Where Life Leads

Lily blinked drowsily in the bright sunlight as she opened her eyes and struggled to sit up. Something warm and heavy was holding her tightly. She tentatively reached up her free hand and felt the object that was preventing her from rising. It was long, and a little bit hairy, but in her sleepiness it took Lily a moment to realise what exactly it was.

She lay still for several moments, letting her eyes slowly adjust to the light. When she could see clearly she glanced down in confusion at the arm that was wrapped around her. The brightly coloured rug on the floor caught her eye and it was immediately obvious that she was in the Heads' Room. However, that still didn't explain how or what- oh!

Lily shoved James' arm off her and untangled her legs from his, rolling off the sofa and onto the floor with a soft thump. James shifted in his sleep but miraculously didn't wake up. She stood up on shaky legs and backed up until her calves bumped into the coffee table behind her, staring wide-eyed at the still sleeping figure on the couch.

Lily sank down onto the coffee table and lowered her head into her hands. She fisted her hands in her hair before dragging them down to cover her face. She sat there with her eyes closed for several moments before cautiously opening them to watch James through her spread fingers. She took a deep breath and then, staring at the ceiling, let it out in a half laugh, half sob, the events of the night before swirling through her mind.

She couldn't believe she had kissed him. She had kissed James.

It was true that she didn't dislike him anymore, anyone could see that. And, yeah, sometimes when he smiled at her, her stomach would flutter and when he would bump into her when they patrolled, the place he touched her tingled. But it hadn't really occurred to her that her feelings towards him were becoming...well, for lack of a better word- romantic.

At Stephan's funeral she had wanted him there with her, wanted his support, wanted him to crack a joke and cheer her up. And then when she had arrived back at Hogwarts, he was the first person she had wanted to see- needed to see. It hadn't even crossed her mind to go talk to Marlene first. Or Janice or Linda or Lizzie. James had been the only person she had wanted.

And when she had finally got to the Heads' Room and had seen him sitting on the floor, surrounded by books, with his hair a mess, she was lost. And then, when his eyes had lit up with excitement at seeing her so that he could ask her some silly question about a computer.... Well, all the emotions of the day had bubbled up inside her and she had told him to 'shut up' and before she knew it she was kissing him, because really, it was the only thing she had been able to think of to do.

Even though she had been the one to initiate the kiss, it had still taken her by surprise. She had always thought he would be the one to make the first move, like he had with everything else. But, after getting to know him so well the past couple of months, she understood perfectly why he had waited for her to kiss him. He had wanted to be sure. To know, without a doubt, that she had decided with her own free will to be with him. That she hadn't been coerced or tricked or doped up on some kind of potion.

He had wanted to be sure that she was kissing him because she wanted to, not because he had kissed her first and that she had decided to let him, just to see what it was like. Because he knew that once they had kissed, they would never be able to go back to the way things had been before.

Even knowing what had happened last night, Lily still couldn't quite believe it. She remembered kissing him for what seemed like hours and talking with him about everything and nothing, and then kissing him again. At some point they must have curled up on the sofa, still kissing or talking or both, and then fallen asleep. And even though it had been a shock to wake up next to him, truthfully, nothing had ever felt so right before. Lily sighed again, although this time it was a sigh mixed with confusion and contentment.

"Lily?" James yawned and sat up on the sofa, running a hand through his hair. "Time izit?" he asked her sleepily.

"Oh, um..." Lily blinked and glanced up at the clock. "Almost eight-thirty."

"Oh, we fell asleep, then?" James stretched. "And we're missing breakfast."

"Yeah."

"Lily?"

"Hmm?" Lily felt him watching her and glanced over at him.

"You alright?"

"Yes...no...I don't know." Lily sighed and looked at him miserably. "I'm just so confused..." she trailed off frustrated.

James let out a relived laugh. "Oh Merlin, me too."

Lily grinned at him suddenly and went over to sit next to him. "It's just that I have no idea what to do," she rambled, picking up one of his hands and playing with his fingers. "And I don't even know what I want to happen or if I want something to happen. And if something does happen, then everyone will what to know how it happened and I don't know how I'll explain what happened, because I really don't understand it at all an-"

"Lily!"

Lily started. "What?"

James shook his head and smiled lopsidedly at her. "Shut up," he whispered, leaning forward to kiss her.

Lily sighed and let him, but then suddenly pulled away making a disgusted face. "Ugh, ick your breath is horrible!"

"Well, yours isn't exactly minty fresh either," he said, poking her and jumping up off the sofa. "Race you to the bathroom."

"No fair, you got a head start," Lily yelled, chasing after him.

She got to the bathroom just as he was reaching for his toothbrush. Lily elbowed him out of the way and grabbed her own, shooting him a grin. Then, even though they each had their own, they fought over a tube of toothpaste.

Lily was victorious and when she had finished applying the paste to her brush, James snatched it from her hand and squeezed some onto his own. They nudged each other playfully as they brushed and flicked water on each other. James left the bathroom so that Lily could change into fresh clothing and once he had changed into clean robes as well they linked arms and made their way down to the Kitchens for breakfast.

Nothing was said when they showed up to Defence class several minutes late, each fighting to keep a serious look on their face as Lily convincingly told Professor Lowbard that they had had Heads' business to attend to.

Marlene cast Lily as suspicious look as she slid into the seat next to her, while James sat with his friends in the back of the classroom. It was only when the professor had given the class permission to break off into groups to perfect a new spell for identifying hexes, charms and jinxes on inanimate objects that Marlene spoke.

"Where've you been? I stayed up half the night waiting for you to come in. I finally gave up and went to sleep, but you could have sent a message or something. Not to mention that you missed breakfast this morning. You really shouldn't have, you know. Dumbledore had some announcements. And now you waltz in here with James, sprouting some nonsense about Head's business. Please tell me, Lily," she added scathingly, "that you didn't expect me to buy that."

Lily looked at Marlene, shock and guilt written on her face. "I'm sorry, I didn't even think to send you a message once I got back. I just wanted to be alone, really. I went to the Heads' Room and I fell asleep on the sofa. I slept through most of breakfast and I would've missed Defence if James hadn't woken me up. Really, I didn't mean to worry you." She tried not to think about how, or why, she wasn't telling Marlene the whole truth.

Marlene sighed, content with Lily's answer for now. "'S all right," she said, flicking her wand at the chest they had been assigned to. It glowed pink and Lily glanced at her textbook.

"That would be a locking charm," she informed Marlene, pointing her own wand at the chest. "Alohamora." The chest opened with a click and the girls grinned at each other and then, catching sight of a slightly smaller chest inside the first one, they rolled their eyes.

Lily pulled the second chest out as Professor Lowbard hurried over to take the first one off of their hands. "Five points to Gryffindor," he said cheerfully.

There was a loud whoop from the back of the room and Lily knew without looking that James had broken into his first chest as well.

It was Lily's turn to try the spell and as she concentrated on getting the wand movement right Marlene relayed Dumbledore's announcements to her. "Slughorn's coming back this weekend," she said happily. "Which means you've only got one more class with Yaxley."

Lily smiled happily at this bit of news. "Oh, thank goodness! Although, I don't know if I can handle another class with her. I swear I've lost more points from her than I have all six years at Hogwarts. Maybe I ought to skive off or something."

"Lily!" Marlene stared at her wide eyed.

"What?" Lily said defensively. "It's not as though I'm learning anything from her. And Slughorn has always said I'm a natural at Potions and don't even need instructing."

Marlene let out an unladylike snort. "If I didn't know better," she said with a hit of amusement in her voice, "I'd think that James is rubbing off on you, what with you spending so much time with him and all."

"Don't be ridiculous," Lily responded casually. "Ah, there it is!" She grinned over at Marlene as the chest glowed acid green. Marlene flipped through her textbook and made a disgusted face.

"Eurgh, the Vomiting Jinx." Marlene wrinkled her nose and stood back her wand arm stretched out in front of her. Her other hand came up to guard her face and she squinted through her fingers as she performed the counter jinx.

She was just finishing the incantation when there was a screech from her left, startling her. Marlene's arm jerked involuntarily and the chest in front of them was set off with a loud bang and they were splattered with greenish orange sick along with everyone else nearby.

Lily had closed her eyes just in time, but she could feel the glop running down her face and soaking through her robes. Marlene was apologizing over and over again and frantically trying to Scourgify the mess away, but from what Lily could hear it wasn't doing any good.

Professor Lowbard was trying to be heard over the laughter of Sirius, Peter and a few others who hadn't been covered in the slop.

The vomit smelt terrible- like old socks, sour milk and rotting fruit- and Lily reached up with her free hand to wipe it off her face, so she could breathe without gagging.

Someone grabbed her arm midway and said, "Here, let me do it."

Lily flinched slightly as gentle hands mopped the sick from her face with a warm, damp cloth. It left a clean, fresh smell behind and Lily took a full breath gratefully. She opened her eyes to see James standing in front of her, biting his lower lip to keep from laughing. His eyes sparkled with amusement as Lily glared at him.

"It's not funny, Potter."

James shook his head and a chuckle escaped him. "Oh, but it really is. Merlin, I wish I had a camera. This moment should be captured forever: Lily Evans, Head Girl, covered in puke from head to toe. It must be a theme this year to be covered in disgusting green stuff or something. I mean first there was green goo in the Heads' Room-"

"Which you'll remember was your fault," Lily put in flatly, trying to take the cloth from him. James shot her a look and she relented with a sigh and let him wipe at her hair and neck.

"-and now it's green and orange vomit," James continued as though she hadn't spoken. "I wonder what's going to be next.

Lily ignored him as he wiped at her arms with the cloth and glanced around the room. Marlene was getting similar treatment from Lizzie, and Linda, whose hand was also red and swollen, was being cleaned up by Janice, who only had a few drops on her robe.

Sirius was sneakily propelling some of the vomit into the air and towards Snape, whose back was turned towards him as he helped Avery wipe off his robes. But with some sort of sixth sense, Snape whipped around, wand in hand, and sent the blob rushing back towards Sirius, his lips twisted into a sneer. Sirius gave a quick look of surprise before ducking hurriedly, narrowly missing being hit in the face.

Marlene's hair and robes were coated thickly with the stuff. Lily realized that she had been lucky. Only one side of her body was covered since hadn't been standing directly in front of the chest when it had gone off.

"Oh, Lily, I'm so sorry," Marlene groaned when she saw Lily looking over at her. "But I jumped when Linda screamed. Her chest had turned into a crab and it bit her and then my hand jerked and set the spell of.... Eurgh, this is so gross," she continued. "It's just like that time when John's spell backfired and he was-"

But Lily had stopped listening. James was now wiping off her arm and hand. He moved the cloth gently between each of her fingers as he cleaned them. Lily sighed from the sensation, which felt almost like a massage. She wanted to close her eyes and lean into him, but knowing that most of her robes were covered with vomit stopped her. She looked up at James and saw that he was studying her face with a warm look in his eyes and a small smile curved his lips. Lily met his eyes, and felt her cheeks go red. It was as if they could read each other's thoughts, because she knew at that moment he was wishing they were alone together and that he knew she was thinking the same thing.

A small cough broke Lily away from James gaze and she turned her head to see Marlene looking at them both curiously. She opened her mouth to say something but was forestalled by Professor Lowbard dismissing those who had been splattered to go to their dorms to clean up (Linda he told to go to the Hospital Wing for her crab bite) and asking the others to stay and help put the classroom back to rights.

Lily managed to smile a quick good-bye to James before following her friends out of the room. Lily and Marlene parted ways from Linda and Janice at the stairs since they were continuing towards the Hospital Wing.

They dropped their bags onto their beds once they reached their dorm- luckily the charms Lily had on hers protecting it from ink and rain had kept the vomit off as well- and made their way into the bathroom. After stripping off their shoes, socks and robes, they put them in the laundry chute for the house elves to clean.

Lily walked into one of the two showers that were in the bathroom connected to their dorm room and peeled off the rest of her clothing before tossing it over the curtain. The water was turned on with a flick of her wand and Lily sighed gratefully as she washed.

Lily finished before Marlene and she wrapped herself in a robe and dried her hair with a towel. It was wonderful to be clean again and Lily knew that this was an experience she did not want to repeat. She used her wand to levitate their dirty clothes into the hamper to be washed.

Marlene stepped out of her shower and eyed Lily suspiciously as she made her way back into the dorm room.

"What?" Lily asked, chasing after her.

"There's something up with you," Marlene replied as she pulled clothes out of her chest of drawers and threw them on her bed.

"Aside from the fact that I just got splattered with vomit, you mean?"

Marlene rolled her eyes at Lily before starting to comb her hair. "Yes. I just need to figure out what it is. I mean, you have this pleased aura about you, or something. The last time you looked even close to this was when you just got back from snogging-" She broke off before saying Stephan's name and shot Lily an apologetic look. "Sorry. You know I get carried away sometimes."

Lily gave a small shrug and began fixing her hair into a messy top knot. For a moment, she had thought Marlene had guessed she had kissed James. But even if Marlene's train of thought had been on that path, there was not way she would have thought Lily would have done such a thing- even if she had known the reasons behind it.

"And it's not as though you've been snogging James, is it? You would definitely say something if you had." Marlene shot a smile at Lily, but all she could do was nod in return.

The girls finished getting ready in silence and then they grabbed their bags and rushed out of the dorm so that they wouldn't be too late for Charms.

-()-

Lily was sitting in on the sofa in the Heads' common room catching up on some of the work she had missed the day before because of the funeral when James came in and sat down next to her.

"Hi," he said.

"Hi."

"What are you working on?"

"Transfiguration."

James leaned over and plucked the book from her hands. "How about coming down to dinner instead? Everyone else is already down there. I figured when you didn't show up I'd better come get you. You get grouchy when you haven't eaten," he added with a grin.

"Oh, is it time already?" Lily glanced up at the clock and was shocked to see that it was past six. "What?" she exclaimed, thoroughly confused. "But the clock hasn't chimed at all!"

James raised his eyebrows at her. "You silenced it, remember."

"Yeah," Lily said exasperated, "but it should have worn off by now. I mean it's been three days. Ugh, I can't believe I didn't notice it before."

"Well," James said standing up with a shrug, "you do have a gift for Charms."

Lily spelled a "finite" at the offending clock as she followed him out of the room. James took her hand and pulled her closer to him as they made their way down to the Great Hall.

They had only reached the fifth floor when James snaked his arm around her waist and pulled her into a hidden niche.

"James, what-"

James cut her off with a kiss. "Shut up," he told her, grinning and backing her up into the wall before kissing her again.

"James." Lily was finally able to speak several minutes later, albeit a bit breathlessly, when James moved his lips away from her mouth and nibbled a trail of kisses down her throat. "I thought you wanted to go dinner."

"Screw dinner."

"But isn't that what you're trying to do to me?"

James jerked his head back, a look of pure shock on his face. "Lily!

She blinked innocently at him. "What?"

"You just- what you said-" he stuttered. He moved back so that he wasn't pressing her into the wall anymore and grabbed her hand, pulling her down the hallway.

"James!" Lily struggled to keep up with him and tugged at his hand with both of hers, trying to get him to slow his pace. "James!"

He stopped abruptly and turned to face her, still holding her hand, his hazel eyes blazing. "Look, I'm not just- I don't care what everyone else says, but I've never..." he trailed off, shaking his head. When he met her eyes again he spoke with deliberate slowness. "You're more to me than that."

Lily studied him carefully. She knew that people had suggested that James pursued her only because she was the only one who had ever told him 'no'. But she hadn't realised before now that some of them had been crude and cruel about it. Or the fact that James hadn't taken advantage of so many girls liking him, as she knew Sirius had done.

She reached out her free hand and cupped his face, caressing his cheek with her thumb. "I know, James." He closed his eyes and leaned into her, sighing deeply. "I didn't mean anything by it," she added softly. "I was just teasing."

"Okay." James leaned in and kissed her again, softly this time, and Lily let out a quite sigh of contentment. They stood there in the middle of the hall for several minutes before breaking apart and continuing down to the Great Hall for dinner.

They had reached the third floor when Lily stopped suddenly.

"What's the matter?" James asked.

"Didn't you hear that?

"No, what was it?"

"I'm not sure- no, wait. There it is again. It sounds like arguing..."

She pulled away from him, listening intently. She walked silently until she was standing just outside the trophy room, where voices were coming from.

"-another warning!"

"You called that a warning? Like killing off my best friend will make me join!" The boy's voice was scathing and unforgiving.

"Ha! The filthy Mudblood deserved it." This voice was cold and silky, caressing each word as it was spoken. "But perhaps the Dark Lord overestimated your family," Yaxley was saying. "After all, your father refused, too, until his last breath. Perhaps your sister will be more wil-"

"No! No, you leave Lucille out of this!"

"Callum," Lily breathed to James, terrified. "That's Callum."

"The Dark Lord is forgiving to those who help him..."

James' hands gripped Lily's shoulders. "And Yaxley," he whispered in her ear. "It has to be Yaxley."

"No, I won't-"

There was the sound of a brief struggle and a gasp of pain and something crashed to the floor.

"We have to do something!" Lily whispered furiously, trying to break out of James grasp.

He wrapped an arm around her waist, holding her back. "No, we need to wait, or get Dumbledore or something. We have no idea what's going on-"

"It's obvious! She killed Stephan, made him jump off his broom. And now she's trying to coerce Callum to join the Death Eaters because of it!"

"He wants information," Yaxley's cold voice continued. "The names of those who would be most beneficial to him. Those with gifts with spells, plants, arithmancy-"

"Potions!" The words were garbled and strained, as though he was being choked. "Li...Lily Evans." Lily started when he said her name. "She's b-brilliant at them."

"And what use would the Dark Lord have for a Mudblood like her," Yaxley said venomously, "when he already has Severus Snape and me on his side?"

Lily let out a gasp, which thankfully wasn't heard. She had known Snape was aiming in that direction, but she had never imagined he would join so soon.

"I do- I don't know. Please, I can't think of anyone!"

"Then perhaps you will need some help. Crucio!"

There was a scream of terrible pain that pierced Lily's ears. James' grip slackened and Lily broke free and burst into the room, her wand poised. Callum was writhing on the floor with Yaxley two feet away, her face a mask of intense satisfaction of causing another such pain.

"Expelliarmus!"

Yaxley whipped around, a look of surprise on her face as her wand flew out of her hand. But before Lily could stun her, she grabbed Callum's wand off the floor and shot a spell at her.

Lily ducked under the spell and it hit a trophy case behind her, shattering it. Bits of wood and glass flew everywhere. Lily felt a quick, sharp sting on her hand, but she was too furious with herself to notice. She should have aimed to stun instead of disarm. She wouldn't make that mistake again. "Protego!" The shield was barely up in time to block the second curse and Yaxley was quick to send another one at her.

"Avis!" The birds Lily shot from her wand intercepted the spell and in her distraction, Yaxley didn't see James enter the room behind her from the connecting armour gallery.

His stunner hit Yaxley in the middle of her back and she crumpled to the ground with a soft thump. James moved quickly forward and snatched Callum's wand from Yaxley's slack grip and gathered her wand from where it had fallen. With a glare he aimed his wand at Yaxley and ropes burst from it, wrapping the fallen Death Eater's wrists and ankles together so that even if she woke, she would be unable to move.

Lily was already running over to Callum, who was twitching spasmodically on his side in the foetal position, yelling his name. She carefully turned him onto his back and wiped the blood from his face with the sleeve of her robes. There was a gash on his face, just above his right eye, as though he had been hit with something sharp, and his shoulder was sticky with blood from a deep cut.

"James," Lily said, tearing a piece of cloth from her robes and using it to staunch the blood flowing from Callum's shoulder wound. "James, we have to get him to Madame Pomfrey."

"Right." James ran a hand through his hair. "You take him. I'll get Dumbledore and tell Professor Sprout to meet you at the Hospital Wing. She'll want to know- Callum's in her House."

James left the room and Lily transfigured a stray piece of wood into a stretcher and levitated Callum carefully onto it and then out of the room, keeping on hand on the stretcher to keep it steady.

Callum opened his eyes with a groan as Lily was going down the stairs to the first floor. He blinked at Lily hazily. "Lily?" he asked confused. "What are you doing here? Yaxley!" he exclaimed, trying to sit up.

"It's alright, Callum," Lily explained. "Stay put. James and I overheard you arguing on the way to dinner. We stunned and tied her up. He went to get Professor Dumbledore and Professor Sprout. And we're at the Hospital Wing now."

Lily pushed open the door with one hand and then levitated Callum through, calling for Madame Pomfrey. The nurse bustled over.

"Here put him over on this bed!" she exclaimed when she saw Callum's condition. "Now tell me what on earth happened."

Lily did as she asked and explained what had happened while Madame Pomfrey healed the cut on Callum's forehead. The nurse spoke a spell and the clothing surrounding Callum's shoulder fell away. The wound on his shoulder was still bleeding profusely and Madam Pomfrey quickly said a cleansing spell and Callum bit his lip to hold back a grunt of pain from the sting. Once the wound was clean, the nurse pressed a handful of white gauze to it and murmured healing spells.

Lily sat down on a nearby bed as the nurse worked and put her head in her hands, trying to stop shaking. Everything was beginning to catch up with her and she didn't know what to do now that the truth about Stephan's death had finally come out. She let out a heavy sigh.

"You're going to be just fine, dear," Madam Pomfrey said kindly to Callum. She moved to get a potion from her cupboard when the Hospital doors burst open.

Dumbledore, followed by Professor Sprout and James, came striding through. His face was calm but his blue eyes, which usually held a twinkle, were flat and full of anger.

James sat down next to Lily and spoke to her quietly, "I told him everything we overheard, but he still wants to hear it from Callum. He doesn't want us to mention anything about it to anyone else."

Lily nodded her understanding as she watched Professor Sprout fuss over Callum, even as Dumbledore questioned him.

James made to wrap his arm around Lily, but drew it away quickly. "You've got blood on your robes." He sounded worried.

"It's not mine," Lily assured him. "It's Callum's. He had a cut on his forehead and his shoulder was bleeding." She reached up a hand to brush her hair out of her face and James grabbed it.

"There's a cut on your hand though," he said wryly.

"Oh." Lily looked at the cut, slightly puzzled. "That must've been from when the trophy case shattered. Glass was flying everywhere."

"And you didn't notice?" James rolled his eyes at her and pulled out his wand to heal the cut.

"I was a bit preoccupied at the moment," she retorted. "Thanks."

James nodded and after a glance at the Professors and Madam Pomfrey they rose to leave.

"Just one moment," Dumbledore called after them. Lily and James turned towards him. "If you would, please post a notice on all of the House boards that Potions classes will be cancelled tomorrow. I wish it could be otherwise for the fifth and seventh year students, but I am afraid it cannot be helped, since Professor Slughorn will not return until Sunday."

"Of course, Professor," Lily said.

"Thank you. And I will want to speak with you both at a later time."

Lily and James both nodded and the left the Hospital wing.

"Hungry?" James asked.

Lily scrunched up her nose. "Yes, but dinner's going to be finished by now. I'll just get something from the Kitchens and eat it up in our common room."

"That sounds good," James agreed. "I should tell the others where I got to, though." He reached into his pocket and pulled out the small mirror he had had with him on their trip to Hogsmeade.

"Do you always have that?" Lily asked him.

James flashed a smile at her. "I never go anywhere without it. Sirius." This last part was spoken into the mirror, which James held low enough so that Lily could see into it too as they continued walking.

A few moments later Sirius' handsome face appeared in the glass. "Where've you got to?" he asked. "You came back without Lily and went straight to Dumbledore. You didn't even stop for a word. And dinner finished ages ago, but no one's allowed to leave the Great Hall."

The mirror went blurry and shortly after Marlene's face appeared in the frame. "Is that you, James? What's going on? Is Lily all right?"

"She's fine, Marlene." James told her. "She's right here with me. We can't really say what's happened, though. Dumbledore told us not to. Oh, but all Potions classes are cancelled tomorrow."

"Then it's something to so with Yaxley?"

The mirror when blurry again and then Sirius' face reappeared. "I knew that cow was up to something," he said fiercely. "You'll fill us in later. Oh, Flitwick just stood up. Says we're allowed to go back to our common rooms now. See you up there."

The mirror went blank and James looked over at Lily. "Why don't you go back up and get changed before every gets back," he told her. "I'll nip down to the Kitchens and get some food for you."

"Sounds good." Lily stood on tiptoe to kiss his cheek and then they parted ways.