Someone threw a paper at Lily and Remus, who had fallen asleep near the fire. They had taken to lead their group, which they had named Phoenix Fire. It was only the Marauders, Lily, Frank and Alice because they didn’t want many people to know about it. They met every few weeks in the library, or in the common room, sometimes even in the Great Hall. Lily and Remus usually stayed awake well into the night planning their meetings, and which spells would be good, as well as finding news on the movement of the Death Eaters.

They woke with a start and looked at who threw it. It was James.
“Look at this!” he said.
Lily yawned and grabbed the paper, trying to focus her eyes on it. “WHAT?” she yelled, holding it out for Remus.
“Oh, dear,” he said.
“Lord Voldemort and his followers have taken to the skies, this time, with the show of the Dark Mark; as they put it. Just last night around midnight his followers set this Dark Mark into the sky to announce to the world that they had killed Muggleborn Healer Rudolf Garland.”

Lily threw the paper away from her.

In the next Transfiguration lesson, Lily, Remus, James and Sirius sat together at the back of the classroom. Lucky Lily got there first, and she cast “Muffilatio,” on the area surrounding the two desks. She wanted to be able to talk to them about their meeting that night.

“Hey Lily,” said Remus, slumping down next to her. She smiled weakly at him – he was definitely approaching the full moon and could feel it.
“Hey,” she said, patting his back.
“Hey Evans,” James whispered in her ear. It made her smile because it felt ticklish but unfortunately for her, he caught the smile and winked at her.
“Hey!” Sirius said, copying James. Lily poked his cheek and he sat next to James.

“So tonight I have a list,” she said, passing out copies to each of them. “Read it, learn it and be there to help, especially you Remus,” she said. Lily and Remus had discussed it but Lily had written the plan out properly for them.
“And what’s wrong with you, today?” Sirius asked her whispering.
“What?” she asked.
“Not scared of being overheard?” he asked.
“Muffilatio?” she said in a questioning way. Was he really that stupid?

“Nox!” whispered 8 voices together as they heard footsteps. All of them hid in different areas. Remus and Gertrude jumped behind two armours, Sirius pulled Peter behind a door, Frank and Alice ran down another corridor, and Lily stood there, like a deer in front of headlights. She felt an arm wrap around her hips, and a body press against hers. It pulled her gently but quickly backwards and covered her with something. She could feel them breathing on her skin and the hand on her mouth dropped. She hadn’t realised it was there.

“Shh…” James whispered so quietly into her ear that she barely heard him. She felt herself relax as she realised it was him.

“Nox,” another voice whispered which was approaching them all. Lily watched through large eyes as her old best friend wandered down the hall, looking around suspiciously. She frowned – Severus was following them. She felt James tense behind her, and she took a few steps back to pin him between herself and the wall behind them.

When he left, they all walked quietly in their groups to the Room of Requirement, where Lily and Remus exchanged quite embarrassed and flushed expressions.

“Okay, thanks for coming everyone. And next time the Marauders might kindly let us know who-is-coming,” she said, eying them off. “One day we might be faced with someone who has found something out about us, and what we do. Of course, for us, we do not want to kill them. So what can we do to make sure the information they have heard won’t go back to you-know-who? We can -”
“KILL THEM!” Sirius said loudly.
“No,” said Remus calmly, looking back at Lily.
“We can erase their memory,” she said. “The spell is Obliviate. We’re not going to practice it because… well I don’t want any of you to have your memory erased, but we need to know how to do the spell.” She held out her wand arm and held an invisible wand. “Obliviate,” she said, and twisted her arm to show everyone how it went.

Then, all of them started doing this. Remus made his way over to Lily, and said “I saw you. Just before. With James.”
She blushed and said “Oh yeah? He hid me from Severus,” she said.
“No, no. You do love him, Lily. Just say yes!” then he walked away.

“Okay good! Now, just to make things a bit clearer for SOME,” said Remus, looking at Sirius and James, “the Phoenix Fire don’t cast unforgivable curses. So, something else we can do if we’re in an attack is Oppugno. I know you all know what that is, but we haven’t actually cast it. Lily and I have been trying it out on things, and now know how to cast it. So it’s just a wand movement of pointing at the victim, and say Oppugno,” he said.

“I think this is a really good curse to practice and use because you can aim anything at them. If you want to practice it soon, there’s some pillows over there. Just pillows Sirius, don’t try and get glass or something. After all, you’re not trying to attack us,” Lily said, hoping he didn’t. Besides, Severus and Regulus weren’t there, so who would they want to hurt?

Everyone got up and grabbed a few pillows to use. Peter didn’t want to go with Sirius, so Lily told him to go with James, and Lily went with Sirius. James wasn’t too happy with this, but Lily didn’t want James and Sirius messing around.

Lily walked back much later to the Common Room after she and Remus had cleaned up the Room of Requirement. They walked in really quietly, and overheard someone saying “Orchideous”. They looked at each other and frowned. “Who is up so late?” she whispered. As head girl, she didn’t like it.

When they went in, James’ head popped up from behind the tables. He looked angry that he was being interrupted, but when he saw who it was he went back to what he was doing. “What are you doing?” Remus asked.
“Just something.”
“Right, well I’m going to bed,” Lily said, and waved to Remus. She went to make her way to the girl’s dorms, before James spoke.
“Wait Lily, stay for a moment. I just…”
“I’m going,” Remus said, and smiled at Lily.

She stood there awkwardly for a few moments before James said “Close your eyes.” She did.
“Okay open them,” he said, and was standing in front of her.

She opened them and gasped. He was holding a huge bouquet of lilies of different colours. She smiled at them and then smiled back up at him. He was blushing, which made her heart finally open.

“Okay, good everyone. Great even,” Lily said, looking around as they finished practicing Oppugno again. They had really improved, and they had some new members too.
“The next one we thought could be good is the full body-binding curse. I know some of us have mastered it,” she said, looking at Sirius and James, “But I think it’s a really good spell.”
“Imagine you are a death eater, sent to kill. What curses would you expect the opponent to cast? Probably unforgivable curses, I assume? So if you use ones like this it might just catch them off guard,” Remus continued.

They began practicing it and everyone was doing really well. James and Sirius had taken over Lily and Remus in teaching the spell because they had done it that many times. Remus and Lily worked together, but stopped half way to talk in the corner.
“Are you scared?” he asked Lily.
“I think so, but I don’t want to be. I just think we’re in our last year! I mean in a decade we might have children and what if something happens to them because of what we do now?” she asked. What if they wanted revenge?

“What? James wake up!!” Lilly yelled, shaking him hard on his shoulder.
“What is it Prongs?” Sirius asked. Remus was sitting quietly on the ground, leaning on the couch by Lily’s legs. It was almost his time of the month.

James was panting and breaking out in a sweat, “Um… just a nightmare,” he said, but he looked frightened.
“What was it about?” Lily asked, reaching for his hand, but pulling away at the last minute. She could sense Remus’ gaze on her and avoided looking him in the eyes.
“Just about when we graduate, about what will… you know, be there when we get out,” he said simply.
“But what was it about exactly?” Remus asked.
“We were all in the forest and there was a gap in the north-western direction, the rest of the border was surrounded in Death Eaters, but there was a secret corridor in the gap somehow…” he said. Lily stood up quickly and dashed to her books.
“Easy! It’s called the Four-Point spell,” she said, putting her wand on her hand and saying “Point Me!”

It pointed right at James.
She looked up, slightly blushing, and said “You are North, James.”

“PROTEGO!” Lily yelled, blocking Remus’ spell. They both smiled at each other and laughed.
“Stupefy!” Lily said, pointing at Remus, and he was too slow in putting up his shield. The spell hit him and he collapsed.
“Oops.” Lily said, and walked over to Remus. She pulled her wand out and said “Rennervate,” and hit him with it. He took a gasp of breath and opened his eyes, looking up at the smiling Lily.
“Sorry Remus,” she said, laughing.
“Hey, Evans, don’t be sorry! He was too slow,” James said, putting his arm around her.
“Get off me Potter, go and practice with Sirius,” she said, and pinched him. When she looked back down at Remus he was giving her the ‘All Knowing’ look.
“Shove off Remus,” she said, turning around to stand back in her place. “AHH!” she screamed, and was hoisted up in the air. Her robes were covering her face but luckily her long skirt was staying in place.
“REMUS! Let me down! Let me down! LET ME DOWN!” she yelled, flapping around in the air trying to see.

She saw them all looking and laughing at her, and she started laughing too.

They were all back in the Room of Requirement, where they were learning how to shield themselves. Remus and Lily had explained how important it was to be able to shield themselves in times of danger, so they had been doing the spell for the last 2 hours.

Whilst everyone was practicing, Lily and Remus were talking against a wall.
“What are we going to do when we all graduate?” Remus asked.
“I don’t know Remus. Hopefully we can go to each other’s houses and practice as a group each week still,” Lily replied.
“Yeah, that’s what I’ve been thinking about. I think it would be best if we continued with it, rather than just stop,” he replied. They both stood there for a while, talking about plans. Across the room, James and Sirius were screaming, trying to get their attention. They found a good way, and everyone’s hearts jarred in their chest as Sirius’ voice was amplified around the room.
“PROFESSOR DUMBLEDORE IS COMING!” he said.

“Quietus,” Lily said, pointing her wand at him. She shot him a bad look, and they all stared at the door. Were they all busted?

Watching the door and waiting was agony. Everyone slowly backed towards the back wall, and stared. Lily reached out to grasp Remus’ hand, but found his spot had been taken over by James. Without letting on that she had noticed that it wasn’t Remus, she kept hold of it. The hand she was holding grasped hers tightly, and the body moved in front of her. She couldn’t understand why he was now standing in front of her, pressing her harder into the wall, until a few moments later.

“REDUCTO!” they heard, and the wall blew into small pieces. Everyone screamed, and ducked to cover themselves. Lily’s heart swelled in her chest. He was protecting her.

“MR.SNAPE! What in MERLIN’s beard are you Thinking?” Roared a very angry Slughorn.
“Professor Slughorn, please take Severus back to your office. I trust you can deal with suitable punishment,” Dumbledore said.
They heard the footsteps disappear, before Dumbledore spoke again. “You can all come out, please,” he said. “I have known for some time what you have all been doing and I would like confirmation that Miss. Evans and Mr. Lupin were the leaders of this group.”

“Yes Professor,” Lily said quietly, still standing behind James. She had been grasping his hand and his shoulder very tightly, and couldn’t release her grip. She was terrified. The entire wall just blew up, and it was Severus!
James tried to pull away but couldn’t. Remus stood in front of them and looked at Lily. He could see that she was very scared, and tears were starting to well up in her eyes.
“Lil?” he asked gently, using his hand to try and release her grip. She wasn’t budging. He pulled out his wand and said “Relashio,” and pointed it at her hands gripping James. Her hands opened up and James twisted around quickly to take her into his arms.

“Professor we started this group because we didn’t think Defence against the Dark Arts was enough for next year. We’ve been seeing how far the Death Eaters have been progressing and… well we think it would be good to start this up so that people could know how to defend themselves,” Remus explained calmly.
Dumbledore listened and nodded, then conjured up some sofa chairs. “Please be seated,” he said, then turned around to repair the wall.

Frank watched as Dumbledore wanted them to be seated. When his back was turned to repair the wall, he got his own wand out, and flicked it in Sirius’ direction, muttering “Rictusempra,” and Alice laughed loudly as Sirius buckled over on the ground and was rolling around laughing.

Through the laughter, the others could see joy that someone else, other than James, had the same sense of humour as he did. Dumbledore heard the laughter and turned around to see Sirius laughing on the ground, and Frank pointing his wand at him. He put the pieces together immediately, and smiled at the young men.

“Sorry to interrupt you men, Mr. Longbottom please put your wand away and everyone take a seat.
Frank dropped his wand, still laughing and said “Sorry Professor, just breaking the tension,” and Dumbledore laughed.
“Professor this was my idea! I told people not to tell anyone, especially Professors because I know we needed this, but I didn’t think they would agree,” Remus said.
“No, Professor, I came up with the idea! Remus was hesitant in doing it because he didn’t think it would be accepted by the Professors. It’s all my fault,” she said.

Dumbledore put up a hand to silence them. “I am not angry. In fact, the opposite, I’m very glad to see you taking things into your own hands without harming anyone. Now, I have something important to talk to you all about, so I would like to ask if you would kindly meet me in my office next Wednesday night at 8,” he said.
“That’s… but Professor why then?”
“Because that will give you a week to think it through before you leave Hogwarts,” he said. “Now I think it is time for you all to make your way back to the Towers before any other trouble comes,” he said, with a smile.

On their way back to the towers, however, they were met by Mulciber and Avery. Before the Lions had a chance to raise their wands, the Snakes had pointed their wands at them and yelled “SECTUMSEMPRA!” and ran off.
Lily screamed as blood splashed onto her. She looked down and saw it was Remus’ blood. Everyone bent down to put pressure on the many cuts that had appeared on his body, but nothing helped.
“Someone get Madame Pomfrey,” Lily yelled.

Frank and Alice got up and sprinted down the corridor for the Healer. Within moments she was there, and the young group of students has lifted him onto the stretcher which was now levitating down the corridor.

When they got to the Hospital Wing the students surrounded him, still trying to put pressure on the cuts. Remus was white and unconscious.
“Move, now! What happened? Out of my way! What happened?” Madam Pomfrey tried to ask. The Lions were surrounding Remus, and she couldn’t get through.
“Sonorus,” someone said, but nobody noticed.

“QUIET!” a voice boomed. It was Dumbledore. “Someone tell me what happened?” he asked, loudly.
A sobbing Lily spoke, “Professor we were-were about to head back to the T-towers, but Mul-ciber and Avery were th-there waiting and they-they pulled out their wands and said… they said Sectumsepra and then he just-he just collapsed.”
Dumbledore left the area to talk to Madam Pomfrey, who appeared moments later and muttered a spell over his wounds. They started to heal over, and some of the pink colour started to come back on his face, before he opened his eyes.
“Remus, how do you feel?” Lily said, taking hold of his hand.

“Where have you been?” Lily asked James and Sirius.
“What have you done is what I’d like to know,” Remus said.
“We caught up to the prats after Madam Pomfrey came and er, well we showed them what we do when people sod us off,” James said, smiling.
“You haven’t answered us,” Remus said, breathing out a small laugh.
“Well they cast that spell on you so we thought instead of cleaning up the mess YOU left on the ground that uh,” Sirius said.
“We washed their mouths out!” James said, laughing.
Lily and Remus exchanged glances, and even cracked a smile. Lily started laughing, and said “You finally used it on people who deserved it, then.”
James shrugged and smiled at her.

“Okay you three, OUT! Mr. Lupin has some healing to do and he needs his sleep, now out!” Madam Pomfrey said briskly, and they said goodbye to Remus and left.
Oh the way back to the castle, James had his arm around Lily and she didn’t protest.

A few days after the incident, Remus walked out of the Hospital Wing and into the Common Room. Only Lily was there studying and he walked up to her, pointed his wand and said “Silencio.” She couldn’t speak! Remus sat down next to her and said “I don’t want you to talk when I say this! James really likes you, Lily, and he has for so long. I think you should give him a go and say yes. And I think you like him too, even thought you don’t want to admit it. Okay, I know you like him. It’s time you let your guard down and went out with him,” he said.
Lily was looking at him with wide eyes, and her mouth hanging open.
He smiled, broke the charm and walked away. She still remained in silence, but only because she was thinking.

Later that night, James walked out of the boys dorms to find Lily reading. Alone. He sat down next to her and looked over to see her looking back at him. Smiling? Yes, she was smiling.
He took her book out her hands and said “Evans, will you be my girlfriend?”
And she said “Yes.”

It was the 7th years last day at Hogwarts. Tomorrow morning they would be on the train for the last time. All the 7th year Gryffindors were sitting at the house table, when Severus came over and tapped her on the shoulder.
“What do you want Sev?” Lily replied.
“I just want a word, that’s all. In Private.”

She looked at James and nodded, then stood up and left the Great Hall with Severus. They sat on the Entrance Stairs and Severus pulled out a small box and handed it to Lily. “It’s… it was meant for your birthday but I didn’t think you would accept it, so I just kept it until now. I might not see you again, Lil, and I wanted to give it to you. I’m really sorry for everything that I did, and I just hope one day you will forgive me,” he said, and left.
“What’s that?” Remus asked, sitting down next to her.
“My birthday present,” she said, and handed it to him. She knew he would be suspicious.

“SpeRevelio,” he said, pointing his wand at the object. Nothing happened, so she opened. It was a pure gold watch.

Lily, James and Remus made their way to the front of the Hogwarts Express. They sat down silently, and couldn’t find the words to speak for half the trip. They kept thinking that this was the last journey they would ever have from Hogwarts as students, and they felt miserable. James left half way through the journey to find Sirius, no doubt wanting to have a laugh.

With only an hour left of the journey, Lily and Remus left the compartment to do a quick check to make sure the students were all behaving. On the way to the end of the last carriage, they saw flashes. Lily and Remus walked quickly to the area and saw Mulcuber on the ground unconscious. Looking around, they saw it was Sirius who had his wand stretched out and a smile on his face.

“Sirius, what did you do?” Lily asked, in shock.
Sirius looked at James who said, “He was having a dig of Mary and-”
“And nobody says those things about my girlfriend!” Sirius finished.
Remus and Lily looked at each other and shrugged. They turned their backs and walked back up the train for the last time.

Lily knocked on the door. She had never been to this house before, but she knew she would be there a lot more. It was the day after the train got back, and James and Sirius were having a party at the Potter’s.

"Hey Lil," Remus said, answering the door.
"Oh you look terrible!" she said, looking at him worried.
"Yeah, well full moon is tomorrow, and I'm feeling it," he said, looking up at the sky. "Come in, Party's just getting started."

“Well hello my lovely Lily,” James said, pulling her into his arms. He swung her around in his arms to the music, and she was laughing. She felt so alive, right then.
“Looks like a Tarantallegra jinx,” Sirius roared at them.
Lily looked around and saw that there were a few eyes on them, as they were spinning around.
“I love you Lily Evans,” James yelled at her. He was clearly a bit too tipsy from all that firewhiskey they had found in his parents cellar. She just laughed and said “I love you too Potter.”

There was an immense cheer from Sirius, Remus and Peter as they kissed, for the first time since they left Hogwarts.

Remus woke up in the basement. He had a pounding headache and was covered in dirt and blood.
“Good full moon,” he muttered to himself, before ascending the stairs and unlocking the latch. This was the safest way he knew to keep himself away from other people. When he got into the kitchen, Lily and James were sitting there sipping their coffee.

“Oh Remus you look awful,” Lily said, reaching over and picking up her wand. “Terego,” she said, pointing at him.
Remus looked down and saw he was no longer dirty. Peering at his reflection through the metal kettle, he saw his face only had a few more scars but no blood or dirt. “Thanks Lil,” he said. “Anything new? Any word from Dumbledore?”

“Not yet, but we’ve been waiting for his owl,” Lily said, standing up to pour him a mug of coffee.
“Thanks,” he said, taking the mug and sliding into a chair. “I wonder when he wants to see us.”
James shrugged and said “Dunno mate, probably something about fighting Voldemort.”
They all nodded, not sure whether to be frightened at the thought of fighting someone so dangerous, or excited to help protect others.

James, Sirius and Remus were all in the lounge room at the Potter’s house, planning their next mission for the Order. Remus was laying on the ground, scribing all their ideas, and James and Sirius were being annoying, like usual.
“Stop it,” Remus said, rubbing his ears.
James and Sirius were laughing on the couch, and were obviously not stopping.
“This is REALLY annoying,” Remus said loudly, cupping his hands over his ears. They laughed even more.

“OWWW,” they both yelled, clutching their heads.
Remus looked up to see Lily holding a frying pan. She laughed at the boys in pain and said, “You don’t like it do you,” and waddled back into the kitchen.
“Thanks Lil!” Remus said, pulling himself off the floor. He subtly pointed his wand in James and Sirius’ direction and silently cast the same spell on them. Laughing as he walked towards the kitchen, he listened to them complaining of some sort of annoying twitch in their ears.
“They obviously haven’t hexed each other yet,” Remus said to Lily.
She turned around and laughed with Remus, rubbing her giant belly.

“What about an unbreakable vow?” you hear, and recognise the voice was Professor McGonagall.
“I don’t think we will need it, Minerva. Really, he is only young. I do not think he will reveal the location of the Potter’s,” says the voice you have known to belong to Professor Dumbledore.

Alarmed, you step forward towards the door a little bit, with your friend, as you try to hear what they are saying about your family no doubt.

“But there’s something not quite right with him, Albus. I don’t think it matters his age, there has to be someone acting as a spy, someone who is friends with the Potter’s, surely,” Professor McGonagall replies.
You feel uncomfortable during the long pause that follows, becoming quite aware of yours and your friends heavy breathing.
“Sirius is surely not the spy, my dear woman, he can’t be,” Professor Dumbledore says.

You turn around and run away as quick as you can. Realising that they are talking about your family’s safety, you feel sick and frightened. You apparate home as quick as you can to make sure your husband and child are safe.

“Pass me a quill, please Remus,” Lily asked. It had been a few weeks since Dumbledore finally came to tell them they were being hunted by Voldemort, and she was writing her will.
“Lily, please you don’t need to do this! Nothing is going to happen to you, Sirius would die rather than let your whereabouts be revealed, I can promise you,” Remus said, pleading her not to write it. He understood how important it was to have a Will, but she was doing it out of sadness. He knew that Lily was sure she would die by Voldemort’s hand.
“Remus, a quill,” she repeated, rather snappishly. He crossed his arms and looked at her.
“Wingardium Leviosa,” she said, picking up her wand and getting one herself. Giving him a harsh look, she dipped it in the ink and continued to write it.

“What does Prongs think about all of this?” he asked her.
“He is upset that I’m doing it but, Remus, what if he finds us? I just need to know that if anything happens with us, our things are going to go to someone who will do good with them, not destroy them”

James had cracked it, and had brewed a sleeping draught to get through the boredom. That left Lily alone with Harry, who was cranky himself. She sent an Owl to Remus, and he arrived an hour later with lunch for them all.
“Thanks Remus, James is just fed up with it all, and I feel so secluded by myself,” she said, holding Harry in her arms.
Remus smiled at Lily and took Harry from her, and walked through to the lounge room. He sat on the floor near his play dough machine and watched as he mashed it all through the holes to make spaghetti. Lily sat down next to them and hugged her legs.
“He’s getting so big. He shouldn't have to be locked up all day,” she said, watching her son lovingly.

Harry started crying as he noticed half the play dough was stuck in the holes. The adults laughed as he threw a tantrum, and Remus pulled out his wand, pointed it at the toy machine and said “Waddiwasi,” and directed the play dough into Harry’s hand.
He was delighted, so he sat down and mooshed it into the carpet.