Soulmate Prophecy - Marauders

Chapter 15

Three days before their wedding, James and Lily were excused from charms class to meet Professor McGonagall in the deserted Gryffindor common room. As they waited, James opened the map to muse over the possibilities of where in the school they might be assigned to live as the school's only married student couple.

"Lots of nooks and crannies," he said. "But nothing of much size unless you want to stay in a converted classroom."

Lily laughed. "Every girl's dream. A honeymoon in a Hogwarts classroom."

James grimaced as he refolded the map and stashed it in his robes. "Sorry, love. We'll go somewhere nice for Easter holidays maybe."

She shook her head. "No, that's cram time for NEWTs."

He dropped his chin on the crown of her head. "After graduation then, in the summertime. We'll go somewhere far away."

She sighed. "Just a flat of our own somewhere -- London, Godric's Hollow, flaming Cokeworth -- something as simple as that sounds like a dazzling future together to me right now."

They stepped apart as McGonagall came through the portrait hole, somehow managing to look dignified and stately as ever as she did so. "There you are. Ready? Good." Her keen cat-like eyes swept the room for eavesdroppers. "Right this way."

She led them to the base of the boys' dormitory steps. "All the way up," she said, waving them ahead of her. "The pinnacle of Gryffindor Tower is a disused attic that runs over the tops of both the boys' and girls' dormitories."

"But it's sealed up," James said, coming dangerously close to revealing too much about the map.

"Indeed," McGonagall said, her eyebrows raised. "To prevent travel back and forth between the dormitories, the area has been closed off for centuries. But it seems a fitting place for the pair of you. A secure middle ground within your own house."

They had arrived at the top of the stairs, past the last level of rooms, at a doorway low enough that James would have to duck his head to get beyond it. The wood it was made of was dark and rough, studded with metal bolts, like the entrance to a working dungeon. McGonagall flourished her wand and spoke a password. "Nuptials."

The massive door floated open, soundlessly. Inside, the lofty space was a curious combination of spacious and close. McGonagall fanned away the dust motes hanging in the sunbeam in front of her face. "I assure you it has been thoroughly cleaned, but hundreds of years of dust will take some time to settle."

Lily had hardly noticed, standing in the centre of the floor, looking up to where the peak of the tower came to a single, high point in the shadows above.

"There's a fireplace, but I'm afraid the ceiling's height will make it difficult to keep warm," McGonagall said.

James was at the window, gazing down at the quidditch pitch, the forest -- everything. "Professor, it's amazing."

"Well, good," McGonagall said, "since it's your only option."

Lily stepped to the bed, testing the mattress with one hand. At the sound of the slightest creak of a bedspring, James spun around. Professor McGonagall did not miss the look that passed between them.

She cleared her throat. "You are well aware of the school's chastity charms," she said. "You will find that once you are lawfully married, relations between you within the school will no longer be prohibited as unchaste. At that point you may -- live together naturally here. But you must be discreet."

James was nodding, his cheeks slightly pinker than usual. Lily kept her eyes fixed on the Gryffindor red coverlet on the bed.

"As the headmaster will have told you," McGonagall went on, "news of a pair of students being married will be disruptive to the school. For that reason, this space will be known as Miss Evans's Head Girl quarters, an honour awarded for her superior performance. As far as anyone but Mr. Potter's roommates will know, he will continue to live downstairs. Using the Invisibility Cloak to come here would be wise. Don't look so shocked, Potter. Of course we know you've had one all these years. Now, have you any questions?"