Gateway to Heaven - James and Lily Potter (Jily) #Wattys2016

At the Gate - Lily

Double update because I feel like it :) Be sure to refresh your libraries and read the previous chapter as well!

Happy reading!

"And that was only the beginning," James concludes, smiling at the recollection,"that night sealed our friendship forever. From that moment and onwards it wasn't only Sirius and I, it was the four of us. Didn't take long to find each other nicknames too."

"What kind of nicknames?" Ariana asks. "Secret nicknames," James answers,"the kind that have inside jokes. Sirius was Padfoot. Remus was Moony. Peter was Wormtail. I was Prongs."

"Oh," says Ariana confusedly,"so what's the inside joke?"

"Well," James says, wondering how in the world he could summarize the entire story to a young girl,"not long after we told Remus we knew his secret and formed the Marauders, another big event happened. Having befriended Remus forever, we - Sirius, Peter and I - decided to support Remus in his unfortunate case. We decided to stay at his side during his transformations and long and lonely nights."

"But that's really dangerous!" Ariana exclaims in awe. "It would be if it wasn't for their little plan," I say mysteriously. "The three boys here decided to undergo the difficult - and, may I add, illegal studies of self shape-shifting. They became animagi." "Wow..." the girl whispers,"so you taught yourself to turn into animals?" "That's pretty much it, yeah," James says nonchalantly.

"It took you two years to finally achieve a decent transformation, James," I scold him gently. "No need to pretend it all happened with a swish and a flick." James smirks as he bends over and kisses my cheek. "I was just going to say that, love," he says softly,"I'm not pretending anything." He turns to Ariana again and continues his narrating. "I found myself most comfortable when turning into a stag. Needless to say, that became my fixed animal. Hence my nickname. Sirius preferred the appearance of a big black dog. Padfoot is a name for a goblin or other fantastical creature that traditionally appears as a dog, which is why we called him that. Peter, being the smallest, turned into a rat - well, you know, Wormtail... That one is kind of obvious, I guess."

"And you never bothered to tell Lily?" Ariana asks, bewildered. "Well, there's one thing you've gotta understand about this whole transformation thing," James says,"and that's the fact that it's illegal to undergo the process as an underage wizard. What's more, we were unregistered - which is more or less mandatory - and kept it that way. The world was changing, and we did not want many people to know of this special gift. But, to come back to your question, I did tell Lily eventually. Once we learned to trust each other completely, I told her everything, which is what mostly happens in a healthy relationship."

"And is Lily an animagus too?" I laugh and shake my head. "James told me of his secret after we left Hogwarts. There was no reason for me to undergo the same studies. But I did join their little group of friends once we started dating," I say, and we had a helluva good time, didn't we Prongs?" I squeeze his hand, earning a loving smile in return. "We sure did," he says.

"But Lily had her own group of friends," Ariana says,"and you weren't the only boy in her year. There must've been some..." she blushes. "Do you mean our groups of friends dated one another? That was an unavoidable fact that we had to face sooner or later. Even before James and I got together - when I still disliked him for being so mean to Severus - there was some interaction going on, and it troubled me greatly. Not James, though," I quickly add, seeing the look on her face,"He always dated me and only me." My cheeks redden. I'm so incredibly lucky to have him in my life. I look at him and he seems to be thinking the same thing about me.

"Padfoot, for one, was one helluva flirt. And then there was Alice and Frank... And Remus and Daisy! Merlin's beard, that sure was something..."

"Would you mind sharing these memories with me too?" Ariana questions timidly. "Sure," James says,"though we'll censor the inappropriate parts if you don't mind." "James!" I slap his thigh playfully. "Don't worry, there was never such thing in our friend group. We might be a little... Rebellious, at times, but we were decent and never... well, you know what I mean..." I redden again. Ariana doesn't seem to get my point. "Lily, she's still a kid, remember? She probably has no idea what we're talking about." James whispers in my ear. "Oh, of course," I stammer, cursing my stupidity,"well, where should I start?"

"Start at the homecoming ball in the sixteen year," James says, crossing his legs and nestling himself against me on the sofa. "That was one interesting happening..." I look at him, surprised. "Are you sure you want me to start there?"

"Yes," James says impatiently,"C'mon, start!"

"But there's two sides to the story, you can't hear one without the other..."

"Which is why I'll add my part as well, love. Stop worrying so, I'll do justice to my good name eventually, you'll see."

I smile as I begin my story.

Vote, comment, leave feedback! I really appreciate it as always! As for updates, I don't think I'll find a regular routine, being really busy and such, but I'll try as often as I can, and obviously if I get requests to update more frequently I'll try even harder :) Thank you for the support I've gotten already, you guys are amazing!

Love always,

Isa