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Lily knocked on the Marauders’ dormitory room door at one o’clock in the morning, clutching a book to her chest. She looked nervously over her shoulder at the stairwell as she waited. She pressed her ear to the door, then knocked again. It took several more moments before the door opened slightly and Sirius pressed his face into a narrow crack in the door. He stared at her blearily. “Love,” he said in a low voice that came from deep in his throat, “What the bloody hell could you possibly want at this hour?”

Lily whispered, “The cloak.”

Sirius stared at her a long moment, then disappeared from the crack and the door opened slowly behind him on it’s own accord, the hinges creaking a little.

Moonlight broke the darkness in the room, shimmering in through the windows in long shafts. Peter was asleep, a great lump beneath his blankets that shivered and wobbled as he breathed, but Lily could see Remus Lupin’s shoulders shaking, and a sick feeling twisted through her stomach as she realized she could just hear the sound of soft whimpers coming from that corner of the room as she stepped inside…

Sirius, who had been bent over one of the trunks, turned about and shoved the cloak into Lily’s hand suddenly. “Going to see Prongs?” he asked.

Lily nodded, then, “Is Remus alright?”

Sirius glanced over his shoulder, then back to Lily, “He will be.”

“Is it the moon still?” she asked, remembering how weak Remus had been at Durmstrang.

“Yeah,” Sirius answered.

“But it isn’t full until next week,” Lily murmured.

Sirius shrugged.

Lily frowned.

Sirius rubbed his elbow, looking at the floor, at her mary-jane shoes and his own stocking-covered feet and the carpet between them. “While you’re there - seeing James - will you tell him I said hullo?” Sirius requested. “If he’s awake, I mean?”

“Why don’t you tell him?” Lily asked.

“I’ve got to take care of Moony,” Sirius answered.

“Alright,” Lily replied.

She had turned to leave when Sirius said, “Evans.” She paused and turned back. “The sixth step on the staircase creaks in the middle. Stay to the left.”

Lily took two quick steps over and wrapped her arms around Sirius, squeezing him tight and he stiffened in her arms as usual. She laughed, “One day, Sirius Black, you’ll become quite used to being hugged.”

“I doubt it quite a lot,” he replied, his face crunched up but standing there, tolerating the hug just the same.

Lily pressed a kiss to his cheek. “I’ll see to it that you do.”

The castle was dark, save for the flickering of torches, and Lily counted the steps to be sure to stay left on that sixth one, like Sirius had said, and she held the cloak firmly about her as she hurried through the corridors to the hospital wing, where she slipped through the creaky doors, tip-toed past Pomfrey’s desk, and let herself into the ward itself, closing the door carefully behind her.

The Potters had long ago been shown to a private room for visitors by Professor McGonagall. James lay in the bed, his eyes closed, moonlight pooling over him like a spotlight from the vaulted windows. Lily hesitated a few paces away, then took the last steps, and took hold of the stool and dragged it over.

“Sirius?” James’s eyes opened and he half sat, looking around, an eager expression in his eyes, “Sirius is that you?”

Lily reached for the hood of the cloak. “No… James, it’s me. It’s Evans.”

His eyes dimmed slightly. “Oh… hi, love.”

Lily pulled the cloak off and laid it on the side of the bed as she climbed onto the stool beside him. She was still hugging a book to her chest as she reached out her free hand to touch his and she bit her lip. “H- How are you feeling?”

“Brilliant,” James said dryly.

Lily frowned.

He sighed, “Rather horrible, really, Evans.”

She squeezed his fingers gently. “Is your shoulder mending well?”

“Pomfrey says it should be better in no time.”

“Very good,” Lily nodded.

“Yeah.” James said, “Some powerful Dark Lord, huh? Can’t even… hex a boy… enough that he can’t be mended in a day or two.” He started saying this with such gusto, but the excitement in his voice had faded off over the sentence and his eyes had cast downward to his hands, avoiding looking Lily Evans in the eyes.

He could lie to his mum and dad about how hurt he’d been - they hadn’t been there - but to Lily Evans, he couldn’t lie.

Her green eyes shone at him. “Don’t pretend what you’ve been through is nothing, Potter,” Lily said. “It’s very much something and you’re very brave for it.”

James sighed, “I wish everyone would stop saying I’m so bloody brave. I didn’t… do... anything.”

Lily raised an eyebrow.

“I just lay there. I didn’t fight back.”

“You couldn’t!” Lily injected.

James frowned.

“James Potter. You faced the Dark Lord,” Lily said firmly, “You faced him and took his magic on. You’re sixteen and you did this. And he hurt you, and you - you stayed strong. That is plenty of bravery right there. You could’ve given in to him, you could’ve --”

“Begged to die?” James interrupted.

Lily stared at him for a long moment.

He shook his head.

“Even if you did,” she whispered, “It would be okay. You’d still be brave.” Lily stared up at him. “Don’t be hard on yourself, James. Please. You musn’t.”

He looked at her, brown eyes meeting green, and they searched each other for several long moments, their eyes locked and moving together, pupil exploring pupil… soul meeting soul… and something was stirring… some feeling he hadn’t felt in some time and James felt nervous and excited at exactly the same time.

“Evans, I --” he started to say at exactly the same time that she said, “James, I --”

They both laughed.

“Go on then,” James said.

Lily shook her head, “No, you.”

“I was just going to say thank you for going all the way -- wherever I was -- to save me.”

“Of course. None of us would ever dream of leaving you there,” Lily answered.

James smiled weakly.

“You’re quite important to -... to all of us,” Lily said.

James drew a deep breath, “Dunno about all that.” He glanced at the hospital wing door. “Is… is Sirius alright?”

“Yes, he’s alright. He says to say hullo,” Lily said, remembering.

James’s eyes were moist and he looked away from the ward door and up at the ceiling. “Well good. Very good. I’m glad he’s alright.”

“He’s taking care of Remus,” Lily said.

James nodded.

“He’ll come,” Lily promised.

“He doesn’t have to,” James answered. “If he doesn’t want to.”

Lily shook her head, “Of course he wants to!” she said, “Sirius Black -- not want to see you? Rubbish.”

James’s voice was heavy, “Just seems if he wanted to, he would have by now.”

“He will.”

James picked at his fingers.

“Sirius went all the bloody way to Durmstrang to save you,” Lily supplied, “It was Sirius’s idea. You should’ve seen him, James, he was brilliant.” She stilled James’s hands from their picking and he looked up at her, his eyes glistening. “He loves you loads, Potter, like a brother. Don’t you go doubting him for a moment. It’s just that he feels rather guilty for not noticing --” she paused.

“Not noticing what?” James asked, and he raised a eyebrow, “Didn’t he notice I was gone?”

Lily bit her lip.

“Evans?” James pressed.

“Well it’s just that -- well, there was a - a sort of - a decoy.”

“A decoy?”

Lily put her book down on the nightstand and wiped her suddenly sweaty palms over her knees. “Yes. A sort of - a fake James.”

“A fake James?” he asked.

Lily blurted out, “Polyjuice potion, James. He was under the polyjuice, pretending to be you and - and none of us realized - we just thought - you were a bit - a bit sour and --”

“Voldemort was under polyjuice as me?”

“No - not - not Voldemort,” Lily stammered, and her cheeks flushed slowly from the base of her neck. “It was - it was Severus… and…”

James’s eyes flashed. “You couldn’t tell the difference between me and Severus Snape?”

“Well of course we thought something was wrong,” she said in a pleading tone.

James scowled.

“James, please.”

“I’m nothing like that greasy-headed git,” James said, “How could you not see that immediately?”

Lily looked at her knees. “I don’t know, James. We should’ve known much sooner. We should have. And we all feel… immensely guilty. I know I certainly do.” She looked up at him again. He was staring. “Sirius feels the worst.”

“Good. He should.” James’s voice was hard.

“Oh James, don’t be harsh at him, he’s been harsh enough at himself.”

He looked down at the blankets.

“Please.”

“I suppose you liked me better did you? The last month? While Severus was me?” James asked.

Lily shook her head.

He didn’t see it, he wasn’t looking at her. All he knew was there was silence between them… and he interpreted that silence the wrong way. “You should go.”

“James,” Lily said gently.

“Go,” he repeated.

But she didn’t. She sat there for a long moment, letting him stew in his anger, letting the word go hang in the air between them, flat out refusing to listen to it, no matter how it twisted and turned through the atmosphere that separated her from him.

After the pause, she cleared her throat and she reached for the book she’d put on the night stand. “The new Apple MacKenzie book is out.”

“What?” James’s voice was sharp. He looked up at her.

Lily said, “Apple MacKenzie.”

Despite himself, James felt something stir inside him. Why was that name familiar?

“I didn’t know it was going to be a serial until I found this in the bookshop over Christmas,” she said, “I went to a muggle shop for my mum’s Christmas gift and I saw this and mum bought it for me for Christmas.” She held up the book and on the cover was an illustration of a muggle woman, peering ‘round a corner wall at a dark shadow in the front corner. Over the top of the book was the words Apple MacKenzie - Fighting for Freedom. His eyes lingered on the cover and then up to her face. “It’s the sequel… to Determined to Die,” she explained, then, “You - you remember the night we read it together, yeah?”

Artefact, he was screaming in his head. Artefact!

“Of course I do, Evans,” James said, “I didn’t think you did.”

Lily smiled. It was an odd sort of memory. She remembered it, but at the same time she didn’t, too. She couldn’t explain it, really. She just knew that when she’d been trying to come up with excuses to go and see James in the hospital wing, she’d remembered it and drawn the book from her bag. You’re just reading to him, to keep him company, she’d told herself. Certainly he’s safe if you’re just keeping him company. That’s just what any good person would do for another… it isn’t anything that might put him in danger…

“Do you want to hear the new story?”

James stared at her.

“You don’t have to if you don’t want to,” she supplied.

“No, I do,” James answered.

“Alright.”

“Alright,” James nodded.

And Lily put the book on her lap and cleared her throat and she opened the cover and snapped the spine so the book would lay on her lap. “Apple MacKenzie sat behind her desk at the investigation department and stared at the newspaper before her, a puzzled expression upon her face --” Lily began, but she paused, seeing a funny expression on James’s face. “What?” she asked.

James hesitated, then replied, “I was just thinking that I’m very glad you didn’t go when I told you to. That’s all.”

Lily paused, letting that sink in a moment, then she reached out a hand to touch his.

“Just - thanks is all,” James said.

Lily nodded. “Of course, Potter.”

There was an awkward moment of silence. Then, “What’d new newspaper say?” James asked.

“The newspaper?” Lily asked, thinking of the Daily Prophet, thinking he was asking what the papers had said about him going missing.

But James nodded at the book. “Why was she looking at the newspaper all puzzled for?”

“Oh,” Lily said, and she turned back to the book. “The death of the twenty-seven year old widower, one of the wealthiest men in the world, was most puzzling indeed…”

James settled into his bed pillows and listened, watching Lily Evans’ lips move as she read the words in half-whispered tones, so as not to wake Madam Pomfrey…