James and Lily: It Took A While

Chapter 21

Briiing! The bell rang, signaling the end to a strangely uneventful Monday. I walked down the halls, heading straight for the common room, where the Marauders, Elle, and I had decided to meet before going down for dinner that night.

I spoke the password and climbed through the portrait hole, immediately spotting James sitting alone by the fireplace. I plopped down next to him. "Hey," I said, kissing his cheek.

"Hey," he replied.

We sat in silence for a while, I suppose the both of us thinking about Saturday night and what had happened after Dumbledore had arrived.

Lucius Malfoy had gotten away, and so far no one had been able to find him. Dumbledore said that we wouldn't be able to press charges against him anyways, because, 1) Dumbledore hadn't actually seen Malfoy, and he was probably the only one the Ministry would listen to, and 2) Malfoy would blame it on being controlled by the Dark Lord, so basically it was fruitless.

Dumbledore had let Snape, Avery, and Mulciber off as being influenced by Malfoy, and I was glad, because really, they didn't deserve Azkaban. Especially after I'd figured out why Snape was going through with the plan, I didn't think any severe punishment was necessary, although the boys were receiving detention three times a month for the rest of the school year. I didn't mind much, but all of the Marauders were livid that Snape, Avery, and Mulciber were getting off with just detention.

Madam Pomfrey had mended my wrist in a trice, and Elle had recovered from all the Stunning spells she'd received over the course of the night. Other than that, we were all fine. I'd talked to Dumbledore privately, and all of us received Special Awards for Services to the School, and 50 points each for Gryffindor, so, for now, we were favorites for the house cup.

During our meeting, I told Dumbledore about the books Snape had been trying to steal, and he had left momentarily to retrieve them from the plant I had slipped them into. I had inquired about their content, as I hadn't gotten to look at them in all the rush, and Dumbledore had simply told me that that was private information, and to please not worry about it. His response still rankled, but I suppose that Dumbledore knows best.

Now we were all beginning to study for our N.E.W.T.s, which, although they were very far away, were very important, and I'd convinced everyone to at least begin to review.

Back to normal.

•••••••

Friday after classes, James pulled me aside for a walk on the grounds. We started a course around the lake, our fingers interlaced.

"So... What did you pull me out here to talk about?" I asked, nudging him.

"Well...."

"Well...?"

"The future," he said simply.

I stopped. "Oh. The future. I guess that's coming up soon, right?"

"I thought you were Miss Future!" He said, mocking frustration. "Study for your NEWTs, study, we have four months but let's start now!" He waved his arms around, imitating me.

"I so do not sound like that."

He sighed. "I just... School is coming to an end soon and we need to figure out what we're gonna do about us."

"Right. Us."

We sat down underneath the big beech tree, still holding hands. "I want to be an Auror, or at least something like that, and I definitely want to join the Order. Training will be hard, and I'll be busy and unless we... Do something about it... We probably won't be able to see each other often. Plus, with You-Know-You and his Death Eaters around, anything could happen," James said.