James and Lily: It Took A While

Chapter Nineteen

The next month was spent worrying, planning, eavesdropping, and, as James and Sirius liked to refer to is as 'stalking'.

We worried over what would happen over the night of February the 28th, planned out what to do that night, and eavesdropped and stalked Snape and his cronies. But we really didn't find out any new information. They seemed to be being extra cautious.

Elle and I went down to the dungeon room one night, under the Invisibility Cloak, to see if the Vanishing Cabinet was still there, but to our surprise, it had disappeared! In fact, everything was missing. The room was bare, with no trace of Snape ever having set up his headquarters there.

Frustrated, Elle and I headed back up to the common room, concerned, but sure that the Vanishing Cabinet being moved couldn't affect our plans in any way. No matter where Lucius Malfoy entered the castle, we knew where he would be heading: Dumbledore's office.

~

The day arrived.

I spent the day nervous as heck, unconsciously checking over my shoulder every five seconds. I guess I was so nervous that James noticed.

"Lil? Are you okay? You look like a ghost." He looked at me concernedly.

"What? Oh yeah, fine. Just nervous. For tonight."

"Believe me, we all are," James muttered.

~

It was time. Around nine o'clock, when most of the students and teachers had returned to their common rooms or offices, we left our common room. Remus had been taken down to the Whomping Willow by Madam Pomfrey a few hours ago, but before he left he'd wished us luck and explained his frustration at not being able to be there with us. We had assured him that it wasn't his fault and that we could handle it. I was slightly worried, no matter what I had said to Remus, but I didn't want Remus to feel guilty or bad about himself. He couldn't help it, and therefore I would support him.

The plan we had concocted over the last month required me to be on the floor where Dumbledore's office was. I was going to hide out near an empty closet a little way away from Dumbledore's office. James and Sirius were stationed on the two staircases leading up to the floor I was on. Elle was in the corridor adjoining mine, behind the tapestry of Barnabus the Barmy and his failing attempt to train trolls in ballet. She was the backup plan. Peter was supposed to be with her, but he'd come down with a strange illness today. It seemed strange to me, because Peter was acting odd when he told us, but I had merely patted him on the back and told him to get well.

Just before we headed to our places, James kissed my cheek and I hugged him. "Good luck," I said cheerfully.

"Please be careful," he said.

I rolled my eyes. "I'll be fine, James. You two be careful as well," I said, looking around James towards Sirius, who saluted. "You got it Captain," he said.

Despite our jokes, I could tell we were all nervous. Tonight was the night we had been waiting for. Tonight was the night that everything would happen- everything I'd overheard from Snape would finally be proved right or wrong.

Elle and I started heading towards our posts, but before we could get farther than ten feet, James yelled, "Lily! Wait!"

I turned, "Yes?"

"Would you please take the Cloak? Just in case?" He asked.

To make him happy, I agreed, and took the Cloak from him. He gave me another quick hug and then ran down the stairs to the sixth floor. Right before Elle was going to head down the corridor to her post, I forced the Cloak on her. "Please take this," I told her. "I'll be just fine without it; I'm a pro Disillusioner. You need it more than I do."