finally, lily and james

don't make me say it again

Lily was feeling rather horrid as she pushed around her oatmeal at breakfast the next morning before Hogsmeade. She wasn't even sure if she was going, mostly because she was planning to go with James, and she hadn't asked anyone else to go. She didn't want to crash Remus and Sirius's date, and Marlene was going with Peter and Emmaline to the Shrieking Shack (Peter boasted about knowing the place in and out), and Mary had a date with the Ravenclaw prefect, Jordan Peakes. She'd been raving about it all week, but Lily knew she'd drop the date the moment she heard Lily needed someone to go with, and she really didn't want to do that to Mary.

"How did your talk with James go?" Remus Lupin plopped down across from Lily, piling egg and steak onto his plate greedily. He ate lots of meat leading up to a full moon, and Lily knew this, hence why she didn't question why Remus packed three plates of it for breakfast. A few first years did though, staring at the tall plate Remus was accumulating. Lily looked at them, and at once they looked away, their faces red. Being Head Girl had it's advantages.

Lily sighed, playing with her food some more. "I ended up not talking with him, actually." She glanced over at the door, checking to see if James was coming in. "He went off to find Sirius, he needed to talk with him." When Remus did nothing, she continued, "I'm worried for him."

Remus frowned, also looking to the door. Sirius nor James had come in yet. "Yeah, they both never returned last night. I was wondering whether they were plotting or not, but I think it's Mr. Potter." Remus's eyebrows stitched in worry, and Lily felt the same way. If Mr. Potter passed away, it'd be awful for so many people, her included.

"Is there any chance he'll recover?" Lily asked hopefully, and Remus shook his head.

"There's no cure, and he's already pretty bad, the Healers have said to start planning funerals. They expect he'll pass," Remus sighed, rubbing his temples. Lily noted how much older he looked, and she remembered how small and cute he was in first year, rosy cheeks and no scars on his face. Remus had now grown into a handsome young man, just with shaggier hair and his trademark scar across his nose and onto his eyebrow. "Probably in a few months time, they're already writing the will, I think that's what was in the letter yesterday."

"That makes everything seem so much more...final." Lily whispered, thinking of how she'd react if she was handed the will of her malignant father. She shivered.

Changing the subject to something lighter, Lily forced a smile and met Remus's eyes. "So, whatcha doing with Sirius today?"

Remus smiled goofily at the mention of his boyfriend, and looked away sheepishly. "He says he's planned something, and knowing Sirius, I should probably be scared." He laughed, "That wanker."

"It'll be good for him to get his mind off things." Lily smiled sadly, taking the newspaper her owl dropped as many others swooped into the Great Hall.

"Everything's going bad now, isn't it?" She opened the newspaper and wasn't surprised to see dementor attacks and more deaths, it's was a daily thing now. She sighed.

"Yeah, I guess," Remus mused, and glanced up at the Professor's table.

"We can't let them win. It's like Dumbledore said."

Lily looked up from the newspaper.

"Love is the only way to conquer the darkness and evil in our times, and to ignore it, all darkness will prevail." Remus recited, and looked up to where Dumbledore was sitting, chatting with McGonagall. "Wise man, Dumbledore."

Lily nodded, her throat feeling constricted all of a sudden. "Yeah."

"You alright, Lily?" Remus asked, concerned. Lily only nodded, because she was sure if she spoke she'd burst into tears at that very moment.