“What? What! What is it?”
He bent over her. “You were in the Alendoren Cove again.”
She shot up in bed. ”What?”
“Lily, I don’t know how many times I’ve told you that it’s dangerous!”
“Why do you care? And for another thing, I’d greatly appreciate it if you’d stop being so bloody overprotective!”
He winced. “Look, I’m sorry. I just don’t want you to die-can’t you understand that?”
Impatiently, she shrugged his hand off of her shoulder. “No. I don’t see why you should care. It’s my life, and they’re my friends. Just don’t bother about me, all right?”
Rather downcast, he let his hand fall. “All right. All right-all right. Fine. I’ll leave you alone.” He turned to leave, with an exceedingly hurt look on his face. Lily cringed.
“James-wait!”
He turned around. “Wait for what?”
She stood up, throwing her dressing gown around her shoulders and walking over to him. “James, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it the way it came out.”
He didn’t respond.
“James, I just can’t stand being watched over too closely. Please-you have to understand.” Pleading, she stared up at him. He couldn’t help but give in.
“All right-all right. I’m sorry about the overprotectiveness. It just seems to me that you’re like my little sister-and even though we fight a lot, I don’t know what I’d do if you died.”
She smiled. “Then we’re friends?”
”Exactly. Shake?”
She held out her hand and he shook it with mock seriousness. Then, however, he seemed to think of something else.
“Lily?”
”Yes?” Lily knew it was something important-the sparkle had gone from his eyes. “What?”
”I want you to know something. Whatever happens, no matter in how much trouble you are, and no matter how badly you feel or where you are, know that I’ll be there for you.”
Two tears spilled over her cheeks as he told her that, and she blinked several times before looking up at him.
“James?”
“What?”
“It’s your mission in life to make me cry, isn’t it?”
He grinned as he reached out and wiped the tear strands away from her face. “You could say that.”
Even though she was crying, she couldn’t help but laugh. “You evil creature.”
“Why so?”
“You make me think you’re a terribly nice, kind, and sympathetic person, and then you choose that moment to reveal your true self.”
He considered this, stroking his chin a bit. “True.”
“Humph.”
“Say, Lily?”
“What?”
He was a bit uncomfortable when he tried to say this. “Do you mind if-if-“
“If what?”
“If we go to the Alendoren Cove today? I’d really like to meet Tom more-and that funny unicorn-and besides, Hogwarts gets a bit boring after a while.”
Lily laughed. “All right. But if Sirius or any of those three find out, it would be less painful for you to be impaled on a large rabid werewolf than to meet me.”
“Deal!”
They shook hands laughing, but then Lily remembered something.
“James.”
“Hum?”
“What’re we going to tell them as to where we’re going?”
James grinned. “Leave it to me.”
Groaning, Lily dropped her head back. “Why does my common sense protest so strongly against this?”
They went down to breakfast, and, seating themselves, started to heap their plates. When James and Sirius started talking, Lily didn’t pay attention, till one remark slipped out from James. Then her head snapped up.
“Say, Sirius, do you mind lending me a couple Galleons? I’m taking Lily to Hogsmeade today and I’d like to be able to buy her something nice.”
Lily wasn’t the only one that was astounded, though she was the one that collected herself first. Sirius resembled nothing more than a large, overstuffed hippopotamus that had just been given a large smack over the side of the head with an oar.
“Excuse me?”
“What? I just asked you for a couple Galleons!”
“You-you’re taking Lily to Hogsmeade?”
“Yeah, what about it?”
“You?”
“Me.”
“Are?”
“Is.”
“Taking?”
“Taking. No-wait, make that ‘escorting’.”
“Lily?”
“Lily.”
“To Hogsmeade?”
“To Hogsmeade.”
Sirius was still resembling a hippopotamus, only now the hippopotamus was angry. “Why?”
“Because I asked her and she said yes.”
Sirius turned to Lily, who was trying to look as unconcerned as possible as she spilled the pitcher of milk. “Lily!”
“What?!” Now the biscuits had been upset, too.
“You’re going to Hogsmeade with James?”
James shot something between a glare and a warning look and a ‘yes’ at Lily.
“Er-sure, why not?”
Sirius threw his napkin on the table. “I’ve had enough.” Disgustedly, he left the Great Hall, leaving Lily and James with extremely guilty faces as Peter and Remus stared at them.
Peter was the first to snap out of his trance. Which was a first.
“Way to go, Prongs!”
James shrugged. “Pete, in the nicest way possible, shut up.”
Peter obeyed instantly. Remus, however, had not been told to shut up, so, well, he didn’t.
“Say, James, is it a boy or a girl?”
Lily kicked James when she recognized the look on his face. “I’m a girl, Remus dearest; if you don’t believe me, you’re welcome to check.”
Remus pushed his chair back. “I’ll leave that to your boyfriend.”
Lily grinned wickedly. “He’s not my boyfriend, he’s not coming that close, and it’s a good thing you decided not to; if you had, you’d be running if you still could.”
Remus rolled his eyes. “Point taken. So, James, when did you ask her out?”
James arranged his fork in such a position that if he let go of the prongs, a piece of sausage topped with jelly would go flying straight at Remus. “I didn’t. I only asked her to come to Hogsmeade with me.”
“Oh.” Remus frowned. “I’ll go see about Sirius, then.”
He pushed his chair back and left the Great Hall. Peter was still there, but when Peter was eating, he was as oblivious to his surroundings as if he had just had carrots stuck up every opening his body had. And Peter was eating.
Lily was staring at James as if she doubted that a greater idiot existed on the face of the earth. There probably didn’t, by the way.
“Potter, that was one of the most idiotic things you’ve ever done.”
“Oh, so you could have done it better?!”
“He has caught on!”
“And how, may I ask?”
Lily pointed over to the teacher’s table. “See Filch? Tracking snow over the floors will get one a detention.”
“So?”
“So one conveniently invents a detention. This avoids the kind of spectacle you have just created.”
“Oh.” James slumped down in his chair. “I feel dumb now.”
“You should.” With the characteristic toss of her head, Lily resumed the task of trying to kick the biscuit-and-milk mess underneath the tablecloth before a teacher noticed.
That afternoon, quite as unplanned, but expected, Sirius was avoiding them as much as possible, to the extent of hexing himself and leaving the Great Hall for the hospital wing. Somewhat depressed, Lily and James met in Lily’s dormitory. She had asked him to wear something inconspicuous, such as gray robes. Not everyone in the Alendoren Cove knew him, and it would be safest for him if he didn’t barge in on several elf-nymph teenagers getting changed in one of the coral reef’s rooms and then be attacked because he was a stranger. James had agreed. Lily herself was a well-known figure down in the Albanian inlet, and so were her dark articles of clothing; therefore, she donned her usual black jazz pants, shirt, and cloak, along with a relatively new pair of shoes she could move quietly in. If she was to be around Svordsja, it was in her best interests to keep silent, unless she wanted a kick in the head. If she did, that could be arranged easily; all she needed to do was show up in a fluffy tutu. Sadly, though, Lily had more self-respect than that. Shame. The blackmail photos would have come out so nicely otherwise.
Anyway, Lily pulled James inside the room quickly, shutting the door. His eyebrows went up.
“This looks highly suspicious.”
“Get your sick mind away from where I know it’s dwelling. Come here.”
He obeyed with a mischievous twinkle in his eyes. Squaring her chin and setting her mouth firmly, she swerved in front of him.
“James Potter, in case you were wondering, no, I’m not throwing my necklace around your neck. Hold onto my arm or something.”
Before she could protest, her breath was knocked out of her by an extremely strong grip around her waist, with James’ fist digging into her stomach. She managed to gasp a few words.
“Not that hard!”
He released his hold a bit. “Look, can’t you see I’m a bit nervous about what might happen if I lost hold of you and started flying into oblivion?”
She studied him critically. “No, I can’t say that I do. I’ve received the impression that you enjoy suffocating me.”
“Sorry.”
“It’s all right. Just—just allow my blood to flow normally, and we’ll be all right. Normally.”
He grinned shamefacedly. “Ready, then?”
“Sure, why not.” Lily groaned. “I’m going to die.” She let out an involuntary gasp as he caught her around the waist again; she tensed up quickly, but it wasn’t needed.
“Thanks.”
“For what?”
“Allowing me to breathe.”
”Oh, that. Anytime.”
“Hmph.” She sniffed, but she couldn’t repress a smile. “Hold on. Loosely.”
“I’ve been ready!”
“Okay.” Lily pulled the necklace out from under her robes and looked around critically for a hard something. They were in the middle of the room. Lily decided to improvise.
“James!”
“What?” His eyes were closed.
“Wimp. Bend you head down, will you?”
“Huh?”
“Just do it!”
He shrugged, but let his head fall onto her shoulder.
With a wicked smirk on her face, Lily dashed the stone as hard as she could against his skull. Before he could yelp in pain, they were spinning through darkness, and had landed in somewhat deepish water before James could get out his “Ouch!”
He outed with it as soon as they surfaced, letting go of her rather quickly, holding his head, then grabbing frantically for her as soon as he realized that his feet weren’t touching anything.
“Lily! Where are we?” He dunked her, hard.
She came up. “Alen—“ He pushed her down again, in his struggles to stay on the surface.
“Where are we?”
He let her up. “The Alendor—“ Down again.
“AAH!”
“Alendoren—“
“I’m drowning!”
“The A—“
“I’m dying!”
“Mmph!”
“Help!”
“Ja—“
“Someone help me!”
“Potter, I—
“I’m dying!”
Lily gave up and let him hold her underneath the dewy water. She could breath it anyway; it wasn’t like she’d be drowned. But James didn’t know that.
He pushed himself up to the surface, using her as a banister of sorts, till he started treading water calmly. Then he seemed surprised when Lily didn’t surface. And when she did, it was with her face downward. She was having a bit of fun.
“Lily! Oh, my gosh—Lily! You all right--?”
She didn’t move. Meanwhile, she was discovering that one of the interesting aspects of this odd Alendoren Cove water was that she could hear everything James was saying.
“Lily! Oh, my God! I—I—oh, help, what’d I do! Lily!”
He tried turning her over; she flopped lazily onto her back, eyes wide open, glazed, and staring before she slowly started to sink. James panicked.
“Lily! Lily! Oh, my bloody purple humping monkeys! Lily!”
No response. Lily floated a few feet further down. He decided to dive. About time, Lily thought.
After a good thirty seconds, he caught up with her and managed to drag her up to the surface. When they reached it, her arms were folded and her eyes were wide open.
“Now, really, James, that was one pathetic rescue mission.”
It was a good thing that he had nerves holding his eyeballs in place, she reflected, because he certainly was setting a new world record as to the amount his eyes were popping out. He managed to gasp out a few mumbles that were barely recognizable as English.
“Lily! You’re alive!”
“That is quite possibly the stupidest remark I’ve ever heard. Why do you have me pinned so close to you?”
He let out a snort. “I thought you were dead!”
“You also thought you were dying when you were in the process of killing me. Kindly let me go.”
He obeyed, scowling a bit. “Do you know how scared you had me?”
“As a matter of fact, no. Didn’t think you cared.”
“Well, I thought I’d killed you.”
“If it weren’t for the fact that one can breathe in this liquid, you would have.”
James gaped. “You can breathe in this water?”
Lily sighed. “Technically, my friend, this isn’t water. Watch.” Quickly, she sank under the surface, not bothering to take a breath. She stayed there for a good minute and a half, and James could clearly see her chest moving up and down with each breath she took. When she came back up to the top, she had to resist the crazy urge to try to hit his eyes to see if they’d pop back into their sockets.
They didn’t, and she did. She resisted, that is, contenting herself with simply smacking him on the back of the head.
“Potter, of all the stupid things to do, you had to try and drown me!”
“I said I was sorry.”
“Actually, no, you didn’t.”
He scowled. “Fine. I’m terribly sorry for almost murdering you. Can we get to dry land now?”
Lily sighed, but gave in. “All right.” Just then, James gave an odd start. “What?”
He touched the tips of her ears. “You is what. Look at your ears!”
“Mm-hm. I know. I also noticed that, while breathing this liquid when I was playing dead, that I’m forming odd sorts of fins on my hands.”
James gaped and snatched both of her palms, spreading them out. It was true; she was forming a small, delicate, silver web between each finger. It didn’t look so bad, come to that, but what was rather frightening were the silver strands forming across her hair, reminding him of zillions of small lightning bolts.
He took a deep breath. “Lily?”
“Hm?”
“You ready to go to shore?”
She shrugged. “Sure, if you say so.” Instantly, she had kicked upwards, hard, and had dived into the water a good five feet in front of him. From time to time she surfaced, streaking the water with her silver lightning bolts cutting across her hair. He followed her quickly.
James knew the only reason Lily reached the shore at the same time she did was because she’d purposefully dawdled, but he appreciated it just the same. He swung himself out of the waves and held a hand out for her.
Lily smiled and accepted, leaping onto the rock he was standing on. To his surprise, her cloak was hardly wet; well, that is, he could see the water glistening on it, but it billowed in the winds and waved about her feet quite unlike a soaked one would, which would actually stick to her legs and feet. And her hair was dark and heavy with the liquid, but it still curled around her face, blowing with the wind. Looking down at himself, James found that his clothing imitated the same actions. The pearl-gray robes he had donned were soaking wet; he could feel that, but they were no heavier than before, and the sharp north wind that was blowing whipped them every which way the wind felt like.
Lily snapped him out of his trance by taking his wrist rather sharply and yanking him down from the boulder. Quickly, he followed her, to some place he assumed she knew.
When they reached Tom’s cave, however, it was empty, and the door was shut. Lily saw reason in that. No sane person would stay right in the blast of this wind. And Tom was mostly sane. For the present. So, whipping around, she whisked straight for Svordsja’s stable. The door opened easily, and she stepped inside. Beckoning James to follow her, both were glad to get out of the knife-cutting wind.
Svordsja was inside; kneeling down behind a large mound of piled sand to keep the wind out of the cracks. Her head was down on her forelegs, but she raised her head as soon as Lily and James entered.
Lily stepped forward quietly, holding out one hand, muttering some words under her breath. The pentacorn let out one snort, then relaxed, the tension leaving all three of them. Lily beckoned James to come over and sit down.
“Sit. She won’t hurt you—HOLD IT!” She held out a hand, almost hitting James in the face, as the pentacorn’s horns lowered. Lily gulped.
“I forgot she doesn’t like most people. Here. Give me your hand.”
He was a bit edgy about this, but he held it out, and, crooning under her breath, Lily brought it ever closer to Svordsja’s neck, not letting James yank it away when the animal tossed her mane and snorted, but bringing it closer till it rested on the stately creature. When she didn’t gore James in the stomach after a full minute, James let out a huge breath.
“Whew!”
Lily agreed. “I’d forgotten. I'm sorry.”
“No problem. It’s payback for almost getting murdered.”
She grinned. “I’d forgotten about that, too! Come, sit down. She likes being used as a sofa cushion.” He hesitated.
“I’ll sit near her teeth, then, for Pete’s sake! Come on, she won’t hurt you.”
James sighed. “All right.” He obeyed and sat down next to her, but not that close. Though he wouldn’t admit it, the strange silver mists and threads running through her eyes scared him quite a bit. He couldn’t look into them for too long; they’d make him terribly nervous.
Lily noticed. “You’re scared of me.”
He was indignant. “Me, scared of a girl! I think not! Where ever did you get that utterly idiotic idea—“
She wasn’t convinced. “You’re scared.”
James slumped onto the floor. “Yeah, so what?”
“Nothing. It’s interesting. I’m not a different person or anything, am I?”
He shook his head. “You’re not. I just—oh well. Never mind.” He moved closer. “Overcoming fears is good.”
She smiled slightly. “James?”
“Hm?”
“You haven’t told anyone, have you?”
He frowned. “What do you take me for?”
Lily shrugged. “I don’t know…I just figure that if you see Sirius so upset, you’d break down…” She saw his face. “Never mind.”
Taking her arm, he patted Svordsja quietly. “Lily, this is your secret. It isn’t mine. I’ve got no right to tell anyone.”
She gulped. Please don’t make me cry!
He continued. “And I don’t intend to tell anyone, not even my closest friends, unless you want them to know. Otherwise my mouth and my quill are staying dumb.”
Lily smiled. “Thanks.”
“No problem.”
“I would have thought it would be; come on, you’re a famous Marauder!”
Grinning, he nudged her. “You mean you want this to be shouted in a Howler from the Great Hall when everyone gets back from the holidays?”
Agape, she stared at him. “You wouldn’t!”
Seeing the smirk on his face, she settled back down. “I thought not.”
He knew better, but let it go. Instead, he switched the subject to something that had bothered him for quite some time. Lifting a hand, he ran it through her hair, ignoring her flinch. He picked up one of the strands of silver hair.
“What, may I ask, are you doing?”
He ignored her indignation. “Let me see something. Bend your head down.”
Instead of obeying, she snatched it back up. “How much harm do you intend to inflict upon my skull?”
He shook his head. “I’m not you,—“
“That would be scary.”
“—and I don’t intend to hurt you;—“
“But will you?”
“—I just want to see something. Head down. Or, at least, incline it this way.”
She sighed before obeying. Quite clearly, she could feel him lift some of her hair up and study it.
“What are you doing? Last time I checked, I wasn’t a laboratory specimen.”
“I just want to see if this is real silver. Mind if I tear some out?”
“Yes.”
“Too bad.” He tore some of it off. To his surprise, it broke like a piece of wire.
“Erm—Lil?”
“Yes?”
“I think you’ve got a silver mine planted on the top of your head.”
Lily scowled. “You’ve got such a nasty way of putting that. I have silver hair. Live with it. Otherwise, I can arrange for your funeral.”
“You’d have to kill me first.”
“Not necessarily. I could bury you alive.”
“Note to self: Never let Lily Evans persuade me to get inside a closed, oblong box.”
“Wise.”
“Isn’t it, though?”
“Definitely.”
He sighed, then shivered. “It’s cold.”
Lily frowned. “It is?”
Pulling his robes more tightly around him, he shivered again. “Don’t tell me you didn’t notice.”
She shrugged, taking off her cloak and passing it to him. “I guess it’s the elf-nymph change. Something like I have more resistance to temperatures or something. That’d explain why Litharelen’s never cold, by the way.”
He nodded. “Right. Thanks for the cloak, by the way.”
“No problem.”
They sat there for a few more minutes, then Lily clapped a hand over James’ mouth. “You humans! Stop the teeth-chattering! I can’t think!”
He immediately clenched them. “Sorry!”
“’S okay. I just get too annoyed with things.”
“With me, too?”
“Sometimes,” she admitted truthfully.
“Why?” He looked rather hurt.
“Well—you do get rather irritating when you’re showing off, and once in a while you just are too boring for me.”
“Excuse me? I’m on the Quidditch team, I—“
She cut him off. “Well, that isn’t going to make any girl going to want to stay with you for life, my friend.”
James looked at her quizzically. “You mean you ever considered that?”
Lily opened her mouth to say something cutting, but decided against it. “I tried once. The only picture I got was of us tearing each other’s hair out.”
He nodded. “You’ve got a point.”
“I know.”
”But—Lil—“
“What?”
He put a hand on her knee. “When did you ever form the notion of us maybe spending forever together?”
Lily shrugged. “It was after an exam, I was bored, and I was looking around the classroom and trying to see who I definitely wanted to stay rather far away from.”
He withdrew his hand. “Makes sense.”
“And you, my friend, were just stuffing a fire-breathing salamander down Vanessa’s shirt.”
He grinned, then checked himself as he met her glare. “True. Hey—what? It was fun!”
“Yeah, and Vanessa had scorch marks on her back for about three days.”
“Er.”
“Very good answer.”
“I try.”
“Good. Try harder.”
“Sorry.”
“It’s all right…” She sighed and let her head fall back. “I hate myself for getting so fed up with little things.”
“I do, too.”
She looked up. “You get fed up with little stuff, too?”
“Nope.” He grinned. “I hate you for getting so fed up with little things.”
“Gee, thanks!”
“I was joking!” He lightly punched her in the arm. “Joking. Jay-oh-kay-eye-en-gee. Joking.”
“I’m impressed.”
“I can spell it backwards, too: Gee-en-eye—Ouch!” Lily withdrew her hand.
“Enough is enough, you mammoth.”
“Mammoth? Then you’re a saber-tooth—er—a saber-tooth—“
Lily smiled. “You know I’d take it as a compliment if you called me a tiger, don’t you?”
“Unfortunately.” He sighed. “Say, when do you plan on returning to Hogwarts? It’s rather cold, in case you didn’t notice, and wind is one of those factors that do exist in this little la-la-land place.”
Smirking wickedly, Lily stood up and gave Svordsja a small pat on the side. The pentacorn immediately stood, knocking James onto his stomach. Needless to say, he was rather indignant.
“Hey! That hurt!”
“I thought someone was complaining about sitting here! Come on. I’m teaching you how to ride her.”
James shook his head. “No. Way. In. He—in heck,” he amended, seeing the look on her face. “No way.”
“It’ll keep you warm. Come on, you wimp!”
She knew he disliked being called a wimp, and he knew she knew, and she knew that he knew that she knew that he disliked being called that, and he knew that she knew that he knew that she knew that he disliked it. In other words, both of them were aware of the fact that James wasn’t too particular to that name.
“Lily Evans.”
“If you want to hit me, you’d better catch me. Come on!” With that, she had flung herself over Svordsja’s back, had steered the pentacorn to the door, and crashed headfirst into the shrieking wind. James shook his head as he followed her.
“What do you want me to do, jump onto a running horse?”
“Pentacorn.”
“Whatever. You honestly want me to do that?”
“It’s not quite traditional, but it’ll warm you up. I assume you know how to ride a pentacorn?”
”Yeah.” James nodded. “At least, I’ve ridden horses.”
Lily wrinkled her nose. “In other words, you can’t ride. Never mind about that. For now, I’ll stand still. You try to mount her.”
“With you on her back?”
“Why not?”
“Okay then.” Taking a deep breath, James took a running start, and, slipping his foot into the loop made by a fold of Lily’s cloak, he soon was on the back of the pentacorn. Lily, however, wasn’t.
The sudden jerk of his foot in her cloak had thrown her off of the steed, onto an area relatively free from sharp rocks, as she was thankful for later. However, she was stunned enough to close her eyes and black out.
