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Lily’s Dream


Maryrose was standing on the top of the astronomy tower, by one of the turrets that the students used to lean their telescopes upon. She had put on a jumper and her hair was a brilliant shade of teal because James had once told her that it was his favorite. She leaned against the stone of the castle, her heart racing with anticipation. Then she saw a figure out on the lawn… by the quidditch pitch. It was James, in just his slacks and oxford, his quidditch robes he’d been wearing gone… and he was running toward the forest, his wand in his fist, his hair gone wild… She squinted down at him in concern, wondering what he was doing going off into the trees… She frowned.

Was there something the matter? Why else would James have been running to the forest when he was supposed to be on his way up here? What if something happened and that’s what Remus Lupin had needed him for? She gripped the stone nervously, about to turn to go and see if there was something she could do to go and help… when she spotted Remus Lupin himself, coming from the pitch with James’s other two friends - Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew - and those three seemed fine… no apparent emergencies… She watched as they stopped halfway up the path to talk, Remus seeming to do most of the talking as he moved his hands the most of the three of them, and then Sirius had said something - he looked upset - and gone off toward the castle, followed by Peter, while Remus stayed there on the path, shaking his head and turning in circles, kicking at the dusty path.

Maryrose looked along the treeline of the forest, but James had disappeared and there was no sign of his returning.

And then -- there was Lily Evans, easy to spot with her bright ginger hair, and she walked down to where Remus was, carrying something lumpy in her arms, and the pair of them stood for a moment, talking, Lily glancing back at the castle, and then they both ran toward the woods together, exactly the way James Potter had gone.

Maryrose’s hands gripped the stone turret.

She needed to go see what was wrong. There was obviously something. And what if they could use her help? She’d help anyway she could! She turned to go, hurrying down the steps of the tower....




Remus hadn’t expected Sirius to be angry with him. But angry he’d been. “When do I ever get to spend time with you anymore?” Sirius demanded, looking upset. They were standing on the path ot the pitch, and Sirius’s words were loud and complaining. He stared at Remus, “When was the last time I got to properly snog you or hold you or just be with you, Rey? It’s been a right long time!”

“It hasn’t been that long,” Remus argued, “You’re being a mite dramatic about it, Padfoot. And this is for James - how long’s he been waiting for Lily to pay attention and he’s got the perfect opportunity, at last, for her to notice him! I can’t not help him with that -- you know I can’t.”

Sirius crossed his arms over his chest.

“Sirius… please…”

“Whatever, Rey. Do whatever you want. I’m going to the dorm.” Sirius spun on his heels and started off toward the castle, followed by Peter, and Remus stared after him, dumbfounded.

“Don’t be such a git!” he cried out, and Sirius flipped him the middle finger as he continued walking off. Remus’s eyes burned. “Yeah well…” he imitated the motion, “To you, too.” He kicked the dirt and paced angrily.

Sirius was being irrational, he thought. He couldn’t understand what the bloody hell was going on… why Sirius was suddenly always trying to challenge him, always acting slighted. His heart ached over it, and he jammed his fists into his pockets as he paced, wishing he knew how to fix it, how to make Sirius feel better. He felt like he couldn’t do anything right with Sirius lately…

“Remus!” Lily had come down the hill from the castle, carrying her bag of deer feed, and she was smiling happily. He swallowed back the anxiety he was feeling, not wanting to upset her. After all, this was a really special night, if everything went as he was picturing it might - and he didn’t want anything to spoil it.

“Hey,” he smiled.

She looked nervous, “I hope this isn’t for nothing. I hope so much we see him. You’ll see, Rey, he’s spectacular…”

“I bet he is.”

Lily looked back over her shoulder at the castle. “I saw Sirius on my way down… is he alright? He didn’t say hi to me - I think he’s still angry with me for yelling at him during practice, but I mean honestly! Acting like that to a first year - especially one as adorable as Oliver Kent.” She shook her head.

“I have no idea what’s wrong with him,” Remus replied a bit sourly. “He’ll get over whatever it is, the prat.”

Lily blinked. “Are you alright?”

“Yeah.”

“You’re not angry with me, are you?” she asked, a sad look on her face.

Remus shook his head, “No, of course not!”

“Okay.”

“C’mon - let’s go find that stag,” Remus said, not wanting to talk of Sirius anymore, and they started off into the forest.

Meanwhile, deep in the trees, James was pacing about, his wand tucked through his back belt loop and into the pocket of his slacks, his heart pounding wildly. He felt a twisted mixture of anticipation and guilt in his stomach. He was scared and excited all at once. What would Lily say? What would she do? Would she be angry with him? Would Maryrose be? What would Remus tell Maryrose for why James didn’t show up on the Astronomy tower? And suddenly he wondered whether he was doing the right thing - if he ought not to run back to the castle and go find Maryrose and apologize… forget Lily Evans. She’d never wanted him anyway, not the way Maryrose did. And what good did it do, trying to impress Evans? She never cared about any of the things he did… Maryrose cared. Maryrose noticed everything, even little things he barely noticed about himself. Evans, he was lucky if she spoke to him to say more than bugger off... But the very thought of giving up on Lily Evans made his stomach ache. For there was something about her - something that called to him on a level so much deeper than he’d ever felt anything before, except perhaps his love for Quidditch… But Maryrose was his girlfriend. Maryrose’s love was a constant, a reality. Lily’s was a theory that may never come to fruition…

James was just about to bolt back to the castle when there was a cracking of footsteps through the woods and he quickly changed into the stag with a soft pop.

Remus and Lily Evans stepped through into the clearing and Prongs watched from the darkness where he was crouching. His ears twitched and tail flicked nervously as they stopped in the moonlight, Lily’s ginger hair nearly purple from the pale blue illumination…

“The feed’s still here,” Lily said, her voice sounding disappointed. She looked around, and knelt by the scattered pellets of deer food. She frowned, “And no tracks, either.” Her heart sank nearly all of the way to her toes. She looked over at Remus.

“Perhaps we aren’t deep enough in the trees,” he suggested, wondering where James had gone - wanting to reassure Lily, but not wanting the whole thing to sound staged, either… He glanced about through the dark that surrounded them.

Lily sank onto the log that lay across the clearing, dropping the bag of feed onto the ground at her feet. “I dunno, Rey. Maybe I’m crazy, maybe there was no stag.”

Remus frowned.

“I wanted there to be one so much that my brain snapped and conjured one up.”

“I doubt that,” Remus said.

Lily shrugged.

“Why a stag, Lil? Just curious.”

She shrugged. “Dunno. I don’t understand it. I’ve dreamed of him so many times, though… He’s always there for me when I need him most, protecting…” Lily sighed. “I don’t know why, Rey.” She looked over at him. “There’s a lot I don’t know about my feelings lately, though. They seem… all over the place. Ever since the night when we broke Professor Mopsus’s clocks.” She rubbed her palms over her hands. “I’ve felt… I’ve felt things.”

Remus looked at her with a raised eyebrow. “Things?”

She nodded. “I… I had a funny dream that night… before everything started… before James and I met up and came for you and Sirius. I don’t recall the all of details of it, it felt so real, there were so many details… but… but it seems I might’ve dreamed about… about the future.” She flushed.

Remus went over and sat on the log beside her, staring at her, “About the future?”

“Or some version of it.”

He looked concerned.

“I was older in the dream,” she said, “Not a lot, but a bit, and… I was afraid - afraid for… for Potter.”

“Afraid for James?”

Lily flushed, “Yeah. But -- I dunno, it wasn’t quite right, something was wrong about it. I dunno where I was in the dream, it was a room and I was holding something that was very precious. Like a treasure, I think, something… something You Know Who wanted and…” She stared at her toes, “And I was afraid for Potter and afraid that You Know Who would get the treasure from me and I was the only thing that stood between him and it. And whatever it was, Rey, it was very, very, very important that he did not get it.”

“A weapon, maybe?” Remus suggested.

“Perhaps,” Lily answered, “I don’t remember.”

His heart raced, thinking of the things Sirius had told him that he’d seen, the prophecies that Mopsus had made about James, about Voldemort, about the future, and he wondered if this was another - some sort of prophecy, delivered undercover…

“It’s stupid, I know,” Lily said quietly.

Remus shook his head, “Not at all.”

“But ever since then, I’ve…” her voice trembled and she paused, “I’ve had feelings for --”

She didn’t get to say a name… for at that moment, there was a scream that rang through the trees… echoing in the darkness… that was very quickly cut short.

Lily and Remus both stood up, staring off into the dark.

“What the hell was that?” Lily gasped.

“Dunno,” Remus answered, “But wands at the ready.” He yanked his out of the pocket of his jumper and held it up. She did, too. “Lumos,” he whispered, and he nodded for Lily to follow him in the direction that the scream had come from.