Lily. Are these--people--bothering you?"

Lily, who had never made it to Sirius's wand arm, now turned to see Severus standing behind her, a tray of drinks and sandwiches in his hand. He swept his eyes over the tableau with annoyance.

"Hello, Severus," Remus said, without taking his eyes off Malfoy's wand or his hands off the squirming, struggling Sirius. "Could I suggest that you speak to your friend, before he gets himself suspended?"

"I don't need you to advise me, Lupin," Severus said. His eyes stopped on Malfoy, though, with the coldest anger and dislike Lily had seen in them yet.

"But he has a point, you know, Lucius," Severus said in a smooth, very adult-sounding voice. "You've caught Dumbledore's attention, and you're the only one left holding a wand."

Lily looked at Malfoy. Astonishment and a chill like the point of a knife went straight through her. There were two blotches of red in Malfoy's cheeks. His jaw was rigid with fury. And in his pale, narrowed eyes fixed on Severus was the look of a cold-blooded murderer.

But he slid his wand back inside his robes and made a stiff little bow. "You've given me fair warning, Severus," he said softly, staring at Snape. "Thank you."

Severus nodded coolly. Malfoy turned on the ball of his foot and strode off.

Just then James ran up, his hair on end and his face flushed. "What's going on here?"

"Nothing," Remus said. He was still restraining Sirius, who, writhing and stretching after Malfoy, was still trying to break free. "Everything's fine--Stop it, Sirius!" He, James and Lily all said the last at once.

"Did you hear what he called her--?"

"I don't care what he called me!" Lily said.

Sirius jerked around, his eyes flicking from Lily to Severus and back again. "Maybe not, since you've all but joined Slytherin House."

Severus stepped forward menacingly. "Black--"

"Leave her alone, Sirius!" James cried at the same time Severus spoke. Lily noticed that an apprehensive knot of students, including Peter, Hildy and Circe, had gathered around them at a safe distance.

"Come on, you two," James said to Sirius and Remus. "Let's go."

"Yes, Potter," Severus said. "Do please clear your thugs out of here and leave Lily and me in peace."

James stopped cold. His face was still red and he was breathing hard. Eyes bright, mouth working, he stared, first at Severus, then at Lily. He made a strange sound in his throat, as if he was choking back a retort, then turned away and headed for the group of students. Right for Circe, who took his hands in hers and whispered soothingly, who, walking away with James, looked over her shoulder at Lily with smug triumph.

#

What Lily had used to call Severus's arrogance carried them through several more dances. Now she called it his pride, and tried to match it whenever she felt the eyes of Malfoy and his Slytherin gang on them, or Sirius's glare, or Circe's glances of ill-disguised glee. With their last dance, another waltz, he whirled her away from their observers, to end in a shadowy alcove just to the right of the orchestra.

The music faded. Laughter and chatter arose in its stead. Lily Evans and Severus Snape seemed to have been forgotten.

"Poor Lily," Severus said gently. "Don't you want to get out of here?"

"No!" she said defiantly. "I'm having a wonderful time."

"You're very brave." No candles lit the alcove, and Severus's face was shadowed, softened in the dim light. "Transcending the views of your friends about Slytherins. About me."

"They just don't know you, that's all. And you don't know them. They're a lot nicer than you think, really--"

"Wait, Lily! Don't you remember?"

Lily blinked. "Remember what?"

"The meteor shower tonight! Remember, back when we didn't have partners for the ball--" Severus grinned sheepishly, which Lily, in nearly six years, had never seen him do--"we talked about sneaking up into the Astronomy tower to watch the shooting stars. It's a perfect night for it. A new moon, a clear sky--"

"And freezing temperatures." But Lily smiled as she said it. It would be wonderful. She loved the night sky; Astronomy was one of her best subjects.

"We'll go down to the classroom when we get cold and light a fire," Severus said. "You know Professor Sinistra always keeps wood by the fireplace in winter."

"Ahem." Lily's smile broadened. "She also locks the tower after curfew, to keep showoffs from killing themselves in falls off the viewing platform. If we want to get in, we'll have to break in."

"I know. You said that before. And I said I'd do it, if you were game." Severus's smile faded. A look of strange intensity replaced it. "Are you game?"

"Of course. I'm a Marauder, aren't I?"

Severus's mouth tightened with exasperation when he heard her say the name James and Sirius had given their circle of friends. Lily clapped her hand over her mouth, but couldn't stifle her giggles. Then, after a moment, Severus laughed, too.

#

"Where the hell have they gone?" Sirius demanded.

"Keep your voice down. And what are you talking about?" Remus said.

They had ringside seats, hunched over mugs of butterbeer at a small table bordering the dance floor. If he looked to his right, Sirius had a view of the entire dance floor and every couple on it. If he looked to his left, he could sweep his eyes over the rest of the tables and see every person seated at them. He could see everybody waiting for snacks and drinks at the buffet and bar. He could see James a few tables away, smiling atttentively as Circe chattered at him.

But Lily and Snape were nowhere. Nowhere in Sirius's sight, therefore nowhere in the Great Hall.

He leaned close to Remus and hissed. "I said, where's that vampire bat got to with Lily?"

Looking as though he'd just quaffed pickle juice instead of butterbeer, Remus eyed him. "I don't see where that's any business of yours. Unless you think Severus has kidnapped her?"

No. Wherever Snape had taken her, Lily had gone willingly. And that, Sirius thought, was the problem.

"It's James's business, isn't it? So that makes it our business, because we're his friends! Aren't we?" Sirius said the whole thing through such tightly gritted teeth you'd have thought he was talking in Parseltongue.

"If you were James's friend," Remus said, "you wouldn't have humiliated him the way you did tonight. In front of his friends, Peter and Hildy. In front of his partner, Circe. In front of his rival, Snape. And, most of all, in front of Lily."

"What can she see in that greasy bag of scum? She's not thinking straight; he's fed her some potion or other! We need to find them, get her away from him, give her an antidote. We need to talk to her--!"

Remus slammed his hand down on the tabletop. A few people at the surrounding tables looked up, their attention drawn by the noise. Over Remus's shoulder, Sirius saw James start and turn. He looked wonderingly at Sirius for a moment.

But Sirius knew he'd only get angry if he could hear what they were saying. He'd get angrier still if Sirius tried to talk him into leaving Circe and going to look for Lily. So Sirius didn't even bother to beckon him over. After a moment, James turned back to Circe.

Meanwhile, Remus was fuming. "We don't need to talk to Lily!" he whispered harshly. "We need to leave her alone, just like James said!"

"But--"

"Shut up and listen to me! This is not your choice to make! It's not my choice. It's not Snape's choice. It's not even James's choice. It's for Lily to decide which of the two of them she prefers, Snape or James!"

Sirius was silent for a moment. "You mean she hasn't decided yet? Even though she let Snape bring her to the ball?"

Remus's eyes drifted over to the alcove behind the orchestra. "I've been watching her, too. Just like you and James. And no, I don't think she's made up her mind."

"Well, James must think so," Sirius said, though James had kept aggravatingly mum on the subject. "He seems to have given up on her. Otherwise, why would he invite Circe to the ball?"

"Maybe," Remus said vaguely. He was looking at the back of James's head. James was nodding politely to Circe. As usual, his hair looked as though he'd been given a jolt of that stuff Sirius had been reading about in Muggle Studies, electricity.

"Maybe James just doesn't want Lily to feel responsible for his happiness," Remus said.

He sounded pretty doubtful. But "Ah, right," was all Sirius said, for an idea was forming in his mind. He was Padfoot, after all, and Paddy had a way of feeling responsible, even when no one else did.

"So you'll leave Lily alone, then?" Remus asked.

"Yeah. Yeah, you're right, I guess." Sirius was careful to add just the right dose of reluctance to his voice. If he sounded too convinced, Remus would get suspicious. He grinned. "I've been trying to get Lily to love James, and all I've done is get you to show how much you love me. Facing down Malfoy and his wand like that! You were magnificent." Sirius reached for Remus's warm, werewolf-prickly hand.

Remus gave it and smiled. "You promise you'll leave Lily in peace?"

Practically what Snape had said: Leave Lily and me in peace.

"Sure," Sirius said. "I promise."

#

It took another forty-five minutes, but Sirius was patient. He changed the subject off Lily and kept it off. He drew Remus on to the floor for several vigorous disco dances. Just as he hoped, Moony's appetite took over once they'd sat down again and caught their breath.

Remus rose. "After I make a stop in the men's room, I'm going to the buffet tables to get a glass of milk and a piece of that chocolate cake. Want anything?"

Sirius glanced at the buffet. They were out of pineapple puffs. Anybody who ordered them would have to wait for a few minutes while one of the elves serving the buffet sent down to the kitchen for another tray.

"Yeah, bring me pumpkin juice and a pineapple puff," Sirius said.

He waited until he saw Remus disappear into the men's room corridor. James still had his back to him, gabbing away with Circe, holding her hand. Looking like he was getting too used to her.

Sirius stood up and walked calmly to the main entrance, ducking in and out of the crowd, attracting no notice. Once he was out in the hallway, he headed up the marble staircase for Gryffindor tower. He'd need to stop in the dorm for the Marauder's Map and James's Invisibility Cloak. As James's best friend, he had the information he needed to get at both.

And then, onward.

Piece of cake, Sirius thought, smiling to himself. Chocolate cake.

#

Severus certainly knew a lot of opening and unbinding spells, Lily thought as she watched him work on the door in one wall of the Astronomy classroom that led to the top of the Astronomy tower. Maybe even some with a hint of the Dark to them. Occasionally he spoke words in no language she recognized, that made her feel colder than the frosty night air did, while blood-red or lurid green light flashed from his wand.

After fifteen minutes or so, he paused, sighing. "These spell-locks are the tightest I've ever come across."

He sounded as though he'd come across quite a few of them. Maybe Severus wasn't as law-abiding and straitlaced as she'd thought.

"Well, Professor Sinistra is a teacher, after all," Lily said. She drew her cloak tighter around her. They could go out into the grounds to look at the falling stars, she supposed. They wouldn't be alone, of course. What if they ran across Malfoy and Narcissa?

Lily made a face in the darkness. Malfoy and Narcissa didn't strike her as romantic stargazers.

James, on the other hand....

James and Circe. A worse thought, somehow, than Malfoy and Narcissa.

But that was none of Lily's affair. James had made his choice, and that was that.

Severus had gone back to work, but he was still getting nowhere. Lily had already tried her few opening spells and had obviously failed. Might as well go back to the ball. She was about to suggest it when her eyes fell on the padlock that held the door latch in place.

"Hold on a minute," she said to Severus. "I think I've got an idea."

Looking hopeful, Severus backed off. Lily bent close and turned the latched lock over in her hand. She took out her wand and tapped both door and lock. She'd guessed right: Professor Sinistra's spells protected against only magical, not physical attempts on the door. She likely didn't worry about physical attempts. No doubt she kept the key to that lock about her person, and anybody who actually took the trouble to batter the door would bring Filch at a run.

The keyhole in the padlock might be big enough, Lily thought. She reached up into her chignon and pulled out one of the larger hairpins that held it in place. The carefully-formed edifice practically collapsed; a large lock of hair fell over her shoulder.

Behind her, Severus drew a quick, sharp breath. Impatience, no doubt.

Lily looked up at him and smiled. He was watching her closely, though she couldn't see the expression on his face.

"If magic doesn't work, maybe my Muggle trick will," she said. She turned back to the padlock, inserted her hairpin in the keyhole, jiggled the tumblers a bit and pulled on the hasp. The lock clicked open.

"Aha!" Lily said. She unlatched the door and pushed. It creaked open into the pitch-black stairwell, which she lit with wandlight.

"Come on, Severus," Lily whispered gleefully.

He followed her inside, staring at her, his eyes intense and unnaturally bright in the dim light.

Lily began climbing the stairs. "Come on," she said. "And light your wand, too. Mine isn't enough for us both."

"Yes," Severus said. His voice sounded oddly hoarse. He lit his wand and followed her up the winding staircase to the viewing platform.

#

The meteors shot across the velvet sky, leaving their gleaming trails behind them, some so long that they curved a little in their traverse of the dome of night. Lily stared up at them, at least a dozen each minute, craning her neck in every direction until it ached. Severus had been right. It was a perfect night, clear and very cold--the temperature couldn't have been more than ten degrees.

But her awe was enough to keep Lily warm. The beauty of it all! The shooting stars, the blanket of snow covering the Hogwarts lawn, blue in the starlight, stretching to the many-limbed blackness of the Forbidden Forest. The ice gleaming faintly on the lake--it would be thick enough to skate on in a week, if the weather held.

She looked over at Severus, wrapped in his well-tailored, expensive-looking, fur-collared cloak (he came from a very wealthy pureblood family), his dark, intense gaze fixed on the night sky.

He wasn't James. Not sweet, comfortable and easily fun like James. And, unlike James, not entirely of the Light, Lily reminded herself, thinking uneasily of his strange incantation at the tower door, of the blood-red jet that had shot from his wand.

But he wasn't evil, either. He was the one who'd sent Malfoy packing when the rest of them, she, Sirius and Remus, had been all but at his mercy. And the look Malfoy had given Severus, the venom in Malfoy's voice when he'd spoken to him! Nobody Malfoy hated that much could be all bad.

Lily looked up again at the falling stars, showering like elegant fireworks. "Beautiful, isn't it?" she sighed.

"Yes," Severus whispered. She looked at him again, and their eyes met.

Was it that cold? Was that why she shivered?

"Are you cold, Lily?" Severus asked softly.

She shivered again, and pulled her cloak closer around her. "I guess I must be."

"We could go back down into the classroom and light the fire."

"Good idea."

They descended the staircase in silence. Severus piled some of Professor Sinistra's logs on to her well-swept hearth, and Lily charmed them ablaze. In a few minutes it was so warm that they both took off their cloaks and hung them on the classroom hooks. Then they went back to the fireplace and gazed into the hypnotically dancing flames.

How long before Lily felt Severus's hand slipping over her shoulder? Just long enough. His hand, resting warm and light against her neck, felt so good. So right.

She turned to look at him, at his face so close to hers, into eyes burning hotter than the fire. Their lips touched.

"Lily..."

Touched again, then pressed in kisses so fierce and hungry that Lily soon sensed nothing but Severus's lips, nothing but kisses, warmth and a roaring in her ears....

"Get your mouth off hers, you bastard! Right now!"

Lily and Severus broke apart at once. In the open classroom corridor doorway, his wand out and his face twisted with fury, stood Sirius Black.

Severus went white, then dark red. He drew his own wand. "How dare you?" he said in a soft, shaking voice. "You filthy-minded, gutter-mouthed peeping tom! Get out of here!"

Sirius stepped inside "You've got some colossal nerve, Snape." This wasn't the usual excitable Sirius, but one who spoke in a deliberate and dangerous voice. "Calling me names after I've just caught you slobbering over Lily Evans."

Severus took a dueling stance, easy, informal, but ready to spring. The deadly gleam in his eyes froze Lily in terror.

"You keep a civil tongue in your head, Black. And I'm telling you for the last time: get out."

Pointing his wand at Severus, Sirius took another step toward him. "Suppose I decide to stay?"

Severus raised his wand. "If you want that right, you'll have to fight for it."

The tremor had left Severus's voice. It was as smooth as silk. The gleam was still in his eyes, though. He was the championship dueler who wasn't above using a touch of Dark Magic....

"Let's get to it, then," Sirius said softly. "I've been waiting a long time for this. Let's get right down to it."

"No, you two," Lily whispered. "Stop. Severus, Sirius--"

Ignoring her, Sirius and Severus extended their wands and opened their mouths simultaneously to shout. Lily, yanking her wand from her robes, leapt between them.

"Expelliarmus!" they shouted.

"Repellete!" she yelled, holding her wand high, in intercept position.

The expelling spells boomeranged back to their casters. Severus dove flat on his belly to the floor, dodging his spell. Sirius dove, too, but not fast enough. He yelped in pain as his spell slammed him in the shoulder and threw him hard on to his back.

Lily stood between them, panting. She'd had to send out a huge burst of her power to repel those rage-filled Expelliarmi. She took a deep breath to calm herself and then looked at Sirius. "Are you all right?"

He was on his knees, gripping his shoulder, his face tight with pain. But he was glaring at Severus and groping for his wand.

Severus had picked up his wand and was getting to his feet.

Lily had had enough. She raised her wand. "Drop them, both of you!"

She was a better dueler than Sirius. But she'd have to count on Severus's gallantry....

Both boys' wands clattered to the floor.

"Now then," Lily said. "I have had about enough of both of you. Especially you, Sirius. Why the--"

Footsteps drummed up the corridor stairs and into the hallway.

"Oh, no," muttered Lily, rushing to shut the hallway door.

She didn't make it. Remus piled into the Astronomy classroom and, right after him, James.

"Remus, thank heav--Oh!" Lily said when her eyes lit on James. Anxiously she patted her loose hair: the last of her twist had fallen apart.

Turning bright pink, James stared at her. "Li--Lily!"

"Yes, Potter. Lily," Severus said. He stood easily enough, balancing his wand in the palm of his hand. But his eyes glittered with anger. "I didn't know that when I invited her to the Yule Ball, I was inviting you and your entire gang as well."

For Peter had trailed in behind James and, round-eyed, was taking in the ludicrous scene.

Oh, great, Lily thought.

Then another voice came crooning up from the bottom of the hallway staircase.

"We've got him now, my sweet. Peeves, breaking into Professor Sinistra's office, stealing something to make nasty noises and lights. We've got him now. Or maybe students, sneaking around out of bounds, away from Hall. Sneaking students--!"

"Oh, Jesus," Sirius moaned. "Filch!"

James moved forward, looking at Sirius. "You've got the Cloak, haven't you?"

"I--" Sirius glanced at Severus.

"Never mind him!" James hissed. "Give me the Cloak!"

Sirius stood, drew James's Invisibility Cloak out from his robes and gave it to him. James glanced around at everyone, as if taking a head count, then, holding his wand over the Cloak, he whispered a quick Broadcloth Charm. He lifted the Cloak above his head.

"All right, everybody. Inside, then into the tower stairwell."

"What is going on here?" Severus asked softly.

Filch was crooning on the stairs now.

Lily ran to the cloak hooks, threw her own cloak around her shoulders and tossed Severus's to him. "Just do as he says, Severus!"

Even with the Broadcloth Charm, the group barely fit under the Invisibility Cloak. They got into the stairwell and closed the door just in time.

They couldn't climb the tower stairs now without Filch hearing them. He was in the corridor, then inside the room, humming gleefully.

Filch's humming suddenly stopped. "What's this? A fire in the hearth? Poltergeists don't need heat, do they, my sweet? But students--naughty human children--like to stay warm, don't they?"

Mrs. Norris mewed as if in assent.

"Detentions, detentions! Maybe suspensions!" Filch sang happily.

Cowering in the black stairwell under the Invisibility Cloak, squeezed between James and Severus, Lily shut her eyes.

"Oh, my God," came a trembling whisper. It was Remus.

"What?" That was James.

"Where's Peter?"

Lily's eyes popped open. For one horribly long moment, there was complete silence.

Then "Fools," breathed Severus. "Fools."

The stairwell door slammed open. Light from the fire and Filch's torch poured in.

"Wasn't locked, was it, Mrs. Norris? Wonder why?"

Mrs. Norris didn't answer. Her eyes looking like two yellow headlamps, she stared straight at the group gathered under the Invisibility Cloak. Lily prayed that the stretching of the Broadcloth Charm hadn't weakened the Cloak's virtue.

Mrs. Norris padded forward and began sniffing at the hem of the Invisibility Cloak.

"Do you see something there?" Filch asked, raising his torch and coming closer. "Something I don't?"

Lily had felt both James's and Severus's warm breath flowing down on her moments before. Now she felt nothing--both of them had stopped breathing. Just as she had done.

If he collides with us, we're dead, Lily thought.

Filch approached within a couple of inches of Lily, staring right through her with his pale eyes. Then he sheared off.

"I'll go upstairs, my sweet, see if there might be something crouching on the viewing platform. Something thinking it can hide from us. You stay down here and keep your eyes peeled."

Filch clumped up the stairs and Mrs. Norris came back and sniffed around James's feet. Then, a soft rustling sounded from inside the classroom. Mrs. Norris turned away, walked over to the doorway and looked through.

What she saw in the Astronomy classroom made her crouch and begin switching her tail back and forth. It suddenly occurred to Lily that Filch had said nothing about Peter.

More rustling--it sounded as though it came from the far end of the classroom--and Mrs. Norris sprang.

Filch had made it to the top of the tower stairs. Lily heard the tower door open, then close. The sound of Filch's croonings and mutterings was extinguished. He was outside, on the platform.

"Come on," whispered James. "Let's get out of here while we can."

Still under the Cloak, they slipped through the classroom and out the door into the corridor. Mrs. Norris, just ahead of them, dashed off down the hall, away from the staircase.

The students crept to the head of the stairs, then James tore the Invisibility Cloak off them. "Run, you lot, before Filch comes back downstairs."

"What about Peter?" Sirius and Lily asked at once.

"I'll find him and we'll follow--"

Just then Peter came running breathlessly down the corridor, from the direction in which Mrs. Norris had gone.

"Run!" James ordered everyone in a whisper.

They ran, as quickly and quietly as they could down the hall stairs to the sixth floor, then, led by James, down that corridor to a back staircase that led to the fifth floor.

"Pettigrew!" Severus whispered on the way. He, Lily and Peter were bringing up the rear. "How did you escape Filch?"

"I-I couldn't fit under the Cloak--even--even with the Broadcloth Charm!" Peter panted. He was shorter and a bit chubbier than the rest of the boys, and was having a hard time keeping up. "So I hid behind the classroom door, up against the wall, just before Filch came in."

"And distracted the cat after Filch went upstairs. Hm!" Severus said. "Good work."

Silent, Peter looked at him. Then, "Thanks!" he said.

They came out from the stairwell into an alcove on the fifth floor. Severus seized Lily's hand.

"When can I see you--?"

Behind her, Sirius positively growled. Lily quickly withdrew her hand. "Later! Hurry off now, before you get caught!"

Severus nodded, then slipped away quietly and soon disappeared. Clearly he knew his way around Hogwarts Castle as well as the Marauders did.

#

The portrait hole was on the fifth floor. Within a few minutes they were through it and in the common room of Gryffindor Tower.

No one else was there, so Peter elaborated a bit on the story he'd told Severus. "I turned into Wormtail as soon as you guys were inside the Cloak, and I saw I couldn't fit, too. I hid in Professor Sinistra's woodpile by the fireplace. Filch didn't think to search there. And I don't think I'd have been able to distract Mrs. Norris so well as a human. Good thing Snape didn't catch on to that.

"But she sure liked the looks--and smell--of a rat. I was able to decoy her down the hallway, away from the staircase, so you guys could get away."

Lily gasped in astonishment. "That was so brave, Peter! And so dangerous!" She went to Peter and hugged him. "You could have been killed!"

"Yeah, Lily," Sirius said quietly. "He could have been killed. And none of it would have happened if you and Snape hadn't gone up to the Astronomy Tower to make out."

Lily drew a sharp breath and turned on Sirius. But James spoke first.

"Wrong, Sirius. It was your fault. You're the one who stalked them, fully intending to make all the trouble you could. Good thing Remus remembered the meteor shower, and Lily talking about how she'd like to see it. Otherwise Filch would have caught you and you'd be up in front of Dumbledore now. Getting expelled for illegal dueling, most likely."

"Moony likes Astronomy. For his own reasons." Remus smiled grimly. "That's how I knew there was a meteor shower tonight. And I talk civilly to Severus once in a while. So I know he likes Astronomy, too."

Sirius turned to James, but, surprisingly, he didn't get angry. "Yeah, I don't mind saying I'd like to break them up. As a last resort, my friend. Because I've tried talking to you. Talked 'til I was blue in the face. But I failed."

"Yes, you failed," Remus said, and he was just as sober and quiet as Sirius. "So maybe now you'll keep the promise you made to me?"

Sirius looked at Remus with sad resignation. "Yeah, yeah. I'll let James lose her. Even though you said she might not want to be lost."

"I said, it's her choice to make."

"I don't argue with that," Sirius said. "I just want both principals--" and here he broke off to look sternly at James "--to put forth their arguments."

"Arguments about what?" Lily asked slowly.

"About--" Sirius began, but he clapped his mouth shut even before Remus frowned at him.

"About the fact that I love you," James said. Lily turned sharply and stared into his eyes. "Even though you seem--No. I love you and I'd like to ask you to go to the next Hogsmeade weekend with me."

"You love me?" Lily said blankly.

"Yes, Lily. I've loved you for years. First as a Marauder, one of our charmed circle. Then-- Well, how couldn't I fall in love with you?" James said. "You're smart, you're fun, you're so good. And charming--You've made friends with Snape, for heaven's sake! You're the first Gryffindor in history he's ever been nice to! He's gone against all his Slytherin buddies--even Malfoy--for you!" James's voice dropped a note, roughened a bit. "And I guess, tonight, he's found out what I've known for a long time. That you're the most beautiful girl in the whole school."

"Not to mention the toughest dueler in Gryffindor House," Sirius said, rubbing his shoulder. Everyone laughed.

"What about Circe?" Lily asked, once the laughter had died down. "She was your partner for the Ball. If you love me, how did that happen?"

"She asked me. And since you were already going with Snape--well, I guess I thought you'd made up your mind. I thought you liked him better, wouldn't want me pestering you. So I gave up." James glanced at Sirius, who lifted a cocky eyebrow at him. James grinned at him. "Maybe too soon."

Then James walked slowly up to Lily and took her hands. His hands were warm, too, rough, too. Hours of Quidditch practice. She knew. Hadn't she flown with him often enough, helped him practice his moves, helped Remus prepare him and Sirius for tryouts way back in second year?

"May I take you to Hogsmeade next weekend, Lily?" James asked.

His face was very close to hers. She didn't need to do more than whisper. "Yes."

He bent closer, whispered too. "And may I--"

"Yes." Lily clasped her hands behind James's neck and met with her lips his long, slow kiss. James's warmth, James himself, cocooned her like a blanket, so that the laughter and applause of the other Marauders sounded far away.

She had two arguments to weigh now: James Potter's and Severus Snape's. And twice as much trouble from them both to worry about. But that, she decided, kissing James again, she'd put off to another day.